Dangerous Toys

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wheeliephoto courtesy Ken Foster

You’ve seen and heard them in the neighborhood. They sound like giant mosquitoes in the distance and get more ominous and more dangerous as they get closer.

All terrain vehicles, motorbikes, motorcycles and even motorized bicycles are becoming more and more popular and are posing a threat to the citizens of New Orleans.

Urge the city to find a way to address dangerous all terrain and other small but fast vehicles that race through our neighborhoods.

Please visit the link below for more information and to join the fight to stop dangerous operators of licensed and unlicensed machinery.

You’ve seen and heard them in the neighborhood. They sound like giant mosquitoes in the distance and get more ominous and more dangerous as they get closer. Please sign the petition and say you want to stop the mechanized madness!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION

Neighborhoods Partnership Network

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Making All of New Orleans Neighborhoods Great Places to Live

The Neighborhoods Partnership Network (NPN) is a nonprofit, 501c3 organization consisting of a citywide network of neighborhoods that was established after the Hurricane Katrina disaster to facilitate neighborhood collaboration, increase access to government and information, and strengthen the voices of individuals and communities across New Orleans.

The disasters revealed significant weakness in many structures Americans took for granted – physical structures such levees & hospitals, but also governing and social structures from FEMA to state and local entities. Citizens have had to become their own “first responders” – from rescuing their neighbors to rescuing their neighborhoods. NPN is one such organization born from both the failures and opportunities the catastrophe has provided.

NPN realized that a need existed for a citywide framework to assist communities in maximizing the use of limited resources and information while providing connections to other communities that have similar obstacles so that communities can avoid duplicating efforts and work toward shared goals. The infrastructure of this organization answers New Orleanians’ desires to be involved in the formal decision-making processes that impact quality of life issues for citizens and neighborhoods.

NPN’s mission is to improve the quality of life by engaging New Orleanians in neighborhood revitalization and civic processes. NPN consists of a board of community leaders reflective of neighborhoods throughout the city and a diverse staff immersed in coalition building, public and government relations. NPN envisions a New Orleans where all neighborhoods are great places to live.

Neighborhoods Partnership Network
4902 Canal St., Room 301
New Orleans, La 70119

504-940-2207

info@npnnola.com

Healthy NOLA Neighborhoods

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Get neighborhood-level data
Find examples of successful community projects
Get guides that can help you advocate for your neighborhood

HealthyNOLA.org Training
Wednesday, December 7
11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Entergy Innovation Center
3232 N. Galvez Street
How many children live in your neighborhood?
How safe is your neighborhood?
How can you organize to make it safer?
Where is affordable healthcare located?
Want a community garden, but don’t know how to get started?

Learn how to use the features of HealthyNOLA.org — a site that has this information and more — so your neighborhood organization can reach its goals!

Space is limited, so let us know if you’re coming! RSVP here

Contact Tia Vice at tia@npnnola.com , 504-940-2207 for more information. The next training is tentatively scheduled for Wed., February 1, 2012; Location and time TBD;
Tell your neighbors and friends!

Healthy NOLA Neighborhoods Initiative – Partners
Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI)
Neighborhoods Partnership Network (NPN)
Concordia, LLC

www.lphi.org | www.npnnola.com | www.concordia.com

TONIGHT: Healthy NOLA Neighborhoods

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Reminder: You and your neighbors are invited to the HealthyNOLA.org Resident-Leader Launch Party TONIGHT!

Thursday, October 27
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Sojourner Truth Neighborhood Center
2200 Lafitte Street
(Parking is on the Galvez Street side of the building)

Food and Beverages Served

This event is hosted by the Healthy NOLA Neighborhoods Initiative
with Catholic Charities Sojourner Truth Neighborhood Center

Where are grocery stores located in your neighborhood?
How safe is your neighborhood?
How can you and your neighbors organize to make it safer?
How many children live in your neighborhood?
Interested in starting a community garden but don’t know how to get started?

