Carrollton-Riverbend Neighborhood Association (CRNA)

Attending–Board:   Marilyn Barbera, Kevin Brown, Betty DiMarco, Tilman Hardy, Todd Leavitt, Julianna Padgett, Jerry Speir, Jim Stratton,

Absent Board Members:  Pax Bobrow, Gordon Cagnolatti, Rudolf Garrison, Rodney Dionisio, Marshall Hevron, Judith Miranti, Gary Smith, Amanda Smithson, Llewelyn Soniat, Betsy Weymann,

Residents/Guests: Lyn Adams, Annette Bak, Cindy Morse, Anne Nicolay, Robbie Robertson, Seth Siegel
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“How Safe, How Soon?”—Seth Siegel explained that this project is working with three disparate communities (Carrollton/Hollygrove, Lower Ninth Ward, and the United Houma Nation in the Raceland area) to address the reality that major hurricane protection will not be in place for at least decades.  So, what can neighborhoods and individuals do in the interim to become more resilient?  The project will look at a broad array of issues: preparedness, evacuation/return, and the overall policy issues associated with decisions on levees and coastal restoration.  The project is expected to take a year to complete.  Mark Davis, Director of the Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy (who lives in the neighborhood) and Paul Harrison (of Environmental Defense in D.C.) are the principals on the project.  Jerry Speir and Paul Baricos (Hollygrove CDC) are advisors to the project for our part of town.  We expect further meetings in the neighborhood on these issues.

Treasurer’s Report – Cindy Morse reported a bank balance of $1935.69.

Crime—Todd Leavitt, Tilman Hardy and Betty DiMarco reported on the Crime Committee’s meeting of August 13.  Of primary concern at the moment are two recent incidents involving shots fired from automobiles.  On Saturday, August 2, shots were fired from a vehicle at individuals at a house in the 1300 block of Joliet.  The victims say they did not know the shooters.  On Wednesday, August 6, two cars speeding through the neighborhood in the Dante/Green area were shooting at each other.  Both incidents happened about dusk.  Particularly problematic was the delayed police response to the latter incident (and the disjointed follow-up).  Also, the police now say that they received no 911 report of the incident—though multiple neighbors report calling 911.  Todd Leavitt and Alice-Ann Krishnan, Crime Committee chair, are pulling together a report from immediate neighbors to be presented at the next NONPACC with NOPD (Tuesday, August 19, 7:00 p.m. at Touro Hospital, 2d floor).
This discussion also provoked comments about the importance of the upcoming District Attorney’s race—and questions about whether we should host a forum for DA candidates.  Betty DiMarco, Kevin Brown and Jerry Speir agreed to make inquiries about the feasibility of such a forum.
On a related matter, the group opposed the idea of allowing the CRNA e-mail list to be used to announce meet-and-greet parties for individual candidates.

Education Committee—Cindy Morse reported that Target has made a grant to Johnson School to enhance its library and to make it more available after-hours as a community resource.  There will be a “work day” on Friday, September 19, to help with the library and other projects related to the school’s theme for the year, “Johnson Goes Green and Grows Character.”  Details to come.  We will need volunteers for that event.

Annette Bak reported that the Priestley School for Architecture and Construction has been moved (yet again) to the 2900 block of Palmyra—where it is forced to share space with the “P.M. School,” an after hours school for students who are not able to attend at regular hours.  The two schools exceed the capacity of the building.  The Priestley board has had a problem getting straight answers from the School Board and other school officials as to both the future of the existing school (the students and teachers) and the old building on Leonidas.
Several board members expressed a need to bring pressure on the appropriate individuals and agencies to resolve this untenable situation.  One wondered if a “class action lawsuit” might be possible, against the school board and/or the city, for “ruining our neighborhood and adversely affecting property values” by their neglect of the school.
Mary Green is putting together a Priestley alumni group and our Education
Committee will work with them to try to help resolve these problems.  Jerry Speir will be in touch with Priestley board president Chris D’Amour to help define appropriate assistance that CRNA can offer.

Kevin Brown noted that there are AmeriCorps positions available for individuals interested in tutoring in local schools.  The jobs carry a modest stipend and are usually taken by college students or retired persons.  Anyone interested can contact Kevin at Kevin@tccno.org

Events—Cindy Morse reported that she and Amanda Smithson are working toward a general membership meeting/picnic – tentatively for September 13.

