Freret Come Home

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Special Edition: Anniversary Issue

Community Voices Orchestrating Change January/February 2008

Issue #1 Volume 2

Neighborhood Housing Services helps

page 16

Freret Come Home

,

Neighborhoods Partnership Network s mission is to provide an inclusive and collaborative city-wide framework that empowers New Orleans neighborhood groups in community development and citizen engagement.

3500 Canal Street, Second Floor, New Orleans, LA 70119 • Office 504-940-2207, Fax 504-940-2208 • thetrumpet@npnnola.com

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NPN’s The Trumpet

February 2008

Letter From The Editor M

y Aunt Betty Lou is 84, has survived two cancers and, she would be the first to tell you, has a miserable memory. One of the few things that brighten her days is talking with me.

I forget to call her more often than I would like to admit, especially because our conversations can go in frustrating circles. She doesn’t understand how my cell phone works and worries about our talks costing me exorbitant rates. She asks about friends I have not spoken with in years. And, every single time I talk with her, she finishes the conversation by asking, “Is New Orleans better yet?” Like many, she is incapable of realistically recognizing the scope of the damage that happened here or what it will take to correct it. I usually respond by trying to mention something at work that I am proud of, such as this paper’s anniversary. Sometimes I’ll try to mention something that I’ve done outside of the office, like when I biked from Carrollton to Esplanade and back before lunch two Saturdays ago.

As happy as she is to hear these things, it’s strange to imagine them as parts of a checklist for recovery.

When I was Editor-in-Chief of my school’s paper, writing editorials was my absolute least favorite job in the entire world. Finding an accurate and honest way to cover one topic that mattered to all the students on campus while providing a new, creative way of looking at it was a headache, even when I knew what those topics were. The appeal of editing the Trumpet for me, even as a recent transplant to the city, is the confidence that it allows anyone in this city to voice any concern, to find and share all of the topics and insights. Sharing our stories of pain and recovery is not the same thing as enduring those frustrations, but it matters. If we can keep track of those things, we can progress from them and through them.

I don’t honestly expect that someday soon I’ll call my Aunt and tell her, “Yuhp, the city’s fixed, the trains are on time and everyone’s eating tilapia and fried black swan.” But I do hope that, corny as it sounds, telling her enough of the other stories of what’s happening here, and what matters to the people who live here, will make her realize the place’s importance to all of us. If we track it and remember it, we can remember it for her.

See you next month, Ted Hornick Editor-in-Chief

Table of Contents

Letter from the Editor - 2 Letter from the Executive Director of NPN – 3 What is NPN anyway? – 3 Letters to the Editor – 4 Neighborhood New Year Wish List – 5 A Year with the Trumpet – 6 Community Profiles – 7 Neighborhood Voices Impermanence – 8 Trust in the Arena of Life – 9 An Argument for Statutory Citizen Participation in New Orleans – 10 Celebrations and Struggles in New Orleans - 11 StayLocal! Zeus’ Place - 12 Alternative Media Expo Keeps it Local – 13 Transient Blues: The Trumpet spotlights Chris Rose – 14 In the Spotlight: Neighborhood Housing Services in Freret – 16 The MLK Parade: Photo Essay – 18 Protecting Bayou St. John: Interviews – 20 Seasoning Life in Central City – 22 Faubourg St. John Merchants give it back – 23 Kids Rethink New Orleans Craig School Interview – 24 Poetry: Jean-Mark Sens – 25 Stallings Playground Gets a new look: A Photoessay – 26 Ask City Hall – 27 NPN Forum Wrap-up: Public Parking Lot Management – 28 Teen Center Promotes Arts – 28 Crescent City Celebration – 29

Cover Photos by Shawn Chollette and Alethia Picciola: These photos of the Freret neighborhood demonstrate the diversity of its businesses.

The Trumpet

Staff

Ted Hornick Editor-in-Chief Alethia Picciola Art Director

NPN provides an inclusive and collaborative city-wide framework to empower neighborhood groups in New Orleans.

Find out more at NPNnola.com EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Timolynn Sams COMMUNITY PROGRAMS MANAGER Gill Benedek BUSINESS MANAGER Mario Perkins FOUNDING BOARD MEMBERS Phil Costa, Board Chair City Park Neighborhood Association Patricia Jones, Board Treasurer Executive Director, NENA Lower 9th Ward Deborah Langhoff Steering Committee District 5 Lakeview, Lake Vista Neighborhood Association Amy Lafont Mid-City Neighborhood Association Lynn Aline Baronne Street Neighborhood Association Dorian Hastings Project Manager, Central City Renaissance Julius Lee Real Timbers Property Owners Association, Inc. Victor Gordon Pontilly Neighborhood Association Kim Henry Oak Park Neighborhood Association Nikki Najoli Oak Park Neighborhood Association

Third Party Submission Issues Physical submissions on paper, CD, etc. cannot be returned unless an arrangement is made.

Submissions may be edited and may be published or otherwise reused in any medium.

By submitting any notes, information or material, or otherwise providing any material for publication in the newspaper, you are representing that you are the owner of the material, or are making your submission with the consent of the owner of the material, all information you provide is true, accurate, current and complete.

Non-Liability Disclaimers The Trumpet may contain facts, views, opinions, statements and recommendations of third party individuals and organizations. The Trumpet does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement or other information in the publication and use of or reliance on such advice, opinion, statement or other information is at your own risk.

Copyright Copyright 2007 Neighborhoods Partnership Network. All Rights Reserved. Any copying, redistribution or retransmission of any of the contents of this service without the express written consent of Neighborhoods Partnership Network is expressly prohibited.

NPN’s The Trumpet

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What is NPN Anyway?

Letter from the Executive Director of NPN

Neighborhoods Partnership Network’s mission is to provide an inclusive and collaborative citywide framework that empowers New Orleans neighborhood groups in community development and citizen engagement.

Join NPN today, and be part of the network that puts neighborhoods first in New Orleans.

I

t is always exciting to celebrate a birthday or anniversary. Just the thought of the day can bring a simple smile to your face. Cake and ice cream, bunches of balloons, or just the simple medley of “Happy Birthday” sung to you by anyone can make that day monumental. My son Evan, who is turning ten this month, thinks of his birthday as a national holiday. Even when it’s six months away, you can hear him tell anyone who will listen all the details that will make his special day a grand affair. He plans far ahead of time for the gifts and party that he believes will overtake him with family and friends.

Never once does he think about past birthdays except to let me know how I can make this one grander than the last. For my birthday, I instead look back and reflect on the mental and physical changes that life has allotted to occur on my body and mind. How this particular birthday has brought on a sense of wisdom and maturity. I enjoy the opportunity to revisit how I have grown both physically and spiritually and am optimistic about what life has in store for me in the days to come. Although Evan and I have two different perceptions about our special days we are equal in the joy and excitement of having another opportunity to celebrate and having those we love and love us celebrate with us.

It is with this same contrast in mind that we, the NPN staff and board, choose to celebrate the first anniversary of the Trumpet. As an organization, NPN is excited about the Crescent City Celebration that is set to take place March 7th & 8th – The Trumpet Awards, A Toast to New Orleans Neighborhoods and Festival of Neighborhoods - all are opportunities that will allow us to honor and celebrate the successful milestones of the communities and citizens of the city of New Orleans. It is also during this time that we will plan ahead and take steps toward achieving new levels of success. In the second year of the Trumpet, I wish to continue to acknowledge the accomplishments, setbacks, achievements and outcomes that will make New Orleans and its neighborhoods “communities that orchestrate change.” In addition it is also my vision that this magazine becomes a reflection of the whole city.

It is our belief that the neighborhood is everything that encompasses the community.

Our neighbors are those who live, work, and worship in the community. We also recognize that public participation through neighborhood organizations is the vehicle to producing benefits for the general health, welfare and pride of the total community. We hope that the impact of building the community at the neighborhood level will improve the livability of New Orleans neighborhoods. Neighborhoods Liaisons, Neighborhood2Neighborhood, and of course the Trumpet are the links that enable NPN to engage and connect New Orleanians in neighborhood revitalization and civic processes.