Introducing HealthyNOLA.org — a website that provides this information and more | so you can better reach your neighborhood goals.

Get neighborhood-level data
Find examples of successful community projects
Get guides that can help you better advocate for your neighborhood
… and more!
If you have not already done so, help us get a headcount for tonight’s event by letting us know if you’re coming. RSVP Here
Please contact Tia Vice, tia@npnnola.com , 504-940-2207 with additional questions or for more information.

See you there!

Healthy NOLA Neighborhoods Initiative – Partners
Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI)
Neighborhoods Partnership Network (NPN)
Concordia, LLC

www.lphi.org | www.npnnola.com | www.concordia.com

Get data & info about your neighborhood. Take action!
Where is affordable healthcare located in your neighborhood?
How safe is your neighborhood?
How can you organize to make it safer?
Want to start a community garden, but don’t know how to get started?

Please join us for food and drinks as we celebrate public access of
www.HealthyNOLA.org

NEIGHBORHOOD-LEVEL DATA * COMMUNITY BUILDING PROMISING PRACTICES * ADVOCACY TOOLS * … AND MORE!

Resident-Leader Launch & reception
October 27, 2011
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Sojourner Truth Neighborhood Center
2200 Lafitte Street
New Orleans, LA 70119
(Parking is on the Galvez side of the building)

To RSVP use the link below:
RSVP for HealthyNOLA.org Launch & Reception Here
For additional information, contact
tia@npnnola.com , 504-940-2207

Please RSVP

Healthy NOLA Neighborhoods is an initiative of Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI), Neighborhoods Partnership Network (NPN), and Concordia, LLC. with critical support from community partners. This event is hosted by Catholic Charities’ Sojourner Truth Neighborhood Center.

Citizens Participate in New Orleans

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by Charlie London

New Orleans’ neighborhoods have never had it so good.

Why? Because now, due to the efforts of the Mayor’s Office of Performance & Accountability, neighborhoods don’t just get lip service.

Mr. Oliver Wise and his department have made it plain that their goal is to further the interests of New Orleanians.

The Office of Performance & Accountability are the “behind the scenes” folks. They gather information, make user-friendly reports, and genuinely care about what the citizens they serve have to say about how things are going in New Orleans.

As an example, every BlightStat meeting has the entire presentation’s slides printed on handouts available to anyone who attends and the meeting is open to the public! Not only that, but each handout at every meeting includes a comment page where citizens can write down anything they feel needs attention.

Why is this important? Because I’ve seen results. The Office of Performance & Accountability has proven that it reads and takes action on suggestions from the public. So much so that a recent visit from a Japanese businessman resulted in a statement that he will be bringing back the New Orleans BlightStat program to Japan!

When was the last time you heard New Orleans City Government being the model for citizen participation and interaction?

Whether it be by strong intervention or gentle reminders, the Landrieu
Administration has proven it’s goal is to move New Orleans forward and
move it forward NOW!

The Office of Performance & Accountability has proven that what gets measured gets managed. All City Departments know that, not only do they now, not operate in a vacuum, but their efforts are being monitored and SUPPORTED by other departments and the Mayor’s Office.

Friendly competition between departments still exists but now everyone is focused on the same goal… making New Orleans all that she can be!

I believe the Office of Performance & Accountablity is serving New Orleanians well and look forward to more of their innovative new ideas, implementation of citizen-centric ideas, and interaction with and from the citizens of New Orleans.

Do you have an idea that you’d like to see implemented?
CLICK HERE!

BlightStat 23

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by Charlie London

BlightStat meetings will take place on the 8th Floor in the Homeland Security Conference room at City Hall until further notice. This was the 23rd BlightStat meeting to which the public was invited to attend.

The City continues to march toward its goal of eradicating 10,000 blighted properties within three years. City departments that can help with this process meet every two weeks for a “BlightStat” meeting.

Goals have been set for each department and a presentation is made at each meeting to show how each department is doing toward meeting those goals.

