Jim Hayes, advocate for the poor Submitted by N.O.V.A. Times Picayune 06-09-2007 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Jim Hayes, a longtime community activist who spent most of his career battling bureaucrats and corporations on behalf of poor people, was buried Thursday, a week after he died of cancer on May 31. He was 73. For years Mr. Hayes, in the company of allies such as Ron Chisom and Barbara Major, lobbied a succession of City Hall administrations grappling with housing, welfare and other issues that bedevil the lives of poor people. Often that meant organizing public demonstrations against initiatives the city launched in the name of economic development. A fixture on the streets of the Treme area, in the 1970s Mr. Hayes helped found the Treme Community Improvement Association. "He was Treme to the bone," Major said. Mr. Hayes and others fought against the housing demolitions that cleared the way for what is now Armstrong Park. They lost, but secured the construction of the Treme Community Center as a concession. For years, Mr. Hayes worked with the nonprofit People's Institute, training scores of people through the institute's workshops on community organizing and on ways to uproot racism. "He was a thorn in the sides of a lot of people, but he was the kind of thorn you couldn't hate," Major said. "He was all New Orleans. He was a great cook. He loved feeding people," Major said. "His legacy is all of us. It'll be carried on by all the people whose principles they learned from Jim." A funeral for Mr. Hayes was held Thursday at Ephesus Seventh-Day Adventist Church. A second-line followed near Charbonnet-Labat-Glapion Funeral Home in Treme, which was in charge of arrangements. Burial was in Providence Park. Mr. Hayes is survived by two sons, Jacque and Terrence Hayes; a daughter, Jayme; a sister, Gloria; and six grandchildren.