Photographs of the Destruction of Fazendeville

This message is to confirm your request submission to the FOIAonline application: View Request. Request information is as follows: (https://foiaonline.gov/foiaonline/action/public/submissionDetails?trackingNumber=DOI-NPS-2023-005681&type=Request)

* Tracking Number: DOI-NPS-2023-005681
* Requester Name:
Tammy Mercure
* Date Submitted: 07/17/2023
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description:
To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

The collection of photographs of the destruction of Fazendeville. Fazendeville was a small Black community located by the Chalmette Battlefield which is part of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve Louisiana. The homeowners had their homes seized through eminent domain in 1964 and the homes were bulldozed that year. I have been told that Guy Hughes, a park employee, has the photographs under his supervision. We would like the whole collection of photographs of Fazendeville, including the photographs of the properties being bulldozed.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Tammy Mercure

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July 18, 2023

Tammy Mercure
MuckRock News
Dept. MR149335
263 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115

Email: requests@muckrock.com

Dear Tammy Mercure:

This letter is an acknowledgement of your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request received in this office on July 18, 2023. The Department of the Interior (DOI) tracking number for this request is DOI-NPS-2023-005681. Please cite this tracking number in any future communication with our office regarding your request. You requested the following from Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve:

“The collection of photographs of the destruction of Fazendeville. Fazendeville was a small Black community located by the Chalmette Battlefield which is part of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve Louisiana. The homeowners had their homes seized through eminent domain in 1964 and the homes were bulldozed that year. I have been told that Guy Hughes, a park employee, has the photographs under his supervision. We would like the whole collection of photographs of Fazendeville, including the photographs of the properties being bulldozed."

It is the policy of the National Park Service to; (1) make records available to the public to the greatest extent possible in keeping with the spirit of FOIA, (2) make documents available as early as possible while protecting the rights of the individuals involved, and (3) withhold documents falling within one of the FOIA exemptions or in cases where the agency reasonably foresees that disclosure would be harmful to an interest protected by an exemption.

We have classified you as a representative of the news media. As such, we may charge you for some of our duplication costs, but we will not charge you for our search or review costs; you also are entitled to up to 100 pages of photocopies (or an equivalent volume) for free. See 43 C.F.R. § 2.39. If, after taking into consideration your fee category entitlements, our processing costs are less than $50.00, we will not bill you because the cost of collection would be greater than the fee collected. See 43 C.F.R. § 2.37(g)

We use Multitrack Processing to process FOIA requests. The Simple track is for requests that would generally take one to five workdays to process. The Normal track is for requests that would generally take six to twenty workdays to process. The Complex track is for requests that would generally take twenty-one to sixty workdays to process. The Extraordinary track is for requests that would generally take more than sixty workdays to process. The Expedited track is for requests that have been granted expedited processing, which are processed as soon as practicable. Within each track, requests are usually processed on a first-in, first-out basis.

Your request falls into the “Normal” processing track. There are 95 requests pending ahead of yours in this processing track. In addition, there are 17 "Simple" and 8 "Complex" requests ahead of yours. Please note that we currently have a significant backlog of requests but are working diligently to address the pending requests as quickly as possible. The approximate determination date for your request is December 2024.

We apologize for this delay in finalizing our decision. You may narrow the scope of your request to obtain quicker processing in your currently-assigned track or move the request into a different track (which may have the effect of reducing the cost of processing your request and having it processed more quickly). You also may agree to an alternative time period for processing by communicating with us, our FOIA Requester Center, or the FOIA Public Liaison. Contact information for the Department’s FOIA Requester Centers and FOIA Public Liaison is available at https://www.doi.gov/foia/foiacenters. You may also seek dispute resolution services from the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS). If you choose to contact OGIS, you may do so in any of the following ways:

Office of Government Information Services
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road - OGIS
College Park, MD 20740-6001
E-mail: ogis@nara.gov
Web: https://ogis.archives.gov
Telephone: 202-741-5770
Fax: 202-741-5769
Toll-free: 1-877-684-6448

Thank you for your interest in the National Park Service. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at ser_foia@nps.gov.

