Lost Bird

LOST BIRD

Flew away from 2242 DANTE ST (at Neron)

If found please call:
655-4107 my cell phone (Yume Jensen) or
862-7170 the home phone or
228-0787 my dad's cell phone (Kent Jensen)

Here are pictures of Fuji

He often does the wolf whistle

Trees restore health of city

Times Picayune Opinion

A Thornton Wilder quote best speaks of the reason that we should all be aware of the value of planting trees in our neighborhoods and public places: The planting of trees is the least self centered of all that we do.

The regional efforts of beautification and civic organizations have really helped restore some of the damage done by Katrina. However, unless homeowners and others make efforts to plant trees in their own neighborhoods, the effort will fall short.

Trees benefit the environment, as we all know, but they also help increase property values, slow traffic on suburban streets, help reduce heating and cooling costs and reduce storm water run-off. It is truly a green effort, with no noticeable downside.

Those of us who are planting trees now are doing so for future generations and for the restored environmental health and beauty of the metropolitan region. Maybe more of you will join in the effort.
Mary Ann Terranova Joyner
Metairie

Catch Basin Cleaning - Do what you can

On Monday Feb 6, 2012 Times Picayune in its Op Ed asked "New Orleanians to lend a hand and clean out the curb-level drainage grates on their streets."   And we should all listen to this request.  If you are physically able to use a shovel do what you can to ensure that the area around the catch basin and immediately in front of it is clear of debris.   When the catch basins are blocked our streets are more likely to flood.

BUT it is important that you do not try to lift or remove the large metal drain covers. It is the Department of Public Works responsibility to cleanout the inside of the drains.  As the Op Ed says:

"The city had planned to clean out 6,000 catch basins by the end of 2011, but in the first nine months of the year, they had not even cleared half that number."  So there we could have problems. IF you notice a drain in the neighborhood that is backing up please leave a comment on the blog or send an email to NWCarrollton@mindspring.com.  We will help inform the city and try to get one of the city's vacuum trucks into the area..

"Officials plan to ask several times a year -- February, June and November -- times when the combination of heavy rainfall and debris like leaves can cause problems." 

While the weather is still nice... take some time to do what you can to ensure water doesn't backup in our streets.

Trees on St. Charles Ave.

Large Oak Trees on St. Charles Good.

Large Oak Trees in your neighborhood.... fight for them.... they are equally good.

See the full article from the Times Picayune below.  And use it as a reference the next time you hear that large trees might not be a good idea.

http://blog.nola.com/new_orleans/2012/02/group_plants_close_to_300_tree.html

Although the oaks of St. Charles Avenue survived Hurricane Katrina almost unscathed, decades of development and neglect were another matter, leaving stretches of New Orleans’ iconic boulevard harsh and barren. Like so much else in the city, restoration of the avenue did not seem urgent before the 2005 storm.

View full sizePhotos by Ted Jackson, The Times-PicayuneCody Schmidt, left, and Allen Rhea of Bayou Tree Services steady a large live oak sapling as heavy machinery moves it into place near the corner of St. Charles and Louisiana avenues.

 

But thanks to private donations and the partnership of the city’s Parks and Parkways department, the 353-member St. Charles Avenue Association has spent the past five years replanting the street with close to 300 young oaks, said Ted Le Clercq, association president. The last few trees are being planted this spring.
“This project really arose out of Katrina,” Le Clercq said. “Those of us who came back to New Orleans made a decision to stay here. After Katrina, it was important for everybody to look around and get involved. New Orleans had a different attitude after Katrina, frankly.”
Parks and Parkways provided technical expertise and made sure the group had permission to plant, said Ann MacDonald, department director.
“We do not have a lot of resources to replant trees in some cases,” MacDonald said. “St. Charles Avenue was not flooded as a result of Katrina,” so recovery money was not available, she said.
“It truly was a textbook private-public partnership, and, in this post-Katrina landscape, that’s the only way to get things done,” she said.
The St. Charles Avenue Association raised more than $325,000 from sources including a $1,000 grant from the New Orleans Saints, 31 major underwriters and hundreds of other donations, large and small, said Bret Clesi, a former president of the group.
“Every dollar raised for the trees was spent on the trees, not a penny for administrative expenses,” Clesi said. Other expenses include fertilizing the trees every year, checking their health and spraying for buckmoth caterpillars.

View full sizeWorkers with Bayou Tree Services wrestle a large live oak sapling into place.

 

The lower Garden District needed the most oaks, but trees were planted everywhere that property owners agreed to have them along the avenue, and along a portion of South Carrollton Avenue in the Riverbend.
“There are almost 1,000 live oaks on St. Charles Avenue,” Le Clercq said. “How old are the oldest ones? Nobody knows exactly. We think that many of them were planted in the late 1800s. That’s why we call the project the Once Every 100 Years project. Somebody did this for us 100 years ago, and that’s why we get to enjoy the beauty of the avenue today.”
“These trees were 45-gallon trees, roughly 8 to 10 feet tall,” said Bobby Hassinger, another former president. “They’re doing tremendously. If you look down the first part of the project, between Lee Circle and Jackson, you see a lot of the traditional green of the avenue.”
Live oaks can live 200 to 300 years, although they often die younger in an urban environment, said John Benton, whose Bayou Tree Service was hired by the St. Charles Avenue Association to plant the trees. The species is indigenous to coastal areas. “They’re designed to tolerate hurricanes and floods. That’s what they do,” Benton said.
Hassinger lives on the avenue, in a home that has been in his family more than 100 years. Growing up, he watched Carnival parades roll beneath the oaks. “It’s a wonderful cohesive force, the streetscape,” he said. “It feels like a great community.”
However, members of the St. Charles Avenue Association do not have to live on the street; in fact, some live out of state. The only requirements to join are dues of $20 a year and a devotion to the city’s signature thoroughfare.
Now that the tree-planting project is almost finished, the association is focusing on having the St. Charles Avenue streetcar declared a national historic landmark. The group also monitors zoning and development, works with property owners to maintain the historic beauty of the avenue and maintains an information page on Facebook.
“We are city of neighborhoods. Everybody says so,” Clesi said. “In a way, St. Charles is kind of the city’s neighborhood. You take your kids to ride on the streetcar, to the park.”
Le Clercq agreed. “It’s where we go to celebrate Carnival, it’s where we celebrate football championships. It’s where we send our visitors. Imagine the avenue without the oaks, without the streetcar. It’s unimaginable.”

