During our March 10th, 2007 cleanup 2 of our board members took a ladder around the neighborhood and did their best to straighten our twisted street signs. Our neighborhood still has missing or ruined signs. City Hall advises that the street sign repair project is still "east of Broadway". According to City Hall, "because of the number of signs to be replaced DPW will not be responding to individual requests for sign replacement but will go back at the end of each contract for each district and conduct a quality control sweep to identify any that were missed or misspelled."
Details on that can be found at this website:
http://www.neworleanscitycouncil.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=72
Monday, April 30, 2007
December 2006 Holiday Home Tour
In December 2006 our members opened 5 historic homes – all with some damage from Katrina – to the public.
This was our first official fund raiser. We raised enough money to provide our Firehouse at Carrollton & Nelson with a commercial grade BBQ Pit. The event was advertised on WWNO & WWOZ and was coverage was broadcast on WWL Channel 4 TV. The coverage called us "the little neighborhood that could". We were sure that the BNOB had gotten the message that we had “proved” our viability.
This was our first official fund raiser. We raised enough money to provide our Firehouse at Carrollton & Nelson with a commercial grade BBQ Pit. The event was advertised on WWNO & WWOZ and was coverage was broadcast on WWL Channel 4 TV. The coverage called us "the little neighborhood that could". We were sure that the BNOB had gotten the message that we had “proved” our viability.
Planning Recovery: Lambert & UNOP and Apple Street
In May of 2006 NorthWest Carrollton started actively working with the City Council’s Planning Team lead by Paul Lambert & Shelia Danzey. Ideas and concerns were shared at neighborhood meeting in June and July. During the August neighborhood meeting detailed plans were shown for West Carrollton/Leonidas and other Planning District 3 neighborhoods. A project to revive the NorthWest Carrollton section of Apple Street is included in these plans.
In October 2006 the final Lambert Plans were posted to this web site http://www.nolanrp.com/final.php . These the official Neighborhood Recovery Plans of the City of New Orleans that were unanimously approved by the New Orleans City Council and accepted by the Louisiana Recovery Authority on November 6th, 2006. While having our hopes documented in these plans does not automatically provide funding for revitalization efforts for Apple Street, it is an important first step.
NorthWest Carrollton continued to participate in the UNOP process. Our participation was primarily to assure that the work we had done with the City Council / Lambert planning efforts were not lost in the process and to ensure that other “Dry” neighborhoods didn’t make decisions for our recovering neighborhood.
In October 2006 the final Lambert Plans were posted to this web site http://www.nolanrp.com/final.php . These the official Neighborhood Recovery Plans of the City of New Orleans that were unanimously approved by the New Orleans City Council and accepted by the Louisiana Recovery Authority on November 6th, 2006. While having our hopes documented in these plans does not automatically provide funding for revitalization efforts for Apple Street, it is an important first step.
NorthWest Carrollton continued to participate in the UNOP process. Our participation was primarily to assure that the work we had done with the City Council / Lambert planning efforts were not lost in the process and to ensure that other “Dry” neighborhoods didn’t make decisions for our recovering neighborhood.
Walgreens & Roberts corner of Carrollton & Claiborne
In March of 2006, Walgreens was planning to put a suburban style store in the middle of the block and fronting Claiborne. Many neighborhoods in the area were concerned about this. What the neighborhoods really wanted was a grocery store. The original plan violated the zoning laws for Carrollton Avenue and would have placed the Roberts grocery store effectively “behind” the Walgreens. This plan would have also caused increased truck traffic through the neighborhood. The plan also did not respect the historic character of our neighborhood and the fact that the development is at the end of the historic street car line. Many people thought our determination to have Walgreens follow the zoning laws was more than a little misplaced.
But as a result of the NorthWest Carrollton group’s insistence and with the support of many neighbors throughout the Carrollton Area and the rest of the city, by August 2006, Walgreens changed their plan so that the store is on the corner of Carrollton and Claiborne (following the zoning ordinance). Roberts will be set back from the Claiborne at the corner of Nelson & Dublin and readily visible from Claiborne. The delivery truck traffic will be concentrated to the center of the parking lot and along Nelson Street. The delivery times for Roberts must be approved by the NorthWest Carrollton Civic Association. The 2 stores will have a similar look and share a tree shaded parking lot. The style of the buildings should look like the “Old Bubble Gum Factory" (Hopkins Imports) at the corner of Fig & Dante, off Earhart. The Bubble Gum Factory is on the National Historic Register as a historic building. The Walgreens and Roberts stores are to open up at about the same time in August or September (date subject to change).
