blight and demolition

Latest St. Charles Avenue demo request pits neighbors against neighborhood association, splits city panel

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The request by Jack Ryan to demolish a mansion on a lot he wants to buy at the corner of St. Charles and Valence for a new home drew the support of immediate neighbors, but not the St. Charles Avenue Association, and the Neighborhood Conservation District Committee was unable to successfully vote to either defer the project or allow the demolition, reports Karen Gadbois of The Lens. The 125-year-old house, heavily modified in the early 1920s, is a “a one-of-a-kind piece of St. Charles Avenue history,” according to a brief article about it by the Preservation Resource Center.

crime

Gun seized from man on parade route at Claiborne; five other weapons cases reported on St. Charles

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Police arrested a man on the Claiborne Avenue end of the parade route Tuesday for illegal possession of a gun, and at least six other weapons cases were reported that afternoon along St. Charles Avenue. Shortly after 1 p.m., concerned citizens alerted an Orleans Parish Sheriff’s deputy to a man who had a gun, according to an NOPD news release. The officer saw the “distinct shape of a handgun” in the man’s waistband, stopped him and seized a 9-mm from him, which the officer then turned over to an NOPD Second District officer assisting with the arrest, police said. Kendal Edwards, 23, was charged with illegal possession of a weapon and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to jail records.

crime

Suspect sought in St. Charles Avenue robbery

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Police have released a drawing of a man who robbed a woman walking along St. Charles Avenue early Tuesday and then tried to grab her, and investigators hope the public can help identify him. The woman was walking home from the Walgreens store on St. Charles Avenue about 2:45 a.m., and as she approached First Street, she was confronted by a man on a bicycle who demanded her money, said Sgt. Sandra Contreras of the NOPD Sixth District.

business

Shed fire extinguished behind Bultman home, former Borders site

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A blaze that broke out this morning in a shed behind the former Borders store in the old Bultman funeral home on St. Charles Avenue was quickly extinguished before its flames could damage the nearby historic Bultman residence or other nearby homes. The tool shed behind the Freret-Bultman Plantation House caught fire about 11 a.m., said Stacey Morigeau, program coordinator for the New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation, which is housed in the historic home. A mailman was actually the first to notice smoke coming from the shed, Morigeau said, and flames were just climbing out of the structure when firefighters arrived and extinguished the blaze. The shed is situated behind the historic Bultman residence on Louisiana Avenue, just past the rear of the parking lot that formerly served the Borders bookstore and former funeral home on St.

colleges

Suspect identified, booked in campus robberies

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A man who caused a police chase that led to the injury of a Tulane officer Wednesday has been charged with attempting to steal a Tulane student’s cell phone on St. Charles Avenue and then snatching an iPod from a Loyola student, authorities said. According to an email from the university police:
The Tulane University Police Department is announcing the arrest on Wednesday, November 16, 2011, of a subject who perpetrated an attempted simple robbery in the 6000 block of St. Charles Avenue at approximately 9:30 A.M., and a simple robbery in the 2000 block of Calhoun minutes later. The arrested subject attempted to rob a Tulane student of her cell phone and subsequently succeeded in taking an IPod Touch from a Loyola student.

business

NOPD: Walgreens cashier foils attempted robbery plot

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An attentive cashier at the Walgreens pharmacy on St. Charles Avenue foiled an attempted robbery when she realized her assailant was only pretending to have a weapon, and scared him off without giving up any of the store’s money, police said. The would-be robber walked into the store around 1 p.m. Wednesday, picked up a newspaper and put it on the counter near the cash register, then approached the cashier with his hand underneath his sweatshirt as if he had a gun, according to the police report. He demanded “all the 10s and 20s” and began trying to open the register himself, but the cashier realized he was actually unarmed, the report states. She backed away and called for help, and the man ran out of the store and down the street.

business

Three Uptown robberies — near bank, near campus, at drug store — reported within four hours

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A man was robbed at gunpoint while leaving a bank that was subject to a similar robbery two weeks ago, and a Tulane police officer was injured chasing a suspect in a separate robbery moments later Wednesday morning, authorities said. And a third robbery attempt was reported Wednesday afternoon at the Walgreens on St. Charles Avenue at Felicity Street, though details of that case were not immediately available. In the first case, a man was leaving the Capital One bank on Claiborne near Calhoun around 9:30 a.m. when he was approached by a gunman who demanded his money, said Lt. Chuck Little, dayshift commander for the NOPD’s Uptown-based Second District. The second case took place before 10 a.m. near Freret and Calhoun, and appears from initial reports to have been a simple robbery, such as an iPhone snatching, Little said.

blight and demolition

Jean-Paul Villere: Demolition Disparity — Double Standard or Dollars and Sense?

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Watching from the sidelines these last few weeks as New Orleanians applaud or boo proposed demolitions throughout the Uptown area, I am once again left scratching my head from what seems to be a certain sense of inconsistency.  Here’s why. Recently a little ol’ shotgun in the 4500 block of South Saratoga, No. 4517 to be precise, generated a heated discussion largely in opposition to the removal of the dwelling.  Yes, it’s a quaint old building.  Yes, there are literally dozens upon dozens and again, dozens more, comparable to it.  Unless you live nearby you’ve likely never seen this one in particular, and you may not ever happen across it, because frankly South Saratoga is a relatively sleepy street and the 4500 block in particular has little noteworthiness. The demolition dialogue played out for days in emails that cc’d everyone from neighbors to neighborhood associations, to City Council and well, to me.  Basically, the takeaway was that the demolition should be denied for two reasons.  One, an old shotgun has more character than whatever presumably inferior construction might replace it, and two, renovating the space would be much less expensive than demolishing it.

crime

Three weekend robberies under investigation

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A Dominos Pizza driver making a delivery just off Louisiana Avenue was confronted by a group of masked and gunwielding robbers, a Hoffman Triangle resident was robbed in front of his house by another set of gunmen and a van driver on St. Charles Avenue had his windows smashed with a hammer by another would-be robber in separate this week incidents all under investigation by NOPD Sixth District detectives, authorities said. Details, via an email alert from the Sixth District:
Attempted Armed Robbery – 2100 block of Franklin Court 11/12/2011 10:16pm

A Dominos Pizza delivery driver was delivering a pizza and chicken wings to a residence in the 2100 block of Franklin Court. The driver parked his vehicle and exited with the food at which time he was approached by an unknown black male. This subject told the delivery driver “Give me that” while raising his shirt to reveal a handgun in his waistband.