Property tax for Audubon Zoo, Aquarium on the ballot Saturday

 Posted by at 11:47 am  city government, elections, environment, Featured, sports and recreation
Mar 102014
 
(courtesy of The Audubon Nature Institute)

(photo via The Audubon Nature Institute)

On Saturday (March 15), Orleans Parish voters will decide on more than just runoff races for City Council seats. A property tax worth up to $11.9 million a year is up for vote for the Audubon Nature Institute, the organization that supports the Uptown-located Audubon Zoo, as well as the Aquarium downtown and other sites around the city.

Supporters of the millage say it is a renewal of an already-existing tax. But dissenters say that it’s a new tax, because it could mark an increase in funds for the Institute for a period of 50 years. Continue reading »

Lt. Gen. Russell Honore blasts state lawmakers for environmental damage, but downplays chance of run for governor

 Posted by at 7:08 pm  environment, Featured, politics, public safety, state government
Feb 242014
 
Lt. Gen. Russell Honore addresses the Louisiana Landmarks Society on Monday evening at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in New Orleans. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)

Lt. Gen. Russell Honore addresses the Louisiana Landmarks Society on Monday evening at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in New Orleans. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)

Lt. Gen. Russell Honore, best known for his no-nonsense leadership in New Orleans immediately following Hurricane Katrina, returned to the city Monday night in his new role: condemning entire generations of Louisiana lawmakers for an acquiescence to major chemical companies that is now compromising the future of the state.

Speaking before the Louisiana Landmarks Society at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in the center of Uptown New Orleans, Honore may have been preaching to the choir, or, as he calls them, his “Green Army.” What they really wanted to know — like so many audiences the general has spoken to around the state — is whether Honore plans to run for governor. Continue reading »

Lt. Gen. Honore to speak at Uptown church

 Posted by at 11:20 am  church, elections, environment, events, politics
Feb 242014
 

Lt. Gen. Russell Honore, who was widely hailed for his leadership in New Orleans immediately following Hurricane Katrina and is now considering a run for governor, will speak about the threats to Louisiana’s environment at 7 p.m. tonight (Monday, Feb. 24) at First Unitarian-Universalist Church, 5212 South Claiborne Avenue. Continue reading »

Levee board lawsuits, Gulf dead zone and state cancer rates among topics at Tulane environmental-law summit

 Posted by at 10:23 am  city government, colleges, environment, events, Featured, public safety, weather
Feb 202014
 

law summit

19th Annual Tulane Summit on Environmental Law & Policy panelist topics (via the Tulane Environmental and Energy Legal Society)

19th Annual Tulane Summit on Environmental Law & Policy panelist topics (via the Tulane Environmental and Energy Legal Society)

The public is invited to listen to thought-provoking expert panelists discuss environmental hot topics such as the Orleans Parish Levee Board lawsuits, the Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” and the state’s “cancer alley” at the 19th Annual Tulane Summit on Environmental Law & Policy on Friday and Saturday (Feb. 21-22), in Tulane Law School’s Weinmann Hall. Continue reading »

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Councilwoman Guidry opposes moving freight trains from Old Metairie to Hollygrove

 Posted by at 12:22 pm  business, city government, environment, neighborhood groups, politics, transportation
Dec 112013
 

(map via DOTD)

(map via DOTD)

City Councilwoman Susan Guidry called a proposal to reroute freight trains from Old Metairie to Hollygrove “totally unacceptable” before an audience in Mid-City on Monday evening, and Hollygrove residents formed a new committee called “We Won’t Be Railroaded” to fight the project Tuesday, according to a report by Della Hasselle at our sister publication, Mid-City Messenger. In addition to the environmental and quality-of-life concerns, there may also be civil-rights issues involved in the use of federal money on a project that would widen the disparity in property values between the two communities, Mid-City Messenger reports.

“First they came for the trees:” Napoleon Avenue crepe myrtles memorialized

 Posted by at 2:32 pm  environment
Nov 132013
 

"That one time I saw them in the snow," writes Jeffrey Bostick. (via http://librarychronicles.blogspot.com, used with permission)

“That one time I saw them in the snow,” writes Jeffrey Bostick. (via http://librarychronicles.blogspot.com, used with permission)

Library Chronicles author Jeffrey Bostick (also sometimes known as “a prolific local tweeter, who calls himself Skooks”) posts an elegiac photo essay on the changing of the recently-removed Napoleon Avenue crepe myrtles through the seasons, writing of his “habit of keeping time by those trees.”

