The well-received new French restaurant on Magazine Street had everything in place for an alcohol permit — the owners just need the City Council to return to work, according to reporting by Monica Herndandez and our partners at WWL-TV.
May 222012
Guest column: First streetlight targeted by “Light Up The City” program rebuffs city’s repair effort
May 222012
Roving reporter TimG here… I want to let everyone know how City Hall’s recent street light press conference went, which included an unintentional demonstration of the challenges facing the administration’s new approach to street light repairs. Continue reading »
May 212012
The Coliseum Square fountain flows in the background during a crawfish boil fundraiser for it this past Saturday. Coliseum Square is currently debating how to rein in the behavior of dogs at the park. (photo courtesy of Jim McAlister)
In hopes of reining in the worst-behaved dogs without making a prominent Uptown park hostile to responsible pet owners, the Coliseum Square Association plans to begin exploring new signs that will encourage better sharing of the space. Continue reading »
May 212012
We keep on hearing it again and again, like a bad refrain: “If you don’t want a traffic camera ticket, don’t break the law.”
I’ve written so many columns criticizing the traffic camera program in New Orleans that I’ve frankly lost count. Every time I write one, somebody implies that the only people with anything to fear are those who speed or run red lights. Only scofflaws oppose the cameras, we’re told. Continue reading »
May 202012
At their monthly meeting Monday evening, the Coliseum Square Association will revisit the perennial topic of whether leash laws should be enforced more aggressively in Coliseum Square. Continue reading »
May 202012
Errol George
May 182012
State Sen. Karen Carter Peterson
May 172012
District B nominee Errol George addresses the New Orleans City Council on Thursday. (image via nolacitycouncil.com)
If two New Orleans City Council members successfully block Councilwoman Stacy Head from nominating her choice of successor to a temporary term representing Uptown-based District B, Mayor Mitch Landrieu ought not reward their efforts by selecting someone different, several Council members said Thursday. Continue reading »
May 172012
The site plan for the proposed Costco Wholesale store on South Carrollton (click to enlarge).
May 172012
Allan Katz and Danae Columbus
Allan and Danae would have liked to written this week about the continued fallout of President Obama’s support for gay marriages, the ongoing impact of Greece’s debt on the European Union (Danae is of Greek descent) or the importance of the first bowling alley to the recreational needs of the worn-torn citizens of Kabul Afghanistan (Johnny Blancher please take note).
But we can’t get to any of that because of the ongoing local controversies involving the proposed downtown taxing district (which the French Quarter residents hate and Mitch says he needs to get ready for Super Bowl and beyond), the proposed new stadium at Tulane University and the big mess (let’s all admit it – it’s a mess that everyone is to blame for) that has gotten way out of hand at the City Council. Continue reading »
May 162012
A rendering of the proposed Tulane stadium. (via TulaneStadium.com)
Tulane University has filed suit to block an Interim Zoning District that gives the City Planning Commission authority to review its plans for a new stadium, and is proposing a series of three university-led community forums on different aspects of the project, officials announced. Continue reading »
May 152012
In what police and community residents are hailing as another major victory in the fight against crime in Hollygrove,
the city Alcohol Control Board voted unanimously Tuesday to revoke the alcohol permit permanently for Big Time Tips, a lounge at the corner of Eagle and Edinburgh streets that has been the site of repeated bloodshed over the years. Continue reading »
May 142012
The public comment period ends Thursday on Tulane’s proposal to demolish two buildings on Zimpel Street for use as construction-staging areas for the FEMA-funded rooftop expansion of the Howard Tilton Library, according to the website for the project. Continue reading »
May 142012
NOPD Second District Commander Paul Noel speaks in front of the Big Time Tips bar in Hollygrove during an anti-crime march in April. (UptownMessenger.com file photo by Robert Morris)
May 142012
Owen Courreges
Submitted for your approval, a young, mild-mannered New Orleans female who manages a store on Magazine Street. She lives happily in an apartment in the rear of her shop, interacting with neighbors and contributing to the fabric of one of New Orleans’ great commercial corridors.
Alas, this poor girl is about to come face to face with a place where reason and good manners have are given no quarter, a place we call…. The “Passive-Aggressive Neighbor Zone.” Continue reading »
May 092012
In an annual effort to take guns off the street, city, police and church leaders will pay cash for guns starting at 9 a.m. Saturday at Little Zion Baptist Church, 4821 Earhart Boulevard. Continue reading »
May 082012
The vacant fire station at 4877 Laurel Street. (photo via the Preservation Resource Center, prcno.org)
May 072012
The vacant fire station at 4877 Laurel Street. (photo via the Preservation Resource Center, prcno.org)
The city is considering auctioning off a century-old fire station on Laurel Street and a vacant lot in Broadmoor for what would likely be a residential renovation, but the City Planning Commission must first hold a hearing Tuesday on the prospect of releasing the publicly-held property into private hands. Continue reading »
May 072012
Owen Courreges
Over the past few days, New Orleans has played host to several “Jane Jacobs walks” in which residents walk or ride bicycles in their neighborhoods to better appreciate ground-level interactions between residents and businesses. These are a show of solidarity against isolation and atomization that often permeates modern society, and, a celebration of older, denser urban development schemes. Continue reading »
May 052012
Participants in a "Jane Jacobs Walk" on Freret Street file past a building owned by the Barreca family, described by business leaders as one of the last major blighted properties on the booming commercial corridor. The Jane Jacobs Walk, held on the celebrated urbanist's birthday, is intended to foster ground-level discussion about the forces that shape neighborhoods. "New ideas need old buildings," said walk organizer Andy Brott, citing one of Jacobs' famous statements. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
For decades, Freret Street was a thriving commercial corridor in the heart of Uptown New Orleans, but the murder of Bill Long in 1984 in front of his bakery was a “death knell” that sent the street into a spiral of decay and neglect, said Andy Brott and Lauren Anderson, two guides for about a dozen people Saturday morning on a “Jane Jacobs Walk” to discuss the history and evolution of the street.
After years of work by community leaders, the destructive flooding after Hurricane Katrina and a permissive rezoning, the corridor suddenly sprang back to life with a flurry of new restaurant openings over the last two years, and Saturday’s walk served to explore some of the factors that led to the renaissance. Continue reading »