Folks, Maybe you heard about Shelley Midura and Rod West going after it regarding “contract issues”. Maybe you didn’t.
EVERYONE should read Clancy Dubos on the Blog of New Orleans. Make sure you read the article AND scroll all the way down to where Clancy rebuts some of the stuff in the comments.
This is only just heating up and it will eventually hit your checking account.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Free Concert in Palmer Park
LPO and Palmer Park ConcertBring a picnic and enjoy music outdoors!
SATURDAY October 11, 2008 - 5:00pm
Musical SelectionsVoyages with the LPO!
Overture to HMS Pinafore
Handel Water Music
Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid
Selections from South Pacific
Armed Forces Salute
Selections from Pirates of the Caribbean
Harry’s Wondrous World fromHarry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Music from Apollo 13
Star Trek through the Years
Selections from E.T. The Extraterrestrial
Rain date: Sunday, October 12, 5:00 PM
The LPO concert in Palmer Park is made possible byDistrict A Councilmember Shelley Miduraand by Harrah’s Community Support Grant Program.
SATURDAY October 11, 2008 - 5:00pm
Musical SelectionsVoyages with the LPO!
Overture to HMS Pinafore
Handel Water Music
Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid
Selections from South Pacific
Armed Forces Salute
Selections from Pirates of the Caribbean
Harry’s Wondrous World fromHarry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Music from Apollo 13
Star Trek through the Years
Selections from E.T. The Extraterrestrial
Rain date: Sunday, October 12, 5:00 PM
The LPO concert in Palmer Park is made possible byDistrict A Councilmember Shelley Miduraand by Harrah’s Community Support Grant Program.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Earhart Expansion Schematic
In June 2008, NorthWest Carrollton invited Department of Public Works Robert Mendoza and team to talk to us about the new that Earhart would finally be resurfaced. What the plans showed was that Earhart would be expanded from 4 to 6 lanes and that a left turn lane would be placed at Carrollton and Earhart.
Citizen reaction to this plan was not good. A Carrollton Area Network meeting was held at St. Matthew's and the reaction at this meeting was essentially the same.
The citizen proposal was created and meetings were held with Department of Public Works and Regional Planning. Traffic studies were done and traffic models created. The citizen proposal had the best traffic flow in the models.
Democracy worked.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Thank You Marc Robert - POWER update
Smart enough to place a generator at his new store on Claiborne & Dublin, Robert was open for business on WEDNESDAY. Thank you Marc Robert.
On Wednesday about 1/2 of the neighborhood had power. By Friday power came back on for most of the rest of the neighborhood. The street light at Walmsley/Apple & Carrollton is now working. This should prevent the accidents we saw after Katrina. The power was still out at Earhart & Carrollton.
Should we EVER have to do this again please leave your porch light on. This will allow us to drive down the streets in the neighborhood and report which blocks *look* like they have power. Even when the bulk of a neighborhood has power there can still be some houses without. IF you don’t have power when you return report the outages to Entergy at 1-800-9-outage. Entergy is working hard to get the power back up a soon as possbile.
When you see the trucks - stop and tell them THANK YOU.
On Wednesday about 1/2 of the neighborhood had power. By Friday power came back on for most of the rest of the neighborhood. The street light at Walmsley/Apple & Carrollton is now working. This should prevent the accidents we saw after Katrina. The power was still out at Earhart & Carrollton.
Should we EVER have to do this again please leave your porch light on. This will allow us to drive down the streets in the neighborhood and report which blocks *look* like they have power. Even when the bulk of a neighborhood has power there can still be some houses without. IF you don’t have power when you return report the outages to Entergy at 1-800-9-outage. Entergy is working hard to get the power back up a soon as possbile.
When you see the trucks - stop and tell them THANK YOU.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Why come back (and why not come back) - PostGustav Evacuation
O.K. That’s it I’ve had it. I am tired of unthinking or flat foolish people saying things regarding our return to OUR CITY!
So let’s list it out for those who can’t think it out for themselves:
1) My job requires me to return. Yeah they can make a lot of noise about “Tier 1″, but there are MANY companies who have to know that their PEOPLE are back before we begin to get our city back (power or no power). Let’s think about who these companies are. Let’s take the example of the saints game this weekend. WHO do we neeed? Ticket takers, concession stand workers, parking lot workers, cleaning staff, building maintenenace staff, security staff. Now that you are thinking about the fact that you need your fellow citizens start thinking about other services. Do you want your gabage picked up? Do you want to be able to go to the grocery store? Do you want to be able to fill your tank? Do you think filling your tank takes place 100% withOUT people? We are all Tier 1 because without citizens there is no city.
