Coliseum Square Association to discuss upcoming neighborhood events, ongoing projects

The Coliseum Square Association will meet to discuss upcoming events such as the Night Out Against Crime and ongoing projects such as maintenance the neighborhood’s statues and fountain of at 6:30 p.m. tonight (Monday, Sept. 17) at the Bridge Lounge, 1201 Magazine Street. The agenda emailed by the association is below. AGENDA
Roll Call
Standard Business
*Approval of August meeting minutes
*Approval of Finance Report
Committee Reports
*Parks / fountain – Derek Brown
*Police / NONPAC – Jan Ferrell
*Zoning – Wayne Troyer
*Membership – Eddie Dennard
*Fundraising – Jim McAlister
*Communications / president’s report – Robert Wolf
New Business
Night Out Against Crime
Christmas in the 6th
Expenses for remainder of 2012
Buy mulch for Terpsichore St Statue landscape and other plants in CS.

If neighborhood associations create economic value, what should be their role in city government?

Over its 40-year history, the Coliseum Square Association has played a major role in the revitalization of the Lower Garden District, so its voice should be respected when it comes to development proposals that might affect it, City Council candidate Eric Strachan group told the group Monday night — in comments that drew a range of responses from other council hopefuls, from strong agreement to a dose of skepticism. In about a 10-minute presentation at the association’s monthly meeting, Strachan spoke of his lifelong involvement with the group. His parents were among its founders, and growing up he participated in events such as the annual home tours. Later, Strachan served on the association board himself. In the past, the park at Coliseum Square was a dumping ground for used needles and condoms, and gunfire was a nightly sound in the neighborhood, Strachan said.

Uptown city council, school board races begin this week with appearances, campaign organizing

In the first official week of the race for the District B seat on the City Council, Eric Strachan will be meeting tonight with a neighborhood association his parents helped found, LaToya Cantrell and Dana Kaplan are beginning to knock on doors in Uptown neighborhoods, and late entrants Buck Horton and Donald Vallee are both getting their campaigns organized. Broadmoor Improvement Association leader LaToya Cantrell’s primary activity this week will be canvassing District B neighborhoods, knocking on doors and talking to voters, said campaign spokesman David Winkler-Schmit. Cantrell’s four simultaneous campaign launch parties around the district went well on Friday evening, Winkler-Schmit said. “It was a nice, diverse audience, and despite the Saints preseason game, a lot of supporters got out there,” Winkler-Schmit said. “It was a really good vibe going into this election season.”

International School cancels plans for Mandarin class at Westbank campus, debates space for solar panels and future students at Camp Street

The International School of Louisiana is abandoning its plans to create the region’s first public-school program taught entirely in Mandarin Chinese next year for lack of enough students or a qualified instructor, officials said Wednesday. Meanwhile, the school’s governing board continues to discuss where to put solar panels on its Camp Street campus, and where to find additional space for the overflow of upper-grade students expected there in the 2013-14 school year. Mandarin | The school had only seven confirmed applicants for the Mandarin-immersion kindergarten class it hoped to create next year at the Westbank campus in Algiers, and had not yet located an instructor to teach them, officials said Wednesday night. Given those factors, school officials decided to cancel the program, folding the students signed up for it into Spanish-immersion classes instead, said ISL board president Andrew Yon at a meeting Wednesday night. This is the second year in a row that the school has tried unsuccessfully to create a Mandarin program, he said, so ISL will not pursue the Mandarin track again unless administrators create a comprehensive program to fill the spaces.

Coliseum Square Association opts for signs before tickets to curtrail canine excesses

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. How to handle dogs in the park has been a bone of contention for the neighborhood for years. Many residents enjoy having a place to give their dog room to run, while many others are afraid to use the park because of the large dogs that sometimes roam loose there. A month ago, Commander Bob Bardy of the NOPD Sixth District asked the association for direction on enforcement of leash laws in the park. In search of a middle ground, the association voted to send a weakly-worded statement simply recognizing Bardy’s duty to enforce the law, but that solution did not sit well with either side of the debate, so association president Robert Wolf brought the topic back up again at the May monthly meeting Monday night.

