R.I.P. Le Jardin?


A for sale sign appeared outside our community garden this week. As neighborhood assoc pres. I got many phone calls and emails about it. The way it works is, the garden is on private land and can stay there as long as the the owner allows; the gardeners maintain the land and pay the water bill. Unbeknownst to the gardeners and even Parkway Partners, the land had been adjudicated by the city and sold for $20k in November 2007. The currently asking price is $89K. If anyone pays that much for the property I'm sure they are not going to leave a community garden on it but rather build a house or apartments. Many people in the neighborhood love the garden. Non-gardeners come to enjoy the green and tranquility. I suggested a few options such as, create an LLC or some other legal intity and buy the land ourselves; convince someone to buy the land and let the garden remain (hello Brad Pitt?); start looking into some of the other empty lots in the neighborhood and see if we can move the garden. I remains to be seen how it plays out. But it will be a sad day when the garden is gone.

The NY Times has a column called "Happy Days"

About Happy Days

The severe economic downturn has forced many people to reassess their values and the ways they act on them in their daily lives. For some, the pursuit of happiness, sanity, or even survival, has been transformed.

Happy Days is a discussion about the search for contentment in its many forms — economic, emotional, physical, spiritual — and the stories of those striving to come to terms with the lives they lead.

What a refreshing perspective now days when it seems all the media focuses on if the negative. I don't understand why the local news has to cover stories about murders and and what not in towns on the other side of the country. Leave that to the national news.

Today's "Happy Days" is about New Orleans. link The author, Dan Baum, seems to have really picked up on what makes people here tick - "Their preference for having more time than money was at the heart of what made that city so much fun to visit and so hard to leave."

And his closing sentence: "New Orleans can teach us that the life we build with our neighbors deserves at least as much attention as our endless thrust towards newer and bigger."

Why does the 2nd District Police Station need a crime camera out front?

2009 Lafitte Corridor Hike

I posted my photos from the hike to my Flickr account. There's supposed to be a way in embed a slide show on your blog and even in a post, but I haven't found any clear instruction on how-to and don't have the patience right now to figure it out. So if you want to see then here's the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27509547@N08/

If you want to see even more photos, there's a Lafitte Corridor group on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/lafitte-corridor/

This year's hike number exceed everyone's expectations. There were guest speakers and more stops. Massey's provided lunch and amazingly I think there was just enough for everyone. Massey's also paid for a bus to shuttle everyone back to the start but we exceeded the number of seats. A small group headed over to the Bulldog at the end of the hike to cool off and enjoy some libations.

My company designed a new logo for the Friend of Lafitte Corridor, and has been very well received. Their newly redesigned website looks great. Check it out here and learn more about the Corridor and the project: http://folc-nola.org/

Quick car update: I got my car back, after a few sweaty days of riding the streetcar to work. Got a new ECM relay, battery terminals and a fuse. Everything seems to be working now *fingers crossed.*

When I worked downtown I used to ride the streetcar every day. Some people think it's just a tourist thing but it's not. I must say I'm impressed by their punctuality. I checked the times on the RTA web site and they were right on. The first day I just missed it. I was drenched in sweat by the time I got to the office. After the first day I got smart and took a change of clothes with me. Yesterday I had one of those drivers with the fun personalities. The machine didn't want to take my dollar and he was cracking jokes the whole time. "Did you print that dollar last night?" Most of them are pretty nice. I remember the one man (pre-K) who would talk to the cars. "Whooo, hold that buggy!" he'd say when a car looked like it was going to cross in front.

Last weekend we did the Lafitte Corrodor Hike (I need to post photos!) and we rode the Canal Street line back to our car downtown. A great way to ride.

