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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Volunteers needed to help build Playground

COMMUNITY ADVISORY
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
CARROLLTON/PENSIONTOWN COMMUNITY
TO BUILD "LITTLE HANDS" NEIGHBORHOOD PLAYGROUND
Harrell Park to be site of the newest community playground for kids

WHAT: Pensiontown and Carrollton neighborhood volunteers will join sponsors from the Allstate Foundation, the Injury Free Coalition for Kids and Operation Kids to build a state-of-the-art safe recreational space for children.
WHEN: Saturday, April 18, 2009 - 8:00 a.m.
WHERE: Harrell Park 2300 Leonidas @ S. Claiborne Ave.
Residents have partnered with the Allstate Foundation, the Injury Free Coalition for Kids and Operation Kids in their campaign to build a safe recreational space for kids in our neighborhood.
Harrell Park successfully bid for the playground as part of the "Little Hands Neighborhood Playground Partnership"

CONTACT: Tilman Hardy 504.237.9556; tilmanhardy@kw.com
Stanford Williams 504.329-0623; swilliamsii@msn.com

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Unsafe Pool @ 2933-35 Dante

Dangerous Pool on corner of Fig & Dante




To: "Wesley P. Taylor" wptaylor@cityofno.com

Cc: Shelly Midura smidura@cityofno.com, NWCCA Board
Subject: Unsafe Pool @ 2933 - 35 Dante
Date: Mar 28, 2009 9:25 AM

Dear Mr. Taylor,

The pool at the corner of Dante and Fig has, for the most part, been untended for the last 3+years.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/karenapricot/3348575533/
The owner has made some symbolic gestures at replacing the broken fence but the fixes fail after a day or two.We would appreciate your assistance with this issue.

Thanks,
Karen Gadbois

Apple Street - INSULTING!

The City of New Orleans and the Sewerage & Water Board has effectively told the New Orleans citizens who live in the 8100 & 8200 Blocks of Apple street that the repair work is complete and the repairs are as good as it is going to get.

Let's review:

The levee failures after Katrina resulted in about 3 feet of water in NorthWest Carrollton. Because we are a historic neighborhood with raised bungalows and classic shotguns buit on piers most of the houses in the neighborhood were able to be quickly repaired, funds allowing.

The postKatrina cleanup process resulted in significant debris on the streets and significant truck and bobcat traffic on the streets and sidewalks as the debris was removed.

The sidewalks and streets were damaged by the by the flooding AND by the clean up. There are FEMA funds for "submerged street" repairs.


The City of New Orleans can repair less than 2 miles of Streets in the Irish Channel and call it recovery from Hurricane Katrina and Rita. But it can't see its way to do a proper job on Apple street, which was definitely submerged by PostKatrina floodwaters. But we aren't supposed to believe that the folks on the Isle of Denial are getting better city services than other areas of the city.

In case you are wondering, the Isle of Denial or the Sliver on the River is that stretch of New Orleans that did not flood PostKatrina due to the failure of the Corps of Engineers Levees & Floodwalls and the mismanagement of coastal wetlands that is or thankfully will be the MRGO.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

NorthWest Carrollton in the MasterPlan

NorthWest Carrollton has photos in the Carrollton section of the Master Plan.
The photos were taken when NWCCA member met with Goody-Clancy staff to tour the neighbohood and review our hopes and concerns.
Slide 1: lovely (for sale) sidehall single on Apricot & Cambronne,
Slide 2: Jesus Miracle Power non-profit on Apple,
Slide 3 : shotgun doubles on Apricot & Cambronne
Slide 4: horrible lot behind AutoZone that collects abandoned cars and tires, that we have worked and continue to work with our Quality of Life Officer, City Sanitation, and Safety & Permits to have cleaned up. We are actually hoping that this lot will be sold to Landis Construction and be made into a lovely landscaped parking lot with dark skies lighting.
Slide 5t: new modular on Fig where we since planted a tree with Hike for Katrina. This block almost completely destroyed by fire postKatrina while the flood waters were still in the neighborhood.
Slide 6: Ashton Theatre. We'd love to see this renovated into a performance space.
Slide 7: former corner store on Apple
Slide 8: another shot of the Ashton Theatre.

