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Community Forum: Neighborhood Safety

Posted on March 6, 2009 by Jim S

Community Forum: Neighborhood Safety
Thursday, March 19, 2009
6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
St. Matthew United Church of Christ
1333 S. Carrollton Avenue

Speakers
Leon Cannizarro, Orleans Parish District Attorney
Major Bruce Little, Second NOPD District Commander

Program
6:00-6:30 p.m. Registration and Refreshments
6:30-8:00 p.m. Program

Sponsored by Central Carrollton Association and the Carrollton Area Network

For more info: www.centralcarrolltonassociation.org

Neighborhood Safety meeting flyer download.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Tonight: Section 8 housing info meeting

Posted on March 4, 2009 by Jim S

Special Carrollton Neighborhood Action Meeting

Wed. Mar. 4, 2009, 6:30pm @ Stuart Hall School on Carrollton Avenue

Topic: Discussion w/HANO regarding Section 8 rules and regulation, particularly those that concern strategies for dealing with problem tenants.

I.  What is Section 8?

Who is eligible?

Who governs the program?

What are the rules and regulations for tenants and landlords?

Are private property owners participating in the program responsible for policing their own properties?  

What steps do we take when tenants are not following the rules and landlords are not enforcing the rules/regulations?

 

II.  Please explain the role of NOPD, HANO and the landlord in regards to each of the following levels of disturbance:

Noise, trash, traffic

Nonviolent illegal activity such as drug use or sale

Violent crime

 

III.  There is signage that identify HANO properties (housing projects and scatter sites)  

How do neighbors identify a Section 8 property?

How does HANO identify these properties in a community?

 

IV.  HANO Police Department

Should HANO police be involved in criminal activity at Section 8 properties?

How does HANO police track illegal activity at Section 8 properties?

What communication does NOPD and HANO police have regarding complaint calls and criminal incident reports at Section 8 properties? 

 

For those who cannot make this meeting, more info can be found at the below links.

Re terminations of HUD vouchers:  http://www.hud.gov/offices/adm/hudclips/guidebooks/7420.10G/7420g15GUID.pdf

General HUD handbook for vouchers:  http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/programs/hcv/forms/guidebook.cfm

Filed under: announcements | Leave a comment »

Levee Park update

Posted on March 3, 2009 by Jim S

As you probably know, a two-mile stretch of the levee along Leake Avenue, between the Jefferson line and Audubon Park was rezoned to green space in 2007.

Dr. Sheldon Hersh of the Uptown Triangle Association tells us that the next step is about to begin, with the Regional Planning Commission (RPC) about to begin a feasibility study called the Riverbend Pedestrian Access/Transit Feasibility Project.

There is still time for citizen input.   At this time no planning meeting dates have been announced. Visit the RPC website here.   

To learn about the Levee Park, click here.   Links on that page show a vision and a map of the LeveePark

Here is a list of topics for the RPC planning meetings.  Send email to Sheldon Hersh at Smhersh@aol.com if you have additional suggestions. 

Park mission: Using our waterfront to

  • improve recreational opportunities for our area
  • connect Carrollton to the French Quarter – increasing neighborhood business, tourism, and property values.
  • increase tourism for New Orleans by creating a unique tourism attraction – a riverboat-streetcar loop – without cars, pollution, or infrastructure changes.

 

The Park – physical realties

  • Access
  • Signage
  • Benches
  • Lighting
  • Security
  • Landscaping
  • Parking
  • Educational kiosks, monuments
  • Maintenance

 

Leake Avenue

  • Crossing Leake Avenue and railroad tracks
  • Traffic controls
  • Moving Leake Avenue
  • Magazine Street and Jefferson Parish entrance markers

 

Incorporating the Park into the neighborhood

  • Coordinate with CARI plan
  • Neighborhood zoning, height, amenities
  • Neighborhood walking tours

 

Oak Street

  • Promoting Oak Street and the Oak Street-Main Street Project
  • Walking tour down Oak Street

 

Regional river use

  • Connecting Carrollton to the French Quarter
  • Riverboat landing at the Riverbend, near St. Charles and Carrollton
  • Riverboat landing at Oak Street
  • Regional water taxis

 

Institutional relationships

  • Maritime traffic and uses
  • Corps of Engineers, levee raising project
  • New Orleans Public Belt Railroad

