Mid-City Neighborhood Organization

We will hold the September neighborhood meeting on Monday Sept 8 at 6:30 pm as planned.

Please join us at Grace Episcopal Church, 3700 Canal street.

There is a change to tonight’s agenda!

The Veterans Administration has announced its consideration of the Lindy Boggs hospital site as an alternative site for the proposed VA Medical Center. The VA is hosting a public meeting next Monday August 11th at 7pm for this purpose.

MCNO will therefore postpone our main agenda item, Energy Costs, to allow sufficient time to educate our members and neighbors about the VA proposal and how it fits into the Mid-City Plan.

The agenda is now:

Agenda

1. Welcome

2. VA Consideration of Lindy Boggs Hospital as Alternative Site

3. Crime Update

4. Neighborhood Information Sharing

Update from MCNO Board Members on Progress of projects
Announcements of Night Out Against Crime events to be held Tuesday August 5th throughout Mid-City
Guy Fournier - Update on the New Orleans Faith Health Alliance Project
Linda Stone & Raymond Breaux of Global Green - Brief on Green Schools & the Build it Back Green program

The Zoning Committee of Mid-City Neighborhood Organization (MCNO) is holding a meeting on Monday, July 28th to consider a requested variance for the Office Building at 3400 Bienville (Bienville and N.
Jefferson Davis Pkwy) to:

1) Reduce the required off street parking from 17 to 14.
2) Reduce the required set back from 20 feet to 0 feet on the front
3) Reduce the required set back from 10 feet to 0 feet on the sides
4) Reduce the required set back from 10 feet to 5 feet in the rear

There is a sketch of the proposed building.

[click to enlarge]

More detailed plans will be available at the meeting.

The architects will present the plans for the building at the meeting. Neighbors are encouraged to attend and express their opinion.

The meeting is Monday, July 28th at 6:30 pm. Location is the Bayou Coffee House at 326 N Jeff Davis.

If you are unable to attend or if you want more information, you can leave a comment on this post.

For more information about what’s happening in your neighborhood, contact the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization at www.mcno.org or come to the monthly meetings on the first Monday of each month from 6:30-8:30 at Grace Episcopal Church at 3700 Canal St.

On July 7th at the neighborhood meeting, we will be debuting our housing recovery program, which targets property owners that have not returned with the aim of getting the house back into commerce through a variety of means.

We will be offering information (and asking help) on how you can improve the quality of life in your blocks.

A representative from Stacy Head’s office will be on hand to discuss the new code enforcement fining system, whereby people who do not remediate their properties can be fined and potentially lose their properties. We will also have some building and renovation-oriented companies on hand to provide information if you need it.

Not only are abandoned houses a problem for many of you, but so are owners who are rebuilding illegally and landlords who are renting to unsavory tenants. We will also have information on what you can do about that – it was discussed at the last meeting, but we will also discuss it here.

On a separate note, we are surveying the entire of MCNO and identifying houses that have been abandoned as well as those that appear to have been renovated illegally or be in violation of zoning ordinances.

We need YOUR help to identify some of these properties early enough in the process that we can stop it. For example, were you aware that any property not renovated yet has now reverted to its original zoning? That means that if an historic double had been cut up into apartments without obtaining a zoning variance, the landlord cannot now legally come back and make it into a multi-plex again.

If you see this sort of activity going on, we need to know.

PLEASE ATTEND THE JULY 7TH NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING TO LEARN WHAT WE ARE DOING AND HOW YOU CAN HELP!

Spread the word to your neighbors, and bring written lists of the worst offenders in your block, whether it is blight, crime, or suspected illegal building or zoning activity, with brief explanations of the problem. Optionally, email them to housing@mcno.org.

Working together, we can rebuild ALL of Mid City to be the prime neighborhood it deserves to be.

