This is a store built in Ohio for a town of less than 3000 people. Walgreens does not want to give the same respect to the recovering citizens of New Orleans.
World Monuments Watch
New Orleans alone contains 20 National Register Historic Districts and 20 National Historic Landmarks, many of which were severely impacted by flooding. These buildings and neighborhoods are as much an integral part of the culture of the area as its celebrations, music, and food.
WE ARE NOT JUST ANY CITY, WE ARE NEW ORLEANS
Friday, July 28, 2006
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Whose Plan is it Anyway
An e mail recieved from a NorthWest Carrollton member
New Orleanians have waited for clear direction in the planning process and worried over who was going to end up in charge.
We have yet to get it, either clear direction or even a process to might get us to a clear direction.
We’ve had BNOB.
We’ve had individual neighborhood plans done by folks with either money or connections or both.
We had the City Council-Lambert Planners put in place to try to help those folks who have neither money nor connections and to herd the other planning cats and now ….. drumroll please
We have GNOF, Rockefeller, the NOCSF and the Unified plan.
Interesting that GNOF folks participated in BNOB.
Interesting that GNOF is full of folks which lots of connections. i wonder if I were to look deeply at membership how many of those families are Rex or Comus families.
Interesting that GNOF/Concordia and others are only now stepping to the forefront, now that they have secured financing and feel that they can improve upon (circumvent?) the messy democratic process that should be associated with the follow of federal dollars to New Orleans’ recovery. In short what they have said to New Orleans citizenry and government is: “We have the money and the Rockefeller connections” so now that you are desperate you all have to follow us.”
Interesting that we as citizens continue to be told we MUST PARTICIPATE!!!!!, yet are not provided with details or even the actual locations for the meetings where we can PARTICIPATE will be held by our GNOF/Concordia friends. Perhaps this really is the Comus-Rex Plan and all those GNOF/Concordia/folks with connections really don’t want us to participate as much as they want us to stand on the streets and watch their parade.
To bad they haven’t realized, that Katrina made us more aware and less willing to stand on the sidelines.
This, folks, is fixing to implode.
New Orleanians have waited for clear direction in the planning process and worried over who was going to end up in charge.
We have yet to get it, either clear direction or even a process to might get us to a clear direction.
We’ve had BNOB.
We’ve had individual neighborhood plans done by folks with either money or connections or both.
We had the City Council-Lambert Planners put in place to try to help those folks who have neither money nor connections and to herd the other planning cats and now ….. drumroll please
We have GNOF, Rockefeller, the NOCSF and the Unified plan.
Interesting that GNOF folks participated in BNOB.
Interesting that GNOF is full of folks which lots of connections. i wonder if I were to look deeply at membership how many of those families are Rex or Comus families.
Interesting that GNOF/Concordia and others are only now stepping to the forefront, now that they have secured financing and feel that they can improve upon (circumvent?) the messy democratic process that should be associated with the follow of federal dollars to New Orleans’ recovery. In short what they have said to New Orleans citizenry and government is: “We have the money and the Rockefeller connections” so now that you are desperate you all have to follow us.”
Interesting that we as citizens continue to be told we MUST PARTICIPATE!!!!!, yet are not provided with details or even the actual locations for the meetings where we can PARTICIPATE will be held by our GNOF/Concordia friends. Perhaps this really is the Comus-Rex Plan and all those GNOF/Concordia/folks with connections really don’t want us to participate as much as they want us to stand on the streets and watch their parade.
To bad they haven’t realized, that Katrina made us more aware and less willing to stand on the sidelines.
This, folks, is fixing to implode.
Friday, July 21, 2006
2 Weeks
Yesterday Shelley Midura read a statement at City Council. This is an excerpt:
“The question is will Walgreens build to the corner in such a way that allows
a Grocery to be built next to it, or will it build to the corner in such a way
that excludes that possibility. So in the end the decision is Walgreens.