••••••••

The St. Charles Avenue Association spends about $20,000 a year to maintain the nearly 1,000 live oaks along the avenue. Tax-deductible contributions can be sent to the 501(c)(3) “Save the Oaks Inc.,” P.O. Box 15833, New Orleans, La. 70175.

•••••••

Annette Sisco is community news editor. She can be reached at asisco@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3310.

Prison Yard Lighting

Rock N Bowl & Ye Olde College Inn have installed "Lighting" along Dublin and Fig. While the neighborhood respects the property owners desire to provide "safe" lighting, this lighting creates a "Prison Yard" feel in the neighborhood. We would like CPC and Code Enforcement and Safety & Permits to look in what can be done to have the owner create more appropriate, less stark lighting options for the business and to determine if the lighting is compliant with city code.

This photo below was taken from Pritchard Place looking toward Fig Street.
The distance between the light and the camera is a city block.


The photo below was taken from Dublin looking across to Fig Street. It appears the property owner is using lighting attached to utility poles to light property owned across Fig Street. 


The photo below shows the same Fig @ Dublin Corner as above from Dublin
looking across Fig to Earhart.


The photo below was taken on Dublin of the parking lot behind Rock N Bowl.

Abandoned Truck 8100 Block of Pritchard Place

Please see the photos below for the truck that is abandoned in the 8100 Block of Pritchard Place. The LA License number is X049071 The wheels are now gone so we are pretty confident that no one is coming back for it.

Urban Tree Canopy

Today an article was published in the Times Picayune about how New Orleans has/is restoring the Urban Tree Canopy that was lost in Katrina.

NorthWest Carrollton has worked with Hike for Katrina to plant a little over a 100 trees in our 5 x 7 block neighborhood.   With the drought of the past year we've lost some of those trees. And because of the drought we did not arrange to plant trees this season.   We will plant trees again BUT only
- if the homeowner or tenant participates in the planting and shows on the day of the planting the capacity to consistently water the tree.
or
- if the neighborhood sponsors a tree in a specific location.

Watering is critical to successful tree planting AND most importantly in NOT loosing a tree once it is planted or established.

Any property owner or tenant inside the boundaries of Earhart-Carrollton-Claiborne-Leonidas can leave a comment on this post and contact information or address and someone from the neighborhood organization will be in touch.

We are working to set a planting date with Hike for KaTREEna for the first weekend in December 2012.

As the Times Picayune article below states, Trees are one of the things that makes New Orleans unique. And in NorthWest Carrollton we know the contribute to quality of life.

Green canopy returning to N.O. Streets.
February 6, 2012

"From the majestic oaks that line St. Charles Avenue to the crape myrtles that envelop the city’s neutral grounds in fuchsia and lavender, New Orleans has long been known for it majestic urban canopy. But the city’s lush landscape suffered a severe blow during Hurricane Katrina, when more than 100,000 trees were blown over or died from sitting in salty floodwaters.

Six years later, both public and private groups have made significant progress in replanting the trees that were lost, restoring roughly half of what was lost. This week, one of the main players in the re-greening effort — Parkway Partners — planted its 10,000th tree since the storm.
“We’re going to be Tree City, U.S.A., again,” said Executive Director Jean Fahr, as the lucky tree, a 15-gallon elm, was planted on Desire Street near St. Claude Avenue.
Its hard to estimate precisely how much of the tree canopy was lost in the storm and flood, but the loss was massive, said Ann Macdonald, director of the city’s Parks and Parkways department. To restore New Orleans’ natural charm, the city has created several programs, including a $750,000 grant project that resulted in nearly 3,000 new trees being planted throughout the city, Macdonald said. The department is also about to re-landscape Poydras Street from Claiborne Avenue to the river.
In addition, Macdonald said the city has collaborated with local organizations to plant another 4,000 to 5,000 trees. These trees vary in type, from live oaks to Chinese fringe trees, and have been planted in all parts of the city.
“We are constantly working with community groups,” she said. “Partnerships have been the answer for Parks and Parkways’ survival post-Katrina.”
One of those community groups is Hike for KaTREEna, which has planted close to 13,000 trees since 2007, according to director Connie Uddo.
“Our goal is to hit 15,000 this year,” she said
The organization, founded in 2006, was created by longtime resident Monique Pilie, who decided to hike the Appalachian Trail — from Georgia to Maine — to raise awareness and collect pledges. She vowed to plant one tree for every mile she hiked.
“She hiked 2,000 miles,” Uddo said. “But she planted more.”
Hike for KaTREEna’s roughly $40,000 planting season runs from October to May, and the group plants mainly crape myrtle and magnolia trees, which are all purchased locally, she said. The group has worked in more than 50 neighborhoods and on several neutral grounds, schools and parks, she said.
“The trees are coming in now, they are filling out and taking shape,” Uddo said. “I drive down the street, and I think, ‘Wow, our footprints are all over the place.’”
St. Paul’s Homecoming Center and Lakeview Civic Improvement Association, among others, have also contributed, Uddo said, noting an initiative in Lakeview that planted 10 miles’ worth of green space, or 3,000 trees, she said.
On a smaller scale, individual efforts by residents have helped speed along the restoration.
Local lawyer Ted Le Clercq began planting oaks along St. Charles Avenue in 2006 as a way to give back to the community.
Le Clercq has planted 300 live oaks to date, ranging in size from 30 to 200 gallons, bringing the avenue’s oak count to nearly 1,000. The $350,000 project raked in money from around the city and the nation, with contributors as far away as Chicago and Los Angeles, he said.
“I, like many people, think St. Charles holds a special place in the city,” he said. “People feel strongly about it because of what it means to New Orleans.”
Residents replanting trees in their yards has also helped. John Benton, president of Bayou Tree Service, said his company has planted about 3,000 trees since the hurricane, including all of Le Clercq’s oaks.
Other major replanting efforts have taken shape within the city’s parks.
John Hopper, chief development officer at City Park, said City Park lost 2,000 of its 12,000 trees after Katrina. Since then, officials have replanted 4,000 trees, with more than 50 species represented.
It will take time for the canopy to flourish, Hopper said. But it will be worth the wait.
“We have to start small,” he said. “We also need to think that even if we can’t enjoy them, our grandchildren can.”
By Sydni Dunn, staff writer"