Click HERE for the City’s September 22, 2011
BlightStat presentation


******************************************

NOTES FROM THE September 22, 2011
BLIGHTSTAT MEETING ARE BELOW

Mr Wise began the meeting with introductions. Mr. Hebert announced the Fight the Blight event taking place throughout the city this Saturday, September 24th from 10 am to 1 pm. More in the link below:
http://business.fsjna.org/2011/08/help-fight-blight-september-24th/
Mr. Hebert also welcomed Councilmember Palmer who attended today’s BlightStat meeting.

Mr. Wise announced that New Orleans received a Challenge Grant from IBM. The IBM team was introduced. An IBM representative introduced the team which hails from all over the country and the world. He stated that the team will be working with the City of New Orleans to analyze data and processes to help the City improve. More about the IBM Smarter Cities program can be found in the link below:
http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/smarter_cities/overview/index.html

Mr. Kopplin recognized the Strategic Partnerships group from the City that helped make this grant a reality. This is one of 8 grants given by IBM throughout the country.

Mr. Square said this grant is timely as the City is looking to move forward.

Mr. Kopplin announced that the Bureau of Governmental Research wanted to award the City for its BlightStat efforts but Mr. Wise is married to someone who works at the Bureau of Governmental Research.

Mr. Kopplin introduced Brian Lawlor who is a new employee. He recently worked for the State of New York.

A Chief of the New Orleans Fire Department was present and will be present at future BlightStat meetings.

Ms. Bosco of Code Enforcement once again reviewed the backlog as they have at every meeting. She indicated that the backlog is steadily dropping. The Code Enforcement inspections are down but they have already met their goal for the year and have assigned inspectors additional duties to help move the entire blight remediation process along.

Mr. Square indicated that the Code Enforcement Department has made incredible progress on the backlog and asked how long it takes for an inspection once blighted property is reported. Ms. Bosco replied that it is generally 48 to 72 hours.

Mr. Hebert indicated that the system is designed to get information in but the system is not user-friendly when trying to get the information back out in a usable format. He indicated that frustration is rising from both City employees and the public about the computer system.

Ms. Ross indicated the features that she would like to see the system be able to do. Every status in the blight pipeline needs to be “live” so that the workflow can proceed smoothly. She indicated Justin Kray, the Technology Lead in the Office of Performance and Accountability has done a great job collating information with the tools at hand. Mr. Wise reviewed the computer system process from inspector to report.

Mr. Hebert indicated we may not need 7 people for 311 intake calls if the reporting process is going to be on the website.

Mr. Square indicated his team is here and has been diligently working on fixing the Accela problems but have been unable to get the system to work as it should. Mr. Square further noted that his entire team was sitting in the back row of the room.

Mr. Reid indicated that the response time for his Department is good despite the problems with Accela.

Ms. Bosco said the City has been divided into 16 areas where an inspector is responsible for the entire process for each blighted home within that area. This is to make the inspectors more accountable and take ownership of the process.

Ms. Illarmo indicated that hearings are up this bi-weekly period. Most were FEMA cases of which most are complete. She indicated 272 more cases were added recently.

Mr. Wise discussed the 30 day “noticing” period before cases go to adjudication.

Ms. Illarmo indicated that some recently noticing letters did not go out on the 20th because the City’s mailroom was “changing out a machine”.

Mr. Kopplin indicated that this is unacceptable and that the mail room should have warned all departments before performing the machine upgrade so that alternative mail options could have been arranged. Mr. Kopplin indicated a meeting will take place with mail room staff so that this does not happen again.

Mr. Hebert went to the City of Baltimore recently and indicated that the City of Baltimore may be willing to help the City of New Orleans with some computer programs.

Mr. Wise asked Ms. Illarmo about improvements in the process. Ms. Illarmo indicated that the City Attorneys were extremely helpful with research to move cases along. Case research is the main focus for properties going to Sherrif Sale.

Ms. Bosco indicated that her Case Managers are unable to do case research 3 days of each week due to other responsibilities.

