Check Out What’s Going On

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Hal Brown
https://fsjna.org/2013/04/neighborhood-leader-dead-at-66/

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Thursday, April 18th, is Breakfast With Fran. Meet at 7:30 a.m., with Fran’s teleconference at 8:00. You’ll see Ms. Lara Hodgson, a popular previous guest. Her topics this time are: “Starting a Second Successful Small Business” and “Curiosity.” Got you thinking?

https://fsjna.org/2013/04/breakfast-with-fran/

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Thursday, April 18th: GROW DAT YOUTH FARM Hosts A **BARN DANCE HOOTENANNY* *WHEN:* Thursday, April 18, 2013, 7:00-10:00p.m. *WHERE:* The Grow Dat Youth Farm in City Park–between the Dog Park and Pan Am Stadium at 150 Zachary Taylor Drive.

https://fsjna.org/2013/04/hootenanny/

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Jazz Fest Info
https://fsjna.org/2013/04/jazz-fest/

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April 19th – Vino on the Bayou
https://fsjna.org/2013/03/vino-on-the-bayou-4/

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Saturday, April 20th – Fortier Park Festival
https://fsjna.org/2013/04/fortier-park-festival/

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Saturday, April 20th – Bayou Clean Up
https://fsjna.org/2013/03/bayou-clean-up-april-20th/

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Sunday, April 21: Build a boat for the Earth Day Regatta! The grand prize is a 2 hour trip for 10 on Bayou St John. go to bayoukayaks.com for more info and to register today!

https://fsjna.org/2013/04/earth-day-regatta/

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Saturday, May 11
SAVE THE DATE: Friends of Lafitte Corridor will be hosting their ninth annual Hike the Lafitte Corridor on Saturday, May 11th at 10 am starting at Louis Armstrong Park and ending at City Park Avenue.

https://fsjna.org/2013/04/take-a-hike-2/

BlightStat Revisited

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by Charlie London
blightstat-revisited
I took a new job about six months ago that no longer allows me to attend the BlightStat meetings on a regular basis as I once did. It was great to see the movers-and-shakers again today that keep fighting blight in our city.

The folks pictured above are the unsung heroes that, like you,
are passionate about moving New Orleans forward.

The Code Enforcement Department continues to lead the pack with over 1,000 inspections each month. The new land asset management application is far superior to the old computer system. The Code Enforcement Department was heralded for their continued vigilance in the fight against blight.

The Technology Department noted that while the virtual private network used by the inspectors is not providing the service expected, one of the features negotiated for the current technology contract allows for unlimited technical support. The problem is being worked on as you read this.

If you haven’t taken the time to check out data.nola.gov … you should. Surf around data.nola.gov and you’ll be amazed at the information you’ll find. The City of New Orleans Technology Department is working hard to dispel any misconceptions that New Orleans might be behind the times.

The Law Department also uses the land management asset application.

new-lot-next-door

The New Orleans Redevelopment Authority has a new lot next door program which will be released soon. Expect a press release from the City soon! NORA will be using online expressions of interest in properties for the new lot next door program. Those expressions of interest will be collected this May through August. The program will soon be available at NORAWORKS.org Properties will be sold at market value from September through December of this year.

The BlightStat team continues raise expectations and lead the nation in an idea that was developed right here in New Orleans. The results of their efforts will be felt for generations to come as New Orleans rises once again to become the “Queen of the South”.

Keep the faith… you’ll see.

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April 12, 2013

NORA releases list of properties for expanded Lot Next Door Program

The New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) in partnership with the Mayor’s Office and City Council is pleased to announce the release of the list of properties for the amended Lot Next Door Ordinance. The City Council adopted Ordinance 29,397 on February 21 and the Mayor signed it into law on February 25, 2013.

Beginning today, NORA will publish the list of available properties in The Times-Picayune. The list is also available on NORA’s website www.noraworks.org and at data.nola.gov, the City’s official data catalog.

