Private Property Rights and your backyard

·         Clearing of trees: As the law stands now, one only needs approval of the City before trees are removed from public space (such as the right-of-way adjacent to the street). Removal of trees on private property is not regulated.

·         Paving: As the zoning ordinance is written now, the only limitation on paving is within the required front-yard. Beyond the 40% limitation in the required front-yard area one is free to pave their entire lot.

o   The draft zoning ordinance (CZO) speaks to more extensive paving, but that ordinance is probably about 6-months from adoption.

o   Additionally, the Sewerage and Water Board is proposing to create a mechanism to have people pay for the impact of their paving on the City’s stormwater system. The hope is that this will create an incentive to have more permeable surfaces in our urban environment.

o   Even though there is no limitation on paving, one is not allowed to shed water to a neighbor’s property. The property owner will have to accommodate their own water either through grading the lot to channel water to the street or installing drainage.

2013 Po-Boy Fest

7th Annual Oak Street Po-Boy Festival
presented by Abita Beer

Sunday November 24th, 2013
10am-7pm
Oak St at Carrollton

No Saints Game! The Saints will have defeated the Falcons the Thursday before.

Named "Best Food Festival of 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012" by Gambit Weekly

S.O.S. Volunteers needed!

SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER NOW

Pitch in for 3 hours of your time and get a free Oak Street Po-Boy Fest T-shirt and an invitation to an exclusive Volunteer Thank You party.

The Oak Street Po-Boy Festival is an excellent opportunity to get involved in the community, and experience the rich culture of New Orleans. Here's how you can help on fest day: set up, host, greet, distribute maps, take surveys, staff VIP/Hospitality area or Kid's World, bus tables, hang signs, clean up, break down, and more.

To volunteer, please fill out our handy form at www.poboyfest.com/get-involved

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Details for the Fest are shaping up!

Check our website for all the latest menus, schedules, and information!

The menus are out! Check out the delicious po-boys that will be served up by OVER 30 PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS! Experience the best po-boys in the city all in one place for one day only. Save room to try multiple varieties - Shrimp, Oysters, Roast Beef and all manner of classic as well as unique taste combinations.

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Music throughout the Fest!

The Main Stage will be located at the corner of Oak & Eagle and will feature Los Po-Boy-Citos, Flow Tribe, Johnny Sketch & the Dirty Notes, Rebirth Brass Band & More!
NEW: Saloon Stage at the Maple Leaf Bar—Lineup TBA soon!
+ Brass Bands on Leonidas Street & Plum.

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History Center is back!

Poppy Tooker will host the traditional telling of Gendusa & Martin Brothers Po-Boy family stories this year! Join us at the Mater Dolorosa Parish House.
Panels will showcase the saga of the po-boy all day kicking off at noon.

12:00 to 12:30: First Families of the Poor Boy: Martin and Gendusa
Celebrate the 83rd anniversary of the Poor Boy with the two families responsible for its creation following the 1929 streetcar strike. Family members tell stories about the founding fathers of the poor boy sandwich and the poor boy loaf: restaurant owners Bennie and Clovis Martin and baker John Gendusa.
Featuring: Gendusa& Martin family members
Moderator: Poppy Tooker, Host of Louisiana Eats!, WWNO 89.9
Free Tasting Samples: Gendusa Poor Boy Bread (Donated by John Gendusa Bakery)

12:30 to 1:00: Louisiana Eats! The People, the Food, and Their Stories
You listen to Poppy’s weekly radio show, now discover her new book. Poppy Tooker talks about Louisiana Eats! The People, the Food, and Their Stories and shares stories about Louisiana food culture.
Featuring: Poppy Tooker, Host of Louisiana Eats!, WWNO 89.9
Author book signing sponsored by Blue Cypress Books immediately afterwards in History Center

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Families, don't miss the Kid's World hosted by St. Andrew's Episcopal School on their beautiful, spacious campus.

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More better fest!

We're always improving and this year will prove no different!
This year's festival is designed for a much smoother pedestrian flow. Plan on exploring the entire 8 blocks from Carrollton to Eagle and down Leonidas to Plum Street! We’re adding a new Food Truck Village on Leonidas and there will be brass band music at the corner of Plum & Leonidas St. This year we’ll have multiple new eating areas/beverage centers just steps off Oak St. for you to sit and enjoy your sandwiches. Look out for the main dining area + Parkway Tavern, Bratz Y’all and Bayou Girls Po-Boys in the Advocacy Center parking lot on the corner of Oak & Cambronne St.

