Mid-City Neighborhood Organization

Please join us for the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization’s quarterly membership meeting. It will be held Monday, March 5, 6:30-8:00pm at Grace Episcopal Church. You don’t have to be a member to attend — everybody is invited. Come check out what MCNO is about, and get involved in rebuilding our neighborhood.

Update: from MCNO VP Jennifer Weishaupt:

Please join us for tonight’s quarterly membership meeting. The agenda is very full, so please try to arrive a few minutes early so we can begin promptly at 6:30pm. All Mid-City residents, property owners and business owners are encouraged to attend.

Report from 1st & 3rd District Police Captains - 15 minutes Capt. Colin (1st District) and Capt. Elder (3rd District)

A Security District for Mid-City- 15 minutes
Led by: Angela Brenneke (Palmyra Area Partners) on behalf of the Crime Prevention Committee
Expert speakers: Mr. F.J. Madary, Legislative Relations Coordinator, the contact at City Hall for setting up a Crime Prevention District & Shelley Landrieu administrator of three separate Crime Prevention Districts in the Garden District.

Information Sharing - 15 minutes (each person no more than 2-3 minutes)
Jeannette Thompson - Mid-City Library Branch Update
Dawn Falgout-Loebig - Rebuilding Center Request for Volunteers
Monique Pilie - Hike for KaTREEna
Victoria - Common Ground Relief

7:15 pm District 94 Candidate Forum (The candidates will answer questions for about 45 minutes. Submit questions in writing to Doug Pease at the meeting. We’ll ask as many questions as possible.)

Meeting will Adjourn at 8pm

Since a lot of us live in House District 94, I wanted to remind you of these important dates and how to register/change address if you need to.

Election:

March 10 Primary Election
March 31 Run-off

Voter Registration Information

February 28 last day to register or change address for the March 31 run-off.

To change your voting address, write a letter with the following: name printed and signed, old address and new address, day of birth, phone number.
Change address: at City Hall, or mail or fax.
Register to vote at City Hall or mail form.
Form is available on internet at the Secretary of State’s website.
www.sos.louisiana.gov

Early voting Information:

February 26-March 3 for the March 10 primary.
March 19-March 24 for the March 31 run-off.

Here’s where to go to vote early:

Registrar of Voters
City Hall, Room 1W23
1300 Perdido St.
New Orleans, LA 70112
Phone: 658 8300 Fax: 658 8315
Parking: LaSalle and Perdido Streets where covered meters saying “voting”.

Not sure if you are in District 94? Check this map.

Update: The League of Women Voters has posted a candidate guide.

FYI, MCNO Board Mtg Minutes are posted on the MCNO Website after they are approved by the Board (usually at the next Board mtg). The January, 2007 minutes have now been posted. See Minutes of MCNO Board Mtg - 2007-01-02 [PDF]

Best regards,
Janet Ward Pease
MCNO Secretary

The State has announced the recipients of the Historic Building Recovery Grants, and Mid-City homes were awarded 39 grants totalling $1.35 million. That’s an average of $34,000 per grant! Congratulations to all who received grants.

The Mid-City neighborhood was the second highest grant recipient, both in number and value of grants awarded. The Holy Cross neighborhood received slightly more, with 42 grants valued at $1.52 million.

For those who are not familiar with the grants, there were several posts on the Yahoo discussion group back in November when the program was announced, outlining the application process and criteria. In addition, Alice-Anne Krishnan attended the December neighborhood meeting and gave attendees an overview of the process.

If you were DENIED a grant, there is an appeals process. However, the appeal is due by Feb 23, so please act quickly. Appeals should be forwarded to Ms. Pam Breaux, State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), P. 0. Box 44247, Baton Rouge, LA 70804. Applicants wishing to appeal must explain why they believe their application should be reconsidered for funding. Letters of appeal must include the property address and the assigned grant application number. This number will be referenced in the notification letters.
In responding to appeals, the SHPO may:
1. decline to consider;
2. support the finding that is the subject of the appeal;
3. recommend reconsideration of the finding;
4. enter into consultation to resolve the issue at hand; or
5. overturn the finding and take such action as she deems appropriate.
Appeals must be in writing and received by the date specified in the notification letter.
LA-SHPO HBRG Program contact: 225/342-0227 or toll free at 866/406- 7043

A Jazz Funeral for Helen Hill will be held on the Saturday after Mardi Gras, starting at Paul & Helen’s house in Mid-City.