Eligible Lot Next Door buyers MUST notify NORA of its intent to purchase a Lot Next Door property by completing an Expression of Interest (EOI) form. The EOI form will be available on NORA’s website www.noraworks.org beginning May 1, 2013 until August 1, 2013. The deadline to complete an expression of interest (EOI) form is August 1, 2013. Submitting an expression of interest does not guarantee a purchase.

In order to be considered for the Lot Next Door Program you must share a common boundary to an eligible Lot Next Door Property and meet all other eligibility requirements. For more information regarding qualifications and eligibility please visit NORA’s website www.noraworks.org and click on the Lot Next Door tab or contact the Lot Next Door Program Office at 504.658.4422.

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The New Orleans City Council voted Thursday to authorize demolition of several dozen blighted and dilapidated buildings throughout the city owned by the Housing Authority of New Orleans. The list includes properties in all five council districts.

HANO had requested permission to demolish all the buildings.

Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell originally filed a motion to allow demolition of several properties in District D, but other members then asked to add HANO properties in their districts as well — “hitching our wagons to yours,” as council President Stacy Head told Hedge-Morrell.

The final list comprises:

District A: 1715, 1723, 1727 and 1735 Cambronne St.; 1738-40 Gen. Ogden St.; 2115-17 St. Ann St.; and 8718-20 Willow St.

District B: 2331-33 Annunciation St.; 1421-23-25 and 5312 Constance St.; and 2118-20-22 Danneel St.

District C: 1815-21 Ptolemy St.; 1500-14, 1508-14, 1524-30 and 1532-38 Hendee St.; 1814-20 Lawrence St.; 717 De Armas St.; 2427 Ursulines Ave.; 1916 Roman St.; 1927 Mandeville St.; 2522 N. Rampart St.; 1814-20 Bayou Road; 2023 N. Robertson St.; 1319 Montegut St.; 600, 601, 615, 616-20 and 621 France St.; 4100-14 and 4200 Royal St.; 1112 N. Rocheblave St.; and 4319 Chartres St.

District D: 2500, 2501, 2524, 2525, 2600, 2601, 2624 and 2625 Bartholomew St.; 2123-29 Painters St.; and 3013 Mandeville St.

District E: 1501-03, 1505-07, 1509-11 and 1515 Benton St. and 4727 Ray Ave.

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/04/city_council_approves_demoliti.html#incart_river

April at Fair Grinds

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by Wade Rathke
fairgrinds-rathkeApril is always a fantastic Fair Grinds month as spring bursts into final blooms and the Jazz and Heritage Fest knocks on our door, so let’s see what we have in store here for the month.

This month’s Fair Grinds Coffeehouse’s Dialogue on Tuesday evening, April 9th, is a special call for all of our poets and writers that make Fair Grinds so important in the New Orleans literary community. We are going to be discussing “artisanal” or self-publishing as an important modern tool thanks to advantages in technology. Glenn Smith from Birds in the Sky Press, one of the authors who has used self-publishing will testify about the experience, and I will share our experience with Social Policy Press. We have a theory that a lot of our Fair Grinds regulars and assorted randoms have things they have written from full blown books to family histories that need to find their way to print and the public. If this is true for any of you or folks you know, of if you are simply curious about how it all works, be there…

muffins-fairgrinds1aTuesday, April 9th – 7 PM

Fair Grinds Common Space – 2nd Floor

April as always is a musical month. Here’s the tentative schedule of coming musical attractions including local groups and talent from this area as well as folks from around the country. Check the Fair Grinds calendar at www.fairgrinds.com for more details on each performance.

Swamp Lillies – Sunday, April 7th 5 PM

Open Mic with Robert Eustis – Thursday, April 11th 7PM

Lips and Trips – Friday, April 19th 7:30 PM

Snail Party (Canada) – Saturday, April 21st 8 PM

Randy Harsey – Saturday, April 27th 7 PM

Linda Kolda and Work for Hire – Saturday, April 27th 9PM

McMain Piano Recital – Tuesday, April 30th 7PM

Getting the coffee cart ready to roll over the Dillard University for a couple of hours to introduce 100% fair trade, organic coffee at their annual Health and Sports Fair on Saturday, April 6th. The same night we have a new organization, DEAF-Louisiana doing a movie night in the Common Space.

