City-Works Newsletter

Transforming New Orleans

March 2007

In This Issue

Non Profit Policy Meeting

Urban Main Streets

Speaker Series

Dr. Ed Blakely Policy Breakfast

On March 15, City-Works hosted its first breakfast meeting with Dr. Ed Blakely and representatives from more than 50 city-wide non-profit organizations dedicated to rebuilding New Orleans.

Speaking to an audience of more than eighty people, Dr. Blakely provided information about his plans for rebuilding and the role his office is playing in the rebuilding process.

He also fielded almost an hour's worth of questions from the audience.

While complete agreement on all issues was impossible, the consensus was that there remains a great deal of work to do, much of which we can work on together.

The breakfast meeting served as an important step in this collaboration by providing a forum for clear, honest dialogue between Dr. Blakely and non-profit leaders from across the community.

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Website of the Month

Main Street

City-Works is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to the transformative rebuilding of New Orleans. For more information about our organization, please visit us on the web:
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Greeting Everyone!

City-Works has several interesting events at the end of March to be aware of. Please spread the word about City-Works as we work to help New Orleans plan for a brighter tomorrow.

JOIN US

Please join City-Works for a chance to learn about the new Urban Main Streets in New Orleans. See how the Main Streets can be a catalyst for extended local development.

LOCATION: Superdome
TIME: 5:00 Friday, March 30th.
An after-hours wine bar will be offered.

Urban Main Streets

In March, City-Works brought together representatives from nine community groups in the first of a series of meetings focusing on the implementation of the Main Street model for redeveloping commercial districts in New Orleans. The goal of these meetings is to provide a regular forum for existing Main Street organizations and their area counterparts to share experiences and expertise, to offer support and resources for individual redevelopment projects, and to collaborate on future projects.

Included in the initial meeting were the four state-designated New Orleans Urban Main Street organizations: Oak Street, Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard, North Rampart Street, and St. Claude Avenue. Representatives from five other commercial districts also participated in the meeting and were encouraged to move forward on a Main Street model. These districts include: Old Algiers, Freret Street, Broad Street, Gentilly Square, and Lakeview's Harrison Avenue.

One value of the Main Street model of revitalization is that it extends beyond the immediate boundaries of the designated commercial corridor, serving as a catalyst for good development in adjacent neighborhoods as well.  Across the United States, Main Street revitalization efforts have resulted in increased investment in areas surrounding the redeveloped districts, creating momentum that stems neighborhood and commercial district decline. The same can be true in built environments surrounding Main Street districts in New Orleans.

To learn more about how to support ongoing local Main Street efforts, please attend a City-Works hosted forum on Main Street Development at the Home and Garden Show during the Festival of Neighborhoods. This information session will be held Friday, March 30^th at 5:00. A wine bar will be available.

For more information on the implementation and effectiveness of Main Street organizations nationwide, please see the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Main Street website here.

UNOP Discussion

On Tuesday, March 27, City-Works hosted a discussion panel that included members of the UNOP team and the City Planning Commission. Steven Bingler, Jane Brooks, and Rafe Rabolai of the UNOP team and Yolanda Rodriguez of the CPC participated in an informative discussion of the most recent planning process before a City-Works crowd. It was an opportunity to reflect on where we have come and to talk about what comes next.

Steven Bingler explained the difference between a typical planning process and the recovery planning process that the UNOP team had embarked on. He talked a bit about the challenges they faced in doing something that had not been done before and about what the overall planning community has learned in New Orleans. "Be careful not to let the really good be the victim of the perfect" - Steven Bingler

Yolanda Rodriguez discussed the time constraints the process had, creating 12-15 months of work in just 4 months. This was compounded by the layoffs at CPC that kept the organization in her words from "fulfilling its mission."

Rafe Rabolai focused on the challenges of creating a planning process that shunned the closed door approach and embraced grass roots efforts. He compared this to the BNOB effort as well as earlier times when the city would have been rebuilt without regard to citizen opinion.

Jane Brooks followed these comments by noting that one of the most impressive components of the planning process was the growth and maturity of the neighborhood organizations from the earliest efforts through the UNOP effort. "If there is any story to be told" said Jane Brooks, "it is the power of the neighborhoods and the power of citizens." Dr. Brooks also agreed that while the top down approach of the BNOB commission was wrong, she noted that there were some thoughtful people working on it.

The panel fielded questions from the audience, including acknowledging the Bureau of Government Research report and its impact. A representative from the BGR was in the audience to answer and explain further their position. The quality of overall questions from the audience indicated a high level of understanding of the problems New Orleans faces.