Count and awareness in January 2012

Jarvis Deberry a favorite Op Ed writer. He is insightful and *real*. The reality he presents is what surrounds us in our neighborhoods. It is sad. It is especially sad because there is so little that so many of us can do to change what is. Sometimes awareness is all we have. 

As we end the month of January with 25 murders, take the time to read or re-read Jarvis' Op Ed below and understand that IF it looks or feels like an argument could escalte:
1) Get out of the way,
2) Get help.

In New Orleans, petty conflicts leads to tragic endings: Jarvis DeBerry
Article below and in link published in Times Picayune January 24, 2012
A friend tells the story about hanging out with her college boyfriend at Joe Brown Park on a weekend long ago. He told her they should probably go ahead and leave the eastern New Orleans park, she said, because, as he assessed it, "They're about to start shooting."

She looked around -- all the way around -- and didn't see any reason for alarm. She was still telling him that he was crazy, laughing at his apparent paranoia when the first shots rang out.

That's when everybody bolted for their cars and my friend and her prophetic boyfriend got trapped in the crush of panicked drivers he'd have avoided if she had only listened to him.

You're probably wondering the same thing she was wondering as she sat in the passenger's seat of the car: If he didn't see any guns, if he didn't see anybody fighting, how could he have known with such certainty that the forecast called for bullets?

Pretty easily, to hear him tell it. He could hear two men arguing. But the mere fact of their argument wasn't as disturbing to him as the realization that they were arguing about something that amounted to nothing. It had been this man's experience that the likelihood of violence is directly proportional to the pettiness of the dispute.

If we are to accept that statement as truth, we'd also have to accept the corollary that disputes over more significant matters end peacefully. I'm not so sure that's the case. But it doesn't really matter. Suffice to say that there's a history here of arguments ending with guns drawn. It's not a new phenomenon.

The U.S. Department of Justice may have finally written about the role arguments play in homicides last year, but it's been that way for a while. "In reading the narratives of the offenses," the report says, "one is struck by their ordinariness -- arguments and disputes that escalate into homicide." To which Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas says, "See! I told you." But the report has not had the mitigating effect Serpas has wished it would. Why not? If I had to guess I'd say it's because the report was old news. We've long known that we've had people killed for the most trifling of reasons. Serpas took this job knowing that.

Friday in Lakeview the grandfather of a little girl reportedly killed the girl's father after the two men argued. Farrell Sampier, 44, was booked Friday night with the second-degree murder of 21-year-old Antonio Miller. Both Miller and Sampier worked at Mondo restaurant. Chef Susan Spicer said management was aware that the two men were arguing about family matters, but added, "They both appeared to be reasonable, rational, nice, normal human beings."

On Jan. 7, 36-year-old Sabrina Elliott lost her 17-year-old son Joseph Elliot and his 41-year-old father, Joseph Evans, after, she said, she argued with her downstairs neighbor. The dispute began, Elliot said, when her children heard a commotion and ran to the window. The woman downstairs looked up and called them "whores." Elliot said she told the woman "not to disrespect my kids" and then they traded a few more harsh words "about nothing."
Police say the woman's fiance, 25-year-old Tabari Butler, and Butler's friend, 20-year-old Joseph Tate, later opened fire outside Elliot's front door, killing her son and his father.

Lisa Fitzpatrick, head of the APEX Community Center, said Joseph Elliot was known as "the reconciler" because of his peacemaking ways. He had started a Sunday-night worship group for teens and helped everybody he could, Fitzpatrick said. The mother of the teenager's newborn son was on the phone with him when he was killed and heard him trying to diffuse the tension. She heard him say, "You're neighbors." Then the phone went dead.
"Why did they shoot?" Sabrina Elliot asked a reporter, still trying to make sense of that which doesn't make any. Why they shot is unknown, but that they did after an argument about nothing shouldn't strike any of us as a surprise.

Jarvis DeBerry can be reached at jdeberry@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3355. Follow him at http://connect.nola.com.user/jdeberry/index.html and at twitter.com/jarvisdeberrytp.

Don't just blame the victim... find the root cause

New Orleans murder rate is not just an issue of "bad" people with "bad" manners killing each other.
There is something under this driving the action.

Fear and murder is being used as a weapon on our culture society and the question should be: Who is benefiting??

The NOPD can't just keep blaming the victims. Yes it is true that no stone can be left unturned as NOPD works to solve murders and this includes the victim's history. BUT there has to be more to the murder rate. And a PR policy that appears blames the victim won't get to root cause for the increase in New Orleans murder rate.

Consider signing the petition:
https://www.change.org/petitions/city-of-new-orleans-end-the-practice-and-policy-of-releasing-homicide-victims-arrest-records

Jarvis Deberry & Crime and Murder and ....

Jarvis Deberry a favorite Op Ed writer.  He is insightful and *real*.  The reality he presents is what surrounds us in our neighborhoods. It is sad. It is especially sad because there is so little that so many of us can do to change what is.  Sometimes awareness is all we have.

This is his commentary is from January 27th.
We'll see in New Orleans that hopelessness can't father change: Jarvis DeBerry
We had spent more than an hour talking, a small group of black men, from high-school age to middle-age. In nearby rooms at Xavier University's Norman C. Francis building, similarly sized groups of black men were talking, too: about our childhoods, about the relationships we did or (in far too many cases) did not have with our fathers. About our definitions of masculinity, about overcoming obstacles and disproving stereotypes.

