(AP) — Federal and city officials said Thursday the redevelopment of a public housing project at the heart of New Orleans — long considered a drag on revitalizing the city’s downtown business district — would help spur a massive makeover of the back side of the French Quarter, the area known as Treme and considered America’s oldest black neighborhood.  ”It’s a huge do-over,” said Sandra B. Henriquez, the assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “This is more than a public housing revitalization … It is a neighborhood revitalization in the best sense of the word, which is why it brings in educational opportunity, healthcare, job creation.”  HUD officials said the $30 million revitalization project was expected to draw in $662 million in public and private investment in schools, health care, new housing, job training and other programs to transform the Iberville housing project and Treme.

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