Zoning/Land Use—Jerry Speir reported that the Saltwater Grill is moving to the space formerly occupied by Chef’s Corner in the Riverbend and is interested in signing an Agreement with CRNA like the one signed with Chef’s Corner, limiting the transferability of the liquor license.  Kevin Brown moved, seconded by Betty DiMarco, to offer them the same agreement as that signed with Chef’s Corner.  Passed unanimously.

Questions were raised about blighted properties and how to address them.  Jerry noted that there will be a BGR breakfast on this topic on Wednesday, August 27, and individuals can attend by signing up at http://www.bgr.org

Board Vacancy—Jerry noted that Nicole Bouie had agreed, subsequent to the discussion at the July meeting, to accept our invitation to join the board.  Discussion followed on filling the remaining vacancy on the board.  The group agreed that we are in no rush to fill the vacancy, that we should make the vacancy known at the general meeting in September, and seek nominations (including self-nominations) from the general membership.  Tilman Hardy suggested that we might delay filling the position until we can have further discussions about what we need in a board, our goals for the future, etc—perhaps at a meeting that we could ask the Neighborhood Partnership Network to facilitate.

HUD complaint—Jerry informed the group that CRNA has been named, along with the city of New Orleans, CPC Director Yolanda Rodriguez, and all members of the Board of Zoning Adjustments in a discrimination complaint filed by Brad Robinson over his effort to build larger houses (with no parking) than allowed by the zoning ordinance in the 8600 block of Zimpel.  Jim Logan, attorney for the neighbors and CRNA, is dealing with the matter, and Jerry has written a response to HUD.  We believe the claim to be totally baseless.  (Robinson specifically claims that we have colluded with the city to deny Section 8 housing in the neighborhood.)

Citizen Participation Program (CPP)—Julianna Padgett reported that the CPP is moving forward and that there will be a meeting at 6:00 on Monday, August 18, to bring together all the committees that were formed after the recent Summit.  The meeting will be at 3500 Canal, 2d floor.

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CRNA Board Meeting – Minutes

July 10, 2008

Attending–Board:  Pax Bobrow, Rudolf Garrison, Tilman Hardy, Todd Leavitt, Julianna Padgett, Amanda Smithson, Jerry Speir,

Absent Board Members:  Marilyn Barbera, Kevin Brown, Gordon Cagnolatti, Betty DiMarco, Rodney Dionisio, Alice-Anne Krishnan, Marshall Hevron, Judith Miranti, Gary Smith, Llewelyn Soniat, Jim Stratton, Betsy Weymann, Evan Wolf

Residents/Guests: Annette Bak, Anne Nicolay, Charlene Walvoord

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Education Committee—Annette reported on the Committee’s recent meeting.  Several cooperative efforts are in the works with Johnson School:  plans to help with training a library assistant, plans for a mentoring program with Big Brother/Big Sister, some joint gardening work around the school, and working on a grant from Target to benefit the school library (Annette, Pax and Cindy Morse are working on the latter.)  Also, the social work intern from Tulane will be back at Johnson this fall.

            Priestley has found a physical home for the coming school year at the N. O. Center for Health Careers on Palmyra. 

Zoning—Jerry  reported on the recent Zoning and Land Use committee meeting.  He noted that the former Eckerd’s drug store in the Carrollton strip mall at Carrollton and Maple has reportedly been leased to Sherwin Williams for a paint store that should be operational within the next few months. 

            It was also reported that the City Charter amendments pertaining to giving the City’s future Master Plan “the force of law” was passed by the city council and will be on the November ballot—along with a provision stating that the City “shall” create a formal Citizen Participation Plan.  Provisions that would have taken “conditional uses” out of the City Council’s purview and that would have provided for a more transparent process for nominating members of the Planning Commission and BZA were dropped from the measure.

Crime—Pax reported on extensive recent activity of the Crime Committee and concerned neighbors, on behalf of Chair Alice-Anne Krishnan, who was unable to attend but who provided extensive Minutes of the committee’s July 9 meeting.

            Neighbors in the Hickory/Cohn area report some success in getting NOPD attention to drug dealing in the are.

