A string of acts including REM, Pearl Jam and My Morning Jacket have petitioned for the candidates in the US Presidential election to debate in New Orleans about Louisiana coastal wetlands restoration and hurricane recovery.

Ok Go, Jackson Browne, Trent Reznor, Funky Meters, Allen Toussaint are also among the acts to sign the petition which is requesting that politicians focus on issues in the area from wetlands rebuilding and a sustainable hurricane recovery programme.

The Presidential forum is being organised by Google and YouTube, in which members of the public will be able to ask questions of the candidates by submitting YouTube videos. So far, neither Senator Barack Obama nor Senator John McCain have committed to the event. [emphasis totally mine]

via NME.com

Which is not only good news for New Orleans, but also for Pearl Jam, because they probably could use the publicity. Frankly, I’m surprised to see they’re still alive.

I was honored to be invited to help a team of local preservation minded people to review properties for the Louisiana Landmarks Society’s New Orlean’s Nine list last year in order to raise public awareness about historical properties in the city which are/were at risk of being lost forever. It was a rocky year for the Louisiana Landmarks Society and all of New Orleans Preservation organizations in the post-Katrina environment and the list never really got the public notice it deserved. The New Orlean’s Nine selection process is long and complicated. It’s a very formal process which, due to staffing, wasn’t able to be properly unveiled at the time. Interestingly,  the list does appear on their website today, though the 2008 list does not. New Orleans Nine 2007.

As is often the case in the world of non-profit/volunteer work, you never know where things will lead. I was so happy to see this lead story tonight in the Times Picayune regarding one of the final Nine properties that made the 2007 list.
Clear for Takeoff. It relays the current work underway to restore the historic New Orleans Lakefront Airport.

I take the consideration of historic properties seriously and am compelled to see them ‘in person’ to really have a solid opinion of their historic value. Thus, I have this great set of Photos of Shushan Airport from my visit to Shushan last year with Karen Gadbois as part of my research for the New Orleans Nine list committee.

It was rather spooky going in there last year and I am so glad Karen was game to accompany me, we marvelled at the murals and art-deco metalwork which is finally getting the recoginition it deserves. 

Many people worked hard to review the 2007 list of 40 properties to narrow them down to only nine. I  learned a lot in the process and even though it was not officially able to be published at the time, I am so glad to see some good news on this one and so glad I went to see it for myself, despite the risk of getting busted for trespassing.

In case you might be interested and because I did it, here is my own rather pedestrian write-up of the property as well:

The Shushan terminal building was designed by the architectural firm of Weiss, Dreyfous and Seiferth, it compliments their other significant work, the Louisiana State Capitol.  Their design was used as a model for other art deco airport terminals throughout the country between 1934 and 1940. The building is home to significant murals by WPA-era artist Xavier Gonzales.  The Shushan terminal was prominent in several major events in the U.S. and aviation history.  Amelia Earhart spent the night at the terminal’s hotel facility prior to her final global flight.  When it was completed, Shushan Field was the largest airport in the United States, strategically located on a man-made peninsula in the waters of Lake Pontchartrain.  New York and Washington, D.C., were in the process of developing similar airfields but New Orleans accomplished this engineering feat first and over 10,000 spectators applauded the feat at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.  It served served nearly one million visitors during the “Golden Age” of air travel.

In 1964, Shushan underwent a major renovation.  Gonzales’ “Wonders of Flight” murals were covered by paneling and the airport eventually was renamed the New Orleans Lakefront Airport.  During this renovation, three of the eight original murals were covered or obstructed from public view as the atrium, a signature element of the building, was modified to create office space.  One mural, “Rio de Janeiro” was removed and sent to the Louisiana State Museum where it remains today.

The Shushan Terminal was punished because of the political backlash of its corrupt namesake.  The airport was named after Abe Shushan, the Orleans Levee Board President who oversaw its construction.  After he was convicted on a variety of corruption related charges, the airport was renamed.  However, Abe had attempted to immortalize himself by adorning every possible surface with his name or initial, which renovators felt compelled to remove, sometimes disregarding the larger impact of this superficial problem.

Shushan’s unique artisanship and its Depression Era craftsmanship is an example of elegance and efficiency that modern construction cost can no longer accommodate.  Though the building suffered some damage from hurricane Katrina, the structure was used by National Guard troops immediately after the storm, it is very sound and worthy of restoration as one of our unique modern architectural gems.

An old friend of mine is here visiting from Chicago with the Hairdressers Unlocking Hope project, they are building a house in Slidell today.