 

Park use

  • School use, bands, athletics
  • Recreation, walking, jogging, cycling, horseback riding, etc.
  • Status of the batture (riverside of the levee)
  • Neighborhood festivals

 

Dog Park

 

Transportation issues

  • Incorporating into regional transportation grid
  • Evacuation route
  • Bicycle path and regional bicycle tourism
  • Light rail

Filed under: announcements, quality of life | 1 Comment »

Tulane Campus-Community Forum, Wed. 03/06

Posted on March 3, 2009 by Jim S

Tulane Campus-Community Forum
Wednesday, March 11, 2009, 4:30 p.m.
Rogers Chapel, 1229 Broadway

Topic of discussion: Working together to reduce alcohol-related incidents and problems in the university community.

FORUM PANELISTS

Murphy Painter
Commissioner, Alcohol Control Board

Hon. Shelley Midura
New Orleans City Council, District A

Maj. Bruce Little
Commander, NOPD – 2nd District

Kristy Miller
Director, LaHEC

David Melius
Owner, Bruno’s Tavern

Tulane student leaders

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CRNA Board Meeting – Minutes Feb. 12, 2009

Posted on March 2, 2009 by Jim S

Attending—Board: Marilyn Barbera, Pax Bobrow, Kevin Brown, Betty DiMarco, Tilman Hardy, Marshall Hevron, Julianna Padgett, Jerry Speir, and Jim Stratton,

Absent Board Members: Gordon Cagnolatti, Rodney Dionisio, Rudolf Garrison, Todd Leavitt, Judith Miranti, Amanda Smithson, Gary Smith, Llewelyn Soniat, and Betsy Weymann

Residents/Guests: Annettte Bak, Camilla Franklin

Crime—Jennifer Jenkins reported a car-jacking in the 8500 block of Freret at 7 p.m. on Feb. 11. [A subsequent e-mail from NOPD reported an arrest in the matter, and the recovery of both the vehicle and the weapon used.] The CRNA Crime Committee will continue to hold “porch parties” as the primary get-togethers within our CRNA boundaries, but is also hosting meetings with representatives of the Crime Committees of other associations within the Carrollton Area Network for the purpose of coordinating our various efforts to combat crime. The focus of the moment is on improving the information that we get from NOPD.

Planning for a General Meeting and Election of Officers—Julianna Padgett, Betty DiMarco and Jerry Speir agreed to serve as a Nominating Committee.

Leonidas House—The “work day” on the previous Saturday drew 20+ people and accomplished quite a bit. A second work day is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 21. The State Historic Preservation Office has provided some very nice renderings of a possible renovation of the building. A Community Advisory Group is being formed. Leonidas House meetings are on the 2d Tuesday of each month at 5:30 at the Keller-Williams offices, 8601 Leake. Persons wishing to be involved should come to the meeting and/or contact Tilman Hardy (tilmanhardy@kw.com) or Annette Bak (annettebak@chevron.com) directly.

Schools—Annette Bak reported that a recent Literacy Fair at Johnson School was very successful. Kevin Brown noted that a clean-up at the school, by AmeriCorps volunteers, in conjunction with Martin Luther King Day was also very successful. Jerry Speir reported on a recent conversation with School Board President Woody Koppel re: the Priestley school building. It was agreed that further conversations should be initiated to bring Mr. Koppel and other school system personnel up to speed on the potential for renovating the existing building, rather than demolishing it. (Annette Bak and Tilman Hardy expressed an interest in such further discussions and suggested that Jean Fischer and Mary Green should be included. There was also discussion of the broader need in the area for a discussion about schools in the Greater Carrollton area and how future plans relate to each.

Citizen Participation Program—There will be a breakfast meeting on Saturday, Feb. 28 [place/time] to discuss the latest developments with the CPP.

Newsletter—Pax Bobrow is willing to put together another edition of the newsletter—IF others will do the initial writing. She will edit, produce and distribute the newsletter, but needs articles. Anyone with anything to contribute should contact Pax directly at paxbobrow@yahoo.com

Oak Street—The actual street work on Oak is scheduled to start on the Monday after Mardi Gras. The work will be done in two-block sections, starting at Carrollton. If all goes according to plan, the work should be completed by November 1.

