Contract No. 1462 ~ Magazine St. Closure [Episode Two]: City Council Goes to Bat
As it goes with stories, they develop, so I am shuffling the installments. Today, the Melpomene Culvert problem was on the agenda at the City Council Meeting. Appearing in front of City Council were; Tony Faciane, City Attorney’s Office. Elliot Perkins, of the HDLC commenting on the historic nature of the damaged buildings. Johnny Odom from Safety & Permits as well as Wesely Taylor from the Health Dept, Donna Addkisons and a man I did not recognize. The Council demanded that immediate action begin regarding the two properties which are in danger of collapse, the first step in making the street passable. At a hearing that happened separately, the owners of the properties have been given just a couple days to get an engineer to tell them what would have to be done to stabilize them if they are to be saved. In the event that the owners do not do this, it seems demolition procedures will be put into motion. A cool thing that happened was that my photos were used in the Council’s slide presentation today. Oliver Thomas had his Saints jersey on today, he has his own initials on the back.
http://neworleans.metblogs.com/archives/2007/01/contract_no_146.phtmlStacy Head asked most of the questions of the panel but Shelley Midura got in the mix to give another smackdown to the city departments involved and demanded that they do their jobs. She pointed out that one aspect of this being hiring competent contractors and monitoring of their work so that this doesn’t happen again.
The highlight of the meeting was when the residents got to take their turns at the podium to lodge their complaints for the public record. Mr. Harkins, the Florist, was there, with flowers in hand, talking about how the closure has diminished the sales at his shop. He laid into Claudia Speicher, the owner of 1347 Magazine St for her neglect. Ms. Speicher’s attorney was there too.
Ms. Jane Murdock, one of the owners of the Bridge Lounge, stole the show by saying, “I have spoken to our pot-head Mayor two times about the Magazine St. closure.” Drawing laughter from everyone in the chambers. Ms. Murdock’s mother was there with her, she was shaking , she was so mad. AD Marshall and his wife came too. This is worth tuning in to geektv, Channel 6, to see. Ms. Murdock demanded how it is that two crazy families could highjack a major city street.
After the meeting I went out to the site again. Sure enough, the contractor had a team of guys out there cleaning up the sign, pipes and miscellaneous crap they had just walked away from months ago. We saw Ms. Speicher’s attorney as well as the the woman who owns the Green Building and her attorney. We saw other people from the meeting wandering around there too and spoke to AD Marshall for a while . . . while being circled by creeps.
The strangest thing I see when I am there are a few brave tourists, on foot, who are exploring Magazine St, maps in hand. Today, we saw a great little whimsical group of bicyclists pass through, adding to the twilight zone feel.
Link to Episode One: In Which We Enter the Heart of Darkness
Geaux Saints !
Related posts:
- Contract No. 1462 The Magazine St. Closure Episode Three: Neighbors Rally
- Contract No. 1462 ~ Magazine St. Closure [Episode One]: In Which We Enter the Heart of Darkness
- Contract No. 1462 : Magazine Street Reopens !
- Stacy Head, City Council District B: A leader for the heart of the city.
- Shane Landry Candidate for City Council District B
This is really amazing. I lived in this area for a year and always found it to be the strangest part of the City, hands down. Your description of detouring into derelect-ville–passed the Abstract Bookshop–takes me back to those endless and mind-numbingly frustrating detouring days. For the love of God, let this progress be for real. Let the City Council restore this through-way and give back an important artery to the City of New Orleans.
Yep. It is my hood (1 block from the damn detour) and we are so ready to bring back the traffic. Good for business, good for hood, good for city.
and this for the hell of it . . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPkz6-J1Qe4&eurl=
And let’s not forget the smell of Milton Auto Body.
Maybe that explains the madness. Huffing in the Hood.
Great post, Laureen. I think C Ray should be forced to drink bong juice if he doesn’t do something about that part of Magazine Street. Not that I know anything about bong juice…
wow! it’s been so long since I have lived in New Orleans area I hadn’t realized that Magazine Street had been closed to traffic. Thank you Laureen for both these eye opening articles. I can’t explain how upset and sick when viewing these pix of what has happened to my 2nd home.
I wish you all the best in your quest to save the city from all this demo-ing & blight. (and thanks also to Karen to point out the articles to me).
Pamela =)
Thank you for your comment. And Adastros as well. i am glad to hear folks for whom this is their second home are reading. When I was in exile in D.C. in grad school, I needed this ’street’ level of information and I keep this audience in mind when I write. Especially now, that so many can’t return.
A few years ago, there was only one blogger I could count on for ‘on the ground’ perspective at that time and it inspired me to work hard to fulfill this need for others when this opportunity at MB arose. Your comments keep me going in that regard. I am happy that there are many blogs to choose from in New Orleans now, and happy that you are reading. Come see us soon.