Yesterday, I took Jeff and his friend around the city for a tour of the complete area to show them where we are in recovery. This was previously known as the “disaster tour” but honestly, it’s impossible to give that tour anymore. Things look very good throughout Lakeview but less good in Gentilly. It was hard to give them the picture of how far we have come. Driving from one end of Louisa down back into the Marigny one can still see the devastation clearly but so much of it takes more dramatic language to convey what you could once simply see that this task of the tour is much different.

We saw the housing projects being torn down and I had to explained how much demolition is happening throughout the city. We passed many, many empty lots where there used to be dense housing in many areas but it seemed so impossible to explain what a war zone so much of the city looked like before. The brown landscape, the smell, it all seems like another world today. So many houses are freshly painted and landscaped now, contrasted with an empty, open house every couple of houses. I have become accustomed to this but they seemed shocked by the amount of empty, gutted homes throughout the city.  

Jeff noted the many FEMA trailers and sympathized with people who have been living in them for more then two years now. I know that areas in the lower wards are still struggling but I was quite amazed at how much progress seems to be happening and how much giving this tour had changed and how hard it was to narrate. I had to look up this old photo of myself doing the Population Survey back in 2005 when I returned to remind myself.

While this tour was optimistic, when asked if we’d flood again, unfortunately, I had to say we still feel there is a big risk for flooding, we could still see the loss of property again in some areas if faced with the threat of a low category storm today. We just don’t know until the Army Corps is tested again. This is somewhat hard to tell someone who is investing their time and energy in helping people rebuild. I spoke at length about how volunteers and faith based organizations have helped New Orleans. As Craig, said, we could never repay them.

Though the calendar won’t admit it yet, it’s summer in New Orleans and that means a series of things. Hot and humid, of course, touching off snarky arguments that escalate more quickly. It also means the sidewalk traffic on Magazine and elsewhere in the city drops off the table like a 16-pound bowling ball. Many of the city’s restaurants are offering special deals to those who are to venture out, while others will simply close up completely for a month or so. We’ve opted to close for two days in the middle of the week — giving us time to actually leave the city last week and visit our sailboat over in Florida for the first time in nearly a year. It was the first time in seven months we’d spent a night away from the house. We returned two days later — sunburned, sated by simple goodies we can’t buy here (Yuengling beer! Whataburger!) and, though we loved the break, thrilled to be back.

I gotta tell ya — it’s w-e-i-r-d out there, y’all. Smooth streets, you can call City Hall and a real, competent person answers, sidewalks are bizarrely clean. Stuff like that.

Anyway, I brought back something new from this particular trip. I returned with much less patience about How Things Are. Much less tolerance for That’s Just How It Is. The 50 or so hours we spent outside of New Orleans (and returning to the headlines of the latest Jefferson family indictments) provided the final impetus to push me out of my self-imposed New Orleans Acceptance Bubble and into being a more proactive individual. Not that I’m going to go all Falling Down or anything. But I’m now a lot less willing to simply accept the trash on the street, the crackhead stumbling down said street, the utter loons we continually put into elected office, the decrepit, rat-filled, derelict houses in my neighborhood, the incompetence of “public servants” and the overall throw-up-our-hands posture that’s a way of life for too many in New Orleans.

….so I’ll be bitching a bit more about stuff and being more Out There now that I’ve got a couple of days off each week.

…just so y’know.

Yeah.

…and thanks for the bump, Rayna.

Denied  Approved

Sitting up on the dais in Council Chambers is a very surreal experience since Karen and I sat in the audience for so many months together. I sit in Stacy Head’s chair as I am the appointee for Dist. B., channeling her strength of public speaking. I am rather meek by comparison.

I promised Stacy and Carla, her legislative aide, that I’d do my best not to accidentally use the ‘F’ word. I did my homework to help get the committee rolling with Robert’s Rules of Order as best I could. I believe in the need to publicly and transparently address the issues that have plagued the committee in the past, since I know them so well already. Matt McBride, Karen and Michelle Kimball (PRC) have all been helpful in bringing things to our attention, since there are so many things that can slip through the cracks and either fail to end up before the NCDC for review or items that come to us that are under special moratoriums, like the LSU/VA area in Mid City.

I was terrified at the first meeting and got there an hour early. I got busy helping Nelson, the Chair, making sure that we got enough agendas printed for the public on the table, shaking Bruce Eggler’s hand and meeting my fellow committee members. Eric, the contractor rep from Beck, who is in charge of managing the Federally funded demos, now attends our meetings. This alone has been a huge improvement to the process. Eric answers all my questions via email, even late on Friday and sometimes on Saturday. He’s very responsive.

