Mid-City Neighborhood Organization

Don’t forget there’s an election this Saturday, with thirteen constitutional amendments on the ballot. You can get a sample ballot from the Secretary of State. They can also tell you where to vote.

Also, I started compiling a listing of recommendations from various organizations. I hope it is useful!

Delayed by ten minutes, the crowd outside of Angelo Brocato’s Italian Ice Cream parlor didn’t seem to mind one bit.  After all, what was another fraction of an hour compared to over a year?

The line wound up Carrollton street toward Canal continuing for a block, as soon-to-be customers waited in line for an hour and longer to see the Mid-City icon reopen its doors.

Mid-City residents were there, but so were people from the Northshore and a family from Memphis, who had planned their trip to New Orleans to visit their children around the Brocato’s opening.

Box after box of pastries made their way out the door, along with cups and cones of dripping Brocato’s gelato.  In typical New Orleanian fashion, waiting customers didn’t envy those proceeding toward their vehicles.  Instead, those in line reveled in those already possessing the Italian treats, cheering them on as each emerged from the air conditioned pastry/ice cream shop.

The shop itself is back to its remodeled self: tables back where they belong and along the dais in the back of the store where baked goods used to crowd glass display cases.  Those cases are now next to the ice cream. 

We are New Orleans.  Why else would the opening of a small ice cream shop make such a big deal?

On this day, there were more smiles in Mid-City than have been seen in a long time.

In a Times-Picayune story today about neighborhood recovery plans by Coleman Warner, Mid-City looks pretty good:

But most plans feature a dizzying array of ideas. Among those rich in intriguing detail is the plan for Mid-City. In addition to calling for creation of the railway linear park that stretches to Treme, that plan proposes a health/residential complex for the elderly, a dog park, a multiple-use recreation complex, restored public schools and four small community gardens.

Long term, the Mid-City neighborhood plan calls for creation of a high-density commercial and residential district in a largely rundown area near the junction of South Carrollton Avenue and Interstate 10.

Val Dansereau, zoning chairman for the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization, said ideas that are filtering into recovery plans are a mix of pre-Katrina and post-storm thinking, hashed out during Monday night meetings that draw 80 to 90 at a time to Grace Episcopal Church on Canal Street. Optimism is running high about the Mid-City plan, in part because businesses are opening and progress is being made in landing a public library branch in the area, he said.

“They’re enthused, otherwise they’d just give up, and we wouldn’t have anyone at the meetings,” Dansereau said. “It’s shoot for the moon.”

Where: City Park Island (by the paddle boats) — park by the Casino, meet at the foot bridge
When: Saturday, September 30th 8 am til Noon
What to bring: gloves, rakes, weed-eaters

According to Edward Bayer from RTA, work will soon begin at the Carrollton RTA Barn “on the six Riverfront cars, to be followed by the 24 Canal cars. The trucks and motors have to be changed out, along with some body work.” Thanks to Jeannette Thompson for forwarding this great news.

I have some fantastic news to report. I just heard from Geraldine Harris, the chief librarian for New Orleans. In her words, “It’s going to happen folks.” We are going to put a public library at 330 North Carrollton Ave, the spot where Major Video used to be located. When the space is ready, likely to be December 06 or January 07, we’re moving in. We haven’t had a public library in Mid-City since 1958, so it will be a welcomed returned.

Solinet is going to give us a grant that will fund much of this for three years. At the end of three years, it is my hope that we will have a permanent building in which to move, or we’ll have the funds to keep the location open. However, we will still need funds to pay for the build-out and to make up the difference in the lease. Regarding the funds we need to raise, in the words of Ms. Harris, “I’ll try to work my end to make it happen and if you can donate some of the Boozo money we will be in heaven.”

To date, Boozocracy.org has raised just over $1,000, well short of our $1 million goal. We need your help in promoting the site, and Bart and I will work on our end as well.

The New Orleans City Council and its planning group, Lambert Advisory, will host a citywide meeting in City Council Chambers Saturday, September 23 from 1:00 p.m. through 6:30 p.m. Districts will have specific times for their presentations. The Mid-City Presentation, as part of Planning District #4, is scheduled for approximately 4:45 p.m.

The letter can be found in its entirety here.

The Mid-City Recovery Committees will not be meeting on Monday, September 25th. Apparently there is a big sporting event that night, some American version of soccer I believe.

Mid-City Recovery Committees will resume their work on a recovery plan for Mid-City on Monday, October 2nd, 2006, with a meeting 6:30 - 8:00 PM at Grace Episcopal Church (3700 Canal Street). Please join us!

Sylvia Parks writes in with information regarding educational opportunities in nearby Lakeview:
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Mark your calendars for Saturday September 30 from 11am to noon.

MCNO is sponsoring a neighborhood-wide meeting at the City Park Botanical Gardens.

Agenda items will include: (more…)

Frederic Schwartz, the district 4 planner, will not be able to attend Wednesday’s meeting at St. Leo the Great as originally planned. Mr. Schwartz has tentatively announced a “Meet and Greet” get together for Friday, September 15th. More details will follow.

We will still be meeting Monday Sept 11th at Grace Episcopal (6:30 PM; 3700 Canal Street) and Wednesday Sept 13th at St. Leo the Great (6:30 PM; 2916 Paris Ave) with district-wide representatives to discuss our various neighborhood plans.

Minutes of MCNO Board Meeting
Tuesday 9/5/06 at Bayou Coffeehouse (Jeff Davis Pkwy)
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We have two meetings set up next week to talk about the District 4 recovery plan.

Data Sharing Session I with Schwartz Representatives: Monday Sept 11th at 6:30pm at Grace Episcopal on Canal Street. Bring all the material you can. - Facilitated by MCNO, PNOLA and any volunteers.

Data Sharing Session II and First Meeting with Frederick Schwartz himself: Wednesday Sept 13th at 6:30pm at St. Leo’s in the Cafeteria (Air conditioning, 100 person occupancy) located in the DeSaix neighborhood along St. Bernard Ave. Meet our district planner and add to the data sharing material from Monday. Facilitated by Frederick Schwartz, DeSaix, PNOLA and any volunteers.

Thanks to the untiring efforts of Diane Handley and the Healthcare Committee, we now have a comprehensive listing of Mid-City doctors and dentists, including who’s open, who’s closed, and who’s coming back soon. Please help us keep this up-to-date.

The first draft plan for District 4 under the Lambert Group will be studied at this meeting.  All are encouraged to study the plan before coming to Grace Episcopal Monday at 6:30 p.m.  You can view the plan here on the MCNO website:

http://www.mcno.org/MidCityPlanDraft.pdf

After months of sometimes contentious debate, Walgreens has agreed to submit to the demands of the City of New Orleans and the NorthWest Carrollton Civic Association for the rebuild of a drug store on the corner of Carrollton and Claiborne.  See more here:

http://northwestcarrollton.com/2006/08/30/4-corners/