I had been asked to facilitate the conversation, but I'll admit that at times the stories of the hurt and the brokenness were too much to bear. Take the man who, when asked to share his fondest memory from childhood, announced that he'd never had a childhood. Starting at age 7, he said, he was assigned the care of his younger siblings. And he was consistently being screamed at and struck by his mother for the most minor infractions. He was 12 when he asked her to tell him who his daddy was. Her response: "Why do you want to know?"

He grabbed a knife that day, he said, and slashed up the pillow on his bed.
I've come to realize that one of my flaws is my belief that talking things out is inherently therapeutic, that honest conversation surely heralds positive and significant change. That's why I was shaken up by the answer a man from the B.W. Cooper housing development gave to the last question on my list: "What can you do, based on some of the lessons you've learned along your life path, to help make positive change in a young person's life?"
He said, "Nothing."

I'm still trying to interpret the grin that accompanied his answer. I think it was a more of a smirk than anything, his way of saying that everything we had discussed that day wouldn't amount to anything, that our talking was futile because the situation he sees every day is hopeless.
We had begun the morning with statistics provided by the Children's Defense Fund, including this one: A black boy born in 2001 has a 1 in 3 chance of going to prison. The Children's Defense Fund and New Orleans' Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies summoned a cross-section of black men to discuss what can be done to interrupt what the CDF calls a "cradle to prison pipeline."
I wouldn't have participated in Saturday's conversation if I'd thought the situation hopeless, and it surprised me that somebody who does think it hopeless showed up. As disturbing as the man's response was, though, it was enlightening. If this apparently decent man who took the time Saturday to participate in the discussion thinks it is impossible to prevent young people from morphing into monsters, what do his less involved neighbors think?

It's unclear where the answers to our crime problem will come from. With every shocking crime this city experiences the answer seems more distant still. But we can be assured that no answer will emerge from hopelessness. People who don't believe that change is possible cannot be counted on to produce it.
It's almost as unreasonable to expect broken people to create healthy communities, but those were the people who convened Saturday to give it a try, men who in so many ways are still wounded even as they are asked to display leadership. The former child who'd been thrust into a father-like role without even knowing his father's name stood next to me as we lined up for lunch. He said he wonders sometimes "why I'm not crazy."
It is a wonder. It's a good thing that the abused and neglected boy that he was took out his rage on a pillow. Others in his circumstances have done much more damage. They've done violence to people.

Jarvis DeBerry can be reached at jdeberry@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3355. Follow him at http://connect.nola.com.user/user/jdeberry/indext.html and at twitter.com/jarvisdeberrytp.

 

The crimes of Toris Young

NorthWest Carrollton Civic Association would like to thank the Times Picayune for the "Scamming the SBA" opinion in Saturday 28, 2012.

http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2012/01/scamming_the_small_business_ad.html

The crimes of Toris Young deserve attention. Our neighborhood has struggled with the peripheral affects of Torris Young's crimes for so long Bibleway has its own category on our neighborhood blog.

Toris Young has not only stolen money but he has stolen quality of life, caused neighborhood volunteers to have to cycle and recycle with NOPD and the city of New Orleans to try and contain the Bibleway blight. But, because the "owner" is in jail, the blight remains.

We have one request of the Times Picayune. Our Neighborhood is not Hollygrove. Our neighborhood is West Carrollton-Leonidas and more specifically we are NorthWest Carrollton.  We'd appreciate it if when articles are published on this area that the correct label be used.

https://www.google.com/search?q=west+carrollton+leonidas+neighborhood&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7SKPT_en

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonidas,_New_Orleans

http://nwcarrollton.blogspot.com/2009/05/why-name-northwest-carrollton.html

Clueless in College

Really???    Seriously???    Hello?!!!!???  Penn Institute?!!!??... We were there!

Dear Penn State Editors Birch & Wachter:

You say in your letter to the Times Picayune, published today, and regarding Ed Blakely's book on New Orleans Post Katrina, that:
"In decades to come, serious readers, scholars and other analysts will return to these works, making their own judgments about the people and the events that shaped history."

And STILL you  do not seem to realize that *THIS* is exactly why Blakely's book so incenses New Orleanians.  We know that "scholars and other analysts" will look back to this book. Can we say "Duh"? Specifically *BECAUSE* Blakely gets it WRONG, and you were too lazy to do the fact checking we should expect from a publisher, those who look back at history to "make their own judgments" (ABOUT US!) will get it WRONG too.

All we see in your response to James Gill's Opinion piece (thank you James Gill, again!) is a complete failure to understand context and NO (zero, not even a little) interest or respect for the facts.  For James Gill to be able to say "It would take another book to list all the errors in Blakely's" and your only response to be to say that Blakely's blather is "a revealing personal statement" all the while noting the potential that this book could have for future "research" is almost more insulting than Blakely's book.

Blakely was here, clueless, but here. You are making decisions, and not checking the facts, from the comfort of your not quite Ivory Tower. You have shown to be clueless too. And not just by publishing the blather but by your totally lame defense of it.  Do you really think that the people of New Orleans are too stupid to judge for themselves the potential long term impact of the book? We are not too clueless to realize that, years in the future, someone could someone pick this up and actually think it is something more than a "revealing personal statement, about Ed Blakely's ego. The thought makes us collectively shudder.

Shame on you Penn Institute for Urban Research. Shame on you University of Pennsylvania. You should have known better.


Above in repsonse to
New Orleans Times Picayune Letter to the Editor from Penn State Institute on January 27, 2012
Re: "Ed Blakely can't get anything right," Other Opinions, Jan. 18.

Penn Editors say that Blakely book is a personal statement

As coeditors of the University of Pennsylvania Press series "The City in the 21st Century," we stand behind publication of "My Storm: Managing the Recovery of New Orleans in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina," by Edward Blakely, who served in the Nagin administration's post-Katrina recovery efforts. And we offer a few clarifying points in reference to James Gill's column.

