Carrollton-Riverbend Neighborhood Association (CRNA)

CRNA Board Meeting – Minutes
September 11, 2008

Attending–Board:   Pax Bobrow, Rodney Dionisio, Todd Leavitt, Julianna Padgett, Gary Smith, Amanda Smithson, Jerry Speir

Absent Board Members:  Marilyn Barbera, Kevin Brown, Gordon Cagnolatti, Betty DiMarco, Rudolf Garrison, Tilman Hardy, Marshall Hevron, Judith Miranti, Llewelyn Soniat, Jim Stratton, Betsy Weymann

Residents/Guests: Brenda Floyd, Cindy Morse, Charlene Walvoord
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Fall General Meeting/Party – Given all recent dislocations and complications, we decided to re-schedule our fall general meeting/party gathering for Sunday afternoon, October 26, from 4-7.  (It’s the day the Saints play the Chargers in London, at noon, local time.  J  )  Danny Kieffer has kindly agreed to host again.  Amanda and Cindy are working on the details.  We’ll plan to ask folks to bring food to share, as before.  Suggested invitees included Councilwoman Midura, an NOPD representative, and principals of all the schools in the neighborhood.  More info to follow as we get closer.  And we’re open to suggestions.

Carrollton Shopping Center Redevelopment—Rodney reported that plans for the re-building of the old Carrollton Shopping Center (Carrollton at I-10) are disappointing.  Despite all the neighborhood suggestions that went into the Unified New Orleans Plan, plans for the Shopping Center continue to look like the former Center—a sea of parking lots with “big box” stores at the back and a restaurant up front.  We will be working with other neighborhood associations in the area to try to encourage modifications.  One driving force is the involvement of “GO Zone” bond funding in the project; there is a deadline by which those funds have to be spent.  We expect that the project will be before the City Planning Commission before too long.

Schools
–Johnson Elementary  — Cindy reported that a major “work day” is scheduled for Johnson for next Friday, September 19, from 10-3.  It was scheduled on a weekday to allow the students to be involved.  We need volunteers.  There are plans to build beds for vegetable gardens, a compost pile, and a butterfly garden.  We expect to also be building benches, assembling donated furniture, assembly a basketball goal, and similar projects.  Part of the work will help to make the school available after hours to the community, thanks to a grant from Target.

–Priestley School for Architecture and Construction—The public hearing scheduled for September 3 was cancelled because of Gustav; we’re not sure yet if it will be re-scheduled or if the September 20 deadline will be extended.  The public hearing on September 18 at 5:30, at McDonough #35, 1331 Kerlerec, is still scheduled, and we need as many people to attend as possible.  Our documents in support of Priestley (and of having the school at the Leonidas/Green site) are being distributed to decision-makers.  Rodney reported that he had heard that the decision-makers are more impressed by larger schools and wondered about the possibilities of Priestley partnering with another small charter school to occupy a single facility.

Treasurer’s Report – Cindy reported a bank balance of $1835.69.

Citizen Participation Project—Julianna reported that information is now available at http://www.nolacpp.org  Work on the Project has been divided among various Action Teams.  You can join an Action Team on the website.  The next meeting of the Action Teams will be Tuesday, September 23, 6 p.m., 3500 Canal, 2d floor.

Lessons Learned from Gustav—Julianna also reported that the evacuation site at Mater Dolorosa (for elderly and special needs persons needing assistance) had a shortage of volunteers.  We were not notified in advance of a need for volunteers.  We will try to connect with the organizers of the City’s assisted evacuation efforts to remedy that problem in the future.

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