Hey, ya’ll! We’re gonna do Helen up right with a big old jazz funeral in New Orleans. Can you believe it?

The procession starts at Paul and Helen’s old place at 3438 Cleveland St. on Saturday, February 24. The procession forms at 12:30 p.m. and rolls at 1:00 p.m. sharp.

We’re planning on two brass bands, a vegan cupcake wagon parade, and, of course, Ernie K-Doe’s hearse. We’ll head up Angela Davis Parkway, then toward the river on Orleans Ave., then up N. Claiborne Ave. We’ll disband at the Mother-in-Law Lounge, 1500 N. Claiborne Ave., where we’ll unwrap the cupcakes for an official tea party as well as shang-a-lang-a to some really cool tunes. So come on out — we’ll remember Helen and help try to put ourselves and our crazy city back together again.

For more info about the jazz funeral, email dazee at dkoen_2000 [at] yahoo [dot] com. For more info about joining the vegan cupcake brigade, email kittee at kittee68 [at] yahoo [dot] com. Helen, we love and miss you, baby.

[From Kittee. More info.]

I just received word that Mid-City Charter Schools will not be recommended by NACSA to charter a school in Mid-City. This is of course unfortunate, but I would also add that what the state is doing with our New Orleans schools is immoral and illegal.

Black and white kids playing together at the statue of Jose Marti on Jefferson Davis Parkway.

The Mid-City icon, Mandina’s, opened this past Wednesday to a packed house. This news bodes well for the neighborhood. New Orleans food critic, Tom Fitzmorris, has dedicated a portion of his webpage, www.nomenu.com, to Mandina’s, bragging on the return of Mid-City.

(more…)

The City Council has called the Superintendent and the District Attorney to appear before them to answer some questions. I hope that concerned neighbors can make this meeting on Monday, February 12, to show that the community is paying attention.

Here’s the fax: (more…)

After seeing this house listed on Squandered Heritage, I had to ask FEMA not to spend our public money to demolish it. It’s a classic New Orleans shotgun single.

I would like to suggest an alternative to demolition for 314 N Gayoso Street, New Orleans LA 70119.

The specific alternative I would like to suggest is: renovation.

The owner should feel free to contact the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization if he or she needs help figuring out alternatives to demolition. MCNO is forming a housing committee to address helping property owners who may be confronting difficult problems renovating historic properties such as this. The MCNO website is at http://mcno.org/

This house is part of the distinctive housing stock of a national historic district. Please don’t tear it down. I live two blocks from here and feel that tearing this house down would diminish the neighborhood.

It’s easy to leave comments for FEMA on their website. Do it here. Do it today.

After meeting this past Monday, January 29, Mid-City residents finalized a wishlist for the proposed community center at Comiskey Park near Tulane Avenue on South Jeff Davis.  Chief amongst the responsibilities of the gathered group was a prioritization of those “wants” listed at the previous Monday’s meeting.  The list was compiled on a scale of 1-to-5, 1 designating the highest priority, 5 the lowest.  Thus, the numbers in parenthesis at the end of each item represent the item’s total vote.  Like golf, the lower score means the item is most wanted. 

My thanks to all who worked so hard on this project, especially Brenda Napolitano and Jennifer Weishaupt.  Their leadership has helped to ensure the future growth of our neighborhood.

Here is that list: (more…)

FEMA has asked neighbors to critically examine certain properties which are slated for demolition with public funds, including numerous historic buildings in the Mid-City area. As always, Squandered Heritage is doing an excellent job of documenting. But it’s up to neighbors to challenge the demolitions — this means you.

This one has roof damage that the owner has done nothing about. So it’s in good shape if they would have tarped it.

This one has little damage and the whole block is renovating. It would be a huge gap.

Also look at this one.

You can see more at-risk Mid-City buildings on Squandered Heritage.

And you can make your comments known to FEMA here.