Voices of key participants in the extraordinary events in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina are worthy of being heard. While these voices may be discordant, express differing points of view or make uncommon assertions, they add to the record by providing eye-witness accounts. In decades to come, serious readers, scholars and other analysts will return to these works, making their own judgments about the people and the events that shaped history.

Since 2006, Penn Press has published four other books on post-Katrina New Orleans and, more broadly, disaster research, all in an effort to capture the complexities of such compelling issues. These books reflect a wide variety of approaches, ranging from "Blues for New Orleans" (2006), co-authored by New Orleans's own Nick Spitzer, that captures the city's romantic spirit, to our own "Rebuilding Urban Places After Disaster: Lessons from Hurricane Katrina," which tries to show how economists, engineers, geologists, landscape architects, historic preservationists, educators and others set priorities in rebuilding disaster-torn cities.

We are delighted that Mr. Gill found "My Storm" coherent -- as did we -- but sorry that he could not appreciate the book for what it is: a revealing personal statement of the physical, social and economic challenges faced by one influential player in the story. But in an effort to place this book in context, and add to his post-Katrina library, we have put our other books in the mail, hoping he will consider them in another essay.

Eugenie L. Birch
Susan Wachter
Co-Directors
Penn Institute for Urban Research
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Penn.

Above in response to:
Ed Blakely can't get anything right: James Gill
In the Katrina memoir he came out with last year, former Mayor Ray Nagin was finally able to reveal the true extent of his heroism and resourcefulness.

This was a great public service, because those of us who were here at the time had no idea that Nagin had single-handedly brought the city back while battling incompetent and obstructive state and federal governments. In fact, the general impression was that the pressure had driven him off his gourd and the recovery was botched.

Certainly, Andy Kopplin, who was chief of staff to Gov. Kathleen Blanco during and after Katrina, did not find that the opus squared with his own recollections. Kopplin, who is now Mayor Mitch Landrieu's chief administrative officer, said, "It's no wonder Mayor Nagin self-published his secret conspiracy theories, as any publisher would have required rigorous fact-checking before printing these delusional and offensive charges."

Kopplin was wrong, as Ed Blakely, who spent two years here as Nagin's recovery czar, has now conclusively demonstrated with his own memoir. Blakely found a reputable publisher -- the University of Pennsylvania Press, no less -- but no "rigorous fact-checking" occurred. Blakely's book is no less delusional than Nagin's. Evidently times are so hard that the Ivy League can't afford to hire an editor.

Not that it would require an eagle-eye, or any familiarity with New Orleans, to spot the howlers. It is obvious, as early as the second paragraph of the introduction, that Blakely has not the remotest idea of what he is talking about. There he concedes that New Orleans has produced "great artists," and sets out to prove it by naming five of them. A reasonably intelligent child from anywhere in the country could do that.

Blakely did get two -- Louis Armstrong and Mahalia Jackson -- right, but Tina Turner is from Tennessee, while Scott Joplin was born in Texas and Josephine Baker in Missouri. If Pennsylvania had an editor, that list would never have made it into print. It jumps off the page.
Where Blakely gets these screwy ideas is a mystery, but he evidently prefers making up facts to looking them up. He was always given to what Douglas O'Dell, President George W. Bush's point man on the post-Katrina Gulf Coast, termed "ethereal visions."

Blakely gets O'Dell's name wrong in his book, but probably not out of revenge for that remark.

Blakely gets everything wrong regardless.

When Blakely left town in 2009, he wrote that he and Nagin "parted as we started -- good friends and mutual admirers." Their admiration for each other, and themselves, was not widely shared and it is unlikely that their books will change any minds.

Those who have read both their books -- we are not a large group -- agree that Nagin's is even worse than Blakely's. Perhaps someone in Pennsylvania did read the Blakely manuscript, albeit not for factual accuracy, because it is more or less coherent. It is a mighty hard read, however, containing tedious recitations of his daily movements, and repeated boasts of the supposed successes in disaster recovery that preceded his imaginary triumph here. It is full of urban planning jargon and its tone is self-congratulatory, to a degree remarkable even in a memoir.

He confides that he has a "bad habit" of saying whatever is on his mind -- meaning, of course, that he is admirably fearless and candid -- but in his case, this really is a bad habit, because what is on his mind is such piffle. He does not allow his ignorance to undermine his confidence, however.
It may be that somewhere in these pages lurks an insight of value, but it is impossible to trust his conclusions when he can't be bothered to check the facts. He regales us with his expertise on the Mississippi River, for instance, while suggesting that Houma stands on its banks. No doubt local government could use an overhaul, but only Blakely could complain that the City Park Commission "collects and uses its own taxes without city supervision." The commission has no taxing authority whatsoever.

It would take another book to list all the errors in Blakely's. But it does have a fine photograph of Katrina damage on the dust jacket. The picture was taken in Slidell; Blakely could hardly be expected to know the difference.

••••••••
James Gill is a columnist for The Times-Picayune. He can be reached at jgill@timespicayune.com.

Dante Street Murder

Nola.com article... mis-identifies NorthWest Carrollton as Hollygrove.
2600 Dante is between Apple and Belfast.

New Orleans police are investigating a shooting late Thursday night in the Carrollton neighborhood that left an unidentified man dead. The man was found inside a house in the 2600 block of Dante Street shortly before midnight, according to Officer Garry Flot, a department spokesman.

Police arrived on the scene shortly after receiving a call that shots were fired at the location. The man was shot several times and died on the scene, Flot said.

Investigators found marijuana on the scene, according to Flot.
No information about a possible suspect or motive was given. Homicide Detective Michael Cochran is in charge of the investigation.

Anyone with information about this shooting is asked to call Crimestoppers at 822.1111.

Earlier this year Another shooting took place near the Walgreens on Claiborne at Carrollton on January 11, 2012.
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/01/new_orleans_police_investigati_121.html
This time the neighborhood is properly identified as Carrollton.