We highly recommend that you take a look at the Master Plan for our area.
We are in Planning District 3.

Most of what we talked to Goody-Clancy, Camiros about and what NorthWest Carrollton got into the Lambert Plan looks like it made it into the Master Plan. The proof ,will of course, be in the pudding. One of the things we think are lacking is Green Space especially along Earhart and we'll be contacting Goody-Clancy about our ideas.

If you have ideas or questions or concerns about the Master Plan's impact to NorthWest Carrollton, leave a comment or contact us at nwcarrollton@mindspring.com.

Important Coalition forming Health Care & the Master Plan

There is much talk about the Master Plan and the importance of "Citizen Participation".

There is a HUGE, long term change in Land Use in the City of New Orleans that has seen VERY LITTLE citizen participation: the proposed LSU Medical Complex (& the VA Hospital)and the abandonment of the Charity Hospital facility.

It is my opinion that IF the Master Planning Process and the Master Plan itself will mean anything long term that there must be review and citizen participation of the plans for any new Land Use and development that is proposed to essentially rezone 70 acres.

A Coalition is forming requesting some very simple things:

1. Governor Jindal to order an independent, comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the two hospital plans.

2. The City Planning Commission and the City Council to hold public hearings on these critical planning issues.

3. The City Planning Commission and the City Council to include the hospitals in the current master-planning process.

Take a look at the Coalition's Website. And step back and think about the proposed changes and more importantly how these changes are being made.

To quote the coalition website:
"There is no reason not to rally around this effort. Whether you're pro-Charity, pro-LSU, or agnostic, everybody can agree that the time has come to honestly compare the plans side-by-side."

For more than a year, a debate has raged over the sites for new hospitals for Louisiana State University (LSU) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Currently, two different plans are being discussed and as recently as last week, Louisiana Secretary of Health and Hospitals Alan Levine -- the state’s point person on the hospital issue -- said that no decisions have been made and both plans were still on the table.

The proposed medical centers represent the single largest facilities project that will be undertaken in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. They will involve massive federal spending, a major appropriation of state funding and should be a critical component to the rebirth of New Orleans. With so many different entities involved and so much at stake, it falls to the Governor to step in and bring impartial evaluation and clarity to the process.

You can ADD YOUR VOICE by TAKING ACTION TODAY!

Urge Governor Jindal to step in and order an independent cost-benefit analysis of the competing plans by filling out and sending a message to the Governor today. Just go to the link below:
https://secure2.convio.net/nthp/site/Advocacy?id=459&pagename=homepage

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Apple Street Update - watch it on Fox News

As anyone who lives in NorthWest Carrollton knows Apple Street has been "under repair" since the fall of last year. There was a problem with a water main. It was serious. In the process of repairing this water main, in Novement 2008, a gas line was cut and parts of the neighborhood had to be evacuated. It didn't make the news.


Early January we asked politely about the repairs and when we could expect to see the roadway stop being a dirt road and when the manhole cover in the middle of Apple & Dante would stop looking like Devil's Tower. We really didn't get an answer.


We kept asking, and asking and finally one of the residents on Apple Street was able to get a rise out of Joe Becker at S&W. It was an answer. But it wasn't the whole story. It was essentially platitudes. When you are living with construction equipment and a dirt road in front of your house and you can't trust if there will be a gas leak or sewerage leak or water flowing into the street platitudes don't get you very far. (make sure you check out the comment on the link above.)


The residents on Apple Street have had to put up with construction equipment on their lawns, a torn up and essentially dirt road for most of Novemeber, Decemeber and January. We *think* the Sewerage and Water Board repairs are complete. But the roadway repair work has stopped and started over and over and over again. Take a look at the current state of the repairs. It ain't pretty.


If it weren't for the heroic efforts of Mr. Taylor of Apple Street this kind of "service" to the taxpaying citizens of NorthWest Carrollton New Orleans would go unnoticed. Here's hoping Fox News does justice to our outrage at the length of time the repair work has taken and the quaility of work being done and the lack of straight answers we are getting. We are still waiting to be told WHEN the repair work will be complete.