When you have 13-year-old car, you can expect it to break down from time to time. About a week ago I had trouble starting it. Turn the key – nothing. I checked the battery, nothing loose, wiggled some things around. After turning the key a few more time it started up. Had to turn the key a number of times to get it started at the end of day. The next morning, no problems. Didn’t have any problems until Wednesday. Took a number of times to get started. I should have taken the car into the mechanic then. Live and learn. Yesterday I had no problems. I had decided to go ahead and take it in today, and idea confirmed when it took many time to get it started. Driving along I noticed my radio kept powering off and on. All of a sudden it just turned off completely. I managed to coast over to the side. Turn the key, nothing. Mess with the battery and wires, still nothing. After a while I call AAA for a tow. I was told 45 minutes, so I sat and waited. As I’m sitting there, a trickle of very nicely dressed people start parking around me and going to the church across the street (I was broken down next to the post office on Louisiana Ave.) More and more people arrive. I’m guessing it’s a funeral. I notice men in gold blazers with “Zulu” on them. The crowd grows; a cop starts to direct traffic. I’m worried about my tow truck getting to me. I hear a brass band in the distance but I can’t see them. Now I’m kind of hoping my tow truck doesn’t show up for a while. A procession comes down LA Ave. and goes into the church. There were about 100 men in gold blazers standing on LA Ave, swaying to the dirge the band was playing, like they were marching in place. It’s been 50 minutes I call AAA. The truck is 5 miles away will be there in 20 minutes. An elderly woman walked by me asked if I needed help. I told her thank you but no, I was waiting for a tow truck. She said she read about the man who had died in the paper yesterday. “Must have been someone important, that’s a lot of people.” I agreed with her. The music stopped and slowly the men swaying in the street file into the church as other people file out. At long last the tow truck arrives and he gives the battery a jump and the car starts. He says I need a new battery and I tell him the other things that happened and that I was worried it would died again, so he says he’ll follow me to the mechanics. We go 4 blocks and my car conks out. He jumps it again. While standing there, my friend Michael, who lived near by, walks up “I saw on your Facebook status you had broken down and was wondering if you were close by.” I had posted the photo you see here to Facebook. I get in my car and we drive another 2 blocks. The tow truck driver states, “I’ll need to tow it.” No shit Sherlock.

I had not heard from my mechanic and it was getting to be the end of the day so I gave them a call. "It started right up" I was told. I was pissed and went off on a rant of the problems it gave me. They can keep it until they figure out the problem. I walked home which was good for the nerves. Monday the saga will continue.

Tomorrow, June 1 marks the official start of Hurricane Season. Yippee.

After donating last year’s canned goods in a recent food drive, I stocked back up for this season. Still need to get water… turns out there was a gallon from 2 years ago in the back of the pantry. It sprung a leak. That’s why the “use by date” is 2 years from when it’s bottled: isn’t not that the water goes “bad” but the plastic just can’t hang anymore.

Today’s paper had a special hurricane preparedness section with checklists, contraflow maps, lists of this year’s storm names, etc. I think even more helpful was Saturday’s column where readers sent in their thoughts. Another article that really interested me was “Airport a vital escape route from storms.” What fascinated me was this:

During Hurricane Gustav, federal officials originally wanted to stop flights about 10 a.m. on the day before the storm made landfall, but airport officials were able to get a few more hours of flying time, Wilcut said. "That allowed us to get a lot more people out of the city," she said.

The last flight out was Aug. 31 at 6 p.m., according to news reports. The storm made landfall the next morning about 10:30 at Cocodrie.

For Gustav, the airport opened again to commercial flights on the afternoon of Sept. 3. It took about two weeks to reopen to commercial flights after Katrina, Wilcut said.

As Gustav made its way towards Louisiana, I was road tripping from Georgia to New Mexico. Aug 30 Aug 31

I’m glad the airport didn’t close at 10 am August 31, because I would have been stuck in Dallas. I was in a serious race against time to make it back to New Orleans to help Greg evacuate. My friend in Albuquerque said I was welcome to stay as long as I needed to, but I would have lost my mind. I couldn’t even sleep the night of the 30th, I was so amped up with a singular thought “I must get home.” Not only would there have been a period of time during the height of the storm when I would have no idea if Greg was OK, but who knew how many days it would have been before the airports reopened. As you can see, after Gustav it was a few days. After Katrina, two weeks. One of the most important lessons I've learned about hurricanes and storms is no two or exactly alike.

