Freret repaving soon to join maze of Uptown road construction

In a matter of weeks, construction is set to begin on a new project to repave Freret Street and to try yet again to correct the installation of new “bump-out” corners at the intersections. That project will join a series of others — a similar repaving of Broadway Street, the ongoing construction of a new drainage canal under Napoleon Avenue, the recent commencement of the same project on Jefferson Avenue, the upcoming start of another canal project on Louisiana Avenue, and the year-long repairs to the St. Charles Avenue streetcar line — that place most of the major thoroughfares through the interior of Uptown New Orleans under some sort of roadwork. Returning to Freret
Freret is soon to see two simultaneous projects begin in August, according to an update this week from city spokesman C. Hayne Rainey. First, the contractor that installed new bump-outs along the corridor must return to repair six corners at Valmont, Robert and Cadiz streets, making them accessible for people with disabilities.

Despite shrinking NOPD manpower, number of Uptown robberies drops by half

The procession of high-profile Uptown robberies may seem unabated lately: a Garden District couple held up on their front porch, masked men barging into Cooter Brown’s in search of the safe, or a trio of very young teens in skeleton masks demanding money at gunpoint on Broadway Street, all just in June alone. But despite the perception these incidents create, and in spite of a generally shrinking New Orleans Police Department, Uptown has seen a dramatic decrease of 50 percent or more in the number of armed robberies reported in 2013 from the same period of time last year, according to statistics compiled from NOPD sources. ‘Meaningful reduction’

Uptown New Orleans is divided fairly neatly into two police districts, divided at Napoleon Avenue: the Sixth District includes Hoffman Triangle, Central City, the Garden District, the Irish Channel and the lower Garden District, while the Second District covers Hollygrove, Carrollton, the university area, Freret and much of Broadmoor. As of Friday (June 28), the Second District had reported 22 armed robberies for the year, down from 40 this time last year, a 45-percent reduction. The Sixth District had reported 20 armed robberies, down from 53 last year, a reduction of 62 percent.

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

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. Crocker opened on Pratt Drive in Gentilly in August of 2008 and moved the following year to the New Orleans Free School campus on Camp Street. In December 2009, the Recovery School District issued an emergency notice removing children from the school because the foundation had discovered to have deteriorated to a “spongy mass,” and children were yanked out almost over night, their artwork still hanging on the walls years later (the building has since been sold and is slated for redevelopment into apartments).

Jimmy’s Music Club may be on its way back to presenting live music

When the New Orleans Alcoholic Beverage Control Board rejected a request by Jimmy’s Music Club last week, it may have seemed like the hand of The Man slapping down the former punk rock haven once again. The reality, however, is that attorneys, city officials and even the club’s neighbors agree that Jimmy’s may be closer to reopening than it has in the last year. Technically, club owner Jimmy Anselmo and his partners in Lucky Tab LLC were requesting on May 21 to appeal the denial of their application for a liquor license last year. Their argument — an unusual one — was that when liquor license applications are denied, they must be appealed to the city’s independent Alcohol Control Board. And because the basis for that denial was a moratorium preventing any new businesses from selling alcohol in the Carrollton area without permission of the New Orleans City Council, Anselmo was essentially asking the board to declare the City Council’s moratorium illegal.