Mid-City Neighborhood Organization

The first meeting of the newly elected MCNO Board of Directors has been set for Tuesday, January 2 at 6:00 p.m. in the chapel at Grace Episcopal Church, 3700 Canal Street.

The twenty-one board members will have on the agenda:

• Introductions
• Selection of officers
• Assignment of committees

The board members for 2007 are:

Virginia Blanque
Val Dansereau
Bart Everson
Dawn Falgout-Loebig
Tracy Hamlin
Michael Homan
Doug Joubert
Natalie LaFont
Wendy Laker
Clay Latimer
Rick Lorusso
Geneva Marney
Alene Peake
Doug Pease
Janet Ward Pease
Becker Rutledge
Jeanette Thompson
Miles Trapolin
Jennifer Weishaupt
Brice White
Ron Wismar

The next MCNO board meeting is set for Tuesday, February 6.

This according to Saturday’s Times-Picayune:

Regional Transit Authority streetcars are back in operation on Canal Street from the river to the cemeteries and also on the City Park spur route from Canal to Beauregard Circle, the RTA said Friday.

Buses had been running on the Canal route since Tuesday while repairs were made to a break in a Sewerage & Water Board pipe at Canal and Gayoso streets. Work on the break has been completed.

Passengers again should board streetcars on the neutral ground rather than waiting for buses on the sidewalk.

Service on the Riverfront streetcar line and the St. Charles line’s Lee Circle loop continues as normal.

According to the Times-Picayune:

Because of a break in a Sewerage & Water Board pipe at Gayoso and Canal streets, the Regional Transit Authority suspended operation of streetcars on the Canal line Tuesday afternoon.

An RTA spokeswoman said the agency did not know when repairs to the broken pipe would be completed and streetcar service restarted.

The RTA said it will provide bus service on the line while the pipe is being repaired.

Buses were running on the entire Canal line, from the river to the cemeteries, and also on the City Park spur line from Canal to Beauregard Circle.

Because of the change, passengers were having to board vehicles on the Canal Street sidewalk, rather than the neutral ground.

Service on the Riverfront streetcar line and the St. Charles line’s Lee Circle loop were not affected.

Thanks for bestowing upon me the “Heart of the City” award.  And thanks again to all those who have stepped up to help revitalize MCNO. I’m not naming names at the risk of leaving someone out.  You know who you are. Thanks most of all to Wendy who very nearly drove herself crazy holding things together. I am back home and so happy to be in Mid-City again.  There’s no place like home. especially if it is in Mid-City!  Jim

A dozen Mid-City residents attended the City Council meeting yesterday, with beads and signs calling for Endymion to come home to Mid-City. Four people spoke about the economic need, the emotional need, the family nature of the event, the impact on the community, and so forth. The Council has not made the final decision yet, but everybody expressed support for the notion of Endymion returning to its traditional Mid-City route.
(more…)

Sunday, December 17, 4pm - 6pm
Mid-City Lanes (Rock ‘n’ Bowl)

It’s time for the MCNO general membership meeting to elect the Board of Directors and approve bylaws. MCNO is your neighborhood organization, so come out and vote. And enjoy the holiday celebration that is also part of the December meeting.

The Mid-City Neighborhood Organization’s newsletter for Winter 2006 is available as a PDF file [download -- 780 KB]. Thanks to the authors and to Natalie for putting it together.

Over two dozen attended the Palmyra Area Partners meeting on Wednesday, December 13 at Bayou Coffee House. District B councilwoman Stacy Head was in attendance, as well as DNA Media, the group putting together the multi-million dollar community center at Comiskey Park for Mid-City. The group was encouraged to attend the MCNO Membership meeting Sunday, December 17 at Rock N Bowl.