Lead removal ordered for soil at Booker T. Washington High School site

 Posted by at 12:52 pm  environment, public safety, schools, state government
Nov 052013
 

In order to treat unsafe levels of lead and other toxic heavy metals, three feet of soil must be removed and replaced in areas of the Booker T. Washington High School site at 1201 South Roman Street that will not be covered by asphalt or buildings, according to state recommendations reported on by Mark Schleifstein of The Times-Picayune. Monique Harden, an attorney for the Walter L. Cohen Alumni Association, is asking the state to treat the entire site as a hazardous-waste site, Schleifstein reports.

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Amid government shutdown, Corps of Engineers skips Jefferson Avenue drainage canal meeting

 Posted by at 6:08 pm  city government, Congress, environment, Featured, flood protection and drainage, politics
Oct 102013
 
The undivided two-way traffic pattern that dominates Jefferson Avenue on the river side of St. Charles Avenue will soon extend to South Claiborne as the drainage-canal installation proceeds. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)

The undivided two-way traffic pattern that dominates Jefferson Avenue on the river side of St. Charles Avenue will soon extend to South Claiborne as the drainage-canal installation proceeds. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)

Although the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for overseeing the construction of four major drainage canals around Uptown New Orleans, the federal-government shutdown caused the agency to miss a planned public meeting Thursday about the beginning of the latest phase on Jefferson Avenue. Continue reading »

Free screening of “Gasland II” documentary about fracking at the Prytania

 Posted by at 11:53 am  environment, events, film and television
Sep 302013
 

536The Prytania Theatre will host a free screening at 8 p.m. tonight (Monday, Sept. 30) of “Gasland II,” a documentary about “the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the controversial method of extracting natural gas and oil,” followed by a question-and-answer session with the director. Continue reading »

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jewel bush: Will New Orleans ever be ‘post-Katrina’?

 Posted by at 11:41 am  city government, Congress, environment, opinion, schools
Aug 272013
 
A spray-painted welcome to President Bush on St. Claude Avenue on Aug. 29, 2006. (photo by jewel bush)

A spray-painted welcome to President Bush on St. Claude Avenue on Aug. 29, 2006. (photo by jewel bush)

jewel bush

When President George W. Bush’s motorcade drove down St. Claude Avenue on August 29, 2006 — the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina — there were many signs, like sentries, stationed along his route to Fats Domino’s house in the Ninth Ward, one stop on his itinerary of ceremonial rounds.

The messages, posted on signs lined along the neutral ground and on the actual storm-clobbered buildings, weren’t flattering greetings from the city’s welcome committee. The collective reverberation to the commander in chief’s obligatory pilgrimage to the place he neglected a year earlier was that of a shimmering rage, pithy and piercing in delivery.

One of the strongest indicators of this sentiment was a lop-sided, green Port-a-Potty positioned on the very edge of the neutral ground somewhere along St. Claude, a strategic locale sure to catch the eye of, if not, the president himself, someone in his party. Among protest notes scribbled in gold spray paint on all four sides of this freestanding structure, the standout read: “Reserved for Bush.”

Mr. President, welcome to New Orleans. Continue reading »

Remaining Jefferson Avenue trees to be cleared from Claiborne to Danneel

 Posted by at 11:07 am  city government, environment, flood protection and drainage
Aug 262013
 

The remaining trees along Jefferson Avenue between South Claiborne and Danneel will be removed starting this week. (UptownMessenger.com file photo from April 2013)

The remaining trees along Jefferson Avenue between South Claiborne and Danneel will be removed starting this week. (UptownMessenger.com file photo from April 2013)

The trees remaining in the Jefferson Avenue neutral ground between South Claiborne Avenue and Danneel Street will be removed starting today (Monday, Aug. 26) in preparation for the installation of a major new underground drainage canal, authorities said. Continue reading »

Major changes to Uptown drainage systems represent citywide water-management proposal

 Posted by at 5:50 pm  city government, environment, Featured, flood protection and drainage, state government
Aug 012013
 

A rendering of a proposed floodplain park around the Monticello Canal in Hollygrove, similar to those proposed for other canals around the city in a new water-management strategy for New Orleans.

