Allan Katz and Danae Columbus
Although it did rain at times during Mardi Gras 2012, it certainly didn’t dampen the spirit of one of the best Carnivals of all time.
The hotels were full, the crowds were huge, the parades may have been the best ever, millions of throws filled the air, the publicity was almost all positive and it sent forth a clear message: Metro New Orleans is back, better than ever. Continue reading »
The sun sets over St. Charles Avenue after the end of Carnival. (Jean-Paul Villere for UptownMessenger.com)
Jean-Paul Villere
Each season’s close arrives inevitably, and no party ends without some amount of waste. At Mardi Gras, “the world’s biggest free party” as my old man used to say, the amount of refuse generated can absolutely stagger the synapses. Until you witness the end of Fat Tuesday on St. Charles Avenue as the sunset breaks into dusk, you can only imagine. The caucophonous whir of hand-labored rakes amid clean-up banter, flashing hazard lights, and heavy equipment shoveling all the gras doo to where? Throws often attain second and third lives, but those are what’s caught. What gets trampled underfoot will likely be set adrift on a garbage barge near you. Continue reading »
Craig Giesecke
When I was a kid, one of my favorite records was by The Three Stooges, called “I Caught A Cold For Christmas.” I played that little yellow piece of vinyl until the needle nearly wore through, even though the Stooges were huffing into their later years. I’ve been reminded of that this past week, though I could have been singing “I Caught The Crud For Carnival.” TBK and I have been battling an upper respiratory thing that forced us to miss the Wednesday night parades and, unless there is a sudden healing as I write this, Muses et al. I am sure you at least know several who have had it. Continue reading »
Daniel Galindo, 5, Nicholas Scandurro, 5, and Anthony Scandurro, 3, play in front of the Latter library at the First Annual Children's Book Festival in December 2010. (file photo, Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)
A series of ongoing repairs and refurbishments to the Latter branch of the New Orleans Public Library are scheduled to pick up in the coming months, according to representatives from the Mayor’s office, the New Orleans Public Library, and the architecture firm hired to complete the project.
At a crowded meeting at the library on Thursday night, officials gave a progress report on the first phase of the work, executed over the past three years, and offered a timetable of the second phase, slated to begin shortly after a contractor is chosen later this month.
A proposal to change lower Magazine Street to two-way traffic splits the crowd at the International School of Louisiana on Wednesday evening, as audience members raise their hands in opposition to the project. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
Should Magazine Street traffic run in both directions through the Lower Garden District? Among more than 100 people at a public forum Wednesday night, many strongly supported the change, some opposed it, and the rest felt the question has yet to be adequately studied. Continue reading »
The NOPD Second District will move its weekly meetings to 4 p.m. Wednesdays at Children’s Hospital, officials announced. The meeting is open to the public.
Whether to change the lower end of Magazine Street through the Lower Garden District to two-way traffic will be the subject of a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. tonight (wednesday, Feb. 8), city officials said. Continue reading »
Johnny V's on Magazine Street, photographed in September. (UptownMessenger.com file photo by Robert Morris)
“They’re being rewarded for being non-compliant,” said ARNA member Cele Gordon during Tuesday’s board meeting. Continue reading »
The Uptown Square building at 170 Broadway will be demolished to make way for an expansion of Lambeth House. (Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)
A portion of the original Uptown Square shopping center on Broadway Street has been cleared for demolition to make way for an expansion of the Lambeth House senior living facility. Meanwhile, a historic Central City gas station will be preserved and the fate of a church next to Ochsner Baptist Medical Center will be postponed by a month, based on decisions Monday by the city’s demolition-review panel. Continue reading »
Owen Courreges
It’s rapidly becoming clear to me that New Orleans city officials have concocted some bizarre conspiracy to give away all our money and credibility in civil rights lawsuits. Either that, or they think the Constitution is just an old wooden sailing ship and nothing else.
Given their actions over the past several years, either explanation is plausible. Continue reading »
Scope of the Uptown drainage projects: yellow lines are complete; red are forthcoming. (via swbno.org)
Map of Phase 2 of the Napoleon Avenue drainage project (via swbno.org).
The gym is relocating to O.C. Haley. (photo by Jean-Paul Villere for UptownMessenger.com)
Jean-Paul Villere
The invention of gunpowder was an accident. So was plastic. Viagra too. The reinvention of Freret similarly so. Despite decades of best efforts of local government, administration pledges, and the citizenry alike and at large, Freret couldn’t get any measurable play until after Katrina. But to be clear, no one thing has made Freret what it is today. It has taken a village, um, of events, so to speak. But let’s start with the birth of the Freret Street Boxing Gym, established seven years ago. At the time, Freret’s business offerings were basically tattoos, red beans and hardware. Today, as it has been for decades upon decades, the hardware store is still there. But not the tattoos. And not the red beans, either. And, as of the last month, the gym has moved as well — to O.C. Haley Boulevard. Continue reading »
At a meeting in July, City Planning Director Yolanda Rodriguez holds an example of the new signs that will be required for any property requesting a land-use change. (via nolacitycouncil.com)
City officials will hold a meeting next week to update Latter Library patrons on ongoing renovation projects. Continue reading »
By Patti Lapeyre
Just this past Wednesday, four known juveniles were hiding behind bushes in the S. Saratoga/Joseph Street neighborhood after school hours. After questioning, police found one of the four was wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet for a violent offense. Continue reading »
The long-vacant commander’s post in the NOPD’s Uptown-based Second District will be filled with the current head of the city’s central homicide unit, officials announced Friday. Continue reading »
In its first public hearing on a plan to effectively double water and sewer rates over the next five years, the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans faced an audience skeptical about the agency’s efficiency and worried about the impact of such a large increase on residents with fixed incomes. Continue reading »
Allan Katz and Danae Columbus
It was a political reunion Wednesday at the funeral services for the late State Senate President Sammy Nunez as a generation of leadership from across Louisiana came to pay their respects to a man whose vision and determination helped create the downtown we know today. Continue reading »
The "new part" of the NOPD Sixth District includes the neighborhoods between Louisiana and Napoleon avenues, from Freret Street to the river.