2) My finances require me to return. Some of us are lucky enough to have family and friends to take us in indefinately and do NOT have to return to work. Thank goodness for family and friends. Some of us have the means to fly to New York or California or Europe. Yes believe it or not some New Orleanians spent their Katrina evacuation in France. Some of us have the financial means to whip out a Credit Card and stay indefinately in a hotel. Think about the people who make up this city. REALLY think about it. Think about the state of the economy in this country and tell me that you realy believe that the bulk of the citizens of New Orleans, many who are financially strapped because of Katrina Recovery, and tell me you can’t understand why they might want to come home.
3) My house is MY HOUSE and it is MY HOME! While family and friends are great and a hotel stay may be fun, my house is my home. I want to see how it faired in the storm. If there are damages that need to be addressed I want to do it as fast as possible to prevent further damage. But more importantly ESPECIALLY POSTKATRINA! I want to be HOME, in my HOUSE, in my neighborhood! Kids want a return to normalcy. They want to go to THIER Schools with THEIR Friends and not to an “evacuation school”. People who could not go home quickly postKatrina want to come home quickly now. There is very little to prevent this.
That said there are some reasons to stay away. Let’s talk about those.
1) If you have critical medicial needs: like a requirement for oxygen (which requries power) or dialysis or ongoing speciality disease treatment that can be handled by facilities where you are, you need to stay where these services are readily available. Yes, we have hospitals. But the entire electrical transmission system (the interstate highway of power) is severely damaged. NorthWest Carrollton does not currently have power. Even if we get power as the systems are repaired there maybe temporary but significant power outages. THINK before you move if you have medical needs.
2) The entire electrical transmission system (the interstate highway of power) is severely damaged. Yes, Entergy is working diligently to repair this system, but this is NOT just a New Orleans problem this is a River Parish problem that includes Baton Rouge (and I’m not talking about the governor, I’m talking about the power grid infrastructure.) So if you want to come home KNOW that you could be in the dark and living out of an ice chest and cooking on the grill for quite some time. No power, No Air Conditioning! Can you and your family stand each other for days in the heat? Do you have a generator and the means to fill it with gas? Do you have ice chests and the means to fill them with food? Because their are few to no groceries open today. Make SURE that you have enough gas for your vehicle to get you all the way HOME. No power, no working gas pumps. THINK camping. Think October 2005. Think seriously roughing it. Make an informed decision.
IF you do return, Think traffic safety! Assume every non-functioning traffic signal is a 4 way stop. People have reverted to PostKatrina driving habits and not all of these are good. Be safe. Make an informed decision.
The city needs to think about this:
People won’t leave if they can’t come back.
Let us not forget that the people who live in New Orleans survived the months following Katrina. Power? Please. Post K I didn’t have Gas at my house and therefore no heat and no hot water until Christmas 2005. Flushing the toilet with a bucket, yep. We lived in houses with gutted bottom floors with NOTHING in them and if we were lucky enough to have 2nd floors lived there or in formaldehyde FEMA tin cans. We lived in these circumstances for MONTHS, not days. MONTHS. Some of us YEARS. If there is one thing that the politians in the city of New Orleans should know by now is that we are tough enough to deal with adversity. We can live without power. We can cook on our grills. We can haul in food and water if that is what we are told to do. We can make the determination NOT to return if we feel that is best for our own personal circumstances. But I believe that the at the very least what we have earned is the right to make our own determination about what is best for us. The Mayor needs to stop acting like Big Brother and should not treat me or my neighbors as children.
So let’s list it out for those who can’t think it out for themselves:
1) My job requires me to return. Yeah they can make a lot of noise about “Tier 1″, but there are MANY companies who have to know that their PEOPLE are back before we begin to get our city back (power or no power). Let’s think about who these companies are. Let’s take the example of the saints game this weekend. WHO do we neeed? Ticket takers, concession stand workers, parking lot workers, cleaning staff, building maintenenace staff, security staff. Now that you are thinking about the fact that you need your fellow citizens start thinking about other services. Do you want your gabage picked up? Do you want to be able to go to the grocery store? Do you want to be able to fill your tank? Do you think filling your tank takes place 100% withOUT people? We are all Tier 1 because without citizens there is no city.
2) My finances require me to return. Some of us are lucky enough to have family and friends to take us in indefinately and do NOT have to return to work. Thank goodness for family and friends. Some of us have the means to fly to New York or California or Europe. Yes believe it or not some New Orleanians spent their Katrina evacuation in France. Some of us have the financial means to whip out a Credit Card and stay indefinately in a hotel. Think about the people who make up this city. REALLY think about it. Think about the state of the economy in this country and tell me that you realy believe that the bulk of the citizens of New Orleans, many who are financially strapped because of Katrina Recovery, and tell me you can’t understand why they might want to come home.