Jennifer Farwell
Housing Chairman
Mid City Neighborhood Organization

Meeting Time and Place:

July 7, 6:30 pm, Grace Episcopal Church, 3700 Canal Street

In advance of the Mid-City Neighborhood meeting November 5th which focused on education, we asked State Superintendent of Education Paul Vallas and Superintendent of the Recovery School District Paul Vallas and their staff to answer the following 10 questions. The following answers were put together by the “Two Pauls” and their staff. Overall I would say that the answers they provided show us that we have a long way to go for our community to have a strong voice in decision making regarding our neighborhood’s schools. But I do thank Paul Vallas for attending the meeting (Paul Pastorek couldn’t make it due to an earlier surgery), and I do thank them for their answers even if they aren’t all satisfactory.
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At our next community meeting we will focus on public education in Mid-City. Joining us will be State Superintendent of Education, Paul Pastorek, and Superintendent of the Recovery School District, Paul Vallas. We will also be joined by representatives of the various public schools in Mid-City: Dibert, Warren Easton, Esperanza (formerly Crossman), Langston Hughes Academy, and Pierre A. Capdau-UNO Early College High School (both at Thurgood Marshall).

Monday, November 5, 2007, 6:30 PM at Grace Episcopal Church, 3700 Canal Street

A neighborhood meeting will be held Saturday, Oct 27 at 12 noon at Bayou Coffeehouse (326 N Jeff Davis) to discuss a request for zoning variances at 118 S Jeff Davis.

Discovery Kids, Inc operates a daycare center at 128 S Jeff Davis. They are seeking to expand the facility to 118 S Jeff Davis. Four variances are being requested:

1. Allow a daycare center within 300 ft of an existing daycare center
2. Waive two of the three off-street parking spaces
3. Waive the requirement to enclose a front yard parking space
4. Waive the requirement for an on-site drop off zone

Because of the variances, this is also a conditional use. The City Planning Commission voted to disapprove the variances. One nearby neighbor opposed the variances at the CPC meeting. The matter is to be heard by the City Council on November 1st.

The MCNO Board voted to support the variances provided 13 conditions were met. Seven conditions were proposed by the City Planning Commission staff (#1-7); six additional conditions were proposed by MCNO
(#8-13).

1. Rear yard shade device to code
2. Play equipment located above a soft surface to code
3. Minimum 6 ft opaque fence around play area
4. Trash storage area enclosed with minimum 6 ft fence
5. Participation in a litter abatement program
6. Remove and landscape an 8×18 ft section of paving in front yard
7. Curbside drop off zone, subject to approval by DPW
8. The owner to lease two additional off-street parking spaces
9. The owner to provide an off-street drop off zone or provide van service
10. Hours of operation at one daycare center be limited
11. The owner cannot further expand daycare in the block
12. The owner cannot apply for any other conditional use in the block
13. The conditional use cannot transfer to a new owner/tenant

Discovery Kids agreed to all of the conditions. Since then, additional nearby neighbors have expressed opposition and asked MCNO to reconsider its support. MCNO and Councilmember Head are seeking neighborhood input on this matter.

MCNO Board Members Doug Pease and Brenda Napolitano will be facilitating the meeting.

If you are unable to attend, and have specific issues you would like to raise, please leave a comment.

The Mid-City Housing Committee is moving its monthly meeting to this Saturday, October 20, at Bayou Coffee House, located at 326 N. Jeff Davis Pkwy.

It’s a bit of a strategy meeting to prioritize and plan how Mid-City Neighborhood Organization should work, moving forward, to encourage the city to tear down more blighted homes and preserve more historic homes.

Also, what efforts we should consider regarding directing the rebuilding process, given that we are outside a Historic Districts Landmarks Commission, and what strategies might help get some of these homes out of the hands of uncaring owners and back into commerce.

At the meeting, we will also preview the Mid-City-specific housing database that gives us a snapshot of what historic homes are threatened — and what blighted ones are being addressed or ignored — for anyone’s perusal.

We welcome any and all input from all Mid-City neighbors on what they would like to see for the future of housing their neighborhood.

If you have ideas, we invite you to join us from 9:30am - 10:00am for the public comment period of the meeting. If nothing else, stop by, say hello, and give Bayou Coffee some business!

