Danae Columbus

Viewpoint: Dryades YMCA needs a makeover and new funding sources

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It hasn’t been a good couple of months for the Dryades YMCA, the sponsoring organization for the James M. Singleton Charter School. First there were awkward questions about falsified background checks for several charter school employees. Then the CFO’s criminal history and sloppy bookkeeping also became issues. Several people, including long-time head Doug Evans, resigned. Then a Dryades Y board member stepped down to assume the top staff position at the charter school, an action the state ethics board might signal as a violation of state law.

food and drink

At Seafood Sally’s on Oak Street, the team from Marjie’s Grill aims to create a neighborhood seafood joint

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Named in honor of the executive chef’s grandmother and inspired by a trip down the East Coast, Seafood Sally’s recently opened on Oak Street. 

CEO Caitlin Carney and her executive chef and partner Marcus Jacobs gained a reputation as innovative restaurateurs with Marjie’s Grill on South Broad in Mid-City. The duo had been wanting to open a second place that showcased their love of seafood but that was conceptually different from Marjie’s (named in memory of Carney’s mother).

land use & development

Hollygrove tract is set to be redeveloped into affordable housing

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When Paul Irons and his sister Marseah were growing up, they regularly passed the corner of Monroe Street and Earhart Boulevard a block and a half from their Hollygrove home.
“I remember when it was a Church’s Chicken. I remember when it was not a Church’s Chicken,” said Irons, noting that four generations of his family have called Hollygrove home. “And I remember seeing it vacant for a long period of time.”
At last week’s City Council meeting, Irons and Marseah Delatte, managing partners with New Orleans Restoration Properties, saw the council members give unanimous approval to their plan to develop the now-blighted square block — including the cement slab where the Church’s used to be — into affordable housing.

schools

School superintendent proposes new names for Uptown school buildings

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New Orleans school Superintendent Henderson Lewis has proposed names to replace school buildings named after slave owners and segregationists across New Orleans, including eight school buildings in Uptown neighborhoods. The superintendent’s recommendations were submitted to the Orleans Parish School Board, which will have the final say in a July 29 vote. This current renaming wave is one of many in the city’s history, as community members have advocated for name changes for decades. The Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020 reignited the movement for schools named after slave owners or segregationists to be renamed. 

Orleans Parish School Board has the authority to change only the physical name on any school building they own. However, the charter boards of the schools within those buildings do not have to change the name of their academic program. 

Henry W. Allen 

Lewis chose musician and educator Ellis L. Marsalis Jr. to replace the Henry W. Allen for the school building at 5625 Loyola Ave.

land use & development

City plans to turn McDonogh 7 site into affordable housing

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By Sharon Lurye, Uptown Messenger

A proposal from the Housing Authority of New Orleans to turn the former McDonogh 7 school building into affordable housing drew intense interest from neighbors as more than 50 people attended an online community meeting on Friday (June 18). Representatives from HANO and the architecture firm VergesRome laid out plans for the Uptown site, which currently houses the upper grades of Audubon Charter School. The three-story school building would be turned into 27 affordable housing units for seniors, while the rest of the site would house 12 more units in the form of family duplexes. There would be 41 parking spaces in total, and 20% of the site would be green space. If all goes according to plan, the Housing Authority aims for City Council approval in December or January and would start construction in the fall of 2022 or spring of 2023.

New commander to take over NOPD’s Second District

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The New Orleans Police Department announced a change of command in the Second District, which oversees police services for Audubon, Carrollton, Hollygrove and other Uptown areas.

crime

Police seeking suspect in series of bicycle thefts

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The New Orleans Police Department is seeking the man pictured above for a string of burglaries and thefts in Uptown neighborhoods. The suspect is believed to frequently target sheds and steal bicycles.

food and drink

Oretha Castle Haley sees new growth with La Vie En Rose Cafe

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La Vie En Rose Café, a colorful coffee and pastry shop, has moved into a space at 1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. and will officially open the doors of their new location on June 22. The building is also home to art studio Big Sexy Neon, and formerly housed the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center, before their move to St Claude Ave. in Arabi. The café’s space, located in the front of the building, was the previous location of Church Alley Coffee and Orleans Coffee House.