3) My house is MY HOUSE and it is MY HOME! While family and friends are great and a hotel stay may be fun, my house is my home. I want to see how it faired in the storm. If there are damages that need to be addressed I want to do it as fast as possible to prevent further damage. But more importantly ESPECIALLY POSTKATRINA! I want to be HOME, in my HOUSE, in my neighborhood! Kids want a return to normalcy. They want to go to THIER Schools with THEIR Friends and not to an “evacuation school”. People who could not go home quickly postKatrina want to come home quickly now. There is very little to prevent this.
That said there are some reasons to stay away. Let’s talk about those.
1) If you have critical medicial needs: like a requirement for oxygen (which requries power) or dialysis or ongoing speciality disease treatment that can be handled by facilities where you are, you need to stay where these services are readily available. Yes, we have hospitals. But the entire electrical transmission system (the interstate highway of power) is severely damaged. NorthWest Carrollton does not currently have power. Even if we get power as the systems are repaired there maybe temporary but significant power outages. THINK before you move if you have medical needs.
2) The entire electrical transmission system (the interstate highway of power) is severely damaged. Yes, Entergy is working diligently to repair this system, but this is NOT just a New Orleans problem this is a River Parish problem that includes Baton Rouge (and I’m not talking about the governor, I’m talking about the power grid infrastructure.) So if you want to come home KNOW that you could be in the dark and living out of an ice chest and cooking on the grill for quite some time. No power, No Air Conditioning! Can you and your family stand each other for days in the heat? Do you have a generator and the means to fill it with gas? Do you have ice chests and the means to fill them with food? Because their are few to no groceries open today. Make SURE that you have enough gas for your vehicle to get you all the way HOME. No power, no working gas pumps. THINK camping. Think October 2005. Think seriously roughing it. Make an informed decision.
IF you do return, Think traffic safety! Assume every non-functioning traffic signal is a 4 way stop. People have reverted to PostKatrina driving habits and not all of these are good. Be safe. Make an informed decision.
The city needs to think about this:
People won’t leave if they can’t come back.
Let us not forget that the people who live in New Orleans survived the months following Katrina. Power? Please. Post K I didn’t have Gas at my house and therefore no heat and no hot water until Christmas 2005. Flushing the toilet with a bucket, yep. We lived in houses with gutted bottom floors with NOTHING in them and if we were lucky enough to have 2nd floors lived there or in formaldehyde FEMA tin cans. We lived in these circumstances for MONTHS, not days. MONTHS. Some of us YEARS. If there is one thing that the politians in the city of New Orleans should know by now is that we are tough enough to deal with adversity. We can live without power. We can cook on our grills. We can haul in food and water if that is what we are told to do. We can make the determination NOT to return if we feel that is best for our own personal circumstances. But I believe that the at the very least what we have earned is the right to make our own determination about what is best for us. The Mayor needs to stop acting like Big Brother and should not treat me or my neighbors as children.
Friday, August 29, 2008
5 Myths about Katrina
The national press is finally beginning to understand that New Orleans and the surrounding areas are not just below sea level areas of the country where people just should not live. I even saw coverage that touched on the wetlands and MRGO and the damage done to the wetlands by the oil and gas companies that put fuel in the nations cars and heat homes in the northern US in the winter.
Encourage your friends and family to watch this video put together by Levees.org
Encourage your friends and family to watch this video put together by Levees.org
Friday, August 8, 2008
Robert Fresh Market Open in August
Finally the grocery store is here!
See their website for details on all the offerings.
Yeah! Marc Robert for your perseverance to get to this day.
We are thrilled to have your in our neighborhood!
See their website for details on all the offerings.
Yeah! Marc Robert for your perseverance to get to this day.
We are thrilled to have your in our neighborhood!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
S&W Leaks
Thank you very much for your help. BOTH leaks have been repaired.