And folks we are talking about a total of 2 city blocks.
Count 'em. 2 blocks. 5 Months of misery.
No matter how you slice this it isn't progress.
We have a feeling the story here is bigger than NorthWest Carrollton.
This same "progress" could be coming to a neighborhood near you!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

NOPD-Quality of Life-Abandoned Vehicle Report

March 24th Report
Major Little/ Officer Eddington
It is time for our quarterly report on abandoned vehicles in NorthWest Carrollton.
Having abandoned cars marked and towed shows the Bad Guys that the neighborhood is watching and that the NOPD is watching and working the area. It is an excellent way for us Good Guys to mark our territory and make the Bad Guys think twice about hanging and working in the area. The Vehicles are listed by street. Items in italics below are April 20th NWCCA notes. So far none of the vehicles have been tagged or towed.

FIG STREET
**********************************
Corner of Fig and Dublin Streets
Black/Brown GMC SUV
La#PMY001
Small White Trailer
La#L009301

8216 Fig Street
Silver Mercury
No Plate

Lot Behind Helm Paint Store on Fig Street
Maroon Infinite
La#RHB674

Empty Lot Behind Auto Zone
Red Buick LeSabre
No Plate

Black Infinite
La#PLU460

White Grand Prix
No Plate

APRICOT STREET
**********************************
8235 Apricot Street (April 20th NWCCA noted tagged by NOPD)
Brown Ford Truck
La#X184178

Corner of Apricot and Leonidas Streets
Black SUV
No Plate

BELFAST STREET
**********************************
Empty Lot 8200 Block of Belfast
Black GMC Truck
La#W614932

8504 Belfast
Red Corolla
TX#Y35XF13

April 20th NWCCA noted van on the corner of Belfast and Cambrone with writing on it from NOPD.

CARROLLTON AVENUE
**********************************
2600 Block
Green/Blue Mitsubishi
La#SAW855

APPLE STREET
8225 Apple Street
**********************************

Smashed Greyish Van in Driveway of Abandoned House-Lawn is being cut by neighbor next door

NELSON STREET
**********************************
8224 Nelson Street
Silver Escort
No Plate

CLAIBORNE AVENUE
**********************************
Corner of Claiborne and Dante Street
Silver Saturn
La#ROA706

CAMBRONNE STREET
**********************************
2536 Cambronne Street
Red Plymouth Van
No Plate

2527 Cambronne Street
Bronze LEsabre
Tx#Y70LFH

JOLIET STREET
**********************************
2722 Joliet Street
Navy Blue Pontiac Grand Am
No Plate

Friday, March 20, 2009

NOPD Little & DA Canizarro

On March 19th Central Carrollton Association (CCA) held the Winter 2009 Community Forum with the theme of Community Safety. The two forum participants were:
Major Bruce Little, Commander NOPD Second District and
Leon Cannizarro, Orleans Parish District Attorney.

Below is a basic summary of their statements as noted by CCA Secretary Ted Argote:

Major Bruce Little, NOPD Second District Commander:
-Noted that cooperation and energy of residents of Second District a catalyst for improving conditions and relations between police and residents.
-His goal is to increase cooperation between Second District police and district Attorney’s staff.
-A representative of the DA's office is now assigned to the Second District as well as each district in city.
-The Second District had greatest crime reduction in last quarter of all city districts due in part to citizen cooperation.
-Arrests have increased by 40% with 100% of homicides cleared. This increase in activity instills confidence in officers.
-His mission is to have officers engaged in investigation if incidents whenever suspicion exists and not wait until a crime have been committed.
-Importance of public cooperation in reporting incidents and concerns. Better to go out on a false alarm than to take a crime report later.
-By building a relationship between police, public and DA's office crime can be brought under control.
-Parents must be held accountable for what their children do. If parents are made to perform community service along with their children they may pay more attention to children’s activities.
-Addressed need for volunteers to mentor and work with kids to keep them from getting into trouble.
-Maps of NOPD COMSTAT passed out showing what crime had been reported and the locations, one for last 4 weeks one for last 90 days. Indicated that Second District had far fewer incidents than other districts.