Carrollton Audubon Renaissance, Inc. (CARI)—Jerry Speir reported that the four public meetings for public input into CARI’s neighborhood planning process have been well-attended and have generated lots of ideas for the planners to sort through as they develop a draft land-use plan for the area. That draft will then be open for further public review before being finalized.
The planning discussion led to reflections on past efforts to establish a local historic district in the area. Jerry Speir volunteered to attempt to sort out the hold-up in that process.
Tilman Hardy suggested that we need our own planning committee to deal with green space issues as they relate to zoning. Pax Bobrow, Jim Stratton, and Camilla Franklin volunteered to help with such an effort.

There was general discussion of the value of having a joint meeting of the boards of all the associations that operate within CRNA boundaries. The idea was generally supported, with the caveat that some work toward planning an agenda should precede such a meeting.

NEXT CRNA Board Meeting: Thursday, March 12 at the Keller-Willliams offices, 7 p.m.

Filed under: meetings, minutes, Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Dante/Jeannette murder

Posted on February 17, 2009 by Jim S

It apparently occurred at 11:00 AM.  A suspect was quickly arrested.

“New Orleans Police Officer Shereese Harper said investigators were able to apprehend the suspect quickly because of the ‘diligent work of the Homicide Division and outstanding citizen involvement.'” 

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-33/1234852266244720.xml&coll=1

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

NOLA SMS Crime Alert Network – Now Available for the Carrollton Area

Posted on February 17, 2009 by Jim S

NOLA SMS Crime Alert Network – Now Available for the Carrollton Area

http://www.nolacrimealerts.com/

The SMS (text message) based Crime Alert notification network allows community members to warn other community members of recent and/or in-progress crimes. Timely warnings can help community members steer clear of “hot spots”, be aware of suspicious characters in the area, help track stolen vehicles and items and track patterns of crime. While the Crime Alert Network does not address the roots of the current crime problems, it is the hope that this network will help keep people a little bit safer, provide the community with all too often unreported details of crimes, and become an independent log of crimes that occur in our city.

A copy of all SMS Crime Alerts will be forwarded to NOPD and a multitude of other public officials on a weekly basis and will also be archived on the NOLA SMS website, http://www.nolacrimealerts.com/

Filed under: crime, crime committee | Leave a comment »

Last of four CARI meetings will be February 10

Posted on February 6, 2009 by Jim S

Carrollton-Audubon Renaissance, Inc. (CARI) is a long-term planning organization dedicated to the betterment of our neighborhood.  A Renaissance Plan, once enacted, becomes a covenant between the city and the neighborhood, providing guidance for the future in a much more detailed way than would otherwise be possible. 

For the area from the universities and Audubon Park to the parish line and from Claiborne Ave. to the river, we have collected and mapped a great deal of data and are now prepared for a public discussion of that data and of our collective vision for our neighborhood. 

Three of four planned meetings have already been held at various venues in the neighborhood.

The next one is scheduled for Tuesday February 10th, 6:30 PM, at St. Andrew’s “Chalstrom House,” the building facing Carrollton at Zimpel, across Zimpel from the church.

With all four public meetings concluded, CARI’s consultant will create a draft document/report that will then discussed in a subsequent public meeting or two.

To learn more about CARI visit their website.

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CRNA January Board Meeting – Minutes

Posted on February 6, 2009 by Jim S

CRNA Board Meeting – Minutes

January 8, 2008 

Attending—Board:  Pax Bobrow,  Betty DiMarco, Julianna Padgett, Gary Smith,  and Jerry Speir

Absent Board Members:  Marilyn Barbera , Kevin Brown, Gordon Cagnolatti, Rodney Dionisio, Rudolf Garrison, Tilman Hardy, Marshall Hevron, Todd Leavitt, Judith Miranti, Amanda Smithson, Llewelyn Soniat, Jim Stratton, and Betsy Weymann

 Residents/Guests:  Annettte Bak, Cindy Morse, Robbie Roberson

Annette Bak reported on the recent meeting of the Education Committee.  Each One Save One is working to re-build its mentoring program in local schools (which was much bigger before Katrina).  Mentors are expected to commit one hour per week (preferably the same hour and day each week) to helping a single child with whom they are matched through the program.  Mentors must attend a training class.  The next training class will be Saturday, January 24, at Gentilly Baptist Church, 5143 Franklin Ave. Registration is 8:30-9:00 a.m.  And the class will run from 9 to 3; breakfast and lunch will be provided.  The training will include sessions on conflict resolution, rapport building, cultural awareness and diversity.  Call 504-599-5904 to register.  You can also e-mail the program at Eachsave@aol.com  The program director is Leslie Lange. Executive director is Lavonzell Nicholson.