Happy 2009! Sincerely, Jenel Hazlett - NWCCA
*********************************************************
From: NorthWest Carrollton <nwcarrollton@mindspring.com>
Happy 2009! Sincerely, Jenel Hazlett - NWCCA
*********************************************************
From: NorthWest Carrollton <nwcarrollton@mindspring.com>
To: "EJSterling@cityofno.com" <EJSterling@cityofno.com>, Shelley Midura <smidura@cityofno.com>
Subject: Large Leaks in 8500 Block of Apricot & 8300 Block of Pritchard
Date: Dec 27, 2008 12:38 PM
Happy Holidays, I am hoping that you can help us contact the right people at Sewerage & Water Board who can help us get action on 2 large leaks in NorthWest Carrollton. The first photo is of the leak at 8300 Pritchard Place. It has been reported to Sewerage & Water Board from this address. The leak is on the street side of the water meter. At first we were not sure if it was a leak or rainwater, but now we can literally see it getting larger every day. The second photo is of the leak in the 8500 block (even side) of Apricot Street. It has been reported by the folks at 8530 Apricot, repeatedly for more than a month. The exact source is hard to determine The surrounding area is soggy and the puddles stretch for half a block. Any thing you can do to expedite these repairs before things get worse is appreciated. Sincerely,
NorthWest Carrollton
|
Monday, April 21, 2008
Earhart Planning - Citizen Proposal
The Citizen proposal was reviewed and endorsed by the Regional Planning Commission & New Orleans Public Works in the Fall of 2008.
A public meeting was held in April 21 @7PM at St. Matthew’s Church, 1333 South Carrollton Avenue and follow up meetings were held with Regional Planning & Public Works.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Harvard Presentation
In 2007/2008 NorthWest Carrollton participated in meetings in held as part of Harvard University's Broadmoor Project. Click here to see our neighborhood presentation.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
The Economics of Neighborliness
I’m reading Bill McKibben’s book, Deep Economy. It has some very interesting ideas to consider. Personally I think “Local” is the “new Green”.
But decide for yourself. Come and see Bill McKibbin discuss his book in person at the Garden District Book Shop on March 12th from 5:30 to 7:30PM.
But decide for yourself. Come and see Bill McKibbin discuss his book in person at the Garden District Book Shop on March 12th from 5:30 to 7:30PM.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Thursday, January 3, 2008
A Tale of 2 Januarys
January 2006. I’ve been back in my home since October 2005. The bottom floor of our house is gutted. We have replaced our water heater, a washer & dryer. My husband and daughter came home to our raised bungalow from Austin, TX in November 2005. We finally got gas service in December 2005. I’ve been driving from Carrollton to my job at the Chalmette Refinery through postapolcalytic New Orleans for months. My route usually takes me down Carrollton to I-10 to the Claiborne exit and then to Franklin where I jump to St. Claude. The Claiborne bridge has been raised since I returned. The only 2 routes into Chalmette are either via Paris Rd or St. Claude, limited access and both routes require you to go through a military/police check point.
I watched the tide rise and fall from my porch before we floated ourselves and our bicycles out on air mattresses and then rode to I-10 & Causeway. I slept under the I-10 and had FEMA throw bottled water and MRE’s at me. I’ve gutted my own house and driven past more dead refrigerators and tatoo’d houses and debris piles bigger than garbage trucks than I can count. I repeatedly worked side by side with the folks removing debris piles sweeping and scooping the debris from in front of my home. I drive past the devastation and emptiness daily. I have a profound sense of loss but I’m tough and grateful. I have a job, a home, my daughter can return to school, my husband is working on our lower floor, we had insurance. I know that it could be worse. My mom lost everything in her lower 9th Ward home, her job moved to Covington then the Mississippi gulf coast. My brother lost everything in his home in old Arabi. His job is here. His family is still in South Carolina.
In December 2005 I take what is left of my 2005 vacation and spend some down time at home with my family, a real luxury. Then in January 2006 I drive back to work, down Carrollton to the I-10 to the Claiborne exit, down Claiborne. But it’s been 2 weeks and I am on automatic pilot so I forget to turn on Franklin, I reach the foot of the Claiborne bridge and see that it is open. Cool. Great. Progress, right? I drive over the bridge and there to my left is the barge that split the levee still sitting amide what is left of the broken and battered homes. I gasp out loud. How can I still be shocked? I keep driving and there at the foot of the bridge is a house in the middle of the right hand lane. I have to veer around it. I drive on to work but feel gut punched. But the time I get to the light at Claiborne and Caffin I have tears running down my cheeks. I’m a bit bleary eyed as I go through the checkpoint on St.Claude/St.Bernard Hwy. but the cop on this watch has seen it before. I show him my badge and go through. I’m recovered enough to put in a days work before I drive home through the devastation again.
January 2008
I’ve been on vacation putting the finishing touches on our downstairs. It’s been 2 weeks since I’ve driven down Carrollton to the I-10 to the Claiborne exit, down Claiborne across the Claiborne bridge to Chalmette. As I come up over the bridge there on the left are rows upon rows of little pink houses. And I smile broadly at the vibrant image of hope and say out loud “Thank You Brad Pitt”.
January 2006 Despair . January 2008 Hope.