The next Mid-City neighborhood meeting is Monday August 6th, 6:30 - 8pm @ Grace Episcopal Church, 3700 Canal St. The agenda is:

1. 1st & 3rd District Police Captains update on Crime
2. Update on 2007 Legislative Session from Dist 94 Rep Nick LoRusso
3. Presentation by 1st & 2nd District Tax Assessors on 2008 Tax Assessment process (we are awaiting confirmation from the Assessors)
4. Breakout Session - Small Groups work on Committee Issues.

The doors open at 6:15pm for informal networking.

Please join us!

The meeting with RTA to discuss the proposed Bus Transfer Facility on Canal Blvd HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED.

New Date and Time:

Thursday, August 2, 6:00 pm
City Park Garden Study Center
Victory Drive (near the Pavilion)

Directions: Enter from Wisner heading toward the museum. Circle the museum and take the street directly behind the museum - go straight. Take the first left (Victory Drive). First set of gates leads to the Pavilion, second set (across from the Tennis Court Parking lot) leads to the Garden Study Center.

MCNO BBQ 070207

Originally uploaded by dougjoubert

Over 300 hamburgers and 100 hot dogs after things started, most neighbors who attended the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization BBQ on July 2 enjoyed a great evening of food, fun, and music.

The event, sponsored by MCNO, was free and open to Mid-City residents, attracting police and fireman, politicos, neighbors, and the occasional drop-in. A huge thanks go to those involved in the planning and coordination of the event, especially Dawn Loebig.

The BBQ took the place of the regular monthly meeting of MCNO. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, August 6 at Grace Episcopal Church.

Mid-City Neighborhood Organization will host a meeting with Dorsey Development on Thursday, July 5th at Grace Episcopal Church, 3700 Canal Street, 6:30p.

Everyone interested in hearing Dorsey’s plans for a self-storage in the Cemeteries is welcome to attend.

The lot in question is the vacant lot on the Lakeview side of City Park Avenue at Canal Boulevard, where a gas station was located about 10-15 years ago, next to Canal Blvd Automotive, on the same block of Canal Boulevard as McNulty’s, the Bulldog and Dolly’s Deli.

This is the second open meeting with Dorsey Development and Cemeteries’ residents, LCIA, MCNO and other residents of Mid-City and Lakeview. The concerns already voiced to Dorsey are: the need for a low-traffic business, keeping the area clean and trash-free, security and the building’s appearance and height.

The lot is zoned C-1 General Commercial. For an understanding of the zoning, here’s the link to the city’s web site.

On that web page, there’s a map of the intersection with the zoning overlay. Scroll down a bit and you’ll see a link “General Commercial”. Click that link.

(Yes it’s a lot to read and understand.)

Please share this meeting notice with your friends and neighbors who are not on these email lists.

This proposal has sparked a lot of emotion. We hope that the meeting will help answer everyone’s concerns.

The Mid-City Communications Committee is getting a boost in the form of an $11,000 grant from Mercy Corps. These funds will be dedicated to broadening the circle of inclusion within the Mid-City community. Remember, a healthy and safe community is one in which residents feel engaged. We will attempt to foster a sense of engagement through three projects:

1. Flyers for distribution to all occupied Mid-City households.
2. Posters to post at specific locations advertising monthly community meetings.
3. Design, fabricate and install 10 small and 2 large “Welcome to Mid-City” signs. These would be located at key entry points to the neighborhood.

The proposal is available as a PDF [68 KB].

We’d like to thank MCNO VP Jennifer Weishaupt for her assistance with the grant proposal, and of course a big thanks to Mercy Corps for investing in our neighborhood.

Now we need a few Mid-Citizens to step up and help implement. If you’re interested, please try to make the next meeting of the Communications Committee which is Monday May 21, 6:30 PM at Bayou Coffee House (326 N Jeff Davis Pkwy). If you can’t make the meeting but would like to help, please leave a comment.

Our next neighborhood-wide meeting is Monday May 7, 6:30pm at Grace Episcopal Church. We hope you will join us. Here is a preliminary agenda. If there is a topic you would like to see on a future agenda, or an informational item you would like to briefly present at this meeting, please contact Jennifer Weishaupt or leave a comment below.

Housing - Brice White and Miles Trapolin will present information about addressing blight and problem landlords.