Festival Double Header

Last Saturday we squeezed two festivals into one day. We needed our Sunday to do the mundane weekend chores.

First was the Greek Fest. Held every year at the first Greek Orthodox Church to be established in America back in 1866. It’s on Bayou St. John near the lake. The day started out gray with rain in the forecast, so we didn’t bother with hats and sunscreen and packed ponchos instead. An hour later it was full on sun. Oops.





We spent a few hours consuming a smorgasbord of Greek delicacies, a bottle of retsina wine (tastes like drinking water from a Christmas tree stand, but in a good way), browsing the market place, chatting with friends and taking in the music and Hellenic dancers. It had been a number of years since we had been (it’s usually beastly hot, which isn’t fun) and it has grown considerably in size; they apparently bought more land, probably after Katrina. Opa!

* * * *

We then went to the other end of Bayou St. John for Bayou Boogaloo, a festival of local music, crafts and food vendors.


Floating in the bayou seemed to be the place to be. Shade was limited and what shade there was, people crammed in under.






The music was great – we were too full to eat anything else – checked out the crafts and bumped into more friends. We only stayed a few hours because it was really getting hot.

So somebody is jerking the public around. Here’s a brief time line of events surrounding the Lyon’s Pool:
----------------------------------------------------
April 21, 2009, Day 0
2 Suspects were arrested for theft of copper at Lyons Center

April 30, 2009 – Day 9
2nd District Email blast from Major Little about arrests sent to Public via Google Groups

May 11, 2009 – Day 20
Irish Channel N.A. hears rumors about extent of vandalism and the possibility that the pool will not open this summer.

May 12, 2009 – Day 21
1st Email Sent to Councilman Fielkow and Councilwoman Head asking them to inquire about Lyons pool. These inquiries are forwarded to NORD and others for follow up.

May 14, 2009 – Day 23
NORD Dep. Director makes presentation to ICNA regarding NORD programs. He makes a statement regarding the Lyons Center Pool. “Mr. Barabino asked that I give a status of the Lyons Center Pool.” He further states that the pool is expected to open by “June 1”

May 22, 2009 – Day 31
NORD Director and Capital Projects Administrator address status of Lyons Center pool at a City Council subcommittee meeting. They state that they expect the pool to open by 2nd week of June. NORD was awaiting Entergy to install a pole to provide power to the pool pumps, at which time they could test the pumps. It was also reported the center had been broken into earlier that week and one person arrested. At the same public meeting a petition was presented to NORD Director and Councilman Fielkow with 196 signatures from neighbors asking that Lyons Center be opened. All signatures collected in less than 2 weeks.

May 26, 2009 – Day 35
Press Release from NORD Director and Capital Projects Administrator state “targeted a late summer date to open Lyons Center pool”.
----------------------------------------------------

We just want to know the real story. Several emails were sent in response to the May 26th press release asking why Friday the 22nd it was said the pool would be open in June, and now on the 26th it won’t be open until the end of summer. What good is opening the pool at the end of summer? And what transpired between Friday May 22 and Tuesday, May 26th? There was a Saturday, and Sunday and Memorial day in between these two days.
----------------------------------------------------

Part of the press release that addressed Lyon’s Pool:

Mayor's Press Office
City of New Orleans
1300 Perdido Street, Suite 2E04
New Orleans, Louisiana 70112
Official Statement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 26, 2009

OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM NORD AND CAPITOL PROJECTS

Unfortunately last month, the Lyons Center was damaged as a result of copper theft. The facility has been secured and further security measures, are being evaluated at this time. Understandably, the theft and resulting damages, have delayed NORD's plans to reopen the Lyons pool in June, but, NORD and Capitol Projects will continue to move forward with repairs and have targeted a late summer date to open Lyons Center pool.