            Neighbors in the Joliet/Freret/Cambronne area held a well-attended meeting recently with Major Glasser, the new 2d District NOPD commander, to discuss a high volume of recent break-ins and related problems.  The Major promised increased efforts to address the problem.  The neighbors have created a web presence for tracking progress on the issue.  It can be viewed at http://groups.google.com/group/joliet-freret-cambronne?hl=en

            Neighbors in the 2200 block of Cambronne complained of inappropriate police responses (and lack of response) to reports of problems in the neighborhood.  The committee is proposing a “porch party” in that block and an effort to improve the relationship with NOPD.

            Positive report on NOPD.  After many complaints about loitering (and other inappropriate activity) at the corner of Dante and Willow, on Monday evening, July 7, around 8 p.m, an NOPD patrol car used its speaker system to announce:  “Loitering on this corner will get you a free ride to lock up.  Thank you and have a nice day.”  The loitering problem there has improved in recent days. 

            The committee discussed a need to develop a better system within the neighborhood association to get the word out about important matters before the state legislature. 

            The committee is also trying to start a “Citizen Crime Incident Log” as an online tool for community use. 

            Gordon Cagnolatti noted that the annual Night Out Against Crime event is scheduled for Tuesday, July 15 at 7 pm.  He’s in need of volunteers.  gcagnolatti@gmail.com

            The “Orleans Parish Info Sharing Integrated System” (OPISIS) is a City pilot project to make all crime data electronic and centralized.  We hope to see it functioning soon.

The Crime reports, generated more discussion along the following themes:

1. It is apparent that a significant part of the crime in the neighborhood is committed by young people.
2. We need to be more involved in encouraging recreational activities for young people, in matters like the renovation of Harrell Park/Stadium/Playground (at Claiborne and Leonidas.)  Tilman reported a brief conversation with Councilman Fielkow on the issue of the neighborhood being in the design phase of Harrell’s renovation.  [Julianna did a bit of checking after the meeting and reported:  “The City is very close to signing an A&E contract, after which a schedule will be established for each phase of the work including public meetings for input into the design.  The A&E contractors will immediately do a month of scoping (damage evaluation and cost estimates).  It’s a complicated project which will mostly be coordinated by MWH. Land owned by S&W Board.  So things are beginning to move on it. And I’ll be glad to pass on the schedule as soon as it comes out.”]
3. We also need to re-commit to pushing the renovation of the Priestley School building on Leonidas—which would be a recreational center, as well as an educational center, and possibly a community center.  Annette agreed to help generate re-newed contact with the Priestley board as to how we might be most helpful.  Julianna observed that the School Board is due to release a Facility Master Plan soon that could have a major impact on the property’s future.  Tilman observed that, the school (meaning the students and teachers) may find a permanent home elsewhere if the building’s future is not clarified soon—and that could mean the loss of the building.
4. A re-commitment to building a Block Captain system could also be useful –both in dealing with crime issues and in many other ways.

Events—Amanda reported plans for a general meeting/picnic in late August or early September.  August 30 and September 13 were mentioned as possible dates.  She is working on a site and happy to have input from other members.  She’s also proposing an early-morning trash pick-up the day after that meeting.  You can contact her at amandafsmithson@gmail.com

Trees–  Todd noted his continuing willingness to coordinate tree plantings along the public rights-of-way (between sidewalks and streets) in the neighborhood.  Anyone with a need for a tree or interested in helping out should contact him at tsleavitt@gmail.com

Bar issue—Jerry reported a request from MARI (Maple Area Residents, Inc.) for support of their opposition to the expansion of bars on Maple Street.  (The former Vera Cruz restaurant has a new owner who is expanding the bar and talking about competing with Bruno’s—if he “has to stay open til 6 o’clock in the morning.”)  Amanda moved, seconded by Pax, that CRNA support MARI in its opposition to the expansion of bars on Maple St.  Passed unanimously.

NPN—Jerry reported an invitation to join the Neighborhood Partnership Network (NPN) and suggested that forum should be useful for supporting the developing Citizen Participation Process and, generally, for improving communication and cooperation among neighborhood associations across the city.  Cost of membership is $100.  Amanda moved, seconded by Juliana, that CRNA should join NPN.  Passed unanimously.

Newsletter—Pax is beginning work on another issue of the newsletter.  She would be happy to have input and/or assistance from anyone interested.  Contact her at paxbobrow@yahoo.com

Board openings—Jerry reported on two recent resignations from the board.  Evan Wolf has moved.  Alice-Anne Krishnan will continue to coordinate the Crime Committee but has asked to step down as a board member, because of a new job and other responsibilities. 

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