Mr. Kopplin indicated that there may not be enough resources allocated to getting cases to adjudication hearings.

Ms. Bosco indicated that the Case Managers are doing a good job but are overly cautious which slows the process.

Mr. Kopplin asked if we need paralegals to get legal notices out for Sherrif Sale or what do we need to do? What is the plan?

Mr. Hebert indicated that there is a snafu with the Bar Association members donating time.Ms. Breaux indicated that lawyers can’t volunteer their time to municipalities due to a potential conflict of interest according to the Attorney General. If a work-around is unable to be found for this issue, it will eliminate a significant source of help for the city.

Ms. Illarmo indicated that resets are up this period due to more re-inspections. Ms. Bosco indicated the computer system is causing manual viewing of files. Mr. Kopplin indicated that the problem needs to be solved as resets prolong the process and frustrate citizens.

Mr. Square indicated that Accela needs to sit down with the Code Enforcement Department and fix the problems. Mr. Kopplin concurred.

Mr. Carrere indicated steady progress on demolitions but “eminent danger of collapse” cases are a priority. Mr. Carrere indicated that utility disconnects can slow the process of demolitions. The recent tropical disturbance put Entergy’s resources elsewhere.

Mr. Kopplin indicated that the City will monitor Entergy’s disconnect performance and make phone calls to Entergy’s management if necessary. Mr. Kopplin indicated that the City may want to investigate modifying the current contract and pay the current 500 dollars for a disconnect if done in two weeks and 100 dollars if not.

Mr. Carrere reviewed the strategic demolition process indicating that historic review slows the process of getting demolitions done. Some demolitions are being appealed. Mr. Wise indicated we review the process to eliminate roadblocks to progress.

Ms. Bosco said that coincidentally several demolitions will take place this Saturday during the Fight the Blight event.

Mr. Wolcott indicated a FEMA demolition on Arthur Street will also take place Saturday during the Fight the Blight event. 111 guilty judgements so far for FEMA properties. He indicated that the threat of demolition often brings the property into compliance.

Mr. Hebert indicated that getting the property to demolition or compliance is as much of a reimbursable cost from FEMA as other FEMA reimbursements. He indicated that in Terrebonne Parish the demolition process moves quicker. New Orleans has a unique process.

Mr. Wolcott indicated that private property demolitions are more labor intensive.

Mr. Kopplin indicated that we may want to consider what works in other areas to shorten the process. Mr. Hebert indicated that it’s a comparison of urban vs. rural and that what works in a rural environment may not work here.

Mr. Ferrouillet indicated the grass cutting contractor is not meeting the terms of the contract. Mr. Kopplin indicated that the City is taking action to protect its interests.

Mr. Wise indicated that the contractor should be invited to the BlightStat meetings to explain the lack of progress.

Mr. Hebert discussed the Federal jobs bill. As part of that bill, jobs will be created to cut grass where needed. Mr. Kopplin suggested citizens write to their congressmen to support the Federal jobs bill so we can get the grass cut in New Orleans.

Ms. Lear indicated that fencing is also an issue because dumping occurs on unfenced properties.

Mr. Kopplin indicated that nine FEMA trailers still need to be removed. Mr. Kopplin said rigorous enforcement has been the norm for the past year.

Ms. Lear said illegal dumping is up but the Sanitation Department is working hard to go after illegal dumpers and is working with volunteers to clean up areas. The City has removed and transported 11,950 dumped tires to date.

871 illegal signs removed this period and the City Attorney is following up on the summons issued to violators.

Mr. Kopplin indicated the amnesty for illegal signs is over. The City is aggressively eradicating sign pollution through enforcement.

Mr. Granderson indicated 3 properties will be up for Sheriff sale today. Two large Sheiff sales are coming soon. 32 auctions on Oct 18 and 20 on November 1st.

Mr. Gray reviewed the code lien foreclosures slide. 3 properties were put up for sale for 2/3 of the appraised value but did not sell. They will be put up for sale again at a lower value.