I watched the tide rise and fall from my porch before we floated ourselves and our bicycles out on air mattresses and then rode to I-10 & Causeway. I slept under the I-10 and had FEMA throw bottled water and MRE’s at me. I’ve gutted my own house and driven past more dead refrigerators and tatoo’d houses and debris piles bigger than garbage trucks than I can count. I repeatedly worked side by side with the folks removing debris piles sweeping and scooping the debris from in front of my home. I drive past the devastation and emptiness daily. I have a profound sense of loss but I’m tough and grateful. I have a job, a home, my daughter can return to school, my husband is working on our lower floor, we had insurance. I know that it could be worse. My mom lost everything in her lower 9th Ward home, her job moved to Covington then the Mississippi gulf coast. My brother lost everything in his home in old Arabi. His job is here. His family is still in South Carolina.
In December 2005 I take what is left of my 2005 vacation and spend some down time at home with my family, a real luxury. Then in January 2006 I drive back to work, down Carrollton to the I-10 to the Claiborne exit, down Claiborne. But it’s been 2 weeks and I am on automatic pilot so I forget to turn on Franklin, I reach the foot of the Claiborne bridge and see that it is open. Cool. Great. Progress, right? I drive over the bridge and there to my left is the barge that split the levee still sitting amide what is left of the broken and battered homes. I gasp out loud. How can I still be shocked? I keep driving and there at the foot of the bridge is a house in the middle of the right hand lane. I have to veer around it. I drive on to work but feel gut punched. But the time I get to the light at Claiborne and Caffin I have tears running down my cheeks. I’m a bit bleary eyed as I go through the checkpoint on St.Claude/St.Bernard Hwy. but the cop on this watch has seen it before. I show him my badge and go through. I’m recovered enough to put in a days work before I drive home through the devastation again.
January 2008
I’ve been on vacation putting the finishing touches on our downstairs. It’s been 2 weeks since I’ve driven down Carrollton to the I-10 to the Claiborne exit, down Claiborne across the Claiborne bridge to Chalmette. As I come up over the bridge there on the left are rows upon rows of little pink houses. And I smile broadly at the vibrant image of hope and say out loud “Thank You Brad Pitt”.
January 2006 Despair . January 2008 Hope.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Parking Enforcement in NorthWest Carrollton
Please be advised that the 2nd District is ticketing parking violations.
Please see the President’s response to a resident of NorthWest Carrollton who, almost, got a ticket this AM for parking facing the wrong direction.
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 12:15 PM
Subject: Re: how to lose members and infuriate people
(Name removed),
I can totally appreciate that almost getting a ticket at the holiday season is a bad experience. I’m very glad the policeman backed off when you said you’d move the car.
I’d like to give you a bit more background on NWC efforts.
We started asking the asking the police and city to enforce parking and speeding laws a year about a year ago. Working with the police to get them into the neighborhood is a very good thing. The second district didn’t know where we were in January 2006. Today the cop who was writing tickets knew the neighborhood. While this still doesn’t make almost getting a ticket fun, it is an improvement. We want the police to know who we are and where we are and not just when people are getting robbed or shot or stabbed.
Speeding on Pritchard is bad, but nothing compared to what happens during the school year on Apricot. We’ve asked for and gotten police ticketing folks for speeding in our neighborhood. Not as often as we’d like but they have responded. We’ll continue to ask for speeding enforcement throughout the neighborhood.
The parking issue has many layers.
One layer is associated with Mr. Russell, the neighborhood towtruck driver who parks abandoned cars all over the neighborhood and who the 2nd district just helped us get convicted last week. We have repeatedly asked for parking enforcement in our year long fight to get Mr. Russell to stop trashing the neighborhood.
Another layer is associated with our effort to plant trees in the neighborhood. People who park on the green space between the sidewalk and the street endanger our tree planting efforts. People who park on the sidewalk make pedestrians park walk in the street and this affects the walkabilty of the neighborhood and is not good either. Last weekend we planted 28 trees in NWC. We specifically and recently asked the 2nd district about parking enforcement because Mr. Russell was parking his tow truck right where a tree was slated to be planted.
One of the things I personally did throughout 2006 and 2007 was to place notices on cars that were parked illegally. I wanted to make sure that folks who lived in the neighborhood knew when they were parking illegally so that they could adjust their parking habits and avoid getting a ticket . You can ask (name removed) next door, I know I placed one on his car, specifically because he was parked facing the wrong direction. I don’t remember if I ever placed a notice on your car. I did this through out the summer & fall as often as I could to try and avoid just what happened to you today. We also talked about parking enforcement at our neighborhood meetings.
