city government

Community meeting planned for tennis club in Dixon neighborhood behind Costco

By |

A community meeting is planned for the proposed tennis club at Palmetto and Monroe streets in the Dixon neighborhood. The tennis center is the dream of Kevin Chaouat, a former Xavier University tennis player and now coach at Xavier. Chaouat has said he wants to create a tennis center that is a place for play, from beginner to professional, and for instruction at all levels. The business plans include accessibility to the facility for community members, particularly children. The meeting will be held Monday, Sept.

business

Carrollton neighborhood set to welcome Canseco’s Market

By |

By Emily Carmichael, Uptown Messenger

Canseco’s Market is coming to Carrollton Avenue and Oak Street and, if last night’s neighborhood meeting is any indication, the area’s residents are excited. Necessitated by the zoning districts it will operate in, the grocery store held the Neighborhood Participation Project meeting to seek two separate conditional use approvals: the ability to sell alcohol and tobacco, and the ability to operate between 5,000 and 10,000 square feet of sales space. The potential Canseco’s at 1133 S. Carrollton Ave. would have approximately 6,000 square feet of retail space. About 24 feet of shelf space will be dedicated solely to beer, and 28 feet will be dedicated solely to wine, more than any other category in the store.

city government

RTA, planners gather input for overhaul of public transit in New Orleans

By |

By Jesse Baum, Uptown Messenger

The Regional Transit Authority and the Regional Planning Committee hosted a community meeting Tuesday for District B at Dryades Public Market to gather feedback for a planned redesign of the public transit network that would include New Orleans and the surrounding communities. Called New Links, the project also involves Jefferson and St. Bernard parishes’ transit agencies in an effort to make the transit network more efficient and user-friendly. The current input phase of the redesign looks at where people in New Orleans travel most frequently and how they would like to see transit improved, including more options for transfers, better weekend/late night service, as well as better connections to communities like Chalmette and Metairie. In the years after Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures, the RTA has seen ridership fall and has struggled to restore service to prestorm levels.

city government

Coffee on your Corner series to tackle affordable housing

By |

The city is holding a Coffee on Your Corner session for District B on Thursday at the Fresh Market on St. Charles Avenue. The topic will be affordable housing in New Orleans. Coffee on Your Corner is a community meeting that brings city officials and representatives into neighborhoods to discuss specific issues of the day. “In an effort to accommodate residents who are less inclined to attend public meetings in the evenings outside of their communities, we’ve created Coffee on Your Corner to bring city government to you,” the city’s Office of Community Engagement states.

business

Peaches on Magazine plans to bring historic Woolworth’s counter back to life

By |

By Emily Carmichael, Uptown Messenger

Peaches Records, a long-time stalwart of local music, is looking to try its hand at the culinary scene with the revival of the historic F.W. Woolworth lunch counter in its Magazine Street store. On Monday, June 3, the record store that helped give Cash Money its start will host a Neighborhood Participation Program meeting at Rosa F. Keller Library in Broadmoor. The meeting is part of a process to gain the city’s approval to serve alcoholic beverages, but Peaches owner Shirani Rea also hopes to use it as an opportunity to introduce the project to the community. The counter at the Peaches remains in its original location at 4318 Magazine St., a former F.W. Woolworth store. The counter was built in 1940, Rea said, but its historical significance dates to the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

city government

Coffee on Your Corner to discuss transportation

By |

Transportation is the topic of the Coffee on Your Corner event for District A to be held Thursday, May 16, at the IHop on 3511 S. Carrollton Ave. from 10 to 11 a.m.

The city’s Coffee on Your Corner events bring city officials and representatives into neighborhoods for coffee and an exchange of information. District A residents can hear about city programs, initiatives and operations directly from city officials and representatives. The event is an effort accommodate residents who are less inclined to attend public meetings in the evenings outside of their communities. Click here to register for the event.

city government

Open house about biking safety brings cyclists’ and drivers’ concern

By |

On Monday, cyclists, advocacy groups and city government officials gathered at Booker T. Washington in Central City to discuss issues around cycling in New Orleans. The meetings are part of an effort by New Orleans officials to make the city more bike-friendly and a safer place for cyclists. Bike safety has come more into the spotlight since Frank Fisher, a 34-year-old oil-services worker and lifelong New Orleanian, was killed in February after being struck by a garbage truck while riding on Carrollton Avenue. No citations were written or arrests made in that case. Then, on March 2, the deaths of Sharree Walls, 27, and David Hynes, 31, and the injuries of other cyclists on Esplanade Avenue galvanized the cycling community.

city government

City hosting bike network planning workshops this week

By |

The city of New Orleans will present a series of “open house” neighborhood workshops to engage residents in each district about the upcoming plan to expand and improve the City’s bike network. Meetings for Districts A & B take place this week. The City is working in collaboration with the Department of Public Works, the City Planning Commission, and community partners on this project, known as Moving New Orleans Bikes. The plan will help expand the City’s current Bike Network Map with the community’s assistance. Here are the meetings for the Uptown area, both from 6 to 7:30 p.m.:

Monday, April 8
District B
KIPP-Booker T. Washington
2514 Third St.

community meetings

Forum to explore open-space, parks and recreation planning

By |

New Orleans officials have been rethinking how the city’s parks, recreation and greenspace are organized and managed. To inform New Orleanians of the whys, hows and whats of citywide master park and recreation planning, Parks For All is sponsoring a forum, “Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Planning: International Best Practices and their Application to New Orleans.” It will feature Kurt Culbertson, a longtime leader in sustainable development. Culbertson, an LSU alumnus, will offer “perspectives gained through 40 years of experience in the planning and design of park and recreation systems and reflections on the application of these lessons to the needs of New Orleans,” the event flier says. Culbertson, the 2016 recipient of the American Society of Landscape Architects’ highest award, is chairman and CEO of an urban design and landscape architecture consulting firm, the Design Workshop.

arts, books and music

BAR NONE hosts ‘conversation for justice’ for McKinley “MAC” Phipps

By |

McKinley “MAC” Phipps is currently serving a 30-year sentence for manslaughter, a crime for which he maintains his innocence. February 21, 2019 (this Thursday) marks 19 years he has been incarcerated behind the walls of the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center. BAR NONE, a multidisciplinary arts initiative that focuses on “transcending incarceration through the arts,” will host a community conversation about MAC, his impact, and justice for him on Thursday. “A Conversation for Justice: Why MAC Phipps?!” takes place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at 8539 Willow St. (at the corner of Leonidas St.). This event is free and open to the public, however, sitting is limited.