Mignon Faget and Re-Bridge Team Up to Help Raise Funds New Orleans, LA —

Mignon Faget and Re-Bridge have teamed up to raise matching funds to rehabilitate the Magnolia and Dumaine Street Bridges.

The Magnolia Bridge is an historic treasure and was recently named to the Louisiana Landmark Society’s coveted “New Orleans Nine” list. We believe it may be the oldest existing bridge in New Orleans, built in the late 1800s when Faubourg St. John was a thriving commercial corridor. Today age and weather have taken a toll. The Magnolia Bridge suffers from significant deterioration in its under-girding that poses a potential safety threat. The Dumaine Street Bridge was built in 1951 and needs concrete repair and beautification.

Re-Bridge is now leading a collaborative effort that has garnered extensive public, private, and community support to address the structural and cosmetic deficiencies of the Magnolia and Dumaine Bridges. Although we love these historically significant bridges, we can’t put them in a museum. We need them to be strong, so that they may serve the community as originally conceived—as a solid path for everyone to walk. Re-Bridge’s mission is to support our bridges, so they can continue supporting us. In that spirit, Mignon Faget, who is a jewelry designer based in her native New Orleans, Louisiana, has extended a generous offer of help. Faget’s family settled in the city in the 18th century, and she grew up along the banks of Bayou St. John. Her jewelry, worked in gold, silver, precious, and semi-precious stones, often finds inspiration in New Orleans architecture and culture or forms in nature.

Mignon Faget is generously donating proceeds from the sale of her Magnolia Bridge AdornAment, which is available for purchase through rebridge.org or mignonfaget.com

For more information during business hours, call Rachel Dangermond, Chair of Re-Bridge at 504.309.2116.

Mid-City porch is always the center of family activity

ALL IN THE FAMILY: The house that Carol Kramer and her husband live in today has been in her family for almost 160 years. “My great-great-grandfather and great-grandfather came over from Montespan, France, in 1854 and bought this house,” Kramer says. “There has been a descendant living here ever since.”

The Kramer family porch gallery (6 photos)

The house was originally part of the family’s dairy farm, a property that Kramer says stretched from City Park Avenue (then called Metairie Road), along North Hennessey Street, all the way to Dumaine Street.

The dairy was eventually divided into lots — possibly when Kramer’s grandfather died in the 1920s — and sold off.

But that doesn’t mean that everyone in the family left the area.

“I live a block away on the corner and our sister Catherine Waguespack lives next door to Carol,” said Liz Boudreaux, one of Kramer’s younger sisters.

“Two sons live within blocks, and it seems like all the grandchildren want to come back to the city now.”

Kramer credits her husband, Jack, with the foresight to buy the house from Shreveport cousins when they did.

“It was the early ’70s, and everyone was moving to Kenner, all my friends,” Kramer said. “But Jack wanted to live in this house. He grew up in this neighborhood, too, and said he always loved it. So we moved in with our six children, and a year later, his mother moved in with us.”

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MID-CITY PORCH CRAWL

WHAT: Visit the Kramers’ porch and five others in the Mid-City neighborhood; food and drink will be offered. For adults; costumes are encouraged.

WHEN: Oct. 21, 6:30 p.m.

WHERE: Meet at Ralph’s on the Park, 900 City Park Ave.; afterward, groups return to Ralph’s for an after-party.

WHY: The Porch Crawl is the primary fundraiser for the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization.

TICKETS: Advance tickets: $35, members; $45, nonmembers; day-of: $45, members; $55 nonmembers. Available at www.mcno.org/home/porchcrawl/

Host Live On The Air Brian Opert

Today’s Topic: Crime Prevention / El Protector

New Orleans Police Department

Today’s Guest:

Sgt. Michael A. LeVasseur, Commander

Crime Prevention Section/El Protector

New Orleans Police Department

Sgt LeVasseur, Commander of this specialized unit, says, “Our goal is to increase neighborhood watch and provide progressive, professional training by educating the public. The Crime Prevention Section’s purpose is to prevent and reduce crime and improve the quality of life for all citizens and businesses of the City of New Orleans.”

Sgt LeVasseur continues, “The NOPD Crime Prevention Section has made crime prevention and community policing a way of life in New Orleans and the metro area. Our purpose is to be courteous, professional and dependable. We are committed to the safety and security of all citizens”

Phone 504-556-9696 with questions and to share your ideas and experiences, or

email brian@wgso.com for live on-air comments.

“Isn’t it a Matter of Accepting Personal Responsibility?”

Have you contacted Crimestoppers today? 822-1111

In the August 21, 2011 Times Picayune, an article about data from the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors painted a sobering portrait. The average price per square foot (psf) of homes in the New Orleans area fell 5% in the first half of this year. The sole exceptions were a few areas in Orleans parish itself. Among these, only Mid-City stood out from the pack, with prices per square foot for undamaged properties rising from $118 to $136 in the first six months of 2011.

Per the article, Orleans Parish was the bright spot—the only place that has continued appreciating since Hurricane Katrina, with per-square foot prices rising 24% since the storm. “Within Orleans parish, Mid-City was the star, with prices appreciating 15% in the first half of the year,” the article stated. That is far more than any other area of any parish. Prices for damaged properties went up even more in Mid-City—20% from $26 to $31 psf.