Having attended the City Council Session I can say that Shelley demonstrated a remarkable knowledge of the issue, one that has a History in the City, in terms of Neighborhood wishes and Development.
She has spent considerable time and effort along with her Staff to research and listen
We sincerely hope that the Team Walgreens will come to the table and we all can find the middle ground that we can live with, and celebrate.
We would like our corner to be the Urban Model for Walgreens, a store which serves the cars passing by and the residents who live there. Much as the downtown; Canal Street, Walgreens delights with it’s Huge Art deco sign.
We would like to see our corner be the icon for future development.
“The question is will Walgreens build to the corner in such a way that allows
a Grocery to be built next to it, or will it build to the corner in such a way
that excludes that possibility. So in the end the decision is Walgreens.
Having attended the City Council Session I can say that Shelley demonstrated a remarkable knowledge of the issue, one that has a History in the City, in terms of Neighborhood wishes and Development.
She has spent considerable time and effort along with her Staff to research and listen
We sincerely hope that the Team Walgreens will come to the table and we all can find the middle ground that we can live with, and celebrate.
We would like our corner to be the Urban Model for Walgreens, a store which serves the cars passing by and the residents who live there. Much as the downtown; Canal Street, Walgreens delights with it’s Huge Art deco sign.
We would like to see our corner be the icon for future development.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Letter from NorthWest Carrollton to Shelley Midura
This letter was sent to Shelley Midura
Shelley
Thank you very much for your statements and your actions today in the City _Council Meeting.
We know you listened to every word we said.
We know you evaluated every angle and all possibilities.
We appreciate you diligence and thoroughness and evenhandedness (even though it has been nerve racking!)
We hope you realize that what we the neighborhoods truly want a
win-win situation.
We will wait to hear from you or from Walgreens as to how we should proceed.
As for the request from the Council President:
the neighborhoods will not budge on their insistence that the protection provided to the residential and historic neighborhoods by the overlay is upheld
I hope our alternate plan showed we are not anti-Walgreens or anti-development
Again your constituents Thank You very much,
Jenel Hazlett
NorthWest Carrollton
Shelley
Thank you very much for your statements and your actions today in the City _Council Meeting.
We know you listened to every word we said.
We know you evaluated every angle and all possibilities.
We appreciate you diligence and thoroughness and evenhandedness (even though it has been nerve racking!)
We hope you realize that what we the neighborhoods truly want a
win-win situation.
We will wait to hear from you or from Walgreens as to how we should proceed.
As for the request from the Council President:
the neighborhoods will not budge on their insistence that the protection provided to the residential and historic neighborhoods by the overlay is upheld
I hope our alternate plan showed we are not anti-Walgreens or anti-development
Again your constituents Thank You very much,
Jenel Hazlett
NorthWest Carrollton
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Saturday, July 15, 2006
8405-07 Apricot
8405-07 Apricot sold
by Gwendolyn Baylis Everage & Charles Everage
to Brandy Truehill Bush & Michael Bush Jr.
for $105,000
by Gwendolyn Baylis Everage & Charles Everage
to Brandy Truehill Bush & Michael Bush Jr.
for $105,000
Friday, July 7, 2006
GNOF and Lambert
This is a copy of A Letter to the Editor from a Resident of NorthWest Carrollton
As a recovering neighbor in a flooded neighborhood on the edge of the Isle of Denial I looked around to the few neighbors who were back and we all said: HUH?!!!! or “We’ve got to get busy” and “How the heck do we prove our viability or plan?” So we organized, we went to countless meetings, we learned and we were annoyed by the conflicting signals being sent from Federal, State and City government as well as the well meaning non-profit organizers. Some neighborhoods “have money to hire their own planners others have worked connections with local and national universities, some neighborhoods used both money and connections to start their plans.
In January BNOB said that neighborhoods had to prove their viability.Many neighborhoods had neither money nor connections and were left to figure it out for themselves, while they were rebuilding their houses and lives.