Leon Cannizaro, Orleans Parish District Attorney
-Mr. Cannizaro noted that far too long the district attorney’s office and police have not worked together for the improvement of conditions in the city. Previously 50% of the cases turned over to DA's office were rejected due to lack of information or procedural breakdown. This will now change under his watch.
-Dialogue will now begin between arresting officers and DA's office and an improved public advocacy.
-Now a representative of the DA's office will be on the scene of every homicide while police investigate. This will allow for better information compiled and reliable witnesses questioned.
-Witness protection will be improved so that the public will feel safe when reporting a crime or testifying, no longer will a witness have to wait for years before a case comes to court. Public confidence in the system will improve and witnesses will be more willing to come forward.
-DA's office will work with police officers to improve reporting skills and court room demeanor. Most police have had little training in writing reports and none in how to be an effective witness in court.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

NorthWest Carrollton's Debi Theobald

Check out this week's cover story in the Gambit.... look for Debi Theobald.

Debi is a member of the NorthWest Carrollton Board.

GNOF should be ashamed for not funding this group.

The Gambit article is below:

AN ECO-MINDED EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM INTRODUCES INNER-CITY NEW ORLEANS KIDS TO THE NATURAL WORLD.
BY ALEX WOODWARD

Armed with their Earthkeepers Training Manuals, students line up on the Jean Lafitte boardwalk before entering TREE's outdoor classroom.Photo courtesy of Tree
Andrew H. Wilson Elementary fourh-graders fidget in their seats in a log cabin auditorium with floor-to-ceiling bay windows that face a stretch of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve — woods and more woods. They're in the first few minutes of a three-day field trip.
  The program coordinator introduces herself as Redwood. She huddles the adults into a corner and issues a disclaimer: "It's going to be a little goofy," she says. "And it's going to be a little chaotic." Another rule: "We don't allow anyone to wear watches," she says. "If the kids ask what time it is, just say, 'It's time to have fun,' or 'It's time to go on an adventure.'"
  The program teachers, the "guardians," introduce themselves — Slider, Paulownia and Loon.
  Welcome to Earthkeepers, a part of Teaching Responsible Earth Education's (TREE) network of programs that turns science class into a camping trip.
  The fourth-graders line up for their wooden medallion nametags and their backpacks, which hold their Earthkeepers Training Manual, a magnifying glass and a pencil. A parent-chaperone and five teachers from the Broadmoor school lead color-coordinated groups outside. Slider and Paulownia lead one group down the park's boardwalk until the auditorium, school buses and lunch bags are a bit farther away than some would like. The group hops off the boardwalk and sits in a wide circle.
  "This is our outdoor classroom," Paulownia says. "Pretty cool, right?"
  The students look up, down, left, right. They're in the middle of the woods, far from Broadmoor, but they agree that sitting in the dirt is way better than sitting in class.
Since 1995, TREE has taught more than 12,000 public and private school students, parents and teachers in the New Orleans area. The curriculum is based on program models provided by the Institute for Earth Education, a Greenville, W. Va.-based network of environmental educators, with international hubs in Italy, Germany, Japan, Australia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The institute was founded in 1974 as an alternative provider of environmental education, using program methods with names like Earthkeepers, Sunship Earth and Sunship III.
  A former fifth-grade teacher at John Dibert Elementary, TREE director Sue Brown visited a Sunship Earth program in Pennsylvania and immediately brought it back to her classroom.
  "It just captured my imagination," she says. "I guess I had these little kid feelings from being outdoors. My mother had allowed and fostered those things, and I felt like my fifth-grade kids weren't getting those kinds of attachments to the world."
  Brown developed the New Orleans Sunship Earth program in 1985 and continued teaching until 1995, when she left Dibert to create TREE. With TREE, Brown wanted to open Sunship Earth to fifth-graders in other public schools and expand programming to include spinoffs for fourth- and seventh-graders (Earthkeepers and Sunship III, respectively). TREE teaches its programs at Jean Lafitte in Barataria and at the TREE Outdoor Classroom near Covington.
