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Walk for a Better Neighborhood

October 28, 2014 by Charlie London

SHOES

The Latin custom of an evening walk is good for your health and for the vitality of your neighborhood

WE ALL KNOW THAT WALKING IS GOOD FOR US. It sheds calories, tones muscles, and clears our minds.

But taking a regular walk is also beneficial for your neighborhood
. This basic human instinct—to get out of the house to see what’s going on—is the glue that holds most great communities together. The classic example are the Latin lands where an after-dinner stroll—the passegiata in Italy, the paseo in Spain and Latin America, the volta in Greece—is as much a part of the culture as sunshine or siestas. In towns and even large cities, people amble around the same set of streets each evening. The shops are usually closed so the purpose is not shopping and errands but to connect with their neighbors and enjoy their surroundings.

WRITER ADAM GOODHEART described this scene near the main square of the Italian hill town of Eboli. “I realized that I kept seeing the same people, but in different combinations. Here came a blond woman pushing a stroller. Next lap, she was arm in arm with a younger woman and the stroller was nowhere to be seen. Later, they’d been joined by an old lady who was pushing the stroller. Next, they were surrounded by men, jackets draped over their shoulders…”.

The words passegiata and paseo translate into English as promenade—and the idea translates too, according to Christopher Alexander, a former Berkeley Architecture professor who has devoted his life to scientifically studying what makes places work. In his classic book A Pattern Language, he asks, “ Is the promenade in fact a purely Latin institution? Our experiments suggest that it is not?…It seems that people, of all cultures, may have a general need for this kind of human mixing which the promenade makes possible.”

ALEXANDER LAYS OUT TWO GUIDELINES that enhance the experience and sociability of a promenade:

— The route should be approximately 1500 feet, which can easily be walked in ten minutes at a leisurely pace. People may opt for many times around—especially teenagers on the lookout for excitement or romance—but you don’t want to make the course too long for kids or elderly people.

— It’s important that there are things to see and do along the route, with no empty or dead zones of more than 150 feet. While the primary purpose of these strolls is social, people also like to have some destination: a sidewalk café, playground, bookstore, bars, the library, ice cream shop etc.

Think about what blocks in your neighborhood show promise for strolling and what improvements could be made to get people out to meet their neighbors. Walking up and down Main Street or any lively commercial district is probably the most common North American version of the promenade, although a route along a waterfront or interesting residential blocks could work just as well. Public art, welcoming businesses, benches, flowerbeds, even a vending cart could all help solidify this area as the place where people go to after dinner to see and be seen in your community.

Resources: A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander

Filed Under: Featured, Living Well Tagged With: association, bayou st john, best neighborhood in New Orleans, faubourg st john, improvement, neighborhood, New Orleans, walk

2012 Board Elected

December 14, 2011 by Charlie London

The 2012 Faubourg St. John Neighborhood Association Executive Board was elected at tonight’s General Membership meeting at the Fair Grounds:


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Dean Burridge | Jimmy Fahrenholtz | Ali James | Linda Landesberg | Seth Levine | Brenda London | Charlie London | Steve Mardon | Gloria Martin | Pushpa Ramaiah | Rocky Seydel | Nancy Shepard | Kerry Tully
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The following people were appointed to the FSJNA Advisory Board at the December 12th FSJNA Board meeting:

Conrad Abadie | Sara Landrieu | Vincent Booth | Richard Cahn | Mike Pearce | David Porretto | Suzanne Accorsi | Greg Jeanfreau | Keith Twitchell | Cynthia Scott | Rachel Dangermond | Bobby Wozniak

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: advisory, association, bayou, bayou st john, board, executive, faubourg, faubourg st john, fsjna, john, members, neighborhood

WELCOME!

January 1, 2010 by Charlie London

WELCOME TO FAUBOURG ST. JOHN!

If you want to receive info about the neighborhood, you can sign up for Charlie’s Neighborhood News at

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/charlies-neighborhood-news

In addition to Charlie’s Neighborhood News, I also provide several websites for the neighborhood.  If you would like to sign up for updates about what is going on in the neighborhood, you can click on the invitation to Faubourg St. John at NEXTDOOR.com in the link

below:

https://nextdoor.com/invite/tukwgpjxjfscqhpdmgpz

You can learn more about NEXTDOOR in the link below:

https://fsjna.org/nextdoor/

I also do the following:

Charlies Neighborhood News on Facebook:

https://facebook.com/faubourgstjohn

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Neighborhood News on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/faubourgstjohn

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Faubourg St. John on NEXTDOOR:

https://faubourgstjohn.nextdoor.com

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Charlie’s Neighborhood News:

http://www.katrinafilm.com/

and

https://katrinafilm.wordpress.com/

Faubourg St. John at https://fsjna.org

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I’ve done fsjna.org since 2006.  https://fsjna.org has a lot of information about the neighborhood, its history, and what is going on.   It’s a little harder to navigate now because the neighborhood association prefers a static page showing how to join.   But, just use the search box or the drop down menus if you would like to find something.