Also, having community level representatives from each council district has created much more of a team atmosphere in general, it’s not so much the public v. ‘the City’ anymore. We have a lot more help and we respect our individual votes. The street-level of expertise contributing to the meeting is refreshing.

Hosting the meetings in the Chambers has also been a huge improvement because there is room for all the homeowners as well as the audience and everyone has a chance to get on the record. Although, we do have to be ready to go fast toward the end of the meeting, when Hillary Carrere, the Housing & Neighborhood Development rep starts his ’speed round’. He starts putting out motions before Nelson even announces the next property on the agenda. This is the sort of process issues we hope to correct. Thanks to my previous work with Karen Gadbois, this is old hat for me. I am very prepared for the meetings, going through some 70+ packets and checking Karen’s photos on Squandered Heritage and then heading out into the field myself for particular properties I am very unsure about.

The main factors we consider under the new ordinance are:
1) Current Condition fo the structure.
2) Architectural Signifigance of the structure.
3) Historical Signifigance of the subject structure.
4) Urban Design Signifigance as it relates to the pedestrian perception and movement and the height, area and bulk of the structure and how it relates to the street scene traffic.
5) Neighborhood context of the structure.
6) Overall effect on the blockface.
7) Proposed time/length the subject site is anticipated to remain undeveloped.
8) Proposed plan for redevelopment.
9) Stated position of adjacent neighbors, neighborhood associations or other interested individuals or organizations, either in writing(email) or during public comment at the hearing.(If you send me an email, I promise to read it into the record for you.)

This criteria is more holistic than the previous ordinance for the HCDRC. It’s still hard because I can’t help but wonder that if some people were offered the equivalent cash money being offered for ‘free’ demolition, they could use it to fix their house. But this is not the case. We’re all assigned this ‘do or die’ decision and once the houses are gone, an empty lot is all that is left.

Part of our purpose is also to ‘discourage underutilization of property in an urban environment’. We also have to be sensitive to the need to remove dangerous structures before hurricane season is upon us again. It’s not an easy task at all. Evaluating the possible eternal loss of the legacy of our unique architectural heritage along with the aspect of rewarding slumlords for years of neglect, and also the need to remove properties that are thwarting the ability for a neighborhood to thrive.

Another issue is that some properties are being quickly reclassified as Imminent Danger of Collapse (IDC). This maneuver exempts them from review of our committee and we are looking to be sure it’s not being abused. The problem with this is that the definition is vague in the ordinance under Article VI, Division V, Sec. 26-166: Minimum Housing Standards Code, there is no technical requirement here at all which needs to be fixed. While I am not one to distrust our Civil Service staff, this is so vague it’s useless. Basically, Johnny Odom decides. The only comfort I have to offer is that he’s better than Mike Centenio:
Sec. 26-166. Imminent danger of collapse.

The code official and the department of safety and permits shall determine as a matter of fact whether or not a public nuisance is in imminent danger of collapse and constitutes a menace to public safety. If the determination is made that a public nuisance is in imminent danger of collapse and constitutes a menace, then the code official is authorized to cause the demolition of the nuisance without previous notice to the owner, executor, administrator, agent, lessee, or any person who may have a vested or contingent interest in the public nuisance.

I know this is already far too long but one last thing I should tell you is that those chairs in Chambers are very large. After a couple hours your back hurts, because of this I sometimes sink back in the chair for a few minutes. I have taken to sitting on the large packet of applications given to us at the beginning of the meeting for the next meeting so I can sit high enough in the chair to get my face up to my mike for a clear smackdown when I have a point to make. It helps me feel a little less tiny while defending my well researched and sometimes big decisions.

If it weren’t for my work with Karen G. and Squandered Heritage, I don’t think I’d feel so good about taking on this duty. I take our collective knowledge up there with me when I hear the double-speak coming from the podium. I know I have a full arsenal of knowledge to do the best job possible for New Orleans. It’s a great honor, but it is still depressing work.

Someone gave me this quote of encouragement upon my appointment which is also useful.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in the worthy cause . . .”

Teddy Roosevelt. The Man in the Arena, Paris France, 1910.

Today a student at the Law Library came up to me to report that there was a tampon in the toilet of one of the women’s bathrooms that ‘didn’t go down’. Evidently, this problem was just so frightening that she wanted me to ‘call someone’. This was too much problem for budding attorney. I marched into the stall, stomped my foot on the lever, and the tampon was gone.