I’d like to applaud the community of New Orleans. It is the contributions of “whole neighborhoods” - neighborhood associations and civic groups, non-profits, businesses and individuals that have made the mission and vision of this magazine mark our anniversary. Last year NPN and Trumpet staff made it our charge to address the most important issues and conversations concerning New Orleans neighborhoods. We are proud of the themes that have graced these pages and entered the minds of New Orleanians and others abroad on how a catastrophic event can serve as a catalyst to rebuild a community. I’d like to thank all the readers who’ve been sharing their ideas. I invite you to continue to make suggestions, contribute articles and support us in making all New Orleans a Great Place to live.

Timolynn Sams

NPN believes that neighborhoods are their own best resource, when given the right support.

NPN supports neighborhoods by: • Creating opportunities for collaboration among neighborhoods across New Orleans • Designing programs specifically made to address neighborhood concerns and find and share solutions • Increasing connections between neighborhoods and government, nonprofits, and businesses around the region.

What NPN offers:

Increased publicity through NPN’s newspaper, the Trumpet and our e-newsletter: • Coverage in the Trumpet at least once a year, and “Neighborhood Spotlight” will be limited to members • Inclusion in our online database open to the public including residents, nonprofits, and businesses • Opportunity to host a forum in your neighborhood, concentrating on your neighborhood’s priorities • Free event announcements in our e-newsletter and in the Trumpet and twenty percent off our non-profit rate for advertisements in the Trumpet.

Increased access to resources NPN’s resources: • Distribution of the Trumpet to your neighborhood • Free copies of our resource materials, including NPN’s Guide to the City.

• Discounted entrance to NPN workshops • One-on-one support to help attract interns through our Intern and Volunteer coordinator.

• Space for neighborhood association meetings

On February 8 and 9, NPN will be hosting the Trumpet Awards, A Toast to New Orleans Neighborhoods, and the Festival of Neighborhoods.

Join by January 15 and receive discounts to NPN’s Crescent City Celebration:

Up to four free tickets and a discounted rate to Community VIP Party An opportunity to showcase your neighborhood at the Festival of Neighborhoods

If your organization is interested in becoming a member of NPN, please contact Elizabeth Falcon, Membership Coordinator, at membership@npnnola.com or call 504-484-0833. There is an annual fee of $100 which can be paid in cash or in kind.

Thanks!

The NPN Team

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NPN’s The Trumpet

February 2008

This is My Story

Letters to the Editor

On Friday, March 15, 2005, my whole world was turned upside-down when my youngest son of twenty-one was robbed and murdered on the streets of New Orleans.

One proverbial telephone call and my life changed forever. I will never forget that dreadful day – it was the ides of March, the same day that Julius Caesar was murdered.

I lost my baby boy. I was never able to kiss his mocha-colored face or hear his voice call ‘momma,’ not ever. Can you imagine the pain that comes whenever I think about my youngest son? I stayed in a slump having to bury my youngest son. I watched one day melt into the next. It was like a nightmare and I was in a bowl of yellow Jell-O shouting for help. I could see people, and hear them. They thought because I was still standing that somehow I was all right.

Nothing could be further from the truth . . . I was balling my eyeballs out one minute and holding a telephone conversation with someone the next, as if everything was all right. Fear gripped my shoulders and spine every time I looked at my son’s picture. Everything around me had a gray hue . . . I prayed day and night that my mind would stay clear. I knew that I had to keep suicidal ideations at bay. With the passing of time things would surely get better. Or, so I thought.

We moved out of New Orleans to St. Bernard Parish. My cousins and I are like a creolization, a first generation from New Orleans, unlike our parents born in St. Bernard. It was a humble beginning for me to go home . . . because it was where my family roots are. On one hand, my late daddy was one generation removed from the African Zulu tribe. As a merchant marine he would travel to his family and bring back beautiful African artifacts. On the other hand, my late momma descended from the Islenos (free people out of Africa, such as explorers and inventors). The Islenos traveled on the trade winds of the Canary Islands up into the Bible belt in the Carolinas, before they settled in St. Bernard Parish to become rice growers. My great great-grandparents are named in the Isleno museum census as early as the 1800s. Slave owners even gave the family a colored cemetery: the English Turn cemetery in Braithwaite, Louisiana about 20 country miles out of New Orleans. It was only befitting that I buried my youngest son in that cemetery, where the rest of the family are buried. My late grandfather pastored a Baptist church, which still remains St. Andrew Missionary Baptist. As fate would have it, I purchased a ranch-style home around the corner from the cemetery where I buried my son.

By this time, I hated everything about New Orleans.

In 2003, I sold my home in New Orleans . . . I had found Nirvana in St. Bernard Parish. Raccoons, crawfish holes in the backyard, the melodic sounds of mating locusts filling the air, no pollution, fresh-caught fish almost everyday from my next-door neighbor . . . I found solace in my new environment. Somehow I had arrived.

In 2004 my husband was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and had to undergo colorectal intestinal resurgence surgery. Later that year, when Hurricane Ivan hit, we evacuated to a military base in Alexandria, Louisiana to weather the storm. Two days later we were on our way back home listening to a Frankie Beverly CD. Everything was back to normal and for the next year I continued getting a grip through my grief counseling. But, that was all about to change.

In 2005, the wrath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit New Orleans. And, just like that, the little ranch-style home was gone, as was my vehicle. We evacuated to Alexandria, Louisiana once again . . . only it was not a weekend special. We stayed on that military base for one month. I was glued to the television for days at a time.

The people suffering were beyond my comprehension. Two weeks later, the victims of New Orleans and surrounding areas were being victimized by public backlash.

It was then that I fell in love with this place called New Orleans. A place that had taken so much from me and never gave me back anything. I decided in those days that I was coming home to where I was born. The next month, my husband prepared us an apartment in Baton Rouge. One month after that, he prepared us a place at the Embassy Suite hotel. A few nights after moving into the hotel and finally getting situated, we were awakened by the smell of smoke. The suite right next to ours had caught fire, and just like that we found ourselves evacuating once again in the night. Meanwhile, our rental in Gentilly was being renovated. We moved back in the beginning of January 2006, and celebrated Mardi Gras. I feel blessed after all that I have been through. I feel so thankful when I think about the first time coming to this home with the stench of rotting foods and seeing numbers spray painted on the side. I knew that everything was going to be all right!

Only this time I was right. Presently, I am starting my very first business . . . This is my story.

- Elaine W. Vigne

I REMEMBER ANGIE Dear Editor, I was so excited to hear the voice of my high school classmate, Angie! The year was 2004 and we were planning the reunion of all reunions. We caught up, we laughed . . . and after learning of my work with teenagers, she dropped a bomb: “I HAVE LUNG CANCER!” Angie made me promise that I would tell my teen protégés to stay away from cigarettes.

Sensing my reaction, she immediately assured me she had come to terms with her fate, and was dutifully preparing her family for her death. Days ago, I learned Angie has since passed away. Nostalgia became my friend as I took a minute to remember her. I remember Angie loved to dance, dance, dance. I remember she had one of the smartest mouths in our high school. I remember she was an attractive girl who told it like it was.

Angie sat next to me in homeroom . . . I remember it like it was yesterday. What else do I remember? Angie had to have a cigarette before school, during lunch, during bathroom breaks and after school on the bus ride home. Angie’s death hit me like a ton of bricks. I am too young to be losing classmates. However, it put in proper perspective the importance of keeping our youth away from tobacco. Smoking causes 87% of lung cancer. The number of deaths per year from smoking exceeds the number of deaths per year from all accidents, suicides, drug use, homicides and AIDS combined. The war against tobacco use and addiction is one that must be fought as diligently and as ferociously as the war against illegal drugs. Please help me remember Angie by taking her advice. “STAY AWAY FROM CIGARETTES!” Kimberly Dilosa Executive Director, YOUTHanasia Foundation Harvey, Louisiana (504) 473-4602

NPN’s The Trumpet

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Neighborhood New Year Wish List:

What neighborhoods think City Hall should resolve in Elizabeth Falcon NPN Membership Coordinator

1.

2008

During the fall of 2007, NPN liaisons asked neighborhood leaders what they wanted city government to do for neighborhoods, and they picked their top three issues. Here is the neighborhood wish list for City Hall in 2008.

Make a plan for improving the city. In the words of one resident, neighborhoods want “an agenda that meets the needs of the masses.” This plan would include concrete ways to ensure affordable housing and address issues of blight and underused property.

