Boundaries of the liquor-license moratorium proposed for the Riverbend area run roughly along Birch Street, Broadway Avenue, along Audubon Park and the Mississippi River.
Two Uptown restaurants seeking liquor licenses – and a modified ban on new alcohol permits in the Carrollton area – will come before the New Orleans City Council at its 3 p.m. meeting today, as will the proposed Gabrielle restaurant.
Cowbell on Oak Street and Ignatius on Magazine Street both have the recommendation of the City Planning Commission for permission to sell alcohol, while the Gabrielle was denied its recommendation to convert the Uptowner banquet hall on Henry Clay Avenue into a full-time restaurant.
Meanwhile, the city council is also considering modifying its general ban on new liquor licenses in the neighborhoods around Riverbend area.
The ban is not absolute – Cowbell falls within the existing moratorium’s boundaries – but it requires businesses to go through the city council for a moratorium waiver even when their zoning would ordinarily allow it. The law prohibits these bans from being renewed, however, so their boundaries are changed whenever they near expiration.
The City Council meets at 3 p.m. today in the Council Chambers, 1300 Perdido St. The meeting will also be broadcast over public-access TV and streamed live from the council website.
Other Uptown-related events on today’s calendar:
– The NOPD Sixth District, which covers the Irish Channel, Garden District and Central City, will have its weekly COMSTAT meeting at 2 p.m. today at the Sixth District station, 1930 Martin Luther King Blvd.
– “In the Blink of an Eye,” an exhibit by photographer Harold Baquet, will open following a lecture at 5 p.m. in room 114 of Loyola’s Miller Hall. The exhibit begins at 6 p.m. in the Collins C. Diboll Art Gallery on the fourth floor of Monroe Library.
– RECreate, a Young Leadership Council project providing recreational opportunities for Central City youth, will hold a volunteer open house at 6 p.m. at the council offices, 1840 Euterpe St.
– Trinity Episcopal Church will have its weekly Choral Evensong at 6:30 p.m. today featuring music director Albinas Prizgintas.
