car

New Two Year Brake Tags

January 1, 2016 by Charlie London

CITY ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO BRAKE TAG PROGRAM

The City of New Orleans announced changes to City’s Motor Vehicle Inspection Program (Brake Tags), which are intended to increase convenience to the motoring public and increase efficiency in the administration of the program.

Earlier this year, the City Council passed comprehensive revisions to the City’s Motor Vehicle Inspection regulations which were proposed by the City’s Department of Safety and Permits.

These changes include:
Authorization of optional two-year inspection certificates, which are currently available for residents of other parishes with standard State inspection stickers; and clarification on the tier system for passenger vehicles, light commercial vehicles and heavy commercial vehicles.
Additionally, the City is implementing a new design and uniform color scheme for inspection stickers. The new stickers are circular with the year of expiration in the center in place of the month of expiration, and will feature month indicators to indicate expiration.

All inspection stickers for a given year will be of a uniform color, taking the place of the multiple colors issued in previous years to indicate inspection sticker type.

A sample image is provided above:
As a result of these programmatic changes, inspection stickers expiring in 2017 and 2018 will not be available until Monday, Jan. 18, 2016. However, no inspection stickers expiring in January of 2016 will be considered delinquent until Jan. 31, 2016, regardless of the date indicated on the sticker.

Click here for more information on Brake Tags and Inspection locations

http://tinyurl.com/new-2-year-brake-tag

Streetcars in Faubourg St. John 1927

April 21, 2013 by Charlie London

Many thanks to Gary Parky for sharing his 1927 streetcar map!

Click on the map for a larger view.

What is now Desmare Playground was the Esplanade Barn in 1927.

The Arabella Barn is now Whole Foods on Magazine.

Reported in the Times Picayune newspaper:
November 1, 1901

Reported in the Times Picayune newspaper:
April 28, 1873

ORLEANS RAILROAD.

– Owing to the energy shown by the officers and directors of this company, the double track on Broad Street and Grand Route Saint John is completed. In consequence of this wise improvement, the line of this company is now the shortest from Canal street to the Fair Grounds. The cars run without change as far as the turning-table, opposite the central gate of the Fair Grounds, fronting on Savage Street, between the third and fourth building, a few steps from the stand. The Orleans Railroad cars start without interruption, from the Clay Statue, corner of St. Charles and Canal Streets.
Click here to view the original article from April 28, 1873.

July 3, 1868

Inauguration of the Orleans City Railroad

The first trip over the Orleans City Railroad was made the occasion of a pleasant excursion yesterday.

About 6 o’clock p.m. the officers of the road – President, George Clark; Secretary, Jules Benit; Directors, G.W. Hynson, D.B. Macarthy, B. Saloy, Joseph Hernandez, L.E. Lemarie and Frances Mouney – together with a large number of stockholders and invited guests, proceeded from opposite the office of the company, on Dauphine street, in two of the bright, new and elegant cars provided for the occasion, to travel over the length of the road and make as thorough an inspection of the same as circumstances would admit.
The route of the road is down Dauphine to Dumaine, out Dumaine to Broad, down Broad and beneath the overhanging branches of the trees that line this street, to Laharpe, and down Laharpe to the terminus of the road, where the spacious though as yet incomplete stables, etc., of the company are situate.(now Stallings Playground)
The depot is located on two squares of ground situate at the head of Bayou Savage, and near the Gentilly Road.
Though, the buildings have not been completed, the stables will be ready to afford shelter to the animals by tomorrow, when twelve cars will be placed upon the line.
Returning to the city the route passes down Grand Route Saint John, up Dumaine street to Broad, and thence by St. Peter and Basin streets to Canal.
After the excursion there was a very delightful collation spread at the office of the company, at which the greatest good feeling prevailed, and many toasts were drank to the success of the road, etc.
Click here to view the original article from July 3, 1868.

Click on the map for larger view and to see the dotted lines where the streetcars ran.
***

Streetcar on Esplanade in 1921. Photo by Charles L. Franck

research by Charlie London

On June 6, 1883, the Times Picayune reported the following:
“A boy named Albert Musgrove while running after a street car at the corner of Esplanade and Grand Route St. John, at 7 o’clock yesterday morning, fell and fractured his arm. Dr. Souchon attended the boy at his residence, No. 108 Grand Route St. John.”