Many neighborhoods strongly backed comprehensive city planning which would provide a clear framework for zoning and other city-wide concerns.

2.

Invest in infrastructure. Neighborhoods across the city need infrastructure improvements, including roads, levees, and street lights.

3.

Increase security in our neighborhoods. The criminal justice system needs to address post-Katrina needs, including improving the district attorney’s office, expanding community watch programs, and putting more police on the streets.

4.

Provide more recovery information. Residents want honest information from city government without sugar coating, with “transparency and outreach to community groups”

5.

6.

7.

Focus on getting state recovery money to the city --dispersed properly.

Consistent and effective code enforcement.

Close the MRGO.

This list was compiled from neighborhood profiles gathered by neighborhood liaisons with their partner organizations. If your group does not have a liaison, or your group has not completed a Neighborhood Profile, please e-mail Elizabeth: elizabeth@npnnola.com

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NPN’s The Trumpet

February 2008

A Year with The Trumpet

program that allowed me to edit photographs and other images. But Editor Emeritus creating this new newspaper from scratch turned out to be harder than I thought. In a moment of panic, as was Editor-in-Chief of the the clock ticked closer to printing Trumpet before Ted and Alethia time, I announced that I didn’t think and I was a part of the team that I could finish by deadline. Our then printed the first issue. We had been Executive Director Nathan Shroyer working on it for a while – coming calmed me down, and the entire up with the name and logo, deciding office pitched in to make it happen. on a direction, finding a printer – The first issue came out January when, a year ago, we all agreed that 20, 2007. The following weekend, the time was ripe. As Editor-inNPN attended the final Unified New Chief, my job was to collect all of Orleans Plan Community Congress the material that was going into the at the convention center and handed first issue and then lay it out before out Trumpets to participants as sending it to the printer. they left. Personally, I had a hard One of the reasons I landed time with the “guerilla” distribution the AmeriCorps job at NPN was scheme, but I couldn’t argue with because I had some experience the results. With the NPN staff with Microsoft Publisher, a basic handing out papers in different publishing program, and Adobe locations and manning a booth Photoshop, a more advanced where there were still more, we Travis Leger

I

managed to get a lot of them into the hands of New Orleanians. I even handed one to Dr. Blakely himself as he stepped off an escalator. The staff then split up the remaining papers to distribute around the city. We dropped stacks off at laundromats, local restaurants and coffee shops, bookshops, gas stations – anywhere people gathered.

In that first issue we had four pages. The front page story was something I wrote about the crime march held earlier that month.

Some of us NPNers had walked in the march and I collected the interviews and photos we took. Inside there were stories by other NPners: A story written

by Gill Benedek about the Melia neighborhood, a story written by former NPN intern Kristen Ardani about improper debris disposal and a story by Emily

Zeanah about Martin Luther King Day activities. There was also a contribution by Catrina McFate of the International Association for Human Values (IAHV). There were two advertisements, a small community calendar and call for Mardi Gras-related recipes. And there were plenty of mistakes (the worst was that I failed to credit the photographers, one of whom was my own wife).

Why tell you all this? It’s history.

And as any New Orleanian can tell you, you got to know your history.

I myself have moved on and passed the torch to the capable Ted and Alethia while I pursue my dream, which finds me working toward a MFA in Creative Writing at UNO. I leave them to make history with NPN and The Trumpet and I leave you, the reader, to make history here in New Orleans.

The First Two Trumpets

NPN’s The Trumpet

7

Community Profiles

What are you looking forward to in 2008?

Taking care of myself.

What I do for me will pass on to others. I want good to come from me. If it’s good, go with it.

Sandy Duckworth, Filmore Gardens

More funding for senior citizen housing

Priscilla Edwards & Stanley Myers, Central City

Getting Married!

Stanley Ridgley, Esplanade Ridge

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NPN’s The Trumpet

February 2008

Neighborhood Voices The Opinions of New Orleans

The Trumpet has no responsibility for the views, opinions and information communicated here. Each article’s contributor(s) is fully responsible for content. In addition, the views and opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the the Trumpet.

Impermanence we got married, friends gave us all kinds of things couples “just had Columnist to have.” Eventually we bought a house, a.k.a. a place to store accumulated stuff. have a newfound By the time Hurricane appreciation for the concept of Katrina hit, needless to impermanence. say, we had lots and lots of When I returned from accumulated stuff. the Peace Corps in 1992, Like others, we watched and everything I owned fit worried from afar as the storm comfortably in a small decimated our city. First there backpack. I rented a studio was the wind and the water. apartment on Magazine Street, Then came the fires and the took a teaching position and looters. “Surely,” we thought, went back to school. When “everything we had was lost.” friends would call, they said it As it turns out, we were sounded like I was in a tunnel lucky. Because we live along - my place was just as empty the relatively high “Sliver as my wallet.

By the River,” which we now My first purchase back was, affectionately refer to as the as my father astutely pointed “Isle of Denial,” our house out, “A bit impractical.” I miraculously survived. We bought a puppy that proceeded ended up losing only two cars, to eat the few things in my a chimney, a fence, and a job. now mangled backpack. Next, Others were not so fortunate. my 102-year-old great aunt My father’s studio was torn in gave me a bronze camel bell half and much of his artwork she had bartered for on the was swept away. My brother Great Wall of China. I hung found a forty-foot sailboat it on my doorknob to alert me sticking out of the side of of intruders. Instead, I should his restaurant and my aunt’s have posted a sign that simply house of thirty years took read “Nothing to Steal!” After six feet of water. One friend that, I bought a futon, my mom lost 40 Harris hawks and her gave me a colonial Santo from PhD dissertation. Another Guatemala, I found a bathtub lost his business and then, in the Mississippi River that I overwhelmed by it all, took his converted into a backyard pool, own life.

I built a doghouse and I got a Since the storm, my wife bike, the first of four in five and I have begun to purge, years – perhaps a more secure getting rid of stuff we don’t lock would have been a good really need, use or want. We investment? have also learned to let go of When I moved in with my things emotionally. Katrina fiancée, she combined her taught us something we should things with mine. Then, when have already known: nothing Falwell Dunbar

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lasts forever and some things are taken away far too soon.

They say New Orleans is still vulnerable – that we may have to evacuate again, possibly even forever. If and

when we do, everything that really matters to us, photos and camel bells, should fit comfortably in a small backpack . . .

NPN’s The Trumpet

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TRUST IN THE ARENA OF LIFE Rex Gregory New Orleans Transplant

Today I want to talk about

the lack of trust in everyday American life. We don’t trust in the government, we don’t trust in God, we don’t trust in the future, and we don’t trust in each other.

One of the most remarkable characteristics I noticed amongst the Europeans that surrounded me when I traveled abroad was an implicit trust of one another in almost all things. People trusted their peers for the most part, at least on a pedestrian level. I felt safe in a city like Rotterdam, notorious for being of the most dangerous and crime ridden cities in the whole of Europe (although comparably, it has about as much crime as a low-level American suburb). It felt safe to bike or even walk home at three or four in the morning (or perhaps I was and am slightly reckless).

It was one of the things that made an implicit trust in politics easier, or gave the mechanics of socialized medicine run more smoothly. It was one of the hardest things to abandon on my trip back home.

I considered the history of the people that surrounded me. I take it for granted that the people in Europe had a common history in the first place, a history further expressed in a unique language that had been crafted among the people for millennia and a common national identity that gives contour to everyday life.

In Holland and most European countries, your history is in your backyard, in your blood, in your mouth and your food.

That makes it strange and somewhat inexplicable for people in a city like New Orleans, which goes to great lengths to preserve its community’s rich cultural and historical heritage, to have an underlying distrust of one another. It makes it even stranger for a country like America, the great democratic experiment, with its grand, beneficent and controversial history to be at such a critical juncture in history and have its citizens so afraid of each other.

I have already written these words, and yet I have ignored the fundamental fact that it is my perception that there is a lack of trust among New Orleans community residents. I cannot ignore that it most likely belies my own lack of trust. However, no matter how much I trust others unconditionally or attempt to, how much I smile at those who pass me and remain open and accepting to my fellow passerbys and strangers (think about the implications of the word ‘stranger’) I still feel a distrust permeating my community. I feel people have a lack of desire to even engage one another. I feel naïve for trusting people and in that sense partly stupid.

