Audubon-Riverside homes to be featured in 2022 Shotgun House Tour

The Preservation Resource Center’s Shotgun House Tour focuses on how the historic cottages can be adapted for a modern family. For this year’s tour on June 11 and 12, the PRC will open the doors to five private shotgun homes in the Audubon Riverside neighborhood, promising “smart, innovative renovations that showcase the livability and versatility of the city’s favorite house type.” As a bonus, the tour also includes the restored Hales Cottage on the campus of Children’s Hospital. Hales Cottage is one of the oldest buildings in Uptown New Orleans, with parts of its timber wall frames dating to the late 18th century. The tour headquarters is in St.

Yardi Gras stories: Audubon-Riverside neighborhood has a sense of déjà vu

In its second year, the Audubon-Riverside subkrewe of House Floats selected the theme “Déjà Vu in 2022.” It has a double meaning. First, it’s here we are again — still with the pandemic. The Krewe of House Floats’ overall theme for the 2022 Carnival season, “Vaccinate, Decorate, Celebrate,” is also a nod to the enduring pandemic. 

Audubon-Riverside’s theme has a second meaning, recognizing that many residents plan to re-use most or all of their house float decorations from last year. One such resident is Sarena Teng, whose house float on Laurel Street at Napoleon has its own Instagram account (@queenofbouncehouse). Her Queen of Bounce House uses the same Big Freedia figure from 2021, but added a twist, based on the KoHF theme “Vaccinate, Decorate, Celebrate.”

“It is still and always will be the Queen of Bounce House, but this year, it’s ‘Big Freedia Saves the World’ against viral invaders,” Teng said. 

Playing off the popular 1980s “Space Invaders” video game, she made coronavirus germs out of lime green paper lanterns with hot-glued red glittery pompoms to look like spike proteins. Her Big Freedia has a giant vaccine syringe with a light-up laser gun that shoots down the germs. Nighttime viewers can see the vaccine explode in a fireball of green flashing lights.

Audubon-Riverside Neighborhood Association throws annual fall party Sunday

The Audubon-Riverside Neighborhood Association will hold its annual fall block party Sunday afternoon, with plenty of food and activities for adults and children alike. The association represents the area between Camp Street and the Mississippi River, from Jefferson Avenue to Audubon Park. For more details about the party, see the information from the flyer below:

Entergy representative fields questions from neighborhood

Entergy had all the reason in the world to bow out of a Tuesday-night presentation before the Audubon Riverside Neighborhood Association scheduled before Hurricane Isaac, group leaders noted. So when a manager from the utility showed up and began taking questions, the small audience gave him a gentler reception than the Entergy CEO had received before the City Council earlier in the day. When Entergy first arranged to come speak to the group, it originally intended to give a routine presentation of energy-saving programs and community-outreach initiatives, association leaders said. But when Kerry Jones, a district community service manager for Entergy New Orleans, got up to speak, he said he’d begin by taking questions about the storm response. The neighborhood lost power for as long as anyone else — from late Tuesday or early Wednesday until Saturday or Sunday, for most — so their questions were the same as everyone else’s.

Audubon-Riverside Neighborhood Association to hear updates on Reginelli’s, cultural district

The Audubon Riverside Neighborhood Association will hear updates on the project to move Reginelli’s Pizzeria across Magazine Street and on the proposed Uptown-University Cultural District that would create tax credits for historic renovations at a meeting at 6:45 p.m. tonight (Tuesday, Aug. 7) at St. Paul’s church, 616 Eleonore Street). The full agenda is as follows (via the association website):

I. Call to Order and Board Member Introductions (6:45 – 6:50)

II. Approval of Minutes from July board meeting (6:50 – 6:55)

III.

Uptown university area slated for tax-free art sales, historic renovation tax credits

A major section of Uptown from Carrollton to Napoleon Avenue could soon become exempt from sales taxes on sales of original art, and most property owners in the area could become eligible for state tax credits for nearly any kind of renovations they do to their homes under a program on track for approval this summer. The proposed Uptown-University Cultural District would result in all areas between Carrollton and Napoleon avenues from the river to Interstate-10 being included in a “cultural products district,” a designation through the state Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism intended spur creative activity in specific locations. The designation has already been approved by the New Orleans City Council and is slated for state certification in mid-August, said Gaye Hamilton, cultural-economy manager for the department, in a presentation to the Audubon Riverside Neighborhood Association during their monthly meeting Tuesday. The program uses two primary financial incentives to encourage cultural activity. First, any original artwork or jewelry sold in the district is exempt from sales taxes.

Grandmother graduating from Tulane, headed to Harvard Divinity School

Graduating from Tulane this weekend with a double major in religious studies and history, 47-year-old Jane Wolfe will begin studies this fall at Harvard Divinity School on a master’s degree in theological studies, according to the Tulane New Wave university news service. Wolfe and her husband, Uptown-based businessman and Audubon-Riverside Neighborhood Association member Scott Wolfe, will both move to Cambridge, Mass., but plan to return afterward, the article states.

Audubon-Riverside neighbors hold monthly meeting

The Audubon-Riverside Neighborhood Association will holds its monthly meeting at 6:45 p.m. tonight (Tuesday, May 1) at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, 616 Eleonore Street. Discussion will include an update on Johnny V’s restaurant, the city’s outdoor film screening program and the status of upgrades to the association’s website.

Audubon Riverside neighbors consider park improvements

With a nest egg of unspent membership dues built up over the years, the Audubon Riverside Neighborhood Association has begun discussing possible projects to improve nearby parks. This year’s board inherited an account balance of roughly $14,000 that accumulated in previous years and was never spent. The association’s annual expenses are not high, noted association president Sara Meadows Tolleson — primarily just paying for supplies at events such as the recent Easter egg hunt, the fall party and the National Night Out Against Crime — and mostly covered by people renewing their memberships each year. A recent audit committee suggested that ARNA spend part of the money on a neighborhood project, rather than keeping such a relatively large balance indefinitely. Over the last month, the association used a new online voting tool called VoteIt (developed by neighborhood resident Taylor Beery and funded with an $800,000 investment) to solicit and vote on ideas for the project.

Surprise early opening of Johnny V’s frustrates neighborhood association

Johnny V’s is now open on Magazine Street, but the discovery that the controversial restaurant was allowed to quietly begin operation without fulfilling all the conditions set forth by the city — including signing a good-neighbor agreement — frustrated the board of the Audubon Riverside Neighborhood Association. “They’re being rewarded for being non-compliant,” said ARNA member Cele Gordon during Tuesday’s board meeting. After the city discovered a second-floor space at Johnny V’s last year that was not allowed by its original permit, renovations to the Magazine Street building were halted and the restaurant was instructed to apply for after-the-fact permission to move forward. In November, the restaurant’s request was granted by the City Council, but with an extensive list of conditions attached. Prior to opening, some of the un-permitted construction had to be undone, a signed lease was needed for use of the Perlis parking lot, and a good-neighbor agreement had to be signed with the Audubon-Riverside Neighborhood Association.