Thank you Walter Gallas

N.O. preservation ace has left the buildings
Thursday, October 01, 2009 Jon Kemp

It's a sad day for our neighborhoods. Walter Gallas is leaving.

As director of the New Orleans field office for the National Trust, Gallas has been a major player in the preservation of buildings and the restoration of neighborhoods destroyed by Katrina. Four years after the big flood, the local office is closing and Gallas will be director of the Northeast Field Office, covering Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

I recently bumped into Gallas at Matassa's and asked him what he wished for the Crescent City.
"I wish for our city the kind of leadership that truly understands its history and heritage are the best things going for it," Gallas said. "And then bases its decisions on that."


Walter Gallas of the National Trust for Historic Preservation supported NorthWest Carrollton's fight for a better design of the Walgreens at Claiborne and Carrollton. He's been a good friend to New Orleans during the last 4 years of our recovery. His work in New Orleans is most appreciated and he will be missed.