So I consider our history.

America is and always has been the great frontier state, which means that as you cross the frontier, every person you meet

is a potential vagabond lying to sabotage your family. Millions have entered the country as immigrants, not knowing anybody on the boat whom they came in with and certainly nobody on the soil they landed on. Then everybody’s personal

of one another is outweighing the great democratic dream of the common good.

Our government doesn’t seem to trust us to make responsible decisions and polices us incessantly for this fact.

And beyond that, even today

How much of your history is in your backyard? histories and versions of the American dream collided across centuries. Millions and millions of African slaves were torn from their families and countries and cultures and brought here to toil and deliberately kept at odds with each other with no common language to share the wrenching pain of this experience with their fellow slaves. America’s history, especially its personal history, is very fragmented.

How much of your history is in your backyard?

So our history dismisses attempts to trust one another, which is why the great democratic rhetoric of our nation sustained the belief in a common good and common striving, no matter how disparate our origins. Then our democracy is undermined by the corruption of individuals who occupy those positions (Watergate, the continuous process of squelching labor unions, the failure of the 60s to bring about lasting change). It is why our fundamental distrust

we are told not to trust one another through the preponderance of negative reporting in the forms of aggrandized reporting on welfare scandals, murders, crime, etc. It hits home when our neighbors are the victims of theft or violence. We can’t avoid it when one of our friends gets held up or shares his experience of being a victim of trust.

However, the lack of trust undermines every common good.

How can we have a functioning society if we cannot trust one another? How does a healthy and spirited way of living spring up from roots of fear?

Our great history and our great authors and our great artists and everything that America produces forth that is great means absolutely nothing if we have no relationship to one another and if we fear one another. We are perhaps only defined by the relationships we have with people, not by the clothes we wear or the music we listen to. It makes no sound in the proverbial wood. It all starts on a very basic level.

How can we have a functioning society if we cannot trust one another?

How does a healthy and spirited way of living spring up from roots of fear?

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NPN’s The Trumpet

February 2008

An Argument For Statutory Citizen Participation In New Orleans as a public hearing, we would be naive to call it that, so again public input was Central City Resident de facto ignored.

(4) NORA is about to receive want to say something about approximately 7,000 to 20,000 citizen participation, which of course properties, the final count depending on ought to be already part of our whether the Road Home purchases alone representative democracy. As I point are counted or whether the adjudicated out below, citizen participation is properties are added, and no mechanism meaningless in New Orleans at present, has been established to allow citizens and I choose this means to write about to control what the Jeremiah Project or that. Journalists, preachers, and officials anyone else will do with the properties. can shamelessly oblige me to listen Clearly, there is the possibility that patiently to their lengthy opinions, as the City could be redesigned entirely each member of the City Council did without public participation. in reading prepared statements about (5) FEMA is scheduled to terminate his or her decision on December 20, vouchers, which are not enough for and I have discovered during these current high rents anyway, and to close tumultuous weeks that my opinions are some trailer parks by summer, leaving as solidly reasoned as official ones . . . another 50,000 looking for homes. The I have been burnt beyond City has no plans for that surge, and recognition by recent projects which there is no citizen discussion of what have totally ignored citizen input. we could do, even though citizens have Consider as follows: been privately involved in alleviating (1) The Georgia-based Victory Real the worst of the situation from the Estate Investments plans for the beginning. I imagine a city of 300,000 .

Mid-City area around Mercy-Lindy . . with 70,000 of them on the streets.

Boggs Hospital have been secret, To compare these on-going plans then public, then secret again, as with UNOP’s proposals, the UNOP the corporation proposes to develop process offered me a model of how we a suburban-style shopping center could address dramatic transformations at South Carrollton and Bienville facing our City. At present, these plans without legally binding public input. are being offered through government (2) The LSU-Veterans’ offices that we are pleased to call Administration project for the new “representative democracy”. But whom medical complex is by contrast not does our representative democracy, in secret, but the proposal is nevertheless the persons of the Mayor and Councilone-sided, soliciting no public input members, actually represent? As in the and instead intimidating the public with past, out-of-town and in-town developers assertions of eminent domain to assure have power to dictate to elected leaders. that all goes as the developers want.

Experiencing the transparency of UNOP Again, public input is not binding. has allowed me to understand that our (3) The demolition of the four public- traditional representative institutions housing areas was approved by the City often represent the interests of PRIVATE Council, contradicting the vision of POWERS (e.g., non-profit and for-profit UNOP, after a horrendously disrespectful corporations benefiting from demolition meeting, at which the Council mocked and construction, and Fluor, Halliburton, the critics by pretending it was a KBR, The Shaw Group, Bechtel, CH2M public hearing and by locking the Hill, etc.) or PUBLIC POWERS (e.g., doors to the public, leading people to LSU, the Mayor’s office, the City mock the Council in turn by violent Council, HUD, HANO, VA, etc.). action. Then the Council posed smugly Our traditional representative with Superintendent Riley during his institutions do not seem to represent the televised assertion that tasers and pepper interests of all the people of the City. In spray were appropriate responses. the UNOP process, I was privileged to Though the council meeting was billed witness the possibility of “participatory

Robert Sullivan

I

democracy”. Participation of this sort can be legally empowered by authorizing statutorily the role of citizen responsibility by giving citizens authority in deciding what would happen in the City. For example, if citizens had authority to approve or refuse a project, their role would obligatorily control the City Council’s decisions. We CAN do this.

In brief, the corporate or state planners offer the opiate of a public heating to us, encouraging us to believe that we are participating in a grand experiment in self-governance, when in reality we are mourners at the funeral of our own freedom.

In my judgment, the City Council meeting of December 20th lacked legitimacy in terms of participatory

Our traditional representative institutions do not seem to represent the interests of all the people of the City.

Thomas Jefferson recommended rewriting the federal constitution from time to time, even encouraging a revolution if authorities refused to address grievances. In our Central Carrollton Association board meeting two months ago, we had the temerity to oppose Judge Marullo’s coffee shop, and he listened to the board. On St. Charles Avenue, citizens spoke assertively against Mr. Goldring’s plans to demolish a residence and replace it with condominiums. Now, Judge Marullo and Mr. Goldring are not powerful corporations, to be sure, respectable in their wealth though each may be. Furthermore, both gentlemen remembered they were citizens of New Orleans and accepted their neighbors’ judgments, walking gracefully to live with their neighbors in the City.

The Mayor, the City Council, Secretary Alphonso Jackson (aka HUD), and corporate and state planners are convinced that their projects are the best available for the City. It is necessary to criticize the arrogance of authorities who coerce or manipulate other people to do their will. However, it is necessary also to reserve some anger for citizens who become bit actors in this depraved bit of theater. By sleight-of-hand stage management, corporate or state spokespeople produce smooth powerpoint lectures during prime time, while less wealthy citizens are reduced to angry protest in frustration.

democracy and even in terms of representative democracy. By forbidding entry for the first time ever in all my City Council meetings to those without a seat, by locking the gates when the police chose to do so and by approving police usage of tasers and pepperspray on citizens, the Council deprived the meeting of legitimacy as a public forum. By deciding prior to the meeting what the vote would be, the Council demonstrated that the meeting was a pointless exercise for the public. Each council-member had written his or her explanation for an affirmative vote prior to the meeting, so our three minutes at the microphone were a collective waste of six hours.

In my pessimism, I acknowledge it possible that participatory democracy would eventually degenerate as our representative democracy already has. If eventual degeneration of participatory democracy happens, our descendants may choose revolution as the only means to restore liberty and I’d like to try a more civil approach.

That is why I argue for immediate statutory creation of participatory democracy in project approval, prior to review by the City Planning Commission and the City Council.

So the UNOP has been for me a thought-provoking process. I have heard a number of people express dissatisfaction with UNOP, but I believe we need more UNOP process, not less.

NPN’s The Trumpet

11

Off the Wall

Celebrations and Struggles in New Orleans Marcia Wall Columnist

Recently I ran into a friend I had

not seen in almost two years. I knew that he had had heart troubles in the past, but I did not know that the loss of his business due to Katrina had caused him to have a stroke.

When I saw him, I almost did not recognize him. His hair was disheveled and dirty. He stumbled with a cane instead of walking. His speech was so slurred that at first, I thought he was drunk. He had aged thirty years since I last saw him. He looked like many of us feel: tired, feeble, and just a few steps away from death.