The City Council’s Planning process allows these “have not” neighbors and neighborhoods a voice. Has the process been perfect? Nope. Welcome to PostKatrina New Orleans. In case you haven’t noticed, not much is perfect.
But if you take the time to attend the meetings, talk to the planner or planners directly, speak to Mr. Lambert (who attends the meetings) directly and explain your frustrations, concerns, ideas then, I promise you, the City Council Planners will listen and respond and work with you.
This is true bottom up grassroots planning by the neighborhoods and the neighbors who are here struggling to make it work. We can not throw the baby out with the bathwater just because the GNOF and the Rockefeller Foundation have ridden in their white horses. Lest we forget, the funding for the GNOF planning and the associated recovery funding is coming in on the backs of flooded, recovering neighbors. The plan to fold the work of the City Council planning process and other independent planning processes into the work being done by GNOF honors the work of citizens who have been at this for a long, long time. Let our city government work out a process that joins the City Council planning efforts and GNOF efforts. It is possible. To assure continuity in the planning process key contacts from neighborhood groups who have actively participated in building their own plans or working with City Council planners should be included in GNOF’s efforts. The CSO process and associated contacts are not enough. I am glad the Rockefeller foundation is working here in New Orleans. I’m sure they will do good work.
We must collaborate and cooperate to make this work. By “we” I mean all of us: Neighbors, Non-Profits, Federal-State-City governments, Wet and Dry, Back and Not back, all of us. Because if we New Orleanians do not all stand together in our recovery and planning then we shall surely all drown together. And most of us know what that is like and do not care to repeat it.
Jenel Hazlett
NorthWest Carrollton
As a recovering neighbor in a flooded neighborhood on the edge of the Isle of Denial I looked around to the few neighbors who were back and we all said: HUH?!!!! or “We’ve got to get busy” and “How the heck do we prove our viability or plan?” So we organized, we went to countless meetings, we learned and we were annoyed by the conflicting signals being sent from Federal, State and City government as well as the well meaning non-profit organizers. Some neighborhoods “have money to hire their own planners others have worked connections with local and national universities, some neighborhoods used both money and connections to start their plans.
In January BNOB said that neighborhoods had to prove their viability.Many neighborhoods had neither money nor connections and were left to figure it out for themselves, while they were rebuilding their houses and lives.
The City Council’s Planning process allows these “have not” neighbors and neighborhoods a voice. Has the process been perfect? Nope. Welcome to PostKatrina New Orleans. In case you haven’t noticed, not much is perfect.
But if you take the time to attend the meetings, talk to the planner or planners directly, speak to Mr. Lambert (who attends the meetings) directly and explain your frustrations, concerns, ideas then, I promise you, the City Council Planners will listen and respond and work with you.
This is true bottom up grassroots planning by the neighborhoods and the neighbors who are here struggling to make it work. We can not throw the baby out with the bathwater just because the GNOF and the Rockefeller Foundation have ridden in their white horses. Lest we forget, the funding for the GNOF planning and the associated recovery funding is coming in on the backs of flooded, recovering neighbors. The plan to fold the work of the City Council planning process and other independent planning processes into the work being done by GNOF honors the work of citizens who have been at this for a long, long time. Let our city government work out a process that joins the City Council planning efforts and GNOF efforts. It is possible. To assure continuity in the planning process key contacts from neighborhood groups who have actively participated in building their own plans or working with City Council planners should be included in GNOF’s efforts. The CSO process and associated contacts are not enough. I am glad the Rockefeller foundation is working here in New Orleans. I’m sure they will do good work.
We must collaborate and cooperate to make this work. By “we” I mean all of us: Neighbors, Non-Profits, Federal-State-City governments, Wet and Dry, Back and Not back, all of us. Because if we New Orleanians do not all stand together in our recovery and planning then we shall surely all drown together. And most of us know what that is like and do not care to repeat it.
Jenel Hazlett
NorthWest Carrollton
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