Brief notes are included here for your perusal. (more…)

Today Mid-City Charter Schools officially applied to charter Thurgood Marshall as a pre-K through 8th grade school. We should learn by February if our application is accepted. (more…)

Mid-City Neighborhood Organization is on the City Council’s agenda for Thursday, December 14, 2006, to address “the topic of Endymion’s return to the Mid-City route for Mardi Gras 2007.” The Council meets at 10:00 A.M. in City Hall Council Chambers, with this item as the second order of business.

If you would like to see Endymion return to Mid-City in 2007, please come out. MCNO yard signs, Mardi Gras beads and/or Endymion shirts are encouraged. We need a big turnout to show that the issue is not forgotten and that Endymion’s immediate return is very much an economic development issue that is part of our neighborhood plan. To understand why this issue is important to Mid-City, here are some letters written by our neighbors last month: (more…)

FEMA is planning to tear down a number of houses in Mid-City. In some cases there may be good reason to demolish these homes, but in other cases it’s not so clear. How to decide? Since these homes are historic and eligible for the National Register, FEMA has asked for public input.

You can see a listing of houses proposed for demolition and you can leave a comment or read others’ comments.

So far there are only four comments. There are only two days left for the public to make comments, as the period ends December 14th.

You’ll find most if not all these properties indexed on Squandered Heritage website. Feel free to leave comments there too.

Also, you can see a picture of one of these houses plus some more rambling thoughts on my personal website.

Thanks to Janet Ward Pease and Michael Homan for compiling an addendum to the Lambert Plan for Mid-City. This addendum was compiled from notes on the Lambert Plan taken by many participants in the recovery planning process, and we respectfully ask anyone reading the Lambert Plan for the Mid-City neighborhood to also read our addendum. To quote from the addendum itself:

We commend the Lambert Group for the work they have done in laying out recovery projects for
Mid-City. This addendum adds to the Lambert Plan our perspective for Mid-City’s growth
beyond recovery. It also outlines our certain concerns we have with the Lambert plan; edits the
Lambert funding matrix, and finally lists factual and typographical errors.

We’ve posted this document as a PDF [41 KB] so check it out.

If you own a historic building damaged in last year’s storms, you should be aware of a grant opportunity that may help you. $10 million has been appropriated by Congress to the National Park Service for the purpose of saving and preserving the character of historic properties damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and/or Rita. The deadline is December 15th, so apply today! You can get the application from the Louisiana Division of Historic Preservation website. There will be a workshop to help with your application: Saturday, Dec 9, 12-2pm, first come, first served, 2414 Palmyra Street, sponsored by the good folks at Phoenix New Orleans.

At the request of our neighbors who are out of town, and for those who couldn’t make it, here are brief minutes for the Mid-City Recovery Action Meeting of 12/4/2006:

1. Alice-Anne spoke about the historic building grants.
2. Unfortunately, we were unable to get representatives from 1st & 3rd District. Some items that were discussed:
   • NONPAC meetings are third Tuesday of every month at every precinct. Angela Brenneke attends the 1st District Meeting and has agreed to post the handouts. Can someone volunteer to do this for 3rd District?
   • Talked about the detrimental effect of unsecured houses in our neighborhood, as contributing to crime. Strong consensus that an update on the Good Neighbor Program is needed. Will invite reps from councilemembers offices to next meeting to speak on this topic.
3. We are pleased to announce that Mid-City has been selected as the home to the community center project that has been posted about previously. The donors are working with the city to secure the site, and will be hosting Town Hall Meetings with all interested neighbors to discuss exactly what functions the community center will have. The Green Space committee will be leading this effort.

   One neighbor from the direct area of Comiskey Park voiced that there is strong opposition from the direct neighbors to the project. Therefore, the Green Space committee is planning to launch a door-to-door effort in the immediate surrounding blocks to engage neighbors, provide them with facts about the project and find out what the specific concerns are, so these can be addressed. If you would like to help with this effort, please contact Brenda Napolitano

The next meeting will be Monday January 8 at Grace Episcopal Church.