  "We wanted kids to have amazing experiences," she says. "In the city, vacant lots are not enticing places for any of our kids, so being out in nature and having natural woods —one kid said, 'I got two trees in my yard, I thought that was the woods!'"
  "A lot of these kids, when they first come out, are like, 'I've never been in the woods. Are we in the woods right now?'" says Alyssa Denny ("Paulownia").
Students learn how living things get energy from the sun.Photo by Alex Woodward
  The first schooling in the outdoor classroom begins with a song: "All living things on the Earth are connected." Paulownia and Slider explain, using a few props and balls of clay, how sun, soil, water and air compose the natural world.
  Later the students break into groups to join a "speck trail." Armed with magnifying glasses, they follow the life of a "speck" named Howard Humus, a bit of soil that moves from a plant to an animal and starts over in its droppings. After lunch, the guardians explain food chains ("munch lines") with lunch trays and stuffed animals.
  Paulownia concludes the day's lesson with a story about mosquitoes in her backyard. Birds got sick and eventually stopped visiting her yard when the mosquitoes were sprayed with pesticides. To keep the birds in her backyard, she stopped spraying pesticides and removed standing water where mosquitoes bred. All the lessons of the day — munch lines, speck trails, "all living things on the Earth are connected" — boiled down into an environmental message so effective one could almost see the lightbulbs blinking above the fourth-graders' heads.
  "All of this stuff could be taught in the classroom, but outdoors, it sticks with them," says Patrick Norman ("Slider"). "I mean, I learned about the water cycle in school, but it wasn't as fun — I wasn't doing the 'Water Cycle Boogie.'"
In an executive report on TREE programming, the University of Arizona determined Earthkeepers "meshes well with state standards and helped students accomplish many curriculum objectives."
  The university evaluated Earthkeepers from September 2004 to May 2005. That year, TREE offered the program 13 times with 474 students from seven schools as well as an after-school program from two other schools. All but one were public schools from Orleans or St. Charles parishes, and most students lived in high-poverty areas (the rates of students qualifying for free or reduced-cost lunch among the schools ranged from 24 percent to 99 percent).
  Brown says TREE programs are capable of teaching nearly a third of a student's curriculum. "Schools do that. Textbooks do that. But we wanted to do it in an imaginative, role-playing way that kids get concepts they can hold on to and grow themselves," she says. "They're kernel ideas they can have for larger-scale concepts. Some people are going, 'You can't possibly (teach a third of the curriculum) in three or four days.' We've had teachers come back and go, 'I didn't believe you when you started, but you do it.'"
  TREE says it meets 100 percent of state content standards for science; 71 percent in English and language arts; 50 percent in social studies; and 33 percent in math. The program also accounts for 37 percent of state benchmarks met with relevant grade-level expectations in science and English and language arts; 8 percent in social studies; and 13 percent in math.
  The university tested students with the Ecological Concept Questionnaire, and students' understanding of ecological concepts increased 43 percent from a pre-test assessment. When asked about their personal environmental actions before and after the program, 92 percent of the students reported making significant changes in their daily lives. All teachers said students have lessened their environmental impact in the classroom, and 68 percent of the parents saw changes in their children's behavior with saving energy and materials as well as their awareness of environmental issues and the natural world. The evaluation found similar results for that year's Sunship Earth program.
  With such good numbers, why aren't more schools lining up for the program? In the weeks leading up to federally mandated standardized testing, Brown shows TREE's calendar is empty. She says school administrators would rather keep their students in the classroom.
  "But why not give the kids a break, have them learn something and feel good about it?" she says. "I'm all for testing, but the way we do it needs to be looked at. (Teachers) are under pressure. I understand their plight in all of this — they're under the gun. It's counterintuitive to take their kids out of the classroom. But most of them have come to one of our programs and now see the advantage. It's a little unnerving (for them) to do the opposite of 'do what you think you got to do, just drill it into them.' As a teacher that wants this city to bloom and blossom, it's a little scary for me."