Sincerely,

Denise Ratajczak
Regional FOIA Officer

Dear Tammy Mercure:

At this time, we have gathered the responsive material and conducted an initial survey to identify the quantity and nature of the records. However, we have not reached a final decision on whether responsive material is exempt from release.

We have identified approximately 32 records as potentially responsive to your request. We intend to comply with your request. For all the materials, we will segregate and release information appropriately where there would be no foreseeable harm caused by the release.

We apologize for this delay in completing our decision. Please note that contact information for the Department’s FOIA Requester Centers and FOIA Public Liaison is available at https://www.doi.gov/foia/foiacenters. You may also seek dispute resolution services from the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS). If you choose to contact OGIS, you may do so in any of the following ways:

Office of Government Information Services

National Archives and Records Administration

8601 Adelphi Road - OGIS

College Park, MD 20740-6001

E-mail: ogis@nara.gov<mailto:ogis@nara.gov>

Web: https://ogis.archives.gov

Telephone: 202-741-5770

Fax: 202-741-5769

Toll-free: 1-877-684-6448

Your request falls into the “Normal” processing track. There are 73 requests pending ahead of yours in this processing track. In addition, there are 10 "Simple" and 7 "Complex" requests ahead of yours. Please note that we currently have a significant backlog of requests but are working diligently to address the pending requests as quickly as possible. The approximate determination date for your request is December 2024.

You may also file an appeal with the Department’s FOIA/Privacy Act Appeals Officer regarding this delay. If you choose to appeal this delay, you may do so anytime between now and the date we make our determination on the FOIA request. Appeals arriving or delivered after 5 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, will be deemed received on the next workday.

Your appeal must be made in writing. You may submit your appeal and accompanying materials to the FOIA/Privacy Act Appeals Officer by mail, courier service, fax, or email. All communications concerning your appeal should be clearly marked with the words: "FREEDOM OF INFORMATION APPEAL." You must also include with your appeal copies of all correspondence between you and the National Park Service concerning your FOIA request, including your original FOIA request and this response. Failure to include with your appeal all correspondence between you and the National Park service will result in the Department's rejection of your appeal, unless the FOIA/Privacy Act Appeals Officer determines (in the FOIA/Privacy Act Appeals Officer’s sole discretion) that good cause exists to accept the defective appeal.

Please include your name and daytime telephone number (or the name and telephone number of an appropriate contact), email address and fax number (if available) in case the FOIA/Privacy Act Appeals Officer needs additional information or clarification of your appeal.

DOI FOIA/Privacy Act Appeals Office Contact Information:

Department of the Interior

Office of the Solicitor

1849 C Street, N.W.

MS-6556 MIB

Washington, DC 20240

Attn: FOIA/Privacy Act Appeals Office

Telephone: (202) 208-5339

Fax: (202) 208-6677

Email: FOIA.Appeals@sol.doi.gov<mailto:FOIA.Appeals@sol.doi.gov>

For more information on FOIA Administrative Appeals, you may review the Department’s FOIA regulations at 43 C.F.R. Part 2, Subpart H. Please note that using OGIS services does not affect the timing of filing an appeal with the Department’s FOIA & Privacy Act Appeals Officer. If you have any questions about our response to your request, you may contact me at ser_foia@nps.gov or (470) 707-3396

Sincerely,

Denise Ratajczak
Regional FOIA officer

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Good afternoon:

Attached you will find the final response to FOIA DOI-NPS-2023-005681. Owing to the large file sizes, you should have received a link to the documents in a separate email. You can also find them here: [https://res.cdn.office.net/assets/mail/file-icon/png/folder_16x16.png] 23-005681 Mercure JELA<https://doimspp.sharepoint.com/:f:/s/nps-SER-FOIA/Ep3tc4ADWjdGvxY6maGYzZgBeLMTvK33LCdG4WoSXiJCBQ?email=149335-82635795%40requests.muckrock.com&e=BvRNnR>

If you have any problems accessing the files, please let me know. Thank you for contacting the National Park service.

Sincerely,

Denise Ratajczak
Regional FOIA officer

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