There was also a brief report on developments with Leonidas House—a project to provide extra-curricular tutoring, training and recreation for at-risk youth in the neighborhood.  Renderings have been promised for a possible renovation of the building at Willow and Leonidas.  Some equipment (benches and desks) has been donated by St. Joan of Arc church.  A board is being formed and is meeting regularly.   Anyone interested in helping should contact Tilman Hardy at tilmanhardy@kw.com 

Harrell Park/Stadium is finally back in business (though still not quite complete—thanks to the efforts of lots of people in the neighborhood. 

Much of the meeting focused on ways to improve our organization and to better serve the neighborhood.  Topics of discussion included: 

–the potential value of a house-by-house, block-by-block “census” of our neighborhood.  Data that would be useful would include personal data, like household needs regarding disaster evacuation, educational assistance for children, and the like, as well as “environmental data” about blighted houses, vacant lots, street conditions, etc.  Jerry pointed to the work of the Central Carrollton Association, available athttp://www.centralcarrolltonassoc.org/documents/CCADeFraites20sep2007.pdf as a possible model for the physical/environmental part of such a census.  This CCA report maps potholes, water leaks, etc.  Julianna agreed to check on what information is presently available from the city on blighted housing and the like.   [After the meeting, Julianna called by attention to   http://www.noraworks.org/search.htm —if you pull down the “neighborhood” menu there and select “Leonidas,” which the city calls much of our neighborhood, you will get a ten-page list of problem properties.  It may not be absolutely up-to-date or comprehensive, but it’s a good start.  J] 

–a suggestion that the board members who were present talk to other board members about whatever problems they may be having attending board meetings, their visions for the organization, and the like.

–the possibility of having a joint board meeting of CRNA, Palmer Park, Pension Town, Oak Street and Riverbend Merchants to discuss common goals and coordination.  It was agreed that some preliminary work toward an agenda for such a meeting would be helpful. 

–a continuing concern about the status of the Priestley school building.  Jerry agreed to engage our newly elected school board member, Woody Koppel, on that issue.

–the value and potential of our newsletter.  Pax suggested that an inventory of services/resources available in our neighborhood could be both useful and enlightening.  Pax, our splendid newsletter editor, is seeking short articles from anyone with about issues important to our neighborhood.  Contact Pax atpaxbobrow@yahoo.com

NEXT MEETING:  Thursday, February 12 at the Keller-Willliams offices, 7 p.m.

Filed under: minutes | Leave a comment »

Cars Vandalized on 1300 Block of Dante, Sat 1/31/2009

Posted on February 6, 2009 by Jim S

A citizen of the 1300 block of Dante reported that residents on the block woke up on Sunday morning to find that at least seven cars parked on the street had their side mirrors smashed or in some cases, completely torn off. 

It appears that the vandalism took place on late Saturday night. Residents report that a Tulane student living near the corner of Plum/Dante saw the vandals and called it into 911. According to the student, there was no response and NOPD later said that they had no record of the call. The police did response to calls on Sunday morning, and a report was taken by Officers Vara and Richardson.

The Tulane student did not get a good view of the vandals, but reported that they were white youths, dressed preppy and had a baseball bat. Another Dante Street resident reported being woken around 3am and seeing four boys and two girls coming around the corner from a bar onto Dante, but he was not certain these were the vandals.

There are no leads on suspects and the victims of this crime are now learning that the replacement cost for the damage is ranging $300-$600 per car. Witnesses or anyone with further information are urged to contact our Quality of Life Officer, Officer Eddington at (504) 491-7796.

The angry residents of Dante Street are trying to figure out what to do next. Spillover of undesirables from the corner store and Willow Street bars has been a growing problem. “I think we might be able to immediately address the issue is if the bar owner would pay for a weekend community patrol or security service that would patrol the neighborhood say between 1am and 4am when they are closing up,” suggests one resident. “With Mardi Gras coming up, it is only going to get worse.”

Filed under: crime | 2 Comments »

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