Uptown Messenger (https://uptownmessenger.com/tag/new-orleans-advocate/)
A craft brew corner is emerging in the Lower Garden District with small-batch brewery Humid Beer Co. opening a tap room next to the Avenue Pub, Ian McNulty reports on NOLA.com. Adding to the draw for beer aficionados, Ecology Beer Works is nearing completion a few blocks away in Central City, McNulty notes.
The Buddy Bolden house on First Street in Central City, now owned by a foundation run by musician PJ Morton, has been cited by the New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission for demolition of the jazz landmark by neglect, Sophie Kasakove reports on NOLA.com. The citation, which requires Morton to stabilize the building by Aug. 4, is not the first since the Grammy winner announced, to great fanfare, in 2019 his plans to revive the blighted shotgun, where Bolden lived while pioneering the music now known as jazz. It has been deteriorating since it was purchased in 2008 by Morton’s parents, Bishop Paul S. Morton and the Rev. Debra B. Morton for their church, Greater St. Stephen Ministries.
Curbside trash has been piling up on Mid-City streets, along with complaints on City Hall’s 311 service, as Richard’s Disposal has fallen behind its Service Area 1 pickup schedule. Ben Myers reports on NOLA.com that Richard’s owner blames the lapse on a loss of workers to IV Waste and Waste Pro, which took over Metro’s Service Area 2 in November. Both the Richard’s and the Metro Disposal owners have said the city failed to meet its requirement to pay for excessive waste volumes during the Covid-19 shutdown in 2020 and after Hurricane Ida in 2021. The Cantrell administration told Myers it is preparing to take action over missed pickups but did not specify what that action will be.
The city seized the blighted Central City shotgun where legendary jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden once lived, stating the owner, Greater St. Stephen Ministries, let fines for minimum property maintenance pile up unpaid, Doug MacCash reports on NOLA.com. Grammy winning musician PJ Morton, the son of the St. Stephen pastors, announced plans in 2019 to renovate the Bolden house at 2309-11 First St. and a twin shotgun double next door into a museum and community recording studio, but has allowed it to deteriorate for years.
The owners of more than 100 student-housing conversions in the University area were issued a warning letter over the weekend from the Louisiana fire marshal that their building may be unlawfully occupied and require a safety inspection, Stephanie Riegel reports on NOLA.com. Buildings that house four or more unrelated residents are considered commercial properties and must have fire exits, sprinkler systems and meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The fire marshal’s office, which got involved at state Rep. Aimee Freeman’s urging, told Riegel it is not likely to shut down the doubles-to-dorms, but neighbors said they welcome the extra burden on the D2D developers.
Boarded up since Hurricane Ida in August, St. Joe’s Bar on Magazine and Joseph streets plans to reopen at the end of January, Ian McNulty reports on NOLA.com. Proprietor Charlie Thompson told McNulty he has been focusing on his other business, Uptown Costume & Dancewear, but is now working to staff the bar for a reopening.
The city will not readjust the Krewe of Thoth’s 2022 route to allow the parade to bring Carnival to patients in medical institutions along its idiosyncratic path that includes Henry Clay Avenue, Doug MacCash reports in The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate and NOLA.com. The New Orleans Police Department does not plan to accommodate krewe officials’ proposal to remove the downtown section of the parade to keep its traditional route deep into the Uptown neighborhood, Mayor’s Office spokesperson Beau Tidwell told MacCash. “The routes announced in December will stand for this season,” Tidwell said.
Dunbar’s Creole Cuisine is closing after serving up soul food to generations of New Orleanians, Ian McNulty reports on NOLA.com. Owner Celestina “Tina” Dunbar told McNulty that losses from Hurricane Ida were the last straw for the family-run business, which opened on Oak Street before spending two decades on Freret, where it closed after the building flooded in 2005. After it briefly operated on the Loyola University campus, the restaurant opened on Earhart Boulevard in Gert Town in 2017.
Irish Channel residents joined forces with residents of Jefferson Parish’s west bank to rid themselves of a noxious smell that has been wafting through their neighborhoods and into their homes for the past two years, Halle Parker reports on NOLA.com, prompting 850 complaints with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. The DEQ identified a west bank bulk liquid storage complex known as BWC Harvey as a possible culprit and has installed an air monitor on Tchoupitoulas Street. The citizens group, backed by the New Orleans City Council, is asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Gov. John Bel Edwards to suspend BWC Harvey’s pollution permit for review.
A Central City tenant who was given an eviction notice Monday was arrested Tuesday in Texas on suspicion of aggravated arson in the fire that engulfed a Washington Avenue apartment building, Ramon Antonio Vargas reported on NOLA.com. Jazlynn Major, 25, was booked on a warrant accusing her of 26 counts of arson following the three-alarm blaze Monday night at the Amies Paradise apartments that killed a dog and displaced 26 residents.