I know that many people feel hopeless about our recovery and I understand why. Housing is expensive. The number of people who are homeless has doubled since Katrina. We have an alarming mental health care crisis on our hands. People keep killing each other. And, perhaps most disappointing, we still don’t have category 5 levees. There are a million reasons to believe that the road home is a twisted maze with no escape.

While we often feel that way, we must remember that progress is being made. Things aren’t as bad as they were on August 29, 2005. If we look to the heavens, we see that there is one less cloud in the sky.

January 2008 marks The Trumpet’s one-year anniversary. The newspaper manages to herald the good news of New Orleans without ignoring the challenges and problems that the city faces. We need good news and lots of it. Good news boosts our morale, helps us measure our success and reminds us that better news still is yet to come.

The rest of the country needs to hear our good news too. Many of our fellow citizens harbor beliefs about our city’s recovery that are simply untrue.

Roselyn Leonard, organizer of Lady Fest.

From my own experience, I know that some non-Louisianans believe that “nothing has been done” and many more wonder if “everything is back to normal yet.”

A recent survey put out by the University of New Orleans seems to confirm that many people just don’t have the facts when it comes to the recovery. Sixty percent of those who were surveyed believe that the majority of our city’s residents still live in temporary housing. At least one-third believes that most French Quarter businesses remain closed and that some parts of our city remain under water.

As long as the country has the wrong idea about our recovery, the nation of the world most likely to help us will do nothing. A country suffering from “Katrina Fatigue” is not eager to lend a hand.

New Orleans has been my home for over eight years. I moved here from San Diego. My family and friends can be found in California, Texas, Arkansas, New Mexico, Nevada, France and even Australia. Since that fateful day in August of 2005, I feel that it is my privilege and responsibility to tell these folks the truth about New Orleans. The national media rarely report the progress we are

making. Much of the rest of the world thinks of New Orleans negatively, if they think of us at all.

At least two times a year, I write a letter concerning the state of our city to everyone I know who does not live here. I share with them our many successes and remind them that we continue to face challenges of epic proportions. I ask that they do not judge us by our leaders or our criminals, as most of us are neither. I let them know that by and large we are hard working people who just want to rebuild our lives. I reason that if they hear good news about our recovery efforts, then their beliefs and attitudes about us will improve.

It is a new year. Make a resolution to share the good news of New Orleans with your friends and family outside the “Katrina Zone.” Show them that each and every day, life gets better here. Don’t sweep our troubles under the rug, but give these people reasons to believe that New Orleans can be saved. More importantly, make them believe that New Orleans is worth saving.

To get the ball rolling, I have gathered good news from all over city to share with you. *The Faubourg St. Roch Improvement Association recently finished restoring the playground at St. Roch and N. Roman. *The Faubourg Delachaise Organization is holding a “meet your neighbor” mixer right after Mardi Gras. Call 504-269-4098 for info. *Mac 15 in the French Quarter now has a gallery filled with children’s art for sale. *The St. Charles street car now runs all the way to Napoleon Ave. *In December, the Rosa F. Keller Library and Center in Broadmoor received a $50,000 grant from the AT&T Foundation for telecommunications services, computers and wireless Internet access. *The Phoenix of New Orleans, a non-profit neighborhood organization

serving the residents of Lower MidCity has successfully helped to renovate several homes in the area. *Noted musician Roselyn Leonard, with the help of volunteers, established Lady Fest New Orleans, a new music, art and poetry festival showcasing the talents of local women. *The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation has raised over $200,000 and is partnering with the U. S. Coast Guard to restore the New Canal Lighthouse damaged in the storm. *The Community Book Center at 2523 Bayou Rd. is open for business once again.

I hope that more good news will come our way in 2008. I can’t wait to hear it.

Marcia Wall is a writer and photographer living in the French Quarter. Her website is www. seeitmywayphoto.com.

Andy Young, poet and NOCCA instructor, reads at Balcony Music.

Photos by Marcia Wall.

12

NPN’s The Trumpet

February 2008

O P X E A I D E M E V TERNATI

AL

anywhere else,” McGovern says. On Saturday, February 23rd, from noon until New Orleans Artist seven, some of the most creative talent will assemble at the Contemporary Arts Center ew Orleans is a city of neighbors Warehouse at 900 Camp Street. filled with musicians, artists, writers, and With over 70 exhibitors lined up for free-thinkers. You won’t read about them in this year’s expo, the people displaying will the Times-Picayune very often, nor will you be as varied as their works. The special see them on television, because they are guests of the Expo are Brooklyn, New York the underground of daily life in the crescent artist Josh Neufeld, the illustrator of A.D.: city. Once a year, in a New Orleans After celebration of meeting the Deluge (a comic each other and seeing strip that follows six what ideas are out there real New Orleanians in the city, they come through their Katrina together at the Alternative experiences) and Media Expo.

Deborah Cotton, The Alternative self-published author Media Expo was started of Notes From New

by Leo McGovern Orleans, freelance in June of 2003 and contributor to AOL it was his hope to be Black Voices and able to showcase all Editor-In-Chief of the the available media in website Louisiana the area. Overlapping REBUILDS. Artists of all kinds attended last film-makers with artists, Blake Haney, year’s Alternative Media Expo. zine writers with jewelry of both Dirty Coast makers, musicians with T-shirts and Humid web developers seemed like a natural fit Beings.com, believes that the expo is an for McGovern. “Adding all the different important meeting ground for his business. media just seemed like the right idea. I “The success of Dirty Coast is based upon can honestly say that I don’t think there’s the talent and ideas of the independent another show in the country like the designers and illustrators. It is through their Alternative Media Expo.” talent and voice that the shirts and now “The idea of making a comic posters we print have such variety and can convention-style exhibition, with everything connect with a larger community,” Haney from poetry chapbooks to professionally points out. printed comics to big paintings to jewelry Blake’s new project, Humid Beings. and clothes to web design, and all kinds com, is a concept where anyone connected of other things thrown in, just isn’t done with New Orleans can publish their ideas, . till 7 p.m n house) o o n the ware from , n d (i r t 3 e 2 e mp Str bruary 900 Ca rday, Fe , u r t e a t S n : e n rts C Whe 5

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Michael Dingler

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KEEPS IT LOCAL media and photos about or inspired by the city. “We will both work with local creatives to develop original content for publishing on the site and allow anyone to sign up and publish to their own profile.”

Clare Marie Nemanich, a jewelry designer, will be selling one of a kind, handcrafted metal jewelry that explores the beauty of metals such as copper, steel and brass. As a member of the Etsy New Orleans Street Team, she’s a member of a diverse group of artists that sell on Etsy. com. “We support and represent each other and are dedicated to promoting the handmade culture,” she explains. “I’ve found the local art market/ handmade scene to be very fulfilling; participating and shopping in events like the Expo is my greatest source of inspiration.”

Also on-hand at the Alternative Media Expo will be the New Orleans Craft Mafia, a group formed in the June of 2005 to pool resources so that small, independent craft businesses could grow. Mags, of ArtbyMags.com and a member of the Craft Mafia, states, “The Alternative Media Expo is a no-brainer for the Craft Mafia. We’ve been friends with Leo McGovern since our inception, and admire and respect his interest and devotion to the Do-It-Yourself/ underground creative community in New Orleans. He’s been a great supporter of the Craft Mafia, and we’re happy to support him back by cosponsoring the Expo. It’s a great event that brings together all manner of DIY-ers in the city, from bands and bookmakers to comic book and tattoo artists to crafters like us.

You can see and experience more DIY art and media under that one roof at that event than you can the entire rest of the year.”

Other members of the New Orleans Craft Mafia include Dismantled Designs, Green Kangaroo, Claverie Crafts, Jeremy the Alien, Miss Malaprop and Unique Designs. “It’s a great gathering of creativity and a valuable networking opportunity for

the participants,” Mags explains, “and a super fun shopping/cultural experience for those who attend.”

Jac Currie, sponsor of the Alternative Media Expo and founder of Defend New Orleans, states that he believe the importance of the Expo is that it brings together the creative minds in the city for open discussions and idea exchanges.

Steve “504 What Style” Williams sees the Expo as a job fair. “You see the samples of what I can do and what I can create for you . . . plus, you get to sell and trade your creations with anyone for whatever you want.”

