Apartment and retail complex planned for St. Charles and Louisiana

The old Rite Aid property at 3401 St. Charles Ave., vacant since 2018, may gain new life. Developers plan to build a 115-unit apartment complex with 19,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. 

Neighborhood residents are abuzz about the planned development at St. Charles and Louisiana avenues, and reactions are split between excitement over the new development and concerns over its size. The development will have a five-story building facing Louisiana and a three-story townhouse behind it, facing Delachaise Street.

Viewpoint: Displaced hospitality workers can learn medical-industry skills through Goodwill

Like many New Orleanians, Tiffany Turner has been having a tough time during the pandemic.  She was eager to train for a different career when she saw a Facebook post about Goodwill Technical College’s new Hospitality to Healthcare program for displaced tourism industry workers. “As a driver for Uber and Lyft, I am used to making a good living taking passengers to and from the airport, but it got much harder to make a profit,” she said. Armed with a love of accounting, Turner quickly realized that Goodwill could help her achieve her goal of transitioning to a well-paying job in medical billing without expensive college loans. “I am so thankful for this opportunity,” Turner said. 

According to the Louisiana Workforce Commission, 56,000 individuals in the state have been displaced during the pandemic. More specifically, about 25,000 workers in New Orleans are faced with a difficult decision to pivot current skills into other sectors and career pathways, according to Goodwill.

Sponsored: Engage your kids in creative play and promote development

‘Take Me Down to the Second Line’
Young Audiences of Louisiana’s Artsplay! at Home has returned. Mardi Gras Season may be over, but the spirit is alive year-round in New Orleans, as YALA’s latest workshop series reminds us.

Crafted by Young Audiences of Louisiana and Louisiana Wolf Trap Teaching Artist Janese Brooks-Galathe, “Take Me Down to the Second Line” is based on the traditional indigenous culture of New Orleans Second Line and Black Masking Indians. Each New Orleans-themed session is designed to promote childhood development and expand caregiver knowledge—all to the tune of play.

Police blotter: One shooting and three robberies in eight hours on Uptown streets

A man was injured in a shooting during the Tuesday (March 9) morning rush hour at South Carrollton Avenue. As the day progressed, pedestrians in Uptown neighborhoods were robbed of a cellphone, jewelry and a sport utility vehicle. The shooting occurred at about 8:20 a.m. The victim, a 22-year-old man, was driving in the Carrollton area when he was boxed in by two vehicles at Plum Street and South Carrollton Avenue. He got out of his car and ran, hearing gunshots behind him. When the gunfire ended, he got back into his car and drove to a family member’s house, police said.

Endangered Places: French Benevolent Society Tomb in Lafayette Cemetery No. 2

This is the second in a series following up on the Uptown sites named on the Louisiana Landmarks Society’s 2020 list of New Orleans’ Nine Most Endangered Sites. The cemetery off of Washington Avenue in Central City is, to be expected, quiet on a Monday morning. Tombs in various states of care are engraved with names reflecting the teeming diversity of New Orleans when the cemetery was established in 1850: Oberschmidt, Armato, Battiste, Tujague, Noble. Other tombs, the large multi-level ones, are often benevolent associations: Deutscheler Hendwerker Verein (German Craftsmen Association, 1868), Societé de Bienfaisance de Boucher (French Butchers Society, 1867), Young Men Olympia Benevolent Association, 1883, and Société Française de Bienfaisance et d’Assistance Mutuelle (French Benevolent Society, 1850). While not as cinematically famous as Lafayette Cemetery No.

Teen shot to death inside a car in Hollygrove late Monday

A 17-year-old was shot to death Monday (March 8) night in Hollygrove, the New Orleans Police Department reported. At 11:31 p.m., Second District officers were dispatched to Leonidas and Forshey streets to investigate reports of a shooting. They found a male juvenile slumped over the driver’s seat of a dark-colored sport utility vehicle with an apparent gunshot wound. The victim was identified by the Coroner’s Office on March 12 as Rashad Anthony, 17. Anthony was pronounced dead at the scene by city emergency medical responders.