Unleashed dogs in the park among discussion topics Monday evening for Coliseum Square Association

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. Other topics include a presentation by UNO urban planning graduate students on making lower Magazine Street two-way and a visit from Dana Kaplan, a candidate for the vacant City Council District B seat. For the complete agenda, see below (via email):

CSA Monthly Meeting
Monday, May 21st, 6:30pm
Bridge Lounge
1201 Magazine Street

The agenda for this month’s meeting includes a presentation by UNO urban planning graduate students on the impacts of the lower Magazine St. two-way proposal, an introduction to Dana Kaplan who is running for the vacant City Council District B seat, results from the successful and fun fountain fundraiser and a revisit of CSA stance on whether to advocate for law enforcement to aggressively enforce dog leash laws in Coliseum Square. AGENDA
Roll Call
Standard Business
*Approval of April meeting minutes – postponed: will send out later
*Approval of Finance Report
Committee Reports
*Parks / fountain – Derek Brown
*Police / NONPAC – Jan Ferrell
*Zoning – Wayne Troyer
*Membership – Eddie Dennard
*Fundraising – Crawfish boil report – Jim McAlister
*Communications / president’s report – Robert Wolf
New Business
*Presentation: UNO graduate class Magazine Street two-way study
*Introduction: of Dana Kaplan running for Council District B
Old Business
*Unleashed dogs in Coliseum Square – NONPAC – Police Relations – law enforcement revisited

Crawfish boil Saturday to raise money for Coliseum Square fountain repairs

The Coliseum Square Association will hold a crawfish boil Saturday to raise money for structural repairs to the park’s fountain. More details, via email:

Keep the Fountain Flowing

Stop under the oaks of Coliseum Square,
enjoy a pile of crawfish and a frosty beverage with your neighbors,
and help keep our beautiful fountain flowing. In 2006 the Coliseum Square Association oversaw the restoration of the fountain and ever since a dedicated volunteer fountain team puts in more than 150 volunteer hours a year to keep the majestic plume flowing. In addition the association spends roughly  $1600 a year in chemicals and maintenance – none of which is covered by the city. Now our lovely fountain needs structural maintenance and we need your help to pay for it.

International School to seek satellite space near Camp Street building, but will add modulars at Westbank site

The International School of Louisiana will begin looking for a satellite location in the Lower Garden District for its younger grades at the Camp Street campus next year and add modular buildings to its Westbank site as its prepares for more growth at each site, its governing board decided Monday. The location in the former Andrew Jackson school building on Camp Street is filling up as its middle school grades grow, with more and more families staying at ISL into the upper levels while classes decimated by Hurricane Katrina rise into high schools. Specialized rooms such as the art studio have already been converted into classrooms, and the board was considering adding modular buildings on the site in the coming year. After further review, modular buildings seem likely to provide a reprieve for only about two years, and then the search for more space would be on again, said Head of Schools Sean Wilson. Instead, he recommended moving the remaining administrative spaces (such as his office) to the temporary site in Jefferson Parish for next year to create a little more space at Camp Street, while conducting a thorough search for a more formal satellite location nearby for the lower grades — kindergarten, first grade and possibly second, depending on how much space is found, Wilson said.

Lower Garden District gives cautious consideration to proposed adjacent “hospitality zone” downtown

A proposal to place a swath of downtown New Orleans under a new appointed board with the power to levy taxes drew the attention of the Coliseum Square Association on Monday night, based on the possibility that the “hospitality zone” could easily be expanded into Uptown. Several bills pending in the state legislature would create a new “hospitality zone” running generally from the Pontchartrain Expressway down to Elysian Fields Avenue between Claiborne Avenue and the Mississippi River. A group of leaders of the tourist industry would be appointed to govern the board, and they could levy additional taxes on hotels, restaurants and bars in the area to raise money for beautification projects, additional security, infrastructure repairs and marketing. Meg Lousteau, a Treme resident and member of the Vieux Carre Property Owners, Residents and Associates, briefed the Coliseum Square Association on the proposal at the association’s Monday night meeting. The boundaries of the district could be easily expanded, she said, and association president Robert Wolf noted that parts of the Lower Garden District such as the redeveloping riverfront might soon be considered attractive additions to it.

Carrollton and Lower Garden District neighborhood groups to meet

Two Uptown neighborhood groups — the Coliseum Square Association and the Carrollton Area Network — will hold meetings tonight (Monday, April 16), their leaders announced. Coliseum Square’s agenda includes “a request from 6th District Police Captain Bob Bardy regarding a CSA position on unleashed dogs in Coliseum Square, concrete batching plant appeal of CPC denial to city council, and a discussion with Meg Lousteau of the Vieux Carre Property Owners, Residents and Associates regarding the pros and cons of the proposed ‘entertainment district’ bills circulating in the legislature this session,” according to an email to members. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at Bridge Lounge, 1201 Magazine Street. The Carrollton Area Network monthly meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at 1333 South Carrollton Avenue (Central St. Matthew’s United Church of Christ), and will discuss issues of crime, infrastructure and zoning, according to an email from President H.V. Nagendra.