----- Original Message -----
From: Arnie Fielkow
To: William M. Chrisman; Larry Barabino, Jr.
Cc: Jackie B. Clarkson; Shelley S. Midura; Stacy Head; James Carter; Cynthia H. Morrell; Cynthia Williard-Lewis; Deborah J. Langhoff; Eric Granderson; Katherine R. Schneiderman
Sent: Tue May 26 17:48:53 2009
Subject: Fw: Official Statement NORD and Capitol Projects

The lyons opening is inconsistent with the public testimony bill provided friday to the youth and rec comm. At that hearing, it was represented lyons would be open in mid june. How could your position have changed in 4 days? This is a major setback for the community!

----- Original Message -----
From: Brenda G. Hatfield
To: Arnie Fielkow
Cc: Jackie B. Clarkson; Cynthia H. Morrell; Shelley S. Midura; Stacy Head; 'James.Ross@mayorofno.com' ; cwlewis@cityofno.com ; Ray Nagin; 'ceeon.quiett@mayorofno.com' ; Larry Barabino, Jr.; William M. Chrisman; Deborah J. Langhoff; Eric Granderson; Katherine R. Schneiderman; Pamela S. Smith
Sent: Tue May 26 19:36:22 2009
Subject: NORD press release

Councilmember Fielkow:
Regarding your reprimand to Larry Barabino and Bill Chrisman today, wouldn’t it seem rational for them to promise a more reasonable date of late summer to open Lyons’ pool after gathering more capital repair information -- so as not to disappoint the community while aiming for mid June? Even doing our best, it sometimes takes longer than anticipated.

Can you give some credit for nine pools being ready to open along with 84 parks and playgrounds for recreation, cultural and educational programs for our youth, seniors and families to enjoy this summer?



----- Original Message -----
From: Arnie Fielkow [mailto:AFielkow@cityofno.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 8:58 PM
To: Brenda G. Hatfield
Cc: Jackie B. Clarkson; Cynthia H. Morrell; Shelley S. Midura; Stacy Head; James.Ross@mayorofno.com; Cynthia Williard-Lewis; Ray Nagin; Ceeon.Quiett@mayorofno.com; Larry Barabino, Jr.; William M. Chrisman; Deborah J. Langhoff; Eric Granderson; Katherine R. Schneiderman; Pamela S. Smith;
Subject: Re: NORD press release

Brenda, I am truly sorry you see it that way. There was no reprimand but rather a statement that there is little credibility when a senior official (and I think bill does an excellent job!) makes a public committment and then 4 days later the administration says something very different. The neighborhood leaders who were present on friday are pretty frustrated with this situation given the importance of the lyons center and the fact that this matter could have been averted with appropriate security. Even this past friday, I had to call the nord director because a door to the center was wide open when I passed by.....many kudos and thanks were extended to bill and larry friday for improving the facility issues and working closely with fema to close the reimbursement disparity.....I believe the community deserved a straight answer on this one but they can weigh in directly with you.
--------------------------

At this time, we wait for any further clarification on the matter.

Petition to open Lyon's Center Pool

Lyons Center

The pool

NORD's Lyon Center is in my neighborhood. No renovations have been done since Katrina. Last July at the Mayor's Round Table I attended last August a representative from NORD said that the Lyon's Center was under Architectural review and construction would start the end of the year. No work has been done since then.

Last summer the pool was open and kids from all around went. These are kid who parents can't afford to send them to a summer camp. And it's hot down here in the summer. The pool is a safe, supervised opportunity for the kids to have some fun.

April, two men were arrested after doing over $300,000 worth of damage to the Lyon's Center. Here's what someone from NORD emailed us about the damage:

There was substantial recent vandalism to the facility:

Room housing electrical breakers for pool area- Stripped wiring, electrical breakers and pool valves and mechanics-Total loss

Under Gym Bleachers as well as Restroom- Copper tubing for water lines stolen and cut-Total loss

Large Conference in front- Most copper electrical wiring in ceiling striped ceiling destroyed to get to the copper

Additional rooms throughout building- copper electrical wiring in ceiling striped ceiling destroyed to get to the copper

Restroom Facilities used in summer season 2008- Inoperable -copper waterline tubing cut and stripped.