Alicia Devora, an artist who sells things like handmade colorful greeting cards, votive candles and Mantra books sees the importance of the Expo in the following light: “The Alternative Media Expo is important because the eyes of the world are still on New Orleans; where our government and engineering failed, our contribution to music and the arts continues to stir the imaginations of those not living here.” Alicia will also be highlighting a few small furniture pieces by local business owner Tiffiny Wallace, owner of Lucky You! Candy, in her first endeavor of selling pieces that she’s long been famous for gifting.

New Orleans has always been a small town, no matter how many people live here. We are a city of communities and a city that believes in keeping local flavor. The Alternative Media Expo is one such event, where the culmination of creative minds meet, disseminate and take away with them a host of ideas that can better add to the community’s whole culture. No matter what your artistic interests may be, you are guaranteed to find something that excites you. More importantly, you are guaranteed to help keep it local. The Alternative Media Expo is one avenue that’s helping New Orleans to rise.

NPN’s The Trumpet

13

e c a l P ’ Zeus Provides Owner New “Leash” on Life blown her way to make a quick deal on the old Eve’s Market property, and to follow her proverbial bliss.

Lest it all sound like harmonic n August 29, 2005, Michelle convergence, however, rest assured Ingram’s life took a radical turn. it’s been anything but simple.

Hurricane Katrina destroyed her “You’d think they’d roll out the Freret home and bankrupted the red carpet for a woman opening Metairie office of the international up a business on Freret Street in company that employed Michelle post-Katrina New Orleans,” Ingram and her husband. They evacuated remarked. “But it was quite the to her brother’s house in Houston, opposite. I didn’t get any help. I had where Michelle, a computer network to keep telling myself every night, administrator, immediately received ‘All right, I really want to do this two solid job offers. But in less with all my heart, so I’ve just got to than two weeks, she chose to return keep going, keep going.’” to New Orleans to do something It helps that’s she’s a goalshe’d been doing for over a decade - driven, acknowledged optimist. rescue animals.

Like many small business owners Nine months later, on June 1st, in New Orleans, Ingram did much 2006, Michelle’s life took another of the work herself and relied on radical turn. That’s the day she friends and family for labor crews. opened Zeus’ Place, a pet grooming “You’ve just got to do it. You can’t and boarding service on Freret wait for anything these days.”

Street, and animal care became her Her watchword for other business new profession. For Michelle, it owners? Persistence. “Stay focused. was the fulfillment of a lifelong You’re going to run into so many dream – and the recipient of her roadblocks.” life’s savings.

That focus has paid off in big Michelle took advantage of the ways for Michelle in 2007. The upheaval that the hurricane had readers of Gambit Weekly voted Dana Eness and Diana K. Schwam staylocal.org

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Zeus’ Place the Best Place to Board Your Pet in New Orleans and 2nd in the Best Place to Have Your Pet Groomed. Michelle takes special pride in the fact that Zeus’ was the only locally owned grooming place mentioned, placing between PetCo and Petsmart.

And it is no wonder that Michelle was named one of the Top 10 Female Achievers in 2007

by New Orleans Magazine. “I have to laugh when I think about receiving the call from the magazine to notify me I had been selected for this award,” says Michelle. “I was holding the phone with one hand and picking up doggy doo-doo with the other. I wasn’t feeling like a ‘high achiever’ at the moment.”

Zeus’ Place offers over-andabove services like Web cams for concerned pet owners and luxury suites for “pet families” or large dogs. Dogs enjoy off-leash play in a 30’x120’ lot five times a day.

“Once word of mouth got out about all the extra attention we give our animals, we started booking up,” says Ingram. “We have expanded twice to meet the demands of new clients. We added five new ‘family rooms’ because we found that a large number of our clients have more than one dog and we want them to be able to comfortably board together.” Michelle hopes to branch out to a second location in another year or two.

Since opening Zeus’ Place, Michelle has been able to step up her rescue/adoption efforts and place over 200 pets in new homes.

“Having Zeus’ Place has given me

the space to house these pets until we re-home them.”

The monthly Freret Market provides another opportunity to place pets in loving homes. An active member of the Freret Business and Property Owners Association (FBPOA) that manages the Market, Michelle has placed nearly 35 pets since opening her pet

adoption booth two months ago.

“Most of these pets were on death row at local shelters. The exposure they got at the market saved their lives and they were adopted in to great homes,” says Ingram. “We intend to keep doing pet adoption booths at the Market and hopefully get many more pets adopted in to good homes.”

“I couldn’t wait to get back to New Orleans,’” says Michelle, reflecting on her journey back home after Katrina. “When you see a guy riding a bike, wearing a tutu and carrying a computer bag, and you don’t look twice because it’s normal, there’s only one place that can happen. To be away from New Orleans, for me, is miserable.

Besides, now my days are filled with rubbing puppy bellies and playing with kittens. How can you possibly have a bad day with that?”

Zeus’ Place

504-304-4718 4601 Freret St . New Orleans, LA 70115 Hours: 9am - 5pm, 7 days a week.

Early/late pick-ups or drop-offs available by advance arrangement.

With persistence, and enthusiasm, Michelle Ingram turned the Eve’s Market Property into Freret’s popular pet service. Photos by Dana Eness.

Updated January 18, 2008 from an original story by Diana K. Schwam first published on www.staylocal.org on October 3, 2006

14

NPN’s The Trumpet

February 2008

New Orleans’ TRANSIENT BLUES The Trumpet spotlights Chris Rose professional painter and sipping Abita (Chris is currently creating artwork from his neighbors’ storm debris). We sat down at his front porch, arranged like a ne morning a few months makeshift den, complete with ago, I finished my coffee, closed sofa and coffee table, and began the “Living” section of the our conversation.

Times-Picayune and decided I am curious about Rose’s to contact Chris Rose for an ability to fearlessly put his interview. I don’t know what heart on the page for his readers made me believe that my request each week. Regarding this, he responds, “I am not fearless.

I’m just not afraid of the truth.”

Straight forward enough, but there are always going to be disapproving neighbors, right?

“The more you lay open - the more you tell the truth the less you have to look over your shoulder and wonder who is coming after you,” is Chris Rose’s mindset.

I ask New Orleans’ prized columnist if he ever feels unsure about his role as a writer in a place that needs every kind of help. His answer is honest: “I’m plagued by self doubt and lots of Chris Rose at a book signing for “One Dead other things. I sometimes wonder in the Attic” at Maple Street Bookstore. if I shouldn’t be doing something Photo by Infrogmation better; but the truth is, I don’t would be granted. I wasn’t even know how to drive a f***ing having that nice of a week, but nail and I don’t know how to Rose’s commentary had made wire a building and I don’t know me smile despite it. I sent the anything about plumbing. I’m request via e-mail and went on contributing in the best and the about my day. A few days later, only way I know how. My dad I laughed at my idea with former was an educator, so you know, Trumpet editor Travis Leger, who I grew up knowing how to just cheered me on. I waited until spell carburetor, but not really the day after Thanksgiving to ask, knowing how that affects it. So “Who did I think I was, anyway?” that’s what I do. I spell it out, But, when I opened my laptop but I can’t fix it.” and checked my e-mail, Chris I have to smile as I imagine the Rose had responded. Talk about importance of accurate translations things to be thankful for. After in cross-cultural encounters. Still, about two more weeks, we I probe on the importance of finally sat down face-to-face. writers in our city.

On the evening that I met with Chris Rose is rarely at a loss for Chris at his uptown abode, I words. How does he feel NOLA’s had never been so overwhelmed writers are viewed, as opposed to its to meet a man dressed like a musicians and visual artists?

Shana Dukes Broadmoor Writer

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“I think we’re all doing the same thing. We’re conveying the images . . . the sorrow, the joys. We’re portraying the triumph of the human spirit from the depths of misery that have all come out of this.”

How about the resources for our writers as compared to other artists?

“I can understand why maybe painters might be really pissed off at the horn players, because we’re all building villages for them. But a lot of these organizations, like ArtDocs (a medical service set up in Kenner) make no distinctions. My book supported that foundation and we gave money to all of them, [artists in the different media].

ArtDocs does not differentiate. If you are an actor then you’re just as good as a horn player there.”