Mr. Granderson indicated that 200 curators have been appointed to move the Sheriff Sale process along.

Mr. Gray indicated that 62 properties had their liens paid due to the threat of Sheriff Sale.

Mr. Kopplin indicated that the City has the potential to collect millions of dollars in liens.

Mr. Gray indicated that approximately 475 properties are being prepared for Sheriff Sale.

Ms. Breaux indicated that the Law Department is working all angles to get the job done. She indicated that slow payments from the City continue to be an issue. Mr. Kopplin indicated he and Ms. Breaux will meet “off line” about that.

Ms. Wilkerson review total NORA closings. Some properties are being held for the Iberville development. Mr. Hebert and Mr. Kopplin discussed the universe of properties that the state requires the City to process.

Ms. Wilkerson indicated 117 properties sold at the recent NORA auction. None of the properties had a reserve. She indicated that the auction produced a nice increase in sale prices over assessed values. The focus was on properties with structures for this auction.

Mr. Wise reviewed the NORA auction slide also noting that many of the properties sold for more than the appraised value.

Mr. Hebert indicated that he was present at the auction and that most of the Lakeview lots sold for more that $100,000.

Mr. Kopplin indicated that the marketing for NORA properties was great.
Mr. Hebert indicated that the auction companies get a handsome piece of the action so therefore it is in their best interest to market the properties aggressively.

Ms. Wilkerson indicated that all of the Westbank properties sold for less than the appraised value.

Mr. Hebert indicated that there has been a population shift away from Algiers. He and Councilmember Palmer toured the Westbank recently.

Ms. Wilkerson said there is another NORA sale coming up in October and that there will be more frequent sales.

Mr. Bryan Lawlor said a plan is being devised for the City to acquire and dispose of problem NORA properties.

Questions from the audience were answered and the meeting adjourned.

***

BLIGHTSTAT MEETING (every 2 weeks)
WHO: Key blight policy and code enforcement staff

WHEN: Thursday, October 6, 2011
8:00-9:30 AM CST

WHERE: The Homeland Security Conference room on the 8th floor at City Hall

BlightStat Meetings
Nov 4, 2010 | Nov 18, 2010 | Dec 2, 2010 | Dec 16, 2010
| Jan 13, 2011 | Jan 27, 2011 | Feb 10, 2011 | Feb 24, 2011 |
Mar 10, 2011 | March 29, 2011 | April 7, 2011 | April 21, 2011 | May 5, 2011 | May 19, 2011| | June 2, 2011 | June 16, 2011 | June 30, 2011 | July 14, 2011 | July 28, 2011 | August 11, 2011 | August 25, 2011 | September 8, 2011 | September 22, 2011 |

To report blighted property please call (504) 658-4300/4301 or email Jonathan Solis at jasolis@nola.gov

To report an abandoned car or illegal parking please call (504) 658-8290/8291 or email Zepporiah Edmonds at zedmonds@nola.gov

To report a street light outage please call (504) 658-8080

To report a pot hole please call (504) 658-8000 or email Nguyen Phan at ndphan@nola.gov

For other Quality of Life issues you may contact the Community Coordinator (CoCo) Officers below:

1st Police District at (504) 658-6010, or email Sgt. Kenny Temple at ktemple@nola.gov
2nd Police District at (504) 658-6020, or email Sgt. Ernie Joseph at ejoseph@nola.gov
6th Police District at (504) 658-6060, or email Sgt. Yolanda Jenkins at ymjenkins@nola.gov
8th Police District at (504) 658-6080, or email Sgt. Jonette Williams at jrwilliams@nola.gov.

For all other complaints call: (504) 658-4000 and follow the prompts. If you get unacceptable results after contacting the numbers from above please email info@fsjna.org with all the info and we’ll follow up.

BlightStat 22

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by Charlie London

It’s Your Right to Fight Blight


This was the 22nd BlightStat meeting to which the public was invited to attend.

