Guest column: Tulane stadium — There must be a better way

By Nick Kindel

Perhaps it is inevitable that there will be tensions – and even friction – when a major institution is located in a residential area.  But is it really necessary for this to rise to the level of acrimony and divisiveness that currently characterizes the Tulane University stadium proposal? Last year, a contingent of neighborhood, business and government leaders from Birmingham, Alabama – a city not unlike New Orleans – traveled here to share information about their Citizen Participation Program (CPP).  They described it as a three-legged stool that united community, business and government in moving their city forward. In particular, former Princeton Baptist Hospital CEO Charlie Faulkner cited Birmingham’s CPP as essential to addressing neighborhood concerns while allowing his hospital to expand in a residential area.  While the hospital did expand its footprint, the surrounding neighborhoods were compensated by renovation of blighted housing, jobs for neighborhood residents at the hospital, and contributions of equipment, supplies and other support for community facilities. Contrast this with the current situation in the areas surrounding Tulane, where neighborhoods have stated their mistrust of the university, neighbors are arguing with other neighbors, Tulane has sued the city, and the stadium plans are on hold. Among their numerous other benefits, CPPs are designed to bring developers and residents together to discuss legitimate concerns surrounding project proposals.

Guest column: Why we don’t have a Citizen Participation Program

By Nick Kindel

In two recent columns, the Uptown Messenger has explored the situations with the Magazine Street Pilates Studio and the proposed new security district, and how in each case outcomes might have been very different if we had a Citizen Participation Program (CPP) in New Orleans. Consequently, a number of people have asked about the status of the New Orleans CPP, and how close we are to getting one adopted and implemented by city government.  What follows is a brief recap of the process to date as well as the current status of the project. The original call for a citizen participation program in New Orleans came in 1992, in the New Century New Orleans document.  Post-Katrina, the Unified New Orleans Plan (UNOP) document contained a clarion call for a New Orleans CPP.  The November 2008 amendment to the City Charter mandated “an organized system for neighborhood participation”, and the Master Plan as adopted in July 2010 has an entire chapter on Citizen Participation. In September 2010, the Committee for a Better New Orleans submitted a draft CPP model, designed by about 160 New Orleans residents over a three-year period, to the City Planning Commission.  The next month, the City Council passed a resolution directing the Planning Commission to take the model and other work submitted to it, do whatever additional research it felt necessary, conduct a final round of public meetings, and submit a final version to the Council for approval in summer 2011. However, at this point Mayor Landrieu announced the formation of his new Office of Neighborhood Engagement (since renamed the Neighborhood Engagement Office), and asked that the entire process be moved from the Planning Commission to NEO.  All work came to a halt.

Over a period of many months, NEO worked on several versions of a methodology for what the city was now calling a Neighborhood Participation Plan (NPP).  The final scope for at least the next stages of the work plan focused strictly on internal policies and procedures for city agencies and departments to work with citizen input.

Guest column: Open process needed for proposed Uptown security district

Guest column by Nick Kindel

A few weeks ago, the Uptown Messenger reported on a proposed security district in the Fontainebleau area. The news came as a surprise to many residents and neighborhood organizations in the area who were not previously informed. Area residents are asked to weigh the pros and cons of the proposed Upper Marlyville Security District in the absence of an open, inclusive decision making process. Know Your Neighborhoods

A good place to start would be to inform all of the neighborhood organizations in the area. This is easier said than done.

Guest column: The Magazine Street Pilates studio – a failure to communicate

By Nick Kindel

Over a year ago, to the surprise of nearly everyone in the surrounding neighborhood, construction began on the Romney Pilates Studio on Magazine Street. In hindsight, this situation is a clear example of how the city lacks a formal structure to communicate and inform residents about projects and proposals that will affect them — at the beginning of these processes, instead of after a project is already under construction. For many years, the Committee for a Better New Orleans has been working on a formal communications system that would address the types of problems highlighted by the Romney Pilates Studio development.  Called a Citizen Participation Program (CPP), it will protect neighborhoods while moving good economic development projects forward. The Failure of the Current Process

First, let’s recap the history of this project (UptownMessenger.com covered it in articles on January 11, 2011 and January 24, 2011). In early 2011, residents near the intersection of Magazine Street and Nashville Avenue discovered a three-story cinder-block building being built just a few feet from the street and with very limited parking.  Nearby residents and neighborhood associations were completely unaware of this project.  Considerable outrage was expressed, and a stop-work order was issued.  The issue was resolved fairly quickly, and construction resumed.