  New Orleans public schools hit another speed bump in getting their classes to the programs: money. As a nonprofit, TREE operates largely on grants and donations. The organization's board members, using grants, will fund half a student's tuition, but the schools must make up the difference. The tuition per student in Earthkeepers, for example, is $250. Andrew Wilson Elementary's trip is partially funded by a recent grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, but the Broadmoor Improvement Association picked up the remaining costs.
  "Most kids that live in the city of New Orleans, specifically — the parents and schools don't have $125 per student," says Earthkeepers coordinator Debi Theobald ("Redwood"). "When you multiply that by 50, it's quite a bit of money."
  Program costs include site fees, instructional materials, pre- and post-trip packets, insurance, meals and snacks (for overnight trips) and, most important, the teachers. Each program has five or six students per adult in a total group of 25 to 35 students.
Students from Metairie Academy participate in an exercise called 'Nature's Munch Box.'Photo courtesy of Tree
  With no commercial pull — TREE doesn't advertise and uses schoolteachers and word-of-mouth recommendations as its publicity — TREE continuously searches for outside funding to fill the gaps. Brown says she hopes to one day institutionalize the program into state schools, or at least within the Recovery School District.
  "We do have people that support this in New Orleans," she says. "It's just that they're supporting a lot of things in this city and there are lots of needs here."
TREE programs incorporate three components: head, heart and hands, or "knowledge, experience and doing," Brown says.
  "What we tie it to is that 'doing' part: Now that you know about the planet and you care about the planet, what will you do about the planet?" she asks. "It may be as simple as turning off a light switch. But now they understand where that fits in a bigger piece of the world, so they're not just doing it because someone told them to. I don't think we want the 'greening' to be just, 'OK, we've done the light bulbs, we've recycled.' Kids come out of (the program) with their own feelings of power. They come out feeling like, 'I can do something.'"
  The programs are designed with a focus on experiential education, but the students are required to hook someone else into the lessons they learned once they come home, including changing their energy-use habits. "They're seeing that what they do will make a difference," Brown says. "They're bugging their parents. They're spreading this information."
  Students are asked what they hope to accomplish after the program. "One kid last session said, 'Learn to live with less,'" Denny says.
  TREE also requires students to spend more time outside once they return from the program.
  "When we take them on a Diary Walk, we take the kids through a walk in the woods, and the kids are always like, 'Are we going to go trail hiking again?'" says Chelsea Keenan ("Loon"). "They're like, 'Oh, there's a place like this by my house, I'm going to go there.'"
In the outdoor classroom, Paulownia leads the group to another patch of woods off the main boardwalk. She lowers an imaginary "veil of silence," and the group slowly gets quiet. The fourth-graders are given a blue mat and a place to sit by themselves — their "magic spot" — with their classmates just out of earshot.
  "When you sit still and think, magical things happen for you," Brown says. "You process information; you get a chance to write beautiful poetry, where amazing kinds of thoughts come. We set aside a time of day to have that solitude — a place to be alone but not lonely."
  The students poke around at the dirt and giggle at first, then get frustrated. "I ain't never been out in no woods before," one girl says. Then they reach for their journals and pencils inside their Earthkeepers satchels and begin to write.
  "That's a lot of city kids, not saying anything, sitting in the woods by themselves for the first time," Theobald says. "Some of them are petrified, but it gives them a chance to understand, 'I can do this. I have control of this thing right here and I'm doing it, and I'm doing it well.'"
  Redwood signals the end of their magic space with a few notes on an ocarina. The group gathers into another circle, where Paulownia asks if anyone wants to share his or her journal. A few hands shoot up — one student recites T.I. lyrics, then his own nature-inspired rap. Another offers a poem.
  "My magic space is very beautiful," he reads.
  Some of the fourth-graders snicker, but another student chimes in with his journal entry. So does another.
  "That's the self-esteem component that goes with (the program)," Theobald says. "They're mixed and matched all the time and forced to work with kids they may never have talked to.
  "The playing field here is leveled. Nobody's smarter, nobody's prettier. They're all just out in the woods together."