I felt particularly non-plussed by this after spending my morning listening to the acting chair of the new NCDC committee, Nelson Savoie, tell me how he’d like to hold the election for Chair in executive session just prior to the actual meeting on May 5th.

“Maybe we could all meet like, a half hour before the scheduled public meeting.”, he said. Mind you, the complete membership of this committee has yet to be ratified through the city council. I was just appointed as the representative for Dist. B and we are still waiting for some appointees to go through the process. This is exactly why we had to reform the committee. I broke out into immediate hives at this blatant attempt to skirt public/democratic processes. You’re supposed to, at the very least, start by placing a motion to have an election before the membership. Then you must nominate people.  We still have to write the functioning rules for our committee and those must go through the City Council as well.  Jesus Murphy. 

Then, I started running his New Business agenda items for the next meeting through Velocityhall.com, an online permit tracking system. It seems some of these items on the agenda have already been issued permits. I emailed him about this possible oversight in due process and am waiting to hear back from him. If you’ve been nominated to the NCDC for your district, please be sure to get your paperwork done! Ima need your help!

Getting this committee up and running is going to be a brute force kinda thing. If only I could just as easily move the current acting chair of the NCDC committee along the same route as the tampon.

(The above notepad was given to me by a friend this week, here’s the designer if you’re interested: Mary Phillips Designs)

*A.R. Ammons excerpt from the poem: Garbage

Oh, Louisiana legislature….

You may look more or less the same in your two-button blazers and your unattractive chambers, but you’ve changed.

You’ve changed, man.

You always said you were gonna buck the trend. Sure, you caved in on some stuff — important stuff like integration and public smoking. That kinda thing. That was totally okay. But you’ve stuck to your guns on other matters, proud of our state’s traditions and eager to force them on your children and their children’s children.

But now? Now y’all have legislated yourselves right outta kickbacks, fer chrissakes! You’ve taken away cockfighting, and you’ve tried your damnedest to pull up our sagging pants. You are essentially dismantling the crazy quilt of Louisiana’s cultural history and turning it into a double wedding ring of tasteful ecru damask and remnants of rose-colored satin. Where is your fabled sense of whimsy? Where, dammit?!

Then last week came the cruelest blow:

Louisiana legislators have approved a resolution calling for “privacy dividers” to be installed at urinals men’s public bathrooms.

The resolution does not have the force of law. It will now be up to state health officials to amend Louisiana’s plumbing code to require the privacy partitions.

The resolution was sponsored by Democratic state Rep. Mickey Guillory of Eunice. The reason, according to the resolution, is that “sexual offenders, sexually violent predators, and child predators can easily violate the privacy of others using urinals….”

–more at WAFB

[ YES, THERE IS VIDEO! ]

Speaking on behalf of gay men and their bi-curious half-brethren everywhere: hasn’t Louisiana suffered enough? Must you add insult to injury?

I don’t even know who you are anymore.

I just received an email from Stacy Head’s office announcing that an ordinance outlining a complete restructuring of the Historic Conservation District Review Committee (HCDRC) was approved by City Council today. Notably, it was authored by all seven members of the City Council.

While working with Karen over at Squandered Heritage, I saw the horrors of this committee unfold over and over again. As she told me, “You have to see it to believe it.” It made me sick to see the complete disregard for the laws and principles governing procedures at the HCDRC. It made me focus on changing this committee.

A few examples of the bi-weekly massacres of due process:

Read more

Noladishu sent me a photo of the corner where the shooting happened. He says, “The crime camera is clearly visible about 8 feet above the street sign. It is active (or at least it moves around inside the bubble).”

As I drove back from a quick but delectable lunch today Janita’s, Craig’s place, I ran across a shooting in the Irish Channel at Washington and Constance Streets around 2:45 pm. The little yellow cones marking the presence of shell casings at the corner alerted me to the fact that there was a crime scene investigation going on. The whole blocked was shut down by NOPD.
Read more

   
Click photos to see more of the photo set

Today I did something I have been meaning to do for a long time. I went to check out the homeless camp under the Claiborne Ave. overpass. First, I took some copper I have had sitting around for months to the scrapyard. This is a scene all its own. The staff there was laughing because I wanted my photo taken and readily admitted that I had never scrapped before and was a bit nervous. They were really, really nice. They told me what to do and took my license and handed me $16 for the armful of copper I put on the scale. Then, I took that money and an extra comforter I had to homeless people under the bridge.

Read more