The former yoga studio now slated to become a Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurant on Oak Street. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
As Oak Street’s status among New Orleans “going out” destinations continues to rise, a number of residents’ groups have engaged a planning firm to help them ensure that the “mixed use” commercial corridor evolves into something more diverse than a strip of bars and restaurants. Continue reading »
Lycee Francais' new St. Francis of Assisi campus on State Street. (UptownMessenger.com file photo by Sabree Hill)
A map of game-day restricted access zones (via tulanestadium.com)
Tulane University described its plans Monday night to shuttle football fans to its proposed Uptown stadium from parking lots around the city, but nearby residents continue to question how they will access their own homes on game days. Continue reading »
Two robberies on South Carrollton, one near St. Charles reported Saturday, and one at a gas station on Willow on Sunday. (map via NOPD.com)
Two armed robberies were reported on South Carrollton Avenue over the weekend, including a gas station at Willow Street that was held up Sunday afternoon at gunpoint, police said. Continue reading »
Owen Courreges
New Orleans has certainly received some good press in recent months regarding our business climate. A recent survey by Thumbtacks and the Kauffman Foundation ranked Louisiana one of the top five friendliest states for small business. The Wall Street Journal’s Marketwatch named Greater New Orleans the “most improved” in its 2011 “Best Cities for Business” list. Forbes Magazine named Greater New Orleans “America’s Biggest Brain Magnet.”
In a nutshell, New Orleans is riding high in the saddle when it comes to economic PR. We’re gradually escaping the popular perception of New Orleans as insular, bureaucratic and corrupt. Continue reading »
The leadership of Lycée Français de la Nouvelle Orléans will travel to Baton Rouge on Monday morning to discuss its second-grade expansion with the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Continue reading »
A rendering of the proposed football stadium on Tulane's Uptown campus. (via TulaneStadium.com)
Over the past week or so, the prospects for Tulane’s proposed Uptown stadium appear to have improved considerably.
A measure that would have required the university to receive the city’s approval for the project (known as an interim zoning district, or IZD) received a negative recommendation from the City Planning Commission, whose members said Tulane should only be held to current law, which allows construction of the stadium by right. Even if the City Council passes the IZD anyway, it is unclear whether its proponents could then muster five votes to overrule a veto by Mayor Mitch Landrieu.
(Tulane will hold its second community forum on the stadium, concerning traffic and parking issues, at 6 p.m. Monday at the Audubon Tea Room, 6500 Magazine Street.)
What do you think? Is Tulane within its rights to build a football stadium on campus? Or is the stadium too big for the residential Uptown neighborhoods altogether?
Craig Giesecke
I was (again) saddened over the past week as more details spilled out about the changes at the Times-Picayune, including the decision to lay off well-known restaurant critic and food writer Brett Anderson. I don’t pretend to understand the thinking that went into this decision, if there was any, but we’d be a poorer city if he goes.
Turns out, now they say he can have his job back after he finishes his fellowship at Haaah-vahd. Anderson apparently hasn’t yet decided. I’m not in his shoes, so I don’t know which two-word combination I’d use to inform higher-ups of my decision. Continue reading »
This weekend’s two-day “Juneteenth” celebration in Annunciation Square — held to commemorate the emancipation of the slaves 150 years ago — will feature an emphasis on fitness to dovetail with national efforts to fight obesity, organizers said.
Music for the free event will feature a variety of styles from jazz and soul to bounce, with Mardi Gras Indians and DJs, and food and craft vendors all over the park. But the theme of the day will be “Get Fit, Stay Free,” with a number of games and activities designed to get children moving, said Sheila Matute, an educator and organizer of the event. Continue reading »
Do you think Uptown Messenger columnist Owen Courreges is sometimes a little wordy? Apparently, so do the makers of the 150-year-old Merriam-Webster dictionary. Continue reading »
New Orleans-area Teach For American director Kira Orange Jones, who was elected to a seat on the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in November, may face a conflict of interest because BESE signs contracts with Teach For America, according to an opinion being considered by the state Ethics Board reported by The Lens. The board will consider whether Orange-Jones must choose between her employment and her elected position, or if she can simply recuse herself from votes about the TFA conflict, at a meeting in July.
T.J Quills
An overnight film shoot at 925 Jackson Avenue on Saturday evening and early Sunday morning will restrict parking in the surrounding blocks and include simulated gunfire, city officials announced. Continue reading »
The meeting of the Audubon Charter School governing board scheduled for Saturday has been canceled, according to an email from school operations manager Alisa Dupre. The school website will be updated when the meeting is rescheduled.
Happy parishioners returned to St. Henry’s for daily mass Friday morning, the first since the church closed three years ago amid major protests, according to a report by our partners at WWL-TV:
Homemade Thai salad (photo by Christy Lorio for UptownMessenger.com)
Christy Lorio (photo by Leslie Almeida)
Don’t get me wrong, I can tear into a fried shrimp po-boy with the best of them, but eating like that everyday is the equivalent of putting your name on a high cholesterol waiting list. As much as I adore Southern cooking, I attempt to eat healthy at home — that way all bets are off when dining out. Continue reading »
The topic of live music at the Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurant will be discussed by the Carrollton Riverbend Neighborhood Association at their monthly meeting tonight, as neighbors also hear about a “future of Oak Street” visioning project. Continue reading »
Allan Katz and Danae Columbus
New Orleans, which has survived the worst hurricanes, yellow fever epidemics, a terrible Oil Bust, military occupation and corruption, once again has to endure the unendurable as it watches the dismemberment of its daily newspaper that served the community for 175 years. Continue reading »
The SUV stolen Monday night in the violent carjacking of an elderly couple on State Street was used the following day in a similar robbery on Fontainebleau, then later found abandoned in the Milan neighborhood, police said.
While they continue looking for suspects in that case, investigators have made an arrest in a robbery two weeks ago on Chestnut Street, and caught a man they said may have been breaking into a number of cars in the Carrollton area. Continue reading »
Red arrows mark the block of Joseph Street that will become one-way for a six-month trial starting Friday morning. (map by City of New Orleans)