Great to see people enjoying the balcony now that the weather is so nice.

Spring Gala for Spay Mart

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kittyforwebSpayMart is holding its annual Spring Gala and Auction to benefit homeless cats on Saturday, April 6, from 6 to 10 p.m. “An Evening Along the Bayou” will raise a substantial percentage of SpayMart’s operating funds, which will allow the organization to continue providing low-cost spay/neuter and adoption services to the public.

The celebration at the home and gardens of Dr. Rollie Norris on Bayou St. John in New Orleans promises to be a fun-filled night set in near tropical surroundings with live music, martini bars, raffles, great food by local chefs, entertainment, live and silent auctions, and free photographs.

Tickets are $75 if ordered ahead of time, $100 at the door, and $750 for a reserved table for eight. You can order tickets at SpayMart or buy them at the SpayMart Thrift and Gift Shop in the Century Plaza Shopping Center at 6601 Veterans Blvd. in Metairie.

SpayMart was started by Lynn Chiche and Pam Casey in 1998 to to reduce pet overpopulation in the New Orleans area. Their mission has always been to address animal overpopulation and animal homelessness through education, aggressive spay/neuter, and adoption programs. The organization spay/neuters an average of 1,500 animals of indigent pet owners annually and adopts more than 400 cats to loving homes.

The non-profit group was getting ready to open the city’s first low-cost, high-volume spay/neuter clinic when Katrina hit, destroying the roof and ruining everything inside.

After the storm, Chiche focused her efforts on rescuing cats from the floodwaters. Her house in Metairie flooded, and she landed near Picayune, Miss., where she bought some property and turned a large building into a no-kill shelter for cats.

She and her husband live on the grounds, and she cares for more than 250 cats, most rescued from New Orleans and surrounding parishes. To learn more about SpayMart and to see cats available for adoption, visit SpayMart or call the shelter at 601.749.0268.

Original article in link below:
http://www.nola.com/pets/index.ssf/2013/03/an_evening_along_the_bayou_wil.html

HELP THE HAUS

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daHAUS

Property Clean-Up (1700 Moss St.) | Saturday, April 6 | 9 am

Come help Deutsches Haus clean up the property. We will need wheelbarrows, shovels, rakes, weed whackers in order to clear trash, edge parking slabs, trim hedges, clear mud off of parking slabs and fill holes to name a few of the tasks. Bring gloves, sunscreen, etc. Please RSVP yeses only to volunteer@deutscheshaus.org Lunch and beverages will be provided.

Deutsches Haus partnered with Faubourg St. John for the FEED the 1st program:
https://fsjna.org/2013/02/feed-the-1st-2/

Bayou St. John is the Reason for New Orleans

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by Angela Carll
Times Picayune – November 15, 1985
Bayou St. John is the reason New Orleans is located where it is. The bayou provided a connection from the Mississippi River overland via an old Indian path to Lake Ponchartrain.

A number of historic landmarks still stand in this neighborhood to remind visitors of the city’s heritage.

The Old Spanish Custom House, built in 1784 at the corner of Moss Street and Grand Route Saint John, is the oldest structure in this neighborhood.
Another renowned home is the Pitot House, named for James Pitot, the second mayor of New Orleans. Built in 1799 at 1370 Moss Street, the Pitot House was later moved a short distance up the bayou to 1440 Moss in 1970.

The Tivoli amusement park once stood where the Pitot House is now. It featured a pavillion, orange trees, and dances were held there on Sundays.

Much of Bayou St. John remained swampy and unable to be developed while the city was attempting to drain the area, which was called “back of town” as early as 1835.

In 1866, the city started using the bayou as a drainage receptacle, and a community of houseboats grew up along it. In 1936, the State House of Representatives declared the bayou a non-navigable stream.