The Yahoo Group started and maintained by Conrad Abadie since 2000 can be found at fsjna.com   The Yahoo Group is part of your dues.

The meetings are the first Tuesday of every month at the Deutsches Haus at 1700 Moss

All the stuff I provide is free to anyone.

I’ve done the website at https://fsjna.org for over 10 years.  If you are tech savvy and would like to take it over, please do.

I will now inundate you with more information that you would probably like but, here we go…

Click on the link below for more about the Faubourg

St. John Neighborhood Association

about

What would our neighborhood be if the Faubourg St.

John Neighborhood Association had never been born?

Check out my research in the link below:

It’s a Wonderful Life!

Neighborland is another place to exchange ideas.  I

am not affiliated with Neighborland…

Neighborland

If you like to imbibe, there are several great places to

do so in the neighborhood.

Check out the link below:

DRINKS

For your dining pleasure, please check out the link below:

DINING

Learn more about the GROW DAT farm in City Park:

GROW DAT

What Makes a Neighborhood Great?

Check out the link below:

https://fsjna.org/2012/04/what-makes-a-neighborhood-great/

I put together a post about some of the history of the neighborhood in the link below.

Click on my photo of the big dome on the bayou in the

link below for a video I made about the neighborhood.

history

I put together some maps of Faubourg St. John.

Flood map, neighborhood boundary map, voting

precincts and more in the link below:

maps

Did you know that streetcars used to run throughout Faubourg St. John?

Check out my research and Gary Parky’s map (which he gave to me) in the link below:

https://fsjna.org/2013/04/streetcars-in-faubourg-st-john-1927/

Want to know who Lived in Your House in 1940?

Check out the link below:

Who Lived in Your House in 1940?

Keep Faubourg St. John beautiful.  More in the link:

https://fsjna.org/2016/01/you-dont-have-to-be-80-to-do-this/

Do you need something from your government?

Check out the link below:

https://fsjna.org/2012/06/i-need-something-from-government/

Take a Tour Right Here

Tour Faubourg St. John

The Bayou Boogaloo

https://fsjna.org/2014/05/the-bayou-boogaloo-what-is-it-good-for/

Are you ready for hurricane season?

Are You Ready?

Storm Drains Should be Cleaned Regularly

FREE Protection

There is so much more information that I have provided at https://fsjna.org

Use the search box for things you might be interested in.

Join NEXTDOOR and Charlie’s Neighborhood News to receive regular updates about what is happening in, around, and about Faubourg St. John

WELCOME!

Your neighbor,

Charlie London

charliesneighborhoodnews@gmail.com

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PAY ONLINE HERE:
https://fsjna.org/links/

Thank you so much for your vote of confidence in the Faubourg St. John Neighborhood Association with your recent membership.

For any questions about your membership status please contact Conrad Abadie at conrad@conradabadie.com

Thank you for your dedication to the Faubourg St. John Neighborhood Association. Don’t miss out on what’s happening, check out Faubourg St. John on Facebook and Twitter.

Visit https://fsjna.org/ regularly.

You might be surprised to see how often https://fsjna.org/ is updated with news and information just for you.

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Got a streetlight out?

Send the tag number on the pole and the closest street address to info@fsjna.org
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Did you know that bandit signs are illegal? You know the ones… “we buy houses”, “rooms for rent” ad nauseum. Any citizen can legally remove any bandit sign placed in the neutral ground or on utility poles.

There are many avenues to advertise legally,
don’t let bandits advertise illegally on our avenues.
The same goes for political signs. They are allowed two days before the election until two days after. After that they are just adding to the blight problem and are trash. Political signs are not supposed to be put up over two days before the election.

Read more about bandit signs and how you can help fight blight in the link below:
https://fsjna.org/steps-to-stomp-out-blight/
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Check out FSJNA dot ORG to find out what’s happening in Faubourg St. John!
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Check out Charlie’s Neighborhood News for more…
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/charlies-neighborhood-news
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For a community calendar, please visit
http://katrinafilm.com/

Filed Under: More Great Posts! Tagged With: association, bayou, bayou st john, blight, community, faubourg, faubourg st john, faubourg st. john neighborhood association, fsjna, home, john, neighborhood, New Orleans, organization, st., welcome

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