In order to make our neighborhood safe and clean and walkable and livable we need to work with the police as much as possible. It has taken almost a year to get parking enforcement. We expected it would take this long. Unfortunately we can not tell the police to selectively enforce parking ordinances. When they come into the neighborhood to write parking tickets all violations are fair game.
Again, I am very glad that the police did not write you a ticket and allowed you to move your car. I hope that this gives you a better understanding of our efforts and I hope that this understanding will help us not lose you as a member. I’m sorry you were infuriated. I’m home today working on house cleaning and repairs. If you’d like to come down and talk to me about this or any other concerns, I’d welcome a visit.
Jenel Hazlett
Sent: Dec 21, 2007 10:25 AM
Subject: how to lose members and infuriate people
So, this morning I almost got a ticket for parking against traffic in front of my own house. Luckily the policemen backed off when we said we’d move the car. He was very quick to apologize and point the blame at our NWC for hounding his sergeant to address this PROBLEM. Maybe you’d like to change your focus to speeding. We park the car in the street, NOT our driveway to slow the cars down.
If we had gotten the ticket you can bet that if NWC ever asked me for money again, I would say no. And the week before Christmas! I swear this is not the time to be adding $20 to people’s budget.
I can understand that you don’t like cars parked the wrong way. My personal pet peeve is cars that block the sidewalk. However, I think it would be appropriate to WARN members via email that this is a hot item for you so that we can be aware. Honestly!!! This is not the way to build neighborhood unity!!!!
Please see the President’s response to a resident of NorthWest Carrollton who, almost, got a ticket this AM for parking facing the wrong direction.
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 12:15 PM
Subject: Re: how to lose members and infuriate people
(Name removed),
I can totally appreciate that almost getting a ticket at the holiday season is a bad experience. I’m very glad the policeman backed off when you said you’d move the car.
I’d like to give you a bit more background on NWC efforts.
We started asking the asking the police and city to enforce parking and speeding laws a year about a year ago. Working with the police to get them into the neighborhood is a very good thing. The second district didn’t know where we were in January 2006. Today the cop who was writing tickets knew the neighborhood. While this still doesn’t make almost getting a ticket fun, it is an improvement. We want the police to know who we are and where we are and not just when people are getting robbed or shot or stabbed.
Speeding on Pritchard is bad, but nothing compared to what happens during the school year on Apricot. We’ve asked for and gotten police ticketing folks for speeding in our neighborhood. Not as often as we’d like but they have responded. We’ll continue to ask for speeding enforcement throughout the neighborhood.
The parking issue has many layers.
One layer is associated with Mr. Russell, the neighborhood towtruck driver who parks abandoned cars all over the neighborhood and who the 2nd district just helped us get convicted last week. We have repeatedly asked for parking enforcement in our year long fight to get Mr. Russell to stop trashing the neighborhood.
Another layer is associated with our effort to plant trees in the neighborhood. People who park on the green space between the sidewalk and the street endanger our tree planting efforts. People who park on the sidewalk make pedestrians park walk in the street and this affects the walkabilty of the neighborhood and is not good either. Last weekend we planted 28 trees in NWC. We specifically and recently asked the 2nd district about parking enforcement because Mr. Russell was parking his tow truck right where a tree was slated to be planted.
One of the things I personally did throughout 2006 and 2007 was to place notices on cars that were parked illegally. I wanted to make sure that folks who lived in the neighborhood knew when they were parking illegally so that they could adjust their parking habits and avoid getting a ticket . You can ask (name removed) next door, I know I placed one on his car, specifically because he was parked facing the wrong direction. I don’t remember if I ever placed a notice on your car. I did this through out the summer & fall as often as I could to try and avoid just what happened to you today. We also talked about parking enforcement at our neighborhood meetings.
In order to make our neighborhood safe and clean and walkable and livable we need to work with the police as much as possible. It has taken almost a year to get parking enforcement. We expected it would take this long. Unfortunately we can not tell the police to selectively enforce parking ordinances. When they come into the neighborhood to write parking tickets all violations are fair game.
Again, I am very glad that the police did not write you a ticket and allowed you to move your car. I hope that this gives you a better understanding of our efforts and I hope that this understanding will help us not lose you as a member. I’m sorry you were infuriated. I’m home today working on house cleaning and repairs. If you’d like to come down and talk to me about this or any other concerns, I’d welcome a visit.
Jenel Hazlett
Sent: Dec 21, 2007 10:25 AM
Subject: how to lose members and infuriate people
So, this morning I almost got a ticket for parking against traffic in front of my own house. Luckily the policemen backed off when we said we’d move the car. He was very quick to apologize and point the blame at our NWC for hounding his sergeant to address this PROBLEM. Maybe you’d like to change your focus to speeding. We park the car in the street, NOT our driveway to slow the cars down.
