Uptown Messenger (https://uptownmessenger.com/author/della-hasselle/page/3/)
An aggravated rape was reported Wednesday evening on Foucher Street, in the Milan neighborhood of Uptown, New Orleans police said in an initial report. Police said a 36-year-old woman was sexually assaulted in the 1600 block of the street shortly before 8 p.m. No further information was immediately available.
Students at Tulane and LSU will team up to find a new use for the old Carrollton Courthouse, officials announced Wednesday. The project, slated to start this month, is driven by students with the Tulane School of Architecture and the Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture at LSU. The study follows a recent forum by residents dedicated to saving the building and keeping it open for public use. Constructed in 1855, the building on 701 S. Carrollton Ave. was recently named one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The City Council Criminal Justice Committee will conduct a special meeting Friday to question police about recent “high profile” robberies, according to Councilwoman Susan Guidry. Police Superintendent Michael Harrison will also discuss the department’s strategy for addressing crime in the city. “The citizens of New Orleans have been clear – they want to know what the Mayor, the Council, and the New Orleans Police Department are doing about the disturbing recent crime reports in New Orleans,” Guidry said. “With this meeting, we intend to do just that. The people of New Orleans need to know that their elected officials and police department are taking this threat seriously, and that we are working tirelessly to ensure the safety of our citizens.”
Navigating traffic may become a little easier for Uptown residents on Monday when parts of Arabella Street temporarily become one-way, as part of a six-month trial enacted by the City of New Orleans. City officials announced Wednesday that, starting about 9 a.m. Monday, a segment of Arabella Street will be converted from two-way lanes to a one-way operation in the river-bound direction, from Chestnut Street toward Magazine Street. The construction is set to take place in the 800 and 900 blocks of the street. The trial “will be enacted to alleviate residents’ concerns about the width of the street and its ability to safely handle two-way traffic,” the Office of Mayor Mitch Landrieu said in a press release. The city mailed a survey to nearby residents asking for feedback on the proposed traffic change, and more than 80 percent of the respondents were in favor of the change to one-way traffic, according to the mayor’s office.
A century-old, three-story Garden District home caught fire shortly after noon Tuesday on Philip Street, but the lone woman inside was able to escape unharmed and officials say much of the house can likely be rebuilt.
The resident, Ann Trufant, was home by herself taking a shower on the second floor when she smelled smoke, she said. Meanwhile, neighbor Hanna Jones was walking by outside and saw smoke coming from near the chimney, as if it was being cleaned, she said. Jones and another woman rang the doorbell to check on Trufant, and when the 87-year-old resident appeared, they helped her get her things and get outside. “I was putting her socks on, and she said, ‘At least I’m clean!’” said Jones, who only moved to the city a month ago from Connecticut to live with relatives nearby. “She was so calm.”
New Orleans police are asking the public to help find a suspect wanted for the armed robbery of a Washington Avenue business Tuesday night. About 7:15 p.m., the suspect entered a Metro PCS located in the 4100 block of Washington Avenue and pointed a gun at the cashier, according to an initial police report. Police said he then demanded money, and fled after the cashier complied. The suspect was described as 5-foot-7 black man with a medium to heavy build. According to an image taken from surveillance video, he was wearing a red and black knit cap covering part of his face.
The Save a Heart Tag Sale, an indoor yard sale benefitting the Louisiana SPCA Heartworm Fund, is slated for this weekend.
Featuring home decor, antiques, furniture fashion accessories, electronics and much more, the sale will be held at 4310 Magazine Street on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday, sale hours extend from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will also be pet adoption from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and a bake sale from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The tag sale will continue on Sunday from noon until 4 p.m. A raffle will be drawn at the end. For more information, call 368-5191 or visit www.la-spca.org.
A 26-year-old woman was robbed at gunpoint while she was riding her bike in the Carrollton area just before midnight Thursday, New Orleans police said. She had stopped to check her phone on the corner of South Carrollton Avenue and Burthe Street when someone approached her from behind and demanded her belongings, according to Officer Garry Flot. Police said the woman complied and the subject fled.
Construction work at Lusher Charter School’s Willow Street campus will not start this fall as originally planned, school officials said this weekend. A misunderstanding between Lusher and the Orleans Parish School Board led architects at one meeting to believe that the school was getting just $1.2 million worth of repairs, when in fact the project has a budget closer to $7 million, said Lusher Chief Executive Officer Kathy Riedlinger at a Saturday morning board meeting. Amongst other issues, architects were under the impression that they were supposed to repair an outdated air conditioning system, Riedlinger said, when the school is actually supposed to get a brand-new system altogether. The money remains in place and the scope of work is established, but the miscommunication will delay the project being put out to bid, Riedlinger said. Construction is scheduled to begin in earnest at the Freret campus within a few weeks, so leaders are disappointed that the Willow Street work will no longer be on the same schedule, she said.
The New Orleans Mini Maker Faire and Bricolage Academy are hosting a launch party tonight for the science, engineering and arts event that’s been dubbed “the greatest show-and-tell on Earth.” Held at NOLA Brewing’s Taproom from 6 to 8 p.m., the education fundraiser and launch event will benefit Bricolage Academy, a tuition-free, open-enrollment public school in Uptown New Orleans. The launch party will provide details of the upcoming 2015 Maker Faire, which will gather entrepenuers together for hands-on activities in science, tech, engineering performance and crafts. The first annual NOLA Maker Faire, also hosted by Bricolage, attracted over 1,000 tech enthusiasts, engineers, students and more during the spring. Maker Faire was originally established by Make Magazine in California.