Rainfall should be diverted out of Uptown via the Mississippi River instead of carrying it all the way to Lake Pontchartrain, and major drainage ditches like the Monticello Canal should be expanded into interior floodplains and water-storage features, according to two recommendations that illustrate how New Orleans should be better managing its water instead of just pumping it away.

The Water Management Strategy presented by architect David Waggonner to a standing-room only crowd Thursday evening at Xavier University is a regional plan for making more efficient use of rainfall, slowing it down and storing it in natural canals to reduce the sinking of the land that contributes to flooding. The recommendations in the Uptown area are only a small part of the plan, but they illustrate some of its key elements and some of its challenges.

“We’re proposing this is a new era for water management,” Waggonner said. “It’s not just about flood protection any more. It’s really about quality and sustainability.” Continue reading »

Lead contamination at former home of Crocker elementary raises questions about school buildings citywide

 Posted by at 11:30 am  environment, Featured, health, schools
Jun 232013
 

The McDonogh 7 building on Milan Street. (UptownMessenger.com file photo)

The students of the Crocker Arts and Technology charter school had one of the most harrowing journeys through the post-Katrina education landscape of any school in New Orleans, bouncing around four campuses in the city over five years before the school finally lost its charter this year among stagnant test scores.

Now, finally settled into their long-promised new building on Marengo Street with a new operator preparing for next year, Crocker parents are now faced with yet another worry — enough peeling lead paint has been discovered in the campus where Crocker kids spent the longest part of their odyssey to warrant an emergency remediation before the building can be used again. But with lead poisoning known to affect intelligence levels, the broader question of how many other students are at risk around the city remains unanswered. Continue reading »

Backup S&WB turbine blamed for oily sheen over west Carrollton homes; relief may be a year away

 Posted by at 11:35 am  city government, environment, Featured, health, neighborhood groups
Apr 192013
 

This power plant on Spruce Street houses a backup turbine that is the source of gear oil in a mist-like form that has covered neighbors’ homes and cars, Sewerage and Water Board officials say. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)

West Carrollton residents beset by an oily sheen over their homes, cars and gardens are bearing the brunt of providing drinking water to the rest of the city from a century-old facility hobbled by emergency measures taken after Hurricane Katrina, officials said, and it may be another year before repairs progress enough to make a difference in the problem. Continue reading »

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Patagonia founder keynotes Tulane environmental law summit

 Posted by at 10:29 am  colleges, environment
Feb 222013
 

The two-day Tulane Summit on Environmental Law & Policy, which runs today (Friday) and Saturday, will feature panel discussions on topics of local interest such as fracking, coal export terminals, Hurricane Sandy aftermath, water management in New Orleans, Louisiana’s scenic rivers, lessons from the BP spill, sea levels in South Louisiana, the Gulf Dead Zone and a keynote presentation by Yvon Chouinard, founder of the Patagonia outdoor clothing company. Continue reading »

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Owen Courreges: After Sandy, should New York City be moved inland?

 Posted by at 11:04 am  business, city government, environment, opinion, politics, public safety, recovery, weather
Nov 052012
 

Owen Courreges

The word of the day is “Schadenfreude,” a loanword of Germanic origin that refers to satisfaction received from the misfortunes of others.

Oh, I should use it in a sentence?  OK. “I felt a warm feeling of Schadenfreude when the man who stole my bicycle was struck by lightning, died in intense pain, and then a swarm of rats appeared and urinated on his remains.”  (Note to readers: I really hate bike thieves).

Following Hurricane Sandy, regrettably if understandably, many New Orleanians felt a whiff of Schadenfreude.  We had been told so many times by so many people after Hurricane Katrina that we were poor, stupid, and our city had been built in the wrong place.  People asked if we should bother rebuilding New Orleans, as if we were all just going to pack up our bags and move. Continue reading »

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