Thank you Times Picayune .... Watch the SELA Projects

Wow!  I was speechless for a minute...
Please take a look at today's Times Picayune Opinion piece.
Looks like they too think there might be a problem with the planning for the SELA Projects.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says its computer modeling confirms that planned underground drainage improvements in Uptown New Orleans won't worsen flooding in nearby Hollygrove. But a history of flooding along a section of Hollygrove's Monticello Canal explains the concerns from residents and Jefferson Parish authorities.

Upcoming drainage improvements Uptown are raising concerns about potential flooding in Hollygrove.

That's why it's important that corps and New Orleans officials keep a close eye on the Monticello Canal as the drainage project advances, and they need to be ready to make improvements to the canal if needed.

Crews are soon expected to start the first phase of a $427 million project to build almost six miles of new underground drainage canals Uptown. The work includes building concrete canals under South Claiborne Avenue between Monticello Avenue and Leonidas Street; under Napoleon Avenue between South Claiborne Avenue and Carondelet Street; and along Louisiana and Jefferson avenues and Prytania Street.

Hollygrove residents fear that the increased drainage capacity Uptown will cause water to rise more quickly in the Monticello Canal, along the Orleans-Jefferson parish line. In recent downpours, water has overflowed the canal's banks on the Orleans side, which, unlike the Jefferson Parish bank, lacks a levee and floodwall.

Officials said the corps' modeling indicates the flow of water in the Monticello Canal will increase about one foot during a 10-year storm, but that the canal will not overflow. In addition, the corps has acknowledged that a bottleneck in a culvert at Airline Drive, known as Hoey's Cut, may back water up into the canal south of that location.

Considering that the canal has overflowed in recent rains, it's understandable that residents fear the additional flow of water from the added drainage Uptown.

Jefferson Parish officials are also worried. They asked the corps to expand its computer modeling to see whether the projected one-foot water rise in the Monticello Canal would create flooding problems at Hoey's Cut. That analysis is expected soon, and officials in both parishes need to work
together to address those concerns.

The long-term solution requires improving the flow of water at Hoey's Cut. The state has committed $1.8 million for that effort, but the likely cost is $20.5 million. City Councilwoman Susan Guidry, whose district includes the area, said that until that funding is secured she wants the Monticello Canal north of Airline Drive to be widened and an earthen levee on the Orleans Parish side hardened with concrete. That's a reasonable proposal.

The drainage work Uptown is needed, and it's good that officials are launching that effort. But they need to make sure the work won't hurt residents near the canal.

Partner with the National Guard, bring back the FBI!!!

Here is a link to the Opinion in the TP on Monday

http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2012/01/new_orleans_needs_national_gua.html

Yeah, Yeah and I agree something needs to give because it ain't getting better, it's getting worse.

And the National Guard should definitely be a part of the solution. BUT not a one time oh shit cry to the governor to "Help Us!". Instead a plan should be developed that would partner NOPD with the National Guard to use New Orleans as a training area for troops that are sent so often into civilian areas around the globe. We get more eyes on the street. The military\National Guard get civialian situational experience aka "street time" to help with the many times that they are deployed on humanitarian missions and policing becomes a part of the job. This becomes a win win; for NOPD, for the National Guard, for the citizens of New Orleans and for Louisiana. Are ya listening Mitch???

The other thing that NOPD needs to do is re-create, re-invent, re-enforce its relationship with the FBI's Drug & Weapons teams. When neighborhood organizations could call in tips to both the FBI and NOPD was when we made significant traction in the fight against drug dealers and the assocaited murders. Like it or not the truth is some folks just don't trust NOPD. But folks were willing to call into the FBI. This program may still be "in place" in the NOPD. But citizens aren't told they can call the FBI and this was when our neighborhood turned the corner on a pocket of drug dealers we had not been able to move. Bernazzani and the folks from the FBI made a difference.

This is not just an issue of "bad" people with "bad" manners killing each other. There is something under this driving the action. Fear and murder is being used as a weapon on our culture society and the question should be Who is benefiting?? Why simply isn't cutting it. The NOPD can't just keep blaming the victims. Yes it is true that no stone can be left unturned as NOPD works to solve murders and the victim's history is a part of this BUT there has to be more to it.

So if it takes a village fine. NOPD, FBI, National Guard...

Are ya listening, Mitch???  Cheif Serpas....

and while you are reading take a look at the New Orleans Independent Examiner.

And consider signing this petition:
https://www.change.org/petitions/city-of-new-orleans-end-the-practice-and-policy-of-releasing-homicide-victims-arrest-records

Close to everything... location, location...... location

 

Click on the link to see what this weekend's Times Picayue Real Estate section had to say about our area.

"... Carrollton and Broadmoor blend a relaxed quality of life with a panoply of architectural marvels and styles that make them great places to call home.
As for location, well — smack in the middle of the map, this combined area is just a quick trip away from just about every part of the greater metro region.
With access to just about anywhere, a rich blend of cultural, educational and commercial outlets, Broadmoor and Carrollton are areas that maintain buyer attention in the housing market."

And this is what 2010's Times Picayune had to say

Highlight on NorthWest Carrollton's Dublin Street

From This Saturday's Time Picayune InsideOut

Stylistic accents stand out on a stretch of Carrollton's Dublin Street.
By R. Stephanie Bruno

THE NEIGHBORHOOD: Northwest Carrollton, part of the Carrollton Historic District and bounded roughly by Earhart Boulevard on the north, South Claiborne Avenue on the south, South Carrollton Avenue on the east and Leonidas Street on the west. The Northwest Carrollton Civic Association collaborates with other Carrollton-area neighborhood groups to stage events, such as the annual Christmas caroling in Palmer Park.

Photo by R. Stephanie Bruno -

A Craftsman bungalow with tan weatherboards, white trim and terra-cotta accents has plenty of sassy personality, even though the front porch has been enclosed with jalousie-style windows.