Proceeds from Rose’s book One Dead in Attic did benefit that organization, and his words make me feel better. However, there are truths about New Orleans that one can’t deny. The author continues and explains,

“I am not fearless. I’m just not afraid of the truth.”

“When you think about the lifeblood of New Orleans, I don’t wanna say that the rest of us could disappear. But, as long as you have people playing music and making food, you’ve got the bare essence of what’s here. And I realize . . . that even erases me out of the equation, but I’m comfortable with that because I realize that the rest of us just pretty much spend our time, you know, documenting what those guys do.”

His sentiments are well put and not hard for me to agree with, except for the fact that

without Chris Rose’s columns helping my perspective on rough days, I’m not sure that the best horn players could’ve kept me fighting to stay in New Orleans.

I’m a reader first and foremost.

And he continues talking, so I listen to the pros and cons of his position: “The weird thing to me is not the division between say, writers, visual artists and dancers, and stand-up comedians, but that some of us have made our careers off of this. I will tell you honestly that it’s a very uncomfortable balance for me. Everything good that has happened for me since the storm has been laid on this sorrow and on the backs of other people. I’m not entirely comfortable with that. I try to play it fair and I try to give it back. I don’t by any means try to capitalize on it, but I realize that it’s my marketability and that it’s my message. It’s what I do.”

That is the crushing knowledge that no writer in New Orleans can avoid, whether spoken internally or by Chris Rose in his selfdescribed “wry and sardonic” manner: “A natural disaster’s a very good career move for somebody in my line of work.”

We go on to chew the fat over Rose’s influences: Hemingway, former Washington Post journalists Mike Sager and John Ed Bradley and performance artist Spalding Gray. These are the men Rose credits with “crystallizing” his idea of interesting lively storytelling.

Or his favorite reads, Elmore Leonard and James Lee Burke.

“And I’ve read Catcher in the Rye five times,” he admits.

When I ask if Chris Rose has any plans to write fiction, he tells me that maybe he’ll give it a shot at age 70, though for now he can’t imagine anything more

NPN’s The Trumpet captivating than “what unfolds For now, it’s probably best for before me in real life.” What’s New Orleans if he keeps some of more is that he has no interest in that indignation. At least, that is, trying to ignore the way that the until this still injured city makes hurricane has changed his writing it out of the recovery room. and so much more across the We talk and we talk. Lucky whole city. for me, Rose can seriously talk.

“And I’m not really sure to He loves this city and we both what degree I’ll ever get out love the fact that, as he puts of Katrina mode. I think that it, “It’s very rare birds in this everything I do in my life from town who don’t have some sort here on out will be colored by of outlet for artistic expression Katrina. People tell me, ‘Dude, here. You meet a cab driver you gotta get over it, you gotta who you find out has five or move on,’ but you don’t move on so different screenplays that from something like that. There he’s working on. Or you meet are things that are gonna lay a lawyer and find that he’s in a such a profound impact on your band that plays all around town life and on your being and your on the weekends.” knowing that you can’t escape I don’t think that either them and you don’t even try to Chris or I believe that any city . . . and, at some point I’ll stop anywhere has much better to beating the s**t out of everyone offer than that. For me, not much for this.” compares to being able to ask a

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for his advice to young writers.

“Tell the story like you’re in a barroom trying to entertain your friends. That’s what makes a story sing. That’s what makes it come to life. Don’t be trapped by the structures of the Industry. People are attracted to genuineness.”

He knows it best. That is why he has gained legions of fans, friends and enemies amongst the diverse New Orleans populace.

Or, we fans could credit - while the disapproving neighbors could blame - Chris Rose’s father for offering his son this advice, “If you can’t improve upon the silence, then don’t speak. Know when you’ve got a story to tell and know when you don’t.”

Even after all his years of reporting for the Washington

Post and the post-Katrina Times-Picayune, and after winning that Pulitzer, Rose still cites Dad’s wisdom as, “the best advice I ever got.”

Those are good enough answers for this writer. I’m not so comfy in the barroom, but I try and let it out on the page. What I can say for my writing is that when it comes to interviewing Chris Rose, I don’t see how there couldn’t be a story to tell. Is the Picayune columnist a good neighbor? I think so. To those who have their doubts, I say, ask for the sofa on the porch interview.

‘Cause in this crazy city, which, as Chris put it, can create those of us who are, “not fit to live anywhere else,” you just never know, do you?

“A natural disaster’s a very good career move for somebody in my line of work.”

“All ‘little’ magazines have the luxury of thinking

reader

the is the same person as their

editors.”

-William

Whitworth, Editor-in-Chief of the Atlantic Monthly

15

IN THE

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NPN’s The Trumpet

February 2008

SPOTLIGHT

A Continued Commitment:

The Work of Neighborhood Housing Services in the Freret Neighborhood

In uptown New Orleans, between

Napoleon and Jefferson Avenues, Freret Street is humming with activity.

Along the eight-block corridor, there are fifteen mainstay businesses that have reopened their doors since Hurricane Katrina, including Weber’s Garden Center, Bean’s Formal Wear, Freret Hardware, Las Penitas Restaurant, Dennis’ Barber Shop and Kehoe Automotive. These locallyowned businesses have helped to define the Freret area as a diverse neighborhood for many years. Eight new businesses have also opened along the corridor, bringing new energy and people to the street. Stop by on the first Saturday of every month and you’ll find the Freret Market, with over fifty booths selling local arts, crafts and food. Plus a

This map of surveyed sites in Freret and Milan helps the Neighborhood Center with their efforts. Photo by Shawn Chollette.

non-stop stage with local musicians, helping Freret bring New Orleans the type of neighborhood party that the city is known for. The market, created by the Freret Business and Property Owners Association, grows every month.

In the middle of this community rebuilding effort is Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans. Prior to Katrina, they were instrumental in providing support to Freret Street businesses

and homeowners to strengthen and stabilize the neighborhood. This included working with Neighbors United Neighborhood Association, providing resident leadership development and after school youth arts programs, developing real estate, running an Urban Main Street program and running the Freret Street Festival, an annual event drawing thousands of people to the area.

When six feet of water swamped Freret Street, including the NHS office and the properties between LaSalle and Claiborne, it seemed the efforts over the last 14 years were destroyed as well. But a little more than two years later, talk to Lauren Anderson, CEO of NHS and you’ll find that the spirit of the neighborhood is back and the employees of this housing and community organization are right there with them. “We couldn’t be prouder of our efforts to help rebuild this neighborhood,” says Anderson. “We’ve opened the Freret Neighborhood Center, giving the residents of the area a place to gather and resolve their issues, and we’ve resumed the traditional NHS services for homeowners.”

Those services include construction management for people trying to repair or renovate their homes, providing loan assistance, financial fitness classes and homebuyer training. Traditional NHS services are available to anyone in the Greater New Orleans region. NHS is a member of the NeighborWorks America® network, an organization made up of more than 230 community development organizations, much like NHS, in over 4,400 communities across America. In their homebuyer training center, prospective homeowners can find out if homeownership is right for them.

During the twelve-hour class, participants learn about qualifying for mortgages, the details of down payment and closing costs, how

to budget for homeownership, understanding their credit situation and how to shop for homes. When prospective homeowners finish the course, they are ready to make the first steps towards buying their own homes.

To further assist in the process of getting people back in their homes NHS recently joined with Sandler O’Neill + Partners, an investment group from New York, to facilitate a donation of $280,000 to help teachers get back in their residences. The announcement was made at Green Charter Middle School. They also are administering over one million dollars in teacher grants through a partnership with the New Orleans Hornets and center Tyson Chandler, NeighborWorks America, the Salvation Army and the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation.

“Neighborhoods are made up of people, homes, businesses, churches and schools. These grants will go a long way to help teachers in the New Orleans area, including right here in Freret.” says Anderson.

Interested teachers can call 504-899-5900 or check out nhsnola. org to find out about applications for both of these programs.

While these traditional NHS services and programs are available to anyone in the Greater New Orleans Area, NHS has a special commitment to and investment in the Freret neighborhood. The biggest new effort is the opening of the Freret Neighborhood Center in the summer of 2007, a place where residents connect with each other and organize projects and programs that support the community. The staff works to provide access to a safe gathering space with information and technology. The Center is guided by an advisory board, made up of residents, that identifies needs and challenges and then collaborates to find resources. Recreational and educational opportunities for youth have been developed, including a

summer arts camp and after-school activities. The Center Staff has worked closely with Neighbors United projects such as the massive Night Out Against Crime Event, neighborhood cleanup days and a joint Community Survey project.