Monday, March 9, 2009

Church of the Holy Sand Lot

Perhaps you saw James Gill's March 7th article in the TP.

Perhaps you saw James Gill's February 25 article in the TP.

Perhaps you didn't. But you should take a look at these articles because the Reverend Toris Young's handiwork is right here in NorthWest Carrollton. We have referred to one of the Reverend Young's works as "The Church of the Holy Sand Lot". This property is on the corner of Joliet & Fig. It is filled with sand to an illegal height of more than 3 feet. The sand has been there so long that it has completely covered the drains. The state of this property has been reported to the city on numerous occasions. Apparently the Reverend Young has been too busy buying stuff illegally with other people's money and going to jail for it, and now trying to figure out how to get rid of the newly elected Cao and trash talking the constitution to worry about the impact of his "mission" on our neighborhood.

But wait there's more. Greater Bibleway Baptist Church, Reverend Toris Young Pastor, also owns 2 other properties in NorthWest Carrollton: 8515 Pritchard Place AND the corner lot at Apple & Cambronne.

The following individuals at City Hall,Winston H. Reid -whreid@cityofno.com, Jeffrey J. Thomas-jjthomas@cityofno.com, Seung Hong-shong@cityofno.com, Shelley Midura-smidura@cityofno.com, Sanitation-vwhite@cityofno.com, QOL-weddington@cityofno.com, EJSterling-EJSterling@cityofno.com, Ed Blakely-ejblakely@cityofno.com
received the following report and request for action on all 3 of these properties (and others) in July 2008:8515 Pritchard Place
Property was purchased after Katrina and remained unsecured for quite some time. Property is not maintained by owner. Neighborhood lost significant housing stock to the February 2007 Tornado and is opposed to further demolition of historic housing stock. Neighborhood would like to see the property restored and historic housing returned to use.
Corner of Joliet & FigLot is filled with sand beyond the allowable level. Drains are covered by sand that has run off from lot. Container is blocking sidewalk. Container was dumped here after Katrina and has not moved in 3 years. Same owner as 8515 Pritchard Place. This site has been reported to Safety & Permits. Jared Munster followed up with a report to Public Works. The container has been reported to Ms. Midura's office - Enrico Sterling.
Corner of Apple & CambronneThis site is also used as a strip site and dump site for vehicles. Same owner as 8515 Pritchard Place.


This folks is not what I believe Jesus would do if he owned properties in our neighborhood.
NorthWest Carrollton argued 8515 off of the demolition list. We have indicated repeatedly that we believe the only way that owners who do not properly secure and maintain their properties will learn is if they are fined..... REPEATEDLY. There have been no fines or hearings on this property. We were lucky to prevent this cute little house that we hope one day a family will love and be happy in from being demolished. I believe the only thing that saved this house was the fact that NorthWest Carrollton has already lost houses to illegal and immoral demolitions. And because the February 2007 tornado also resulted in the loss of a number of historic properties that were unable to be repaired. Today the grass is uncut and the property empty but at least it is secure from the elements.
The corner of Apple & Cambronne is a bit brighter these days because the Jesus Miracle Power group, in the same block of Apple, are now using this area as a basketball court. So far this seems to be a positive outlet for neighborhood youth. BUT the lot still collects abandoned or illegally parked cars that are in the process of being repaired or stripped. This is reported repeatedly to our Quality of Life Officer, who repeatedly tags and has towed the illegal cars. We thank him. But we wish that the property owner would be more responsible or the city would more aggressively fine these kinds of offenses.
And the Church of the Holy Sand Lot is still the same eyesore it has been for years.
Want to add insult to injury? These properties, owned by a "church", are probably tax exempt. So we have to harangue the city to: prevent demolitions, fine the owners, clean up the drains and remove the abandoned cars. And the Reverend Toris Young again gets a free ride on somebody else's money - our tax dollars.
This is a person who has said: "It doesn't matter what the (U.S.) Constitution says,". This not a person to listen to or respect. This is a person who should be ashamed of himself. We are ashamed to have to say he is a part of our neighborhood.
Now if anyone at City Hall is listening could we please have this criminal fined.... REPEATEDLY until he cleans up his properties or sells them? We'd like to have the properties owned by someone who will care about them like so many of the good people in NorthWest Carrollton who have fought to return postKatrina. What we are certain of - because ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS!, is that the Reverend Toris Young and Greater Bibleway Baptist Church are NOT people who care, unless you are talking about the self serving, self interest kind of caring.

Phoenix Recycling - curbside service

Since Katrina the City of New Orleans hasn't offered curbside recycling.
BUT Phoenix Recycling DOES.

For $14 a month they will come to your house every 2 weeks.
Neighborhood Organizations get a discount.
NorthWest Carrollton is ROUTE 5,
which means they pick up every other Monday.
Perfect for getting rid of weekend party debris.