We have assigned an architect to the project- have to get the contract through the process- but never anticipated this most recent and significant damage of this extent and nature that will now have to be addressed. Of course with our high insurance deductibles the repair cost will be borne by the most part by the City. There are bond funds available ($1.7M)which were supposed to go toward overall improvements which will now have to be used for this remedial purpose. There is little to no likelihood that FEMA will even entertain the idea of any funding to address that vandalism. It is my understanding that the thieves were apprehended but any help that Council could give making copper theft less attractive will greatly help our and thousands of others efforts in the recovery. We will do what we can but this is a major blow to that facility which will be exceptionally costly and time consuming to repair.

I have instructed MWH that the City will no longer use copper piping in the construction of any of our facilities; however, electrical system, the most costly in the construction, remain wholly vulnerable.

Why wasn't the building better secured and monitored? That much damage can't be done in a day. Plus when the arrest was made there was evidence that people were living in the center!

So I started a petition, to be presented this Friday at meeting with the City Council, NORD and FEMA, stating it is NORD's responsibility to do what need to be done so that the pool can be opened this summer. If you agree, PLEASE sign the petition and tell your friends. THANK YOU!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/open-lyons-center-pool

We've been tagged.


We have a long metal shed across the back of our property that backs up to a field. One day in the last week or so it got tagged. Big time. I'm not sure how I feel about this.


I am amazed they were able to work in such close confines. There's only about 14 inches between the fence and the shed. G discovered graffiti artists wear latex gloves because he found some along with empty spray paint cans.

They're baaaaaack!


New school zone flashing signs have been going up Uptown. They are very visible and appear to be solar powered. So no more excuses, slow it down.

I love April in New Orleans. The weather, while very unpredictable, can be spectacular. Today, after several stormy days this week, is gorgeous. I remembered to put on sunscreen (unlike Mardi Gras) and put on a floppy hat. After voting and walking to Harry's Ace for a few things, we stopped by Cafe Atchafalaya for a crawfish boil. Lordy be, this was some of the best crawfish I've had in a while. Very flavorful, hot and spicy. They had a trio playing tunes while we stood outside, sucking heads, pinching tails, drinking beer and chatting with neighbors from the 'hood.

After our fill, we headed over to the Freret Street Festival. It's a shame I was so full of crawfish because there was some good smelling food there. It was very crowded. I was looking for a jewelry maker who is usually at the Freret Market. It took us our third time down the street for me to see her. I bought her shotgun house necklace. Love it!

(P.S. I can't remember if I said this before but a friend of ours bought Cafe Atchafalaya back in January and has changed up some things for the better. Open on Mondays. Check it out!)

NOLA in the NYT

Just two days ago, the New York Times had an article about brewing in NOLA. Today, we get another shout out in an article "Reinventing American's Cities: The Time is Now" along with LA, The Bronx and Buffalo. The article mentions how I-10 sliced though a once vibrant community...

In New Orleans, for example, the 10 Freeway bulldozed through one of the city’s most vibrant African-American communities, becoming a psychological barrier between the black middle-class Treme neighborhood and the tourist-infested French Quarter.

... but there was no mention of the UNOP or Master Plan; and the Master Plan calls to remove I-10 in this same spot. (UNOP may have addressed this as well, I don't know.)

I Googled the author's name (Nicolai Ouroussoff) and stumbled upon this lively blog, "Lost City" about disappearing New York landmarks.

R.I.P. Wah Laundry Sign


Any old sign aficionado who's driven down Freret Street has noticed the Wah Laundry sign. The good news is the owners of this long neglected building is finally doing some work on it. It only took an expose on TV. Public humiliation does work! The bad news is they took the sign down. I snapped these pics just before they started work. Will the sign go back up? I'll let you know.

Mmmmm beer....

With the opening of a new brewery in New Orleans - NOLA Brewing - the brewing scene has been in the media lately, including a NY Times article "New Orleans Gets its Brew Back."