Fort St. John, where the bayou and lake meet, was originally built as a fortification by the French and later became the most prominent resort area in New Orleans during the 1930s. The Old Spanish Fort still stands on this site.

The fort is a modern-day battleground. The Orleans Levee Board has proposed replacing the Lakeshore Drive bridge that spans the bayou at its entrance to the lake with a grade-level crossing using culverts for water to flow back and forth from the lake to the bayou.

Members of the Bayou St. John Improvement Association have sued the Levee Board to halt construction, arguing that wind moves water currents and that the City Park lagoons which are fed by water from the bayou will soon stagnate. They also contend that closing the mouth of the bayou will damage an important part of the city’s historical heritage. (The “waterfall dam” near the mouth of Bayou St. John was removed in 2013. Please visit the link for more information: https://fsjna.org/2012/08/update-on-dam-removal/)

Although the bayou today lacks even the rowing clubs, which were popular in the last century, a drive along its curving shore shows typical Louisiana country homes. It still exists to remind us of New Orleans’ earliest beginnings, and why the city was built in a place that seems most improbable to us today.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW A PDF OF THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE.

Faubourg St. John was a community ten years before the founding of New Orleans in 1718.

Click on the map of Faubourg St. John for a larger view.

For more information, please visit the ABOUT and HISTORY tabs at FSJNA dot ORG

Park Excellance

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photos by Charlie London. All photos were taken in Fortier Park on the afternoon of March 23, 2013.
Fortier2013j

Fortier Park has flourished under the tutelage of Bobby Wozniak for decades. However, the tremendous beauty in Fortier Park comes at a price.

So, once again, on Saturday, April 20th, Bobby Wozniak and Bob McGuire along with the help of the Faubourg St. John Neighborhood Association will have the Fortier Festival. There will be a silent auction. Please bid generously to keep the best pocket park in New Orleans growing strong. And, if you’ve been to previous Fortier Festivals you know that really cool musical surprises happen at the Fortier Festival. So mark your calendar and bring lots of money on April 20th to the corner of Mystery and Esplanade in Faubourg St. John. Faubourg St. John and Fortier Park are where big dreams grow!


Fortier2013o
Fortier2013b

Garden Up

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photos by Charlie London
garden-fence

Lots of helpful neighbors turned out to
help renew the Faubourg St. John Community Garden!


garden-fence1
Garden-Up-March23rd

Click on the flyer by Michael Cohn for a PDF.

Please join your neighbors at the Faubourg St. John Community Garden at the corner of St. Philip and North Dupre for a clean up day on Saturday, March 23rd from 9 to noon.

There will be tasks for all ages and abilities, including weeding, raking, mowing, painting, general carpentry repair along with general clean up of the site.

Channel your inner gardener while giving back to the community.

Free coffee, snacks and fun. Please bring a rake, broom, shove or basic repair tools to help give the garden a fresh start!

See you March 23rd from 9 a.m. until noon.

Pictured above is Faubourg St. John’s Community Garden
at St. Philip and North Dupre.

Bayou Clean Up April 20th

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Bayou Clean Up | Saturday | April 20th | 9-12

bayou-cleanup2013apr20
It’s that time of year again, the flowers are blooming the birds are singing and people are paddling. The winds have been blowing and debris has been making it’s way into the bayou and Bayou Kayaks needs your help to keep Bayou St John beautiful.

Bayou Kayaks is organizing a Bayou Clean Up in preparation for the Earth Day Festival. Volunteers are needed to make sure the bayou is ready.

Volunteers will meet at the Bayou Kayaks launch site at 1101 Florida Ave (by the LSU Dental School) at 9 a.m. on April 20th and collect debris until noon.
There will be refreshments and a few supplies to aid in the clean up. Kayaks will be available for use on a first come first serve basis. Volunteers on foot are especially important as there are many items to be collected along the banks.

Please join this Bayou Clean Up on Saturday, April 20th to keep Bayou St John beautiful.