The group considers itself one of the "four corners" neighborhoods that meet at the corners of Carrollton and Claiborne and also include the Fontainebleau, Central Carrollton and Palmer Park neighborhoods.
Craftsman bungalows and raised-basement houses join a mix of early 20th-century house types and styles to define Northwest Carrollton's visual personality. Businesses along Earhart and South Claiborne serve the neighborhood's commercial needs, while Ye Olde College Inn and Rock 'n' Bowl on Carrollton number among the dining and recreational opportunities.
If you aren't sure where Northwest Carrollton is located, just look for the lion statues atop pedestals that herald the entrance to Pritchard Place, developed in 1913.

THE BLOCK: The 2700 block of Dublin Street on the even-numbered, or west, side, between Apricot Street on the north and Belfast Street on the south.
Notre Dame Seminary and Lafayette Academy can be found just across South Carrollton Avenue.

View full size

THE HOUSES: Five early 20th-century houses, including an up-down duplex, a raised- basement double and three single-family homes.
The raised-basement and two bungalows are all in the Craftsman style. Because the house at the corner of Dublin and Apricot has a highly detailed side façade, it almost looks as if the block has a total of six addresses.
********

View full sizePhoto illustration by R. Stephanie Bruno - Craftsman bungalows and raised-basement houses join a mix of early 20th-century house types and styles to define Northwest Carrollton's visual personality.

With holidays and sports events come droves of out-of-town friends. And with out-of-towners come requests to tour the city and see how various neighborhoods have recovered from Hurricane Katrina.
Invariably I show them areas that are examples of rejuvenation as well as those that still have work to do. I make Northwest Carrollton a featured spot on my most recent tour and trumpet the neighborhood's success in bouncing back after both a hurricane and a tornado.

I deposit my guests at the bowling alley to amuse themselves, and treat myself to a Street Walk in the 2700 block of Dublin Street, where I find interesting houses and friendly people willing to chat.

Anatomy of the block
I'm not sure if the other residents of the block were just super speedy in taking down their Christmas decorations or if few on the block decorated this year, but on the day I visit, only the first house on the block (at the corner of Belfast) still wears its holiday garb in the form of red bows affixed to its ironwork.

Blue with a hipped roof, central dormer and impressive masonry columns, the house is built atop a low terrace, giving it extra height and presence. A central set of steps leads from the sidewalk to the front porch, now glass-enclosed and protected by elaborate security ironwork. The glass is a little too reflective for me to get a good look at the front façade details, but the view from the sidewalk suggests a pleasingly symmetrical composition.

A cheery yellow two-story duplex next door exhibits an array of Craftsman features: Exposed rafter tails, deep eaves, angle brackets, multipaned gable windows, latticed gable vents, full-length battered wood columns on the second floor and shorter ones atop pedestals on the first.

The third house on the block is a Craftsman-style raised-basement house. This one looks especially tall, and I think I know why: Whereas the ground-level ceilings of raised-basement houses are usually a couple of feet lower than those above, here it looks as though the ceiling heights are equal on the two floors. The monumental central stairway adds to the vertical illusion, balanced only in part by the low-pitched horizontal lines of the side-gabled roof. That roof dormer? Low and wide, another stylistic accent.

I walk a few steps farther toward Apricot Street and stop in front of the next house, a spacious Craftsman bungalow with a full-width front porch, low-pitched roof and pairs of short columns atop brick pedestals supporting the leading edge of the roof. Like the first house on the block, this one sits atop a gentle terrace. And just like the raised-basement house, this one has a low, wide roof dormer, maybe even a mega dormer compared to its more understated neighbor.

As I walk toward the fifth house -- the one with the pretty garden and LSU flag -- I notice something embedded in the sidewalk. It appears to be a half-dozen or so coins set in the cement, all in one line. As I look closer, I see that they are foreign coins, maybe a lira, a franc, or something similar. Who set the coins in the sidewalk here? Why did they do it and when? I add this to the list of Street Walk mysteries.

The last house on the block with a Dublin Street address is a sassy Craftsman bungalow with tan weatherboards, white trim and terra-cotta accents. Even though the front porch has been enclosed with jalousie-style windows, the house still has plenty of personality, thanks to its intersecting roof gables, siding pattern (alternating wide and thin), gable vent details and post brackets. Big masses of fluffy blooming alyssum in the front garden tumble over granite boulders (perhaps ballast stones?) used for edging, adding to the house's allure. As is often the case with Craftsman bungalows, the sides of this house are as architecturally detailed as the front, yielding three vistas for consideration.

Life on the street
Cedric Todd is sitting in a car parked at the curb in front of the raised-basement house, chatting with a family member. When he asks what I'm doing, the explanation inevitably leads to a chat about the neighborhood and the block.
"This is our family home," he tells me. "It belongs to my daughter."
As Todd and I talk, another car pulls up, and Maxine Rixner and Derek Rixner, his sister and nephew, respectively, exit.
When Todd asks Maxine Rixner, "What you cookin' today?" she answers, "Great Northerns," and then offers me a brief lesson in beans.
"Great Northern is white bean, like a Navy bean," she tells me. "But the Navy bean is small and the Great Northerns are big. You cook 'em up pretty much the same way you cook red beans."
Derek Rixner joins the conversation and claims to have stuffed a flounder, but Todd laughs him off.
"The only things he knows how to cook are eggs and French fries," Todd says.
The conversation goes on long enough for Todd to ask me which Bruno I am related to, and when I tell him the bar, we discover one of those ancient connections everyone in New Orleans seems to have to one another if we dig deep enough.
In this case, the connection is the corner of Maple and Hillary streets, where Bruno's Tavern is located, where Todd worked at Maple Hill restaurant in the early '70s, and where Maxine Rixner's in-laws lived when they would supply mint to Bruno's for its cocktails.
We talk about X-Ray Cleaners and the Applewhites, Amy's Sno-Crème (which was where Fresco is today) and the Betz Funeral Home.
By the time I leave, I feel like I have just found long-lost family members.

********
R. Stephanie Bruno can be reached at housewatcher@hotmail.com

Water from "richer" areas of New Orleans soon to flow at a faster rate into the Monticello Canal

Take a look at the map provided by the Times Picayune:

Water from "richer" areas of New Orleans will soon be flowing at a faster rate into the Monticello Canal.  But we are told that we are not to worry.