Click here to see the original article from 1883

Vehicle Retrieved from Bayou

June 25, 2012 by Charlie London

car-in-bayou1 — A diver swims out to attach equipment to the vehicle so it could be pulled from Bayou St. John.

Check out the video to see the retrieval of a vehicle from
Bayou St. John.

photos and video above by Charlie London

***

Blight Attracts Burnt

February 3, 2012 by Charlie London

On Monday, February 6, 2012 at 1:38 pm 3rd District Quality of Life Officer, Patrick Smith wrote: “Sir,
The vehicle was towed by Bill’s Car Crushers on 2/6/12.”
Respectfully,
P/O IV Patrick M. Smith | New Orleans Police Department |
Third District/Quality of Life | Office-504-658-6198 |
Cell-504-444-7514 | email: pmsmith@nola.gov

photos and article by Laura Rapp Boucher
Neighbors and I found a burnt out car at the end of our street which is at Verna and St.Vincent streets.

The car looks to be an act of arson and it looks to have damaged the house near where the fire took place. It’s been there at least two weeks.

I am worried this could become a dumping ground for stolen cars or other crimes because it is a quiet area where these things never happen.

article below by Charlie London

This house at 1549 Verna is owned by the heirs of Edward A. Lambert. The house has been “demolished by neglect” for almost a decade. It’s my understanding that Mr. Lambert was an electrician who once ran wires from his house to the stage at one of the early Jazz Fests so that the “show could go on”.

Unfortunately, the heirs to this home have decided to slowly demolish it by neglecting it year after year. And now, the property has attracted someone who believes this is a good place to burn a car. Why? Because it is obvious that the property owner doesn’t care.

This house has been repeatedly featured in blight articles at FSJNA dot ORG and I reported it to the city. The city took action and levied fines. You can see a PDF with information about 1549 Verna from August 31, 2010 by clicking here.

What is it going to take to get rid of this problem? A new owner.

And, it appears we may have that in real estate salesman Tommy Crane.

Mr. Crane would like to take the photo you see above and transform it into a place we can all be proud of. As you can see from his architect’s rendering, the new house will seemlessly integrate into the neighborhood due to its thoughtful planning and style.

Criminals see blighted homes, bandit signs, and unkempt areas as an invitation.

Mr. Crane has the resources and a plan to make this blight go away. He would like our support for approval to remove this blighted building. Let’s work together to prevent more blight and more crime in this area.

Here is a statement from Mr. Crane on his intentions for the property:

“I have an agreement to buy the property from the heirs subject to getting a demo permit. I have submitted an application for such with HDLC and my understanding is that there will be a hearing on Feb 9, 2012. I wanted to bring this to your attention and am happy to meet in person to discuss my plans for the property.

To give a brief summation, my intentions are to build a raised center hall with approx 2500 to 2800 sq ft. The bulk of the sq ft would be on a main level with a 40 ft wide and 8 ft deep porch overlooking the Fairgrounds. There would be 2 bedrooms and a bath under roof in attic and ground level garages below entering from the side on Private St. My architect is drawing preliminary sketches which I will be happy to pass along. My goal would be to have a property that looks as if it has always been there and not appear to be a new home. I do not anticipate any variances will be needed or required.”

Tommy Crane
504-723-8504
CLICK HERE TO VIEW Mr. Crane’s plans for 1549 Verna.
***

Many thanks to Dean Burridge for first reporting the burned car on January 27th and for meeting with Mr. Crane about 1549 Verna.

***
March 13, 2011: 1549 Verna in the link below…
https://fsjna.org/2011/03/blightstat-9/

November 18, 2011: 1549 Verna in the link below…
https://fsjna.org/2010/11/keeping-our-eyes-on-the-prize/

1549 Verna in the blight page at FSJNAdotORG:
https://fsjna.org/steps-to-stomp-out-blight/

Click here to see 1549 Verna on March 31, 2010.