Marijuana, mushrooms, gun seized in raid on Uptown grow houses

Raids on two Uptown addresses, an apartment on St. Charles Avenue and a house on Soniat Street, led police Monday to a stash of marijuana, psychedelic mushrooms and a gun, authorities said Tuesday. Officers were called to the apartment at 2900 St. Charles about the possibility of a marijuana-growing operation, and when they arrived found several small marijuana plants under lighting in plain view, NOPD Sixth District Commander Robert Bardy said in an email. During their investigation, they learned that drugs were also being stored at a house at 2704 Soniat Street and searched that location as well, Bardy said.

Police: Your unlocked bike won’t last 10 minutes on the streets of New Orleans

An ongoing sting operation designed to take thieves off the streets of Uptown New Orleans has resulted in five arrests in less than an hour’s work over the last week, and may be helping reduce break-ins, police said Thursday. “It’s like a trawl net,” said Sixth District Commander Bob Bardy. “We catch a lot of thieves.”

Last week, Bardy assigned a team of officers led by Sgt. David Liang to a simple task: leave a bicycle unlocked and unattended on St. Charles Avenue, and arrest anyone who tries to steal it.

Remainder of Danneel Park lead remediation to be combined with upcoming renovations

While part of the popular Danneel Park on St. Charles Avenue has reopened after lead remediation, another portion remains closed as the city finishes plans to combine the remaining lead treatments with a renovation of the playground equipment. Via an email distributed to the neighborhood:

The lead remediation was completed in a portion of the park, allowing the city to re-open the age 5-12 newer play equipment in the back portion of the play space a few weeks ago. The front toddler portion remains closed until further notice as Friends of Danneel Committee works through an agreement with the city agencies to renovate the front portion as was planned in 2010 as Phase 2 of the park’s renovation. When the lead issue came to light, it became clear that it was best to coordinate the the removal of lead and the pouring of the new slabs for the renovation in order to save money and more efficiently achieve the goals for the playground.

Owen Courrèges: Riding on memories

Streetcars are an iconic fixture in New Orleans, a reflection of our city’s connection to the past.  Although the technology is old and often inefficient, we cling to these aging steel transports because of their beauty, craftsmanship and history. The nexus of all of this is the St. Charles streetcar line, which has run through Uptown and the CBD since the early 19th Century.  We take pride in the fact that it is the oldest continually operating streetcar line in the nation. Today, there are plans to extend streetcar lines to other parts of the city, capitalizing off of the perceived success of the much newer Canal Street line.  Instead of just a quaint remembrance largely for tourists, these plans aim to turn streetcars into a primary mode of transportation for all New Orleanians. Already plans are in motion to construct a spur to go between the Union Passenger Termination and Canal Street which would almost (but not quite) create another connection between the St.

NOPD: Arrests in separate cases to end both Fontainebleau break-ins and St. Charles-area robberies

A trio of teens believed to be behind at least five armed robberies along St. Charles and Louisiana avenues were arrested this week, as was a man suspected in at least 10 home burglaries in Fontainebleau, likely bringing to end two separate crime sprees plaguing opposite ends of Uptown New Orleans. The teens, whose names are not being released by police because all three are juveniles, approached a victim in the early morning hours of April 17 in the 1500 block of Aline Street (a block off St. Charles), and one drew a gun and said, “Give me everything,” said Lt. Mike Montalbano of the NOPD Second District investigative unit. The next day, a bank card taken in that robbery was used at a nearby bank, and still photos of the teenagers were taken, Montalbano said.

Owen Courrèges: The “perfect” thing for Uptown

The ongoing discussion about the future of the former Border’s location at St. Charles Avenue and Louisiana has gotten me thinking.  Whenever a major commercial site in Uptown goes vacant, there’s always a discussion of what it will become.  This is always an interesting debate where everybody suggests the ideal business they’d like to move in. Personally, I’d like a “Best Buy” or something similar.  Uptown doesn’t really have a dedicated electronics and appliance store, and Wal-Mart is shrinking its electronics department. There are other examples of this phenomenon.  The former American Legion building on Magazine has generated immense speculation, particularly since Walgreens expressed interest.  Likewise, when it came to light that the Market Street Power Plant was going to be redeveloped, everyone wanted to know exactly what developer would jump in. I’m not going to be a spoilsport.  I relish and value these discussions.  People who feel like they are invested in a community are naturally interested in significant commercial developments.

New architect’s office on lower Magazine, expansion of McGehee school into new building both get approval

A proposed architect’s office and condo project on Magazine Street and the use of a St. Charles Avenue mansion as a classroom building for the Louise S. McGehee school both took a step forward with approval from the City Planning Commission this week. The Magazine Street project will build an office and residential loft for Chenevert Architects at 1476 Magazine and four condominium-style apartments behind it along Race Street on a vacant parking lot that was once a gas station decades ago. The plan drew some opposition from nearby neighbors, but carried with it the enthusiastic approval of the surrounding Coliseum Square Association. “We feel the archictecture office in this proposal is not going to generate a lot of traffic.