I ask you to do the following experiment:
Hook up a lot of hoses to various faucets on the outside of your house. 
Put all the open hose ends at approximately the same location and turn on the water. 
What happens? Water backs up right? 
Increase the flow rate.  What happens? MORE Water backs up. 

But this won't happen when the SELA projects do just that to the Monticello Canal, at least that's what Sewerage and Water Board, Council Member Guidry, the State of Louisiana and the Corps of Engineers want us to believe.
It's not just about the capacity of the canal.  It is about the water that will back up in streets and drains that dump into Monticell because there will already be too much water in the Monticello from other areas of the city.  This is not a Robin Hood story.  This is Prince John dumping on the peasants.

"With the first phase of a seven-year, $427.2 million effort to build nearly six miles of new underground drainage canals in Uptown slated to begin in a few weeks, the Army Corps of Engineers said this week that a second round of computer modeling has confirmed that the work will not worsen flooding in Hollygrove."

Remember what the Corps of Engineers and the State of Louisiana and others said about MRGO?

Below is the full article from the 1.12.2012 Times Picayune

Drainage Canal work won't worsen Hollygrove flooding, corps assures.

By Michelle Kruppa, who keeps reporting on this when it seems no one else cares.
Thank you Michelle.

"With the first phase of a seven-year, $427.2 million effort to build nearly six miles of new underground drainage canals in Uptown slated to begin in a few weeks, the Army Corps of Engineers said this week that a second round of computer modeling has confirmed that the work will not worsen flooding in Hollygrove.

Corps officials ran the additional test in response to long-standing concerns from residents that water flowing west from Uptown backs up water in the Monticello Canal, which runs along the western edge of Hollygrove at the Jefferson Parish line and empties into the wider 17th Street Canal, then into Lake Pontchartrain.

In recent downpours, water has spilled over the Monticello Canal banks into the neighborhood, which unlike the Jefferson Parish side of the canal is not protected by a levee and floodwall.
That flooding stirred fears among Hollygrove residents that significant expansion of drainage capacity under five Uptown thoroughfares would cause water in the canal to rise even more quickly. But corps and S&WB officials have insisted that the mammoth capacity of Pump Station No. 6, which straddles the 17th Street Canal about two miles south of the lake, is sufficient to keep streets dry.

S&WB General Superintendent Joe Becker said in an email that the corps’ most recent modeling indicates the flow will increase about one foot during a 10-year storm but will stay below the canal’s containment walls. New Orleans City Councilwoman Susan Guidry, whose district includes the area, said she is satisfied with the findings.

Though corps officials have insisted that the Monticello Canal can handle additional drainage from Uptown, they have acknowledged that a narrow culvert at Airline Drive — about three-fifths of a mile north of the canal’s origin at South Claiborne Avenue — could force water to back up into the large section of the canal south of Airline Drive.

Becker said Jefferson Parish leaders have asked the corps to expand its computer modeling of the Uptown drainage work “to see if that one-foot rise would create any potential flooding issues” at the Airline Drive bottleneck, known as Hoey’s Cut.

“The corps has agreed to do that,” Becker said, adding that the analysis “is expected to be completed shortly and will be presented to both Jefferson and Orleans to make sure that all issues are addressed.”

Jefferson Parish officials last year announced that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration had committed $1.8 million to improve the flow of water in that area, though the sum amounts to a fraction of the $20.5 million likely needed to complete the job.
Wingate said a broader corps study of potential improvements to the area is “on hold pending receiving additional appropriations.”

Guidry said that until the full sum is in hand, she wants the Monticello Canal north of Airline Drive to be widened and an earthen levee on the Orleans side hardened with concrete.
The drainage causing concern includes construction of concrete canals under South Claiborne Avenue between Monticello Avenue and Leonidas Street; under Napoleon Avenue between South Claiborne Avenue and Carondelet Street; and along Louisiana and Jefferson avenues and Prytania Street. All of the work is expected to be completed by 2017."

Michelle Krupa can be reached at mkrupa@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3312.

Shootings across the City

Shortly after 5:00 p.m . (Wednesday January 11, 2011), officers got a report of a shooting at the intersection of S. Carrollton Avenue and S. Claiborne Avenue. An eyewitness at the scene tells FOX 8 she saw one person shot on the neutral ground near the bus stop. The witness says the victim ran towards the parking lot at Walgreens. Eventually an ambulance arrived and transported the victim for treatment.

Officers investigating this incident say the man was walking down the street when he was shot in his hand and shoulder. They say a group of men came by in a car and started shooting at the man.
See story:
http://www.fox8live.com/news/local/story/Four-shootings-in-one-evening-rattle-the-city/_4TkMTAS6kWAPAT2X9NNvw.cspx

Look out for yourselves. Look our for your neighbor.

2011 - recovery - loss - Chris Rose

See video of Chris Rose's commentary for start of 2012

2011 New Orleans Murders

Since this is NorthWest Carrollton's blog....
We're going to focus on the area surrounded by Earhart-Carrollton-Claiborne-Leonidas.
And we're going to notice that there are, thankfully, no murders inside these boundaries this year.
We'd like to believe that knowing your neighbors and the Neighborhood Watch helps.
NorthWest Carrollton is just below and to the right of the large Earhart Blvd text in the map below.

Yes there are murders near NorthWest Carrollton. One on Carrollton and Walmsley was in a car. Another was someone crossing the center of Earhart.  The memorial in the Earhart neutral ground is still maintained.

 

Then you can read the entire article from Nola.com.  The statistics are scary and will drive the approach that NOPD takes.  I just hope that there is a place in the NOPD process for remembering to treat everyone with dignity and that statistically everyone they interact with is not a criminal.

One day we hope that the individuals using guns to address issues will acknowledge and take to heart these quotes:

Chinese Proverb: "If you seek revenge, dig two graves."

Marcus Aurelius Antonius (121 - 180): "The best revenge is not to become like the one who wronged you."

Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha): "The grudge you hold on to is like a hot coal that you intend to throw at someone, only you're the one who gets burned."