The City continues to march toward its goal of eradicating 10,000 blighted properties within three years. City departments that can help with this process meet every two weeks for a “BlightStat” meeting.

Goals have been set for each department and a presentation is made at each meeting to show how each department is doing toward meeting those goals.

CLICK HERE to view a PDF of the City’s BlightStat Presentation

BottomLineStat was announced as a new Landrieu administration initiative and is designed to “ensure that departments are held accountable for cutting unnecessary expenses and staying on budget.” It said city departments have been ordered to eliminate unnecessary services, reorganize their operations to make them more efficient, and invest in programs that yield long-term value.

ReqtoCheckStat was also announced and is described as an effort to improve the performance and speed of the city’s contracting system. Mr. Wise indicated the Office of Performance and Accountability has designed a program to review the entire process of contracting out services such as picking up trash, paving streets and rebuilding libraries.

Mr. Kopplin described ReqToCheck as the process of requisition to check for vendors. He indicated the initiative is aimed at a contract or procurement that is stalled. He believes ReqToCheckStat should save the city money as vendors get paid faster and therefore bid lower because the cost of delayed payments won’t be factored into bids.

Data.Nola.Gov was mentioned as a new data sharing platform and that
Seattle uses same platform. Mr. Square said the Department of Information Technology and Innovation “soft-launched” data.nola.gov, a new online program to provide “high-value, frequently requested data” to the public but presently is is mainly for GIS users. City performance data will eventually be put on this website. Eventually people will be able to make their own GEOCODE maps. Raw data right now.

Mr Hebert announced the National Vacant Properties Conference will be held in New Orleans next summer. People can find out more at Communityprogress.net

Mr. Andy Koppel – Inspections down but goal for the year has been met. Emphasis is on hearings. Inspection staff is being used for data entry and title research to help hearings move faster.
JPHebert – targets to be re-adjusted next year.

Ms. Bosco with Code Enforcement indicated that while inspections are down, inspectors are being assigned duties to move the hearings process along faster.

Mr. Square discussed the complaint that much data for inspections is done manually because Accela can’t do automatic reports.

Mr. Hebert – asked the audience if there are any areas that have not been covered. The completed inspections map indicates the entire city is being covered.

Ms. Kristin Illarmo noted that the number of hearings has improved in part due to the increased speed of Accela. Ms. Illarmo said research on the next cases will be the priority over the next few weeks so the number of hearing will go down. Only a few cases have been set for the first week of October so that research can be done on the next 1,700 cases.

Mr. Hebert strongly advised that all of the cases need to be adjudicated and suggested bar association volunteers to help out. Looking for long term internships as well so that the backlog goes away. Asked Brenda Breaux to meet with Mr. Hebert and Ms. Illarmo tomorrow to find ways to move the process along.

Ms. Illarmo noted that guilty cases are up but compliance is down a bit. She also noted that some hearing officers are levying lighter fines on buildings that will be demolished by FEMA. But, the owners did not know FEMA was going to return to do demolitions so the owners should have been fully fined. Other owners have stepped up and fixed their properties.

Code Enforcement liens were discussed. An analysis was done on fines collected. Mr. Wise indicated there is a relatively high collection rate.

Ms. Illarmo indicated the present backlog report is not really useful as it does not reflect the volume of work being done.

Mr. Hebert asked about the magnitude of unrepresented work.
Ms. Illarmo responded that Accela is the problem.
Mr. Wise asked Justin for an overview of how the report is calculated.
A discussion ensued between Justin and Ms. Illarmo about the backlog definitions for the report.

Mr. Hebert suggested that the report be eliminated until the problems are worked out.
Mr. Wise suggested more help from Accela is needed.
Mr. Square indicated the Accela team was here recently but Ms. Illarmo countered that the Accela team could not even help with basic functionality issues.

Mr. Wise asked the IT team for more information about the problem indicating that the Mayor has made it clear that the backlog will be eliminated by the end of the year.

Ms. Square indicated they will do the best they can with the resources available.