But as a result of the NorthWest Carrollton group’s insistence and with the support of many neighbors throughout the Carrollton Area and the rest of the city, by August 2006, Walgreens changed their plan so that the store is on the corner of Carrollton and Claiborne (following the zoning ordinance). Roberts will be set back from the Claiborne at the corner of Nelson & Dublin and readily visible from Claiborne. The delivery truck traffic will be concentrated to the center of the parking lot and along Nelson Street. The delivery times for Roberts must be approved by the NorthWest Carrollton Civic Association. The 2 stores will have a similar look and share a tree shaded parking lot. The style of the buildings should look like the “Old Bubble Gum Factory" (Hopkins Imports) at the corner of Fig & Dante, off Earhart. The Bubble Gum Factory is on the National Historic Register as a historic building. The Walgreens and Roberts stores are to open up at about the same time in August or September (date subject to change).
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Recognition by and work with the Preservation Resource Center (PRC)
In August 2006 NorthWest Carrollton was recognized in the Preservation Resource Center’s – Gulf Coast Recovery – One Year later with this write up:
“North of Claiborne Avenue about half of the homes flooded. A newly-formed neighborhood association – Northwest Carrollton Civic Association – has responded to the crisis by organizing workshops and participating in the city’s planning initiative. They have set up a Web site for neighbors to post blogs and distributed crime-prevention flyers with relevant phone numbers, Web sites and recommended citizen action. Neighbors stood fast and succeeded in gaining a neighborhood-friendly design for a proposed Walgreens at a busy intersection at the end of the historic St. Charles streetcar line.” http://www.nationaltrust.org/hurricane/oneyearlater.html
In September, NorthWest Carrollton worked with the PRC (Preservation Resource Center) to highlight the efforts to save a historic home on Cambronne. It was the best attended PRC Renovators Happy Hour at that date.
We hope to soon be working with the PRC’s Rebuilding Together Program to help low income senior members repair and maintain their homes. See this web site for more details.: http://www.rtno.org/
“North of Claiborne Avenue about half of the homes flooded. A newly-formed neighborhood association – Northwest Carrollton Civic Association – has responded to the crisis by organizing workshops and participating in the city’s planning initiative. They have set up a Web site for neighbors to post blogs and distributed crime-prevention flyers with relevant phone numbers, Web sites and recommended citizen action. Neighbors stood fast and succeeded in gaining a neighborhood-friendly design for a proposed Walgreens at a busy intersection at the end of the historic St. Charles streetcar line.” http://www.nationaltrust.org/hurricane/oneyearlater.html
In September, NorthWest Carrollton worked with the PRC (Preservation Resource Center) to highlight the efforts to save a historic home on Cambronne. It was the best attended PRC Renovators Happy Hour at that date.
We hope to soon be working with the PRC’s Rebuilding Together Program to help low income senior members repair and maintain their homes. See this web site for more details.: http://www.rtno.org/
PostKatrina Planning & NORA
What a shame that the NORA description of District 3 misrepresents the makeup of the Broadmoor and West Carrollton Areas (including NorthWest Carroltlon) ,HollyGrove and Dixon so badly AND that it equally misrepresents the impact the storm had on us. Additionally you would never know by reading the description that when you look at a MAP and the statisics at least half of District 3 was serioulsy impacted by the levee failures postKatrina.
The statistics at the bottom of the NORA page indicate that the district was seriously impacted as well. While Broadmoor has gotten much of the press associated with postKatrina impact and recovery, Broadmoor was not the only area impacted. Many areas of District 3 while working hard to recover are still only at the 50% recovered mark, despite our proximity to the "sliver on the river". At this point in New Orleans history and in at this point in the postKatrina recovery efforts it sad that District 3's diversity and the needs associated with that diversity can not be better communicated. District 3 has always been a tale of 2 cities, but never more so than now. If NORA is to be our new new knights in shinning armor we should be very afraid..... because it seems the emperor still has no clothes.
NORA, You can do better.
The statistics at the bottom of the NORA page indicate that the district was seriously impacted as well. While Broadmoor has gotten much of the press associated with postKatrina impact and recovery, Broadmoor was not the only area impacted. Many areas of District 3 while working hard to recover are still only at the 50% recovered mark, despite our proximity to the "sliver on the river". At this point in New Orleans history and in at this point in the postKatrina recovery efforts it sad that District 3's diversity and the needs associated with that diversity can not be better communicated. District 3 has always been a tale of 2 cities, but never more so than now. If NORA is to be our new new knights in shinning armor we should be very afraid..... because it seems the emperor still has no clothes.
NORA, You can do better.
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