If we had gotten the ticket you can bet that if NWC ever asked me for money again, I would say no. And the week before Christmas! I swear this is not the time to be adding $20 to people’s budget.
I can understand that you don’t like cars parked the wrong way. My personal pet peeve is cars that block the sidewalk. However, I think it would be appropriate to WARN members via email that this is a hot item for you so that we can be aware. Honestly!!! This is not the way to build neighborhood unity!!!!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Mr. Russell & Ramifications
Today our neighborhood tow truck driver went to Municipal Court.
Neighbors, Justin Schmidt- legal consul for Roberts, Quality of Life Officer Eddington from the 2nd district were in attendance and testified. See the letter NorthWest Carrollton provided to the 2nd district and the court below. Mr. Schmidt spoke of about the trailer full of gas tanks and the toxic remediation they had to do at the Roberts site. (Thank You Justin! Officer Eddington! and Captain Bouyelas!)
The judge gave Mr. Russell a $500.00 fine, and 30 days, which were suspended. BUT
The judge also gave Mr. Russell 40 hours service with the Sanitation Department riding the garbage trucks. Quality of Life Officer Eddington will be following up with Mr. Russell.
We hope Mr. Russell sees the error of his ways.
**Letter sent to New Orleans Municipal Count below **
I am the president of NorthWest Carrollton Civic Association. The boundaries of our neighborhood are Earhart-Carrollton-Claiborne-Leonidas.
Mr. Russell lives in our neighborhood. He also operates his towing business illegally inside our neighborhood. He tows cars into the neighborhood and dumps them on our streets. He leaves these abandoned and non-functional cars on our streets until he has striped them down. This process can take weeks. He dumps the toxic fluids indiscriminately on the ground. He leaves tires that are not picked up by city services strewn on our streets. He leaves other useless car parts behind in his wake. He is disrespectful and abusive when neighbors attempt to talk to him about his illegal activities.
NorthWest Carrollton has worked with the NOPD 2nd District Commander and the Quality of Life officer to encourage Mr. Russell to change his ways. The 2nd District Commander rode with Mr. Russell in a squad car and had Mr. Russell show them which cars dumped in the neighborhood were his. He has been given numerous warnings by NOPD. He still continues his illegal activities. Cars are still dumped in the neighborhood.
Mr. Russell has used the paved lot behind AutoZone to dump and strip cars. Mr. Russell used the old Canal Villere Parking lot to dump and strip cars. He has been chased from one end of our neighborhood to the other. His current primary operating location is Apple Street. (see the enclosed picture) Approximately once every 2 months members of NorthWest Carrollton ride around and compile a list of abandoned vehicles and provide this to the 2nd District Quality of Life Officer. We also pick up Mr. Russell’s abandoned tires. In pursuit of anything that could get Mr. Russell to follow the laws, we contacted the State Police and were told by Major Minor that Mr. Russell does not have a valid Tow Truck license.
In addition to 2 years Katrina recovery, the neighbors of NorthWest Carrollton have spent 2 years of cleaning up after Mr. Russell. We ask that the court take this information into consideration.
Jenel Hazlett - President
Karen Gadbois - Vice President
Scott Andrews - Secretary
Kim Carver - Treasurer
Debi Theobold - At Large & Crime Liaison
Neighbors, Justin Schmidt- legal consul for Roberts, Quality of Life Officer Eddington from the 2nd district were in attendance and testified. See the letter NorthWest Carrollton provided to the 2nd district and the court below. Mr. Schmidt spoke of about the trailer full of gas tanks and the toxic remediation they had to do at the Roberts site. (Thank You Justin! Officer Eddington! and Captain Bouyelas!)
The judge gave Mr. Russell a $500.00 fine, and 30 days, which were suspended. BUT
The judge also gave Mr. Russell 40 hours service with the Sanitation Department riding the garbage trucks. Quality of Life Officer Eddington will be following up with Mr. Russell.
We hope Mr. Russell sees the error of his ways.
**Letter sent to New Orleans Municipal Count below **
I am the president of NorthWest Carrollton Civic Association. The boundaries of our neighborhood are Earhart-Carrollton-Claiborne-Leonidas.
Mr. Russell lives in our neighborhood. He also operates his towing business illegally inside our neighborhood. He tows cars into the neighborhood and dumps them on our streets. He leaves these abandoned and non-functional cars on our streets until he has striped them down. This process can take weeks. He dumps the toxic fluids indiscriminately on the ground. He leaves tires that are not picked up by city services strewn on our streets. He leaves other useless car parts behind in his wake. He is disrespectful and abusive when neighbors attempt to talk to him about his illegal activities.
