Students revitalize community gardens around Broadmoor

Broadmoor is coming into full bloom this spring as the Broadmoor Improvement Association and Tulane students lead efforts to revitalize three local community gardens. Two of the gardens – the Food Forest on Toledano Street near Dorgenois Street and another produce patch at the Broadmoor Community Church – will produce fresh herbs and vegetables for the Broadmoor Food Pantry. A rain garden at South Miro and Gen. Taylor streets will help mitigate flooding and beautify the area with native plants like cattails, cypress trees and irises. 

The goal of the gardens is simple: “We grow food and we nurture plants to bring people together,” said Dorothy Jelagat Cheruiyot, a professor of ecology and biology at Tulane University. Cheruiyot’s students are working as busily as bees in the Broadmoor gardens each week as part of internships and classes related to urban agroecology, as well as an additional garden at the New Zion Baptist Church in Central City. But the ultimate goal is to recruit neighborhood volunteers so that the lots will truly be sustainable community gardens, with an emphasis on the community.

Viewpoint: Did James Singleton Charter School and Dryades YMCA officials put children at risk?

The Dryades YMCA and its affiliate programs, including the School of Commerce and the James M. Singleton Charter School, have played an important role in providing recreational and educational services to New Orleanians for almost a century. The Dryades Y is well known for its child care services, aquatics programs, mobile youth pantry, young filmmakers’ workshop and, formerly, Midnight Basketball. 

Pop-up exhibit shows house floats you may have missed

A pop-up exhibition of the House Float art installations that dotted New Orleans’ neighborhoods during the 2021 Carnival season is on display for the next two weekends at the Contemporary Art Center, while the pieces are auctioned off online. These are the “Hire a Mardi Gras Artist” floats co-sponsored by the Krewe of Red Beans. The artistic creations from select house floats will be on view in one location for the first time — and the last time. They individual float pieces are being sold through an online auction that will benefit the New Orleans’ culture-bearers, through the krewe’s Feed the Second-Line initiative, and the CAC. The auction is live until April 4 and available here.

Police seek person of interest in Gert Town shooting death

The New Orleans Police Department is seeking assistance in locating the pictured person of interest for questioning in the ongoing investigation of the shooting death of 20-year-old Joshawn Palmore on March 13 on a Gert Town street. The pictured man is not currently wanted in this investigation. NOPD Homicide Unit detectives believe he has knowledge of information vital to the investigation and wish to question him. Palmore was killed in the 4600 block of Washington Avenue in the middle of the day. Two gunmen walked up to him and opened fire, police said.

Purse snatched from table on Magazine Street

A woman was at a table in the 3000 block of Magazine Street on Tuesday (March 23) just after 11:30 a.m. when someone came up from behind and grabbed her purse, the New Orleans Police Department reported. The purse had been on the table, police said. The robber got into a car with the purse and fled the scene. Further details were not immediately available. Anyone with information is urged to call the NOPD Sixth District station at 504-658-6060 to speak to a detective, or Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111 to leave an anonymous tip that could be eligible for a cash reward.

Really, Really Old Book Sale offers rare books to fund summer program for kids

On Saturday (March 27), the Friends of the New Orleans Public Library will host an outdoor “Really, Really Old Book Sale” at the Carriage House located behind Milton H. Latter Library at 5120 St Charles Ave. This outdoor sale will feature hundreds of out-of-print, signed, first editions, rare, antiquarian books and fond treasures from your childhood. Prices start at $1, and all proceeds will go toward the 2021 Summer Fun and Reading Program at the New Orleans Public Library. “The public library needs community support now more than ever before,” FNOPL Executive Director Dixon Stetler said. “Through fundraisers like this one, we can fund important library programs, and also provide access to high quality reading materials that are affordable to all.”

The Friends of the New Orleans Public Library raises money from the books sales year-round to underwrite critical library programming, including the annual Summer Reading Program, Black History Month Programming and the Every Child Ready to Read Program.

How junction boxes on Uptown neutral grounds are transformed from blight to works of art

As Uptown resident Ivana Dillas drove home from work every day along Louisiana Avenue, she noticed how the junction boxes on the neutral ground attracted tags and graffiti and were surrounded by litter. “Studies have shown that neighborhood beautification reduces these unsightly activities, as well as crime,”  Dillas said. 

She saw the website address for Community Visions Unlimited, the organization behind the beautification initiative, written on painted boxes elsewhere and contacted them. She asked how she could help, especially along the Louisiana Avenue corridor. “I loved the idea of putting artists to work, and I began fundraising and directing donors to the CVU website,” Dillas said. Then Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who had supported the project when she was on the City Council, got wind of the effort, and her office stepped in with a significant donation. The section of Louisiana Avenue now has almost all of the junction boxes painted. 

Two of the Louisiana Avenue boxes, the “Horn Players” at Baronne and “The Dancers” at Carondelet, were painted by Linda LeBoeuf, the artist behind 39 art boxes citywide.

Police blotter: Suspect injured by gunshot during armed robbery; woman robbed in panhandling attempt

Two robberies were reported in the Central City area on Sunday (March 21). The first was an armed robbery that resulted in two injuries, one to the victim and a self-inflicted wound to a suspect. The New Orleans Police Department has identified a suspect in the armed robbery. Police said Byron Coleman, 29, approached the victim, a 33-year-old man, at about 12:30 a.m. in the 2300 block of Washington Avenue, between LaSalle and Liberty streets. He pulled out a gun and demanded money from a previous drug deal.