Parishwide, prices gained just 1% in the first half of the year. The next area in line after Mid-City is an area of Uptown, zip code 70118, where values for undamaged properties rose 9%. Even the French Quarter, which commands the highest per-square-foot prices in the city, fell 5% in value.

New Orleans City Park welcomes new Big Lake enhancements, plans for more

Mid-City Market:

That you to everyone who was able to make it out to the June Neighborhood Meeting. We had an presentation from the developers which sparked some excellent questions and comments from our neighbors which will help drive the planning process of the development. If there was anyone who was not able to make comments at the meeting, please feel free to send an email to president@mcno.org with the subject heading “Mid-City Market” and we will be sure to pass on your questions or comments to the developer. If you are interested in learning more about the project as MCNO continues to negotiate and facilitate discussion between the developers, Friends of Lafitte Corridor, the Neighborhood and the City, please send an email to the same address above and we will include you in our mailing list, OR stay tuned to our website and we will continue to post updates.  Fox 8 was there to report on neighborhood concerns.

New Orleans Office of Neighborhood Engagement:

Westley Bayas the Director of the City’s new Office of Neighborhood Engagement explained the City’s process for Blight remediation including the IMAP program which offers funding for one time remediation of properties identified as violating the City statutes for code enforcement. He also discussed the process and time table for addressing blighted property and reporting code enforcement violations from beginning to end, including fines, leins issued against the property, and sheriff sale auctions. More information on that process is provided in a document provided by Com. Stacy Head’s Office.  Other information is available on the Code Enforcement Resource List.

Westley Bayas III, Deputy Director

Office of Neighborhood Engagement

Phone: 504-658-4972

Email: wbayas@nola.gov

Revitalization in Mid-City:

Several non-profits spoke on their efforts to renovate and rebuild in Mid-City.  MCNO Director of Housing, Adrian Manriquez, has created a map to show the efforts of three of these non-profits and their direct effect on the neighborhood.  Resources were also made available for Historic Renovation Tax Credits.  MCNO is starting a new “Dirty Dozen” campaign to eradicate blight.  Neighbors are encouraged to submit addresses and pictures of blighted houses and MCNO will report 12 properties a week to code enforcement. We will also be posting these houses to the MCNO website and following the progress of each house through hearings and remediation.

St. Margaret’s at Mercy Hospital in Mid-City was awarded $3.5 million in Project-Based Recovery Opportunity Program funding.

• Funding will transform the historic, but blighted, former Lindy Boggs and Catholic Sisters of Mercy Medical Center in Mid-City New Orleans, into an interdisciplinary campus comprising of a 116-bed skilled nursing home, a 290,000 square foot facility for specialty surgery, out-patient services and commercial space.
• The project will create jobs within the biomedical sector, as well as preserve the historic character of Mercy Hospital and mission of providing quality medical care for indigent and needy. The agency was located in the Lower 9th Ward and had been serving elderly citizens since 1931 before its facility was destroyed by Katrina.
• St. Margaret’s is currently operating out of a temporary facility in the Upper 9th on St. Claude. The PROP funds will be used in Phase 1 to leverage New Market Tax Credits and State Historic Tax Credits to renovate the campus and any new construction. The project will establish a level of affordable, quality elderly nursing home care that has not existed since Katrina and that it will help serve as a catalyst for development of the city’s biomedical district.

We look forward to the revitalization that this institution will bring to Mid-City!

Mid-City Neighborhood Organization Reacts to the Master Plan

by Jennifer Weishaupt, President of the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization

On Friday March 20th, the draft Master Plan was released. For many neighborhood organizations, this 400 page document is intimidating, to say the least. Like many others, Mid-City Neighborhood Organization (MCNO) flipped first to the heart of the documentChapter 16 Land Use. We were aghast, surely there was a mistake and our neighborhood should have more of these sunny orange swaths (indicating Residential 1-2 family use)? Instead we found that we were dreary- dominated by brown (multi-family low density), maroon (multi-family medium density), and dark gray (urban village) blotches. We mobilized into action, contacting Goody Clancy for guidance. We were assured that this is a draft and our feedback was needed to be sure the Master Plan gets it right.

To gather that feedback, MCNO hosted an engagement session with residents, business owners and property owners to discuss the proposed Land Use for Mid-City and Faubourg St. John neighborhoods. Matthew Smith, a planner with Goody Clancy, and Leslie Alley, Deputy Director of the City Planning Commission, participated in the forum by presenting an overview of the plan and answering audience questions and comments. Over 350 people were in attendance, clearly demonstrating the level of concern for the drastic changes outlined for our Land Use.

The forum allowed residents to learn more about the plan and to provide direct feedback to the planners about what exists in our neighborhood today, and what we envision for tomorrow. This feedback will be incorporated into a formal comment document that MCNO will submit at our District 4 Planning Meeting (April 22nd).

All neighborhood organizations should take the time to review the proposed Land Use and other aspects of the Master Plan, since this will affect us for decades to come. Goody Clancy and the City Planning Commission were very responsive to MCNO, and indicated that they seek opportunities to engage with other neighborhoods as well. You can contact Goody Clancy at nolamasterplan@goodyclancy.com.