NorthWest Carrollton has worked with the NOPD 2nd District Commander and the Quality of Life officer to encourage Mr. Russell to change his ways. The 2nd District Commander rode with Mr. Russell in a squad car and had Mr. Russell show them which cars dumped in the neighborhood were his. He has been given numerous warnings by NOPD. He still continues his illegal activities. Cars are still dumped in the neighborhood.
Mr. Russell has used the paved lot behind AutoZone to dump and strip cars. Mr. Russell used the old Canal Villere Parking lot to dump and strip cars. He has been chased from one end of our neighborhood to the other. His current primary operating location is Apple Street. (see the enclosed picture) Approximately once every 2 months members of NorthWest Carrollton ride around and compile a list of abandoned vehicles and provide this to the 2nd District Quality of Life Officer. We also pick up Mr. Russell’s abandoned tires. In pursuit of anything that could get Mr. Russell to follow the laws, we contacted the State Police and were told by Major Minor that Mr. Russell does not have a valid Tow Truck license.
In addition to 2 years Katrina recovery, the neighbors of NorthWest Carrollton have spent 2 years of cleaning up after Mr. Russell. We ask that the court take this information into consideration.
Jenel Hazlett - President
Karen Gadbois - Vice President
Scott Andrews - Secretary
Kim Carver - Treasurer
Debi Theobold - At Large & Crime Liaison
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Mr Russell gets caught
We heard last week that the Mr. Russell has finally been “caught in the act”. Towing cars into the Neighborhood and dumping and stripping them.
Thanks to Officer Eddington for taking time on his rare day off to follow Mr. Russell and arrest him.
Thanks to Officer Eddington for taking time on his rare day off to follow Mr. Russell and arrest him.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Why New Orleans?
Post Katrina many of us were told that we were stupid for living in New Orleans and that New Orleans should not even "be here".
Anyone saying this does not understand the history of the United States much less the history of the city. It's like saying there should not be a San Francisco (because of earthquakes) or a Seattle (because of volcanos) or a Venice or a Tokyo or ....
Click on the link for a quick lesson on "Why New Orleans" is here and should be here.
Anyone saying this does not understand the history of the United States much less the history of the city. It's like saying there should not be a San Francisco (because of earthquakes) or a Seattle (because of volcanos) or a Venice or a Tokyo or ....
Click on the link for a quick lesson on "Why New Orleans" is here and should be here.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Neighborhood Watch
NorthWest Carrollton has a representative at each 2nd District New Orleans Neighborhood Police Anti-Crime Council (aka NONPACC) monthly meeting. These meetings are held the 3rd Tuesday of each month at Touro Hospital at 7PM. We have actively worked to have the drug & crime issues in our neighborhood addressed by the NOPD.
NorthWest Carrollton was recognized by the NOPD as a Neighborhood Watch Area at the 2007 Night Out Against Crime in Palmer Park.
Crime Fighting takes everyone. NorthWest Carrollton is in NOPD's 2nd District.
NorthWest Carrollton was recognized by the NOPD as a Neighborhood Watch Area at the 2007 Night Out Against Crime in Palmer Park.
Crime Fighting takes everyone. NorthWest Carrollton is in NOPD's 2nd District.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Straightening the Street Signs and hope for replacement signs
During our March 10th, 2007 cleanup 2 of our board members took a ladder around the neighborhood and did their best to straighten our twisted street signs. Our neighborhood still has missing or ruined signs. City Hall advises that the street sign repair project is still "east of Broadway". According to City Hall, "because of the number of signs to be replaced DPW will not be responding to individual requests for sign replacement but will go back at the end of each contract for each district and conduct a quality control sweep to identify any that were missed or misspelled."
Details on that can be found at this website:
http://www.neworleanscitycouncil.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=72
Details on that can be found at this website:
http://www.neworleanscitycouncil.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=72
December 2006 Holiday Home Tour
In December 2006 our members opened 5 historic homes – all with some damage from Katrina – to the public.
This was our first official fund raiser. We raised enough money to provide our Firehouse at Carrollton & Nelson with a commercial grade BBQ Pit. The event was advertised on WWNO & WWOZ and was coverage was broadcast on WWL Channel 4 TV. The coverage called us "the little neighborhood that could". We were sure that the BNOB had gotten the message that we had “proved” our viability.
This was our first official fund raiser. We raised enough money to provide our Firehouse at Carrollton & Nelson with a commercial grade BBQ Pit. The event was advertised on WWNO & WWOZ and was coverage was broadcast on WWL Channel 4 TV. The coverage called us "the little neighborhood that could". We were sure that the BNOB had gotten the message that we had “proved” our viability.
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