Thirsty? Just like last year, drinks come to you via roving beer vendors.

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Getting to Po-Boy Fest

The streetcar tracks from Napoleon to Carrollton Ave are still under construction but don’t fret! If you are catching the streetcar downtown, NORTA will have a shuttle available at Napoleon Ave where the street car line ends that will drop you off on Oak & Carrollton Ave. Simply let the streetcar driver know you’ll need a transfer for Shuttle 13.

Bike to the fest! Bike Easy will manage a bike parking corral just steps away from the fest.

This festival proudly supports the Oak Street Merchants; many will be open festival day. For a complete listing check out the Shop Oak page on the website.

 

Reading your Entergy Bill

The Alliance for Affordable Energy says:

 

Your bill will not have all of the charges listed below. Each company has different ways of charging but this is a pretty good list to start with!

Customer Charge: Fixed part of customer's bill, regardless of energy usage.  The charge covers maintenance of service lines, customer's meters, and service locations. For residential, it is between $7-8/month regardless of your energy use.

Fuel Adjustment fee: The cost that it took to make the energy that you used. This includes the cost of fuel (natural gas, coal, etc) and the cost of transporting that stuff to the power plant (barges, trains, etc).

Energy Charge or Base Rate Charge: Non-fuel costs of providing electricity, including cost of wires, poles, power plants, and service trucks. The total amount of money needed to provide these services is divided up among all bill-payers and we pay for the portion based on the amount of energy we used.

Municipal Franchise Fee: This reflects fees charged by municipalities for municipally owned electric lines and infrastructure.

Louisiana PSC Case Credit/Charge: This may be either a credit or charge tied to a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order that balances the production costs of all Entergy's Operating Companies in Louisiana. The credits and charges equalize production costs from one Entergy service provider to the Entergy family of companies. They are based on the prior year and appear on bills from June through December.

LURC Hurricane Charges: This is your utility company insurance plan. Insurance companies refuse to insure storm vulnerable areas like South Louisiana. Hence, the Public Service Commission authorized the Louisiana Utilities Restoration Corporation (LURC) sold bonds for Entergy to pay for system restoration costs after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 and Hurricane Gustav in 2008. Customers will pay fees on 2005 bonds until 2018 and 2008 bonds until 2022. 

Storm Reserve Rider: The Storm Reserve Rider is similar to the LURC but allows Entergy to charge customers upfront for costs expected to be incurred due to storm damage. The Storm Reserve is capped at $75 million.

Federal Mandated EAC Rider: This charge is federally mandated to comply with the EPA's Clean Air Interstate Rules that reduce and cap asthma-causing air pollutants including nitrous oxide (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2).

kWh(kiloWatt hour) Metered: This number reflects the amount of energy you used in a month. This is how the utility knows what to charge you. See chart below for how you can spend a kWh:

 

Device	Wattage	Hours used	kWh
medium window-unit AC	1000 watts	one hour	1 kWh
large window-unit AC	1500 watts	one hour	1.5 kWh
small window-unit AC	500 watts	one hour	0.5 kWh
42" ceiling fan on low speed	24 watts	ten hours	0.24 kWh
light bulb	100 watts	730 hours (i.e., all month)	73 kWh
CFL light bulb	25 watts	730 hours	18 kWh

To figure out how much a device will cost you use this formula:

wattage   x   hours used  ÷  1000  x  price per kWh  =   $ cost of electricity

Tree Giveaway

Native Trees Giveaway 

Thanks to grants from Apache and ACTrees, Parkway Partners is giving away 400 Native Trees.  Limit 2 per household to Orleans Parish residents.

Where:

Parkway Partners
1137 Baronne St.
NOLA 70113

(at corner of Clio in Central City)

When:

This Saturday, November 9

Gates are open from 9am-noon

Why:

Parkway Partners' numerous programs supporting urban trees are all part of an effort to re-forest New Orleans.  We are the most de-forested city in the U.S.! All proceeds from 2nd Saturdays go directly back into the 2nd Saturday Educational Program.