I've been using the service for a year now and love it.
We are reusing our old City of New Orleans recycling bins.
Our old ones didn't float away and some new ones floated in with Katrina.
You can also use cheap garbage cans.
You can NOT use the City of New Orleans garbage cans for recycling.

Earth Day is in April, so sign up NOW.
That way if someone asks what you are doing for Earth Day
you can tell them you've started recycling with Phoenix.



Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Home of the Rock 'n Bowl - NOT MID-CITY

In case you were not aware the Rock 'n Bowl is coming to NorthWest Carrollton.
We are THRILLED.

Unfortunately the Carrollton side of the Rock 'n Bowl is painted with a logo that says "Mid-City Lanes". This section of New Orleans is NOT Mid-City. It's at the very edge of Carrrollton and solidly INSIDE the boundaries of NorthWest Carrollton.

I loved the painted logo on the original and actual Mid-City Lanes. I love a painted logo on the Rock 'n Bowl's new location. I just wish that the ROCK 'N BOWL part was larger and that instead of Mid-City Lanes we could have gotten the bowling pin or pins.

We've worked too hard to have the historic character of our CARROLLTON neighborhood recognized and valued to have the Rock 'N Bowl confuse people. It's a shame our newest neighbors don't realize just how strong their influence in the neighborhood and to the neighborhood could be.

City Park Master Plan - NOT JUST FOR GOLF!

On Tuesday March 10, 2009, from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at the Pavilion of the Two Sisters in the Botanical Garden in City Park, the City Park Improvement Association will consider further amendments to the City Park Master Plan and will hear comments on the new proposed $46 million Master Plan for golf.


In preparation for this meeting, www.CityParkNOLA.org was created as a 'bulletin board' and blog to aid in keeping the non-golfing users of City Park informed about revisions to City Park's 2005 Master Plan, particularly the proposals for the golf courses and the impact these developments may have on the rest of the park. The website brings together all media articles about the master plan and the golf course developments published since 2005, the original 2005 Master Plan, the version of the Master Plan revised in 2007, renderings from both plans showing the changes, and renderings showing details of the new $46 million proposal to rebuild and expand the City Park golf courses.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

ZONING DOCKET 5-09 - 2620 CAMBRONNE STREET

From: NorthWest Carrollton <nwcarrollton@mindspring.com>
To: Shelley Midura <smidura@cityofno.com>, "Katherine V. Shepherd" <kvshepherd@cityofno.com>

 
Subject: ZONING DOCKET 5-09 - NORTHWEST CARROLLTON OPPOSITION

Date: Mar 3, 2009 10:01 PM

Council Member Midura
NorthWest Carrollton Civic Association is OPPOSED
to granting this significant zoning change in the RD-2 zoning in the neighborhood.

ZONING DOCKET 5-09 - Request by JOHN A. SMITH for a Zoning Change from an RD-2 Two-Family Residential District to a B-1 Neighborhood Business District, on Square 377, Lot M, in the Seventh Municipal District, bounded by Cambronne, Apple, Belfast and Joliet Streets. The municipal address is 2620 CAMBRONNE STREET. (ZBM B-13

http://www.flickr.com/photos/karenapricot/2643019574/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/karenapricot/3327479586/
The property at this single municipal address is near the center the RD-2 neighborhood, only 31 feet by 110 feet, far too small for 3 metered addresses. Additionally, as the pictures above show, there is no capacity for anything other than on street parking.
We do not understand nor do we support converting a single house in this block to B-1 Zoning.  While we understand that commercial zoning is a part of the perimeter of our neighborhood, we have worked with the Master Planning Process and Goody-Clancy and Camiros and have repeatedly outlined our desire to retain the RD-2 character of the neighborhood which is a part of Historic Carrollton on the National Historic Register.
We are pleased that Mr. Smith's family is living in the neighborhood.  We look forward to the day when every historic house is occupied with friends and family. This is appropriate residential use and consistent with the existing zoning.  But we are strongly opposed to this kind of unnecessary spot zoning change.

Sincerely,
Jenel Hazlett - President NorthWest Carrollton
Karen Gadbois - Vice President
Scott Andrews - Secretary
Margaret Reinhard - Treasurer
Debi Theobald - Crime Liasion