G has been a home brewer for years. After Katrina, his favorite local brewing supply store, Brew Ha Ha, sadly closed. He bought up some ingredients for a brew before they closed. Since then, he's made only one or two other batches of beer, after visiting a brew store in Houston. But in the last few months, a new brew supply store has open, Brewstock, on Oak Street and G has been a brewing fiend. Some folks got to sample one of his latest brews at our St. Pat's Parade party. Brewing beer makes G happy, which makes me happy. And it's also "green" - no one is recycling glass right now, so no beer bottles to throw away. (Wine on the other hand...) G's next plan is to try growing hops. I'll post photos on the garden blog once this get going.

This has been a week consumed with neighborhood/community type meetings. Because I am the president of my neighborhood association, I get bombarded with emails and invitations to participate in this, attend that, disseminate this.

It started Saturday morning, 9am. It was a gorgeous day. G and went to a meeting for a briefing on the Draft Master Plan. Waste of time. I fully support the Master Plan and will read as much of the draft as I can, and attend another meeting for my district in April. But nothing new was unveiled at the meeting. After the podium got taken over by a civil rights activist who called everyone in the room racists, and microphones were being set up for the Q&A we decided we had had enough and it was time to go.

Tuesday evening I went to the District 2 NONPACC meeting, which was pretty good. Freezing cold room. A representative from the DA’s office was there. Under Canizzaro, the DAs and NOPDs are going to work together, no more pointing fingers, communicate with each other. What a concept! That would make a good TV series. Oh wait, it is. Sarcasm aside, I am hopeful that real change is happening, call me naive. The Gray Ghost made an appearance to talk about his Operation Clean Sweep. I bit my tongue and didn’t heckle him nor did anyone else. (I was happy to read this article “Graffiti eraser told to keep his hands off”)

Wednesday was the annual meeting with the NPN. Another freezing room, what’s with that? The meeting went way past the allotted time, and ironically, I blame the facilitator they hired. She talked to us like we were elementary school children. “So I want us all to practice active listening. Can someone tell me three things of interest Bob just said?” Clap, clap, clap. At one point, everyone was asked to pull a folded piece of paper out of a box. When we were allowed to open it, I looked at mine “Advice from a Cat” with a cute picture of a kitty. Debby sitting next to me had “Advice from a Butterfly.” Madam Facilitator went around the room asking who had the various animals “Where are my bears? RRROWWRR!” Yes, she made animal noises too. “What advice did you get from the bear?” She closed the evening with a poem about how “crazy” people change the world. Some one asked her who wrote it. She struggled with the name… “Jack Mumble… He wrote a book called On the Road…” Everyone yelled in unison “Jack Kerouac!” Lordy. (Side note: This “poem” was actually from an Apple commercial, not On the Road.)

Tonight’s there’s a townhall meeting with state representatives. I was going to go, but I’ve had enough public forums to last me a while. I haven’t had a quiet dinner at home evening with my husband in over a week. Plus there’s good TV tonight.

Smoke and mirrors

I feel baffled when people “play” the race card. One recent example: Veronica White calling Stacy Head a racist. In my dealings with Ms. Head she’s never said or done anything that made me think she is a racist. Thanks to an excellent post on American Zombie I now understand why I feel baffled – it’s not about race. Duh!

Have you noticed how people who boldly proclaim themselves to be something are usually the opposite? Vitter and family values for one example? If someone has to blow his or her own trumpet so much, it makes you wonder. Maybe we can assume the reverse – some one who keeps calling other people racist is actually the racist. It’s a game politicians play when running for office. Pay attention to whom is slinging the mud, directing the discussion away from issues and from themselves.

The old guard – black and white – is coming down and they are not going to go quietly.

* * * * *

It’s Springtime again. Which means everything covered in green pollen and I continue my gardening attempts seen here on my garden blog.

I'm not sure how I feel about this.

The NEW Mid-City Lanes?!?! link

Happy St. Patty's Day!



This makes me laugh so hard I cry. Oh boy oh boy...