Community Center - Doug Joubert will have the site plans for Comiskey Park and the bullet list of what the facility will include to share with the group. If you didn’t make it to the Mar 31 event, you’ll want to see this!

Info Sharing - brief information of 2-5 minutes each.

Please invite a neighbor!

Thanks to everybody who attended last night’s Mid-City Recovery Action Meeting. We had a very productive discussion about Victory Real Estate Investments plans for Mid-City. The comments made at this meeting will guide MCNO going forward. MCNO will also be conducting a survey to collect further input from the community.

For those who couldn’t make it, we will be posting minutes soon, and we hope to have video of the meeting online as well. Check back for updates.

• We have about 30 minutes of video thanks to Joe Laura and family
• Slideshow presentation in PDF format [300KB]
• Meeting minutes in Microsoft Word format and PDF format
• Victory Real Estate Investments’ website: vrei.net
• Article about meeting on Blogging New Orleans
• Article about meeting on WWLTV.com
• Article about meeting in Times-Picayune

(Regarding that article: What Jennifer Weishaupt really said was “If we can get it in Metairie or the West Bank, we don’t need it here” and the context of the discussion was chain restaurants, not shopping.)

April 2nd is the first Monday of the month, and that means it’s time for our regular Mid-City Recovery Action Meeting: 6:30 - 8:00 PM at Grace Episcopal Church, 3700 Canal St.

The story in the paper has generated a lot of discussion. We hope it generates a lot of new faces at Monday’s meeting.

A substantial (45 - 60 minutes) portion of the meeting will be dedicated to discussion of Victory’s plans for the Bienville - Toulouse, Jeff Davis to Carrollton corridor, as well as what we understand about the Carrollton to N. Solomon portion (this is between Bienville & St. Louis), including:

1. Providing the background and timeline of what MCNO has learned about Victory’s plans and how we have engaged them in considering the neighborhood’s vision for the area.
2. Discussing the 2 different plans that have been presented by Victory to date.
3. Our efforts to poll the existing businesses in the area.
4. The support we have gained from Councilmembers Head & Midura’s offices regarding respecting the neighborhood plan.

In light of the large amount of information that we have to discuss, we encourage everyone to take a few minutes to read the Mid-City Recovery Plan and the Mid-City Rebuilding Plan [PDF 16MB] by Lambert & Associates. There are references throughout that apply to this specific area of Mid-City (Lindy Boggs, Industrial Corridors, Lafitte Greenway etc).

Lastly, invite your neighbors to join us Monday night. Of course, we have other business we will discuss as well.

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

Communication is the lifeblood of any community organization. Scratch that — it’s the lifeblood of a healthy community.

MCNO is committed to building a robust communications network for Mid-City neighbors. We want to help people share information about what’s going on in Mid-City and how they can get involved. We need to get the word out and engage all members of our community, not just a select few.

You can help. We’re forming a Communications Committee. This committee will be chaired by MCNO Board Member Bart Everson (hey, that’s me!) but it will be made up of volunteers from the community (that’s you).

Projects include this website, the “Heart of the City” newsletter, our online discussion group, the Mid-City TV show, flyers and leaflets, phone trees, block captains, kiosks, whispering campaigns, tin cans on a string and anything else we can cook up.

If you are interested in community outreach, talking to neighbors, writing, citizen journalism, web design, video production, radio programming, public relations or just about anything else relating to the field of communications — please join us!

The Mid-City Communications Committee will meet Thursday, January 18, 7-8:30 PM, at Bayou Coffeehouse.

The task is big, and our goals are lofty, but by working together we can make good things happen.

Please bring your ideas.

District A & B council reps will provide an update on the status of the Good Neighbor Program.

NOPD 3rd District (confirmed) and 1st District(we hope) police captain’s will talk about escalating crime across the city and what we can do to stop it. Bring your questions and concerns.

These are both important issues that greatly affect our lives and businesses. Let’s have a big turnout and show our council members and police captains that we care about our neighborhood. I encourage you to bring a neighbor! Children are welcome!

Grace Episcopal Church
3700 Canal Street
6:30 - 8pm

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.