Mr. Wise indicated that the prudent course may be to find out what Accela can do and asked for a report on that for the next BlightStat meeting.

Ms. Bosco indicated additional demolition sites have been identified and are currently going through the utility cutoff process. She indicated that demolitions should increase over time.

Mr. Hebert indicated 86 strategic demolitions have gone through the process but materials are being salvage when possible.

Mr. Russell Callahan indicated more case files are needed and that he, his staff and Ms. Illarmo are working toward that end. Mr. Kopplin and Ms. Breaux discussed file management issues.

Mr. Carrere indicated that the contractor is working diligently to eliminate buildings in danger of collapse.

Mr. Kopplin reviewed the strategic demolition process slide.
Mr. Wolcott reviewed the FEMA demolition process slide. He said that the process is moving along better now and there have been 61 guilty judgements. FEMA has begun the selective salvage process.
Mr. Hebert indicated the selective salvage process is a separate project worksheet.

Mr. Wolcott indicated three crews are out working this week which has not happened before.

Mr. Wise reviewed the demolitions map which indicates that demolitions are being done throughout the city.

Mr. Paul May indicated 12 FEMA trailers are left. All 12 have a judgement against them and the City is waiting for FEMA to remove them. Most of the remaining FEMA trailers are in Council Districts D and E. Mr. Wise indicated that housing options are available for the remaining 12 FEMA trailer occupants.

Ms. Sylvain-Lear discussed illegal dumping. The Sanitation Department is continuing to focus on removing bandit signs, tires dumped, and tire stores without manifests. Mr. Kopplin congratulated the Sanitation Department on their great work.

Ms. Breaux indicated that the Law Department is strongly enforcing the sign issues. Ms. Sylvain-Lear indicated she is receiving reports of wheel barrow loads of cement and other materials being dumped into storm drains. Ms. Lear asked for help from the public on identifying these situations.

Mr. Hebert indicated that serious legal action will be taken soon against commercial properties that ignore the law.

Mr. Granderson noted that there are upcoming Lien Foreclosure auctions coming up in October and November. He indicated that checks for curators are slow to arrive. Mr. Kopplin indicated that is a “jump on my table” issue and that checks can be cut immediately if necessary.

Ms. Breaux indicated that Miles and Tyler are working diligently and that the issue of slow checks is being addressed and that there is an emphasis on getting problem properties to Sheriff Sale. Mr. Gray (Tyler) indicated that once a property goes to Sheriff Sale that the phone rings off the hook of people wanting to pay off blight liens.

Mr. Kopplin indicated that the 2012 city budget is being reduced by three million dollars.

Mr. Kopplin indicated that there about 1,000 properties with writs. 167 have been sold or the fines paid. He indicated it is important to get the properties to Sheriff Sale because many of the property owners only pay their fines when it goes to Sherrif Sale.

Ms. Joyce Wilkerson reviewed the total NORA closings. 46 closings were done this bi-weekly period which is above the goal of 35. Sale this Saturday at UNO by Gilmore Auctions. No reserve for this sale. Everyone is invited to attend. Another auction will take place in October.

Audience questions were answered and the meeting adjourned.
***

BLIGHTSTAT MEETING (every 2 weeks)
WHO: Key blight policy and code enforcement staff

WHEN: Thursday, September 22, 2011
8:00-9:30 AM CST

WHERE: 1340 Poydras Street
9TH Floor—City Planning Conference Room
New Orleans, LA 70117

BlightStat Meetings
Nov 4, 2010 | Nov 18, 2010 | Dec 2, 2010 | Dec 16, 2010
| Jan 13, 2011 | Jan 27, 2011 | Feb 10, 2011 | Feb 24, 2011 |
Mar 10, 2011 | March 29, 2011 | April 7, 2011 | April 21, 2011 | May 5, 2011 | May 19, 2011| | June 2, 2011 | June 16, 2011 | June 30, 2011 | July 14, 2011 | July 28, 2011 | August 11, 2011 | August 25, 2011 | September 8, 2011 |