The Center has also supported residents who have organized around crime and safety issues, advocacy for the reopening of Stern Tennis Center and celebratory family-friendly events. Plans for the New Year include expanded programs for young people that combine crafts and entrepreneurism, computer literacy classes, and participation in the NeighborWorks America Gulf Coast Community Leadership Institute in June.

Other NHS efforts in Freret include: Working with Neighbors United Neighborhood Association and the Freret Business and Property Owner Association to form the Freret Neighborhood Partnership.

This partnership has created implementation plans that were submitted to the Office of Recovery Management and include redevelopment strategies for affordable housing and economic development.

Helping the Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Council to create and submit their reopening plan to the Archdiocese.

Organizing national volunteers to work with residents on service projects.

Businesses, individuals and organizations interested in joining the rebuilding of Freret are encouraged to contact the Freret Neighborhood Center at 504-373-6403 or e-mail kimberlyvanwagner@nhsnola. org. For a directory of community organizations and businesses in Freret, visit the Stay Local website, http://staylocal.org, to view the Freret Neighborhood Guide.

-Contributions by Shana Sassoon, NHS Co-Director of Community Building and Initiative.

NPN’s The Trumpet

La Nuit Theater 2301 Soniat St. at Freret

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Fridays

8:30 p.m.: God’s Been Drinking

A squad of veteran improvisers take only one audience suggestion and create what is essentially a one-act play with recurring characters and themes. Audiences are equally likely to be treated to non-sequitur antics that seemingly come from nowhere.

10pm: Open Mic Stand-up Saturdays

7pm: Comedy Sports NOLA

Two teams of improvisational performers (Actletes) compete in various games and performing scenes with audience members judging the results and awarding points.

Visit www.lanuittheater.com for more details

Top photos by Alethia Picciola

Dunbar’s Creole Cooking

Mrs. Dunbar stands in front of her old restaurant storefront. The Freret St. staple has not reopened since Hurricane Katrina. Mrs. Dunbar runs her business out of Loyola University’s Broadway Activities Center, but she has plans to move back to her old neighborhood within the year.

Bottom Right: The Freret Neighborhood Center is home to a number of neighborhood events including a computer lab and volunteer outreach opportunities.

Bottom photos by Shawn Chollette

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NPN’s The Trumpet

February 2008

The MLK Parade W

hile the holiday commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King’s memory may mean a day off from work or school for some, for many others, it’s a time to reflect on how far this great country has come in terms of equality and justice.

On this day, New Orleanians from all walks of life gathered at the steps of City Hall to listen a plethora of speakers share thoughts and feelings about the occasion, but perhaps the one phrase that stood out to me the most belonged to Mayor Ray Nagin.

He simply asked, “Where do we go from here?”

And at this point in our city’s recovery process, that’s a very fitting question. Where do we go from here New Orleanians in terms of building a fair, just and equitable city?

It’s important to remember “the dream,” but at some point, that dream needs to be realized. Pay homage to how far we’ve come in this process not only by looking back, but looking forward to what we can become.

-Shawn Chollette

Photo Essay by Shawn Chollette

NPN’s The Trumpet

Have a say in what is written about New Orleans

Get Published in The Trumpet

thetrumpet@npnnola.com 504-940-2207

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NPN’s The Trumpet

February 2008

Protecting Bayou St. John

Interview with Anne Rheams, Deputy Director for the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation The Trumpet:What is the best option for the protection of Bayou ST. John?

Anne Rheams: The Army Corps has presented two options. One is to build a levee across Bayou St. John, which would cut off the bayou from Lake Pontchartrain and take away their historical connection. The second option is to build up the existing levees and improve the floodgate. This one is the best option in our opinion.

The Trumpet: Why do you think so? What are the pros & cons of each process?

Anne Rheams: Well, there is nothing positive about building a levee across the bayou. This would decrease water quality, inhibit wildlife and cut off

the bayou’s historical and cultural connection to Lake Pontchartrain.

The pro of the second option is that it will work with what is already in place, and will maintain the bayou’s connection to the Lake. The negative side is that to open the floodgates, as the residents of Bayou St. John would like, would be an expensive process to maintain.

because that provides a physical record of your opinions that they are required to take into consideration.

You can submit comments on the web site http://www. nolaenvironmental.gov.

them. That is how we got the floodgates that we have today.

The Trumpet: How were the people successful in getting the Army Corps to build a floodgate as an alternative?

The Trumpet: Do you Bayou St. John is actually believe that the floodgates will protected by two different provide sufficient protection? laws. One is the Federal Yes. They provided Historic Preservation Law protection during Katrina. and the other is the State Scenic Waterways Act. The The Trumpet: What is the The Trumpet: Why was the law protected the bayou from easiest and most effective 1980 proposal to build a levee being turned into a lagoon. way for people to voice their across Bayou ST. John so opinion on this matter? unpopular with the public?

Anne Rheams: The Army Corps of Engineers is doing Anne Rheams: The Corps Anne Rheams: Same their job to protect the city has done an excellent job of reasons: Water quality, from unnecessary flooding, holding public meetings to get habitat, cultural and historical but it is our job as citizens people’s opinions. I definitely significance. The Corps and civic groups to help encourage people to attend proposed to build the same the Corps to make the right these. levee they are proposing decision for us. This is why Also, writing letters to now, and the Bayou St. John it is important to voice your the Corps is very effective Improvement Association sued opinion to the Corps.

Photo by Charles London

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Interview with Kevin Wagner, US Army Corps of Engineers The Trumpet: What is the best option for the protection of Bayou St. John? Why do you think so?

in Jefferson Parish. The other office within the district, which is called the Protection Restoration Office, they call it the PRO Office, Kevin Wagner: Rather than is handling Jefferson Parish, St. raise walls, we want to find the Charles Parish, all of the West most cost-effective situation . . .

Bank work, as well as some work our solution, with closure, would in Terrabeau. SO that’s how it fits allow water to continue through the in the grand scheme of things. But Bayou. We haven’t decided on the our responsibility in the HPR office, structure, but . . . [we will] modify which is the Hurricane Protection and improve . . . our big concern is Office, is mainly focused in Orleans, providing access to the Lake when St. Bernard . . . you cross Robert E. Lee, and the proper operation of the structure.

The Trumpet: What is the We’re looking for approval in the easiest and most effective way for Srping, and hoping for construction people to voice their opinions on to start in August, or September. this matter?

We need precautions during the replacement, especially if we are Kevin Wagner: The Corps building during hurricane season. encourages the public to provide written comments on the alternatives The Trumpet: Where is the for the hurricane protection system historical area near here, and how by mail, e-mail or by visiting www. will it be affected? nolaenvironmental.gov at any time throughout the environmental Kevin Wagner: The historical analysis period. area is behind the structure, its west Questions or comments side particularly. We investigate concerning proposed hurricane and culturally significant resources in storm damage reduction actions all of our areas and document that should be addressed to: Gib Owen, process to make it public and limit U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the negative impact of our work on PM-RS, P.O. Box 60267, New the surrounding environments.

Orleans, LA 70160-0267; phone: 504-862-1337; fax; 504-862-2088 or The Trumpet: Are there by e-mail at: mvnenvironmental@ other processes that have been usace.army.mil. considered? What are the pros and cons of each?

The Trumpet: Taking it back to a historical question, can I ask about Kevin Wagner: We got the 98 proposal to build a levee authorization from Congress to across Bayou St. John? Why that provide 100-year level of protection was so unpopular? for basically, the full Parish area, as well as some projects on the West Kevin Wagner: I don’t know.

Bank of the river. One of those We haven’t researched that a whole projects is the Lake Pontchartrain lot. But the 98 proposal, we did Vicinity Hurricane Protection look into that comment that that Project and that particular project gentleman made about how ‘they covers St. Charles Parish, Jefferson, shot that down.’ The language Orleans and St. Bernard Parish. that was passed by the legislature, So, our responsibility here, in the I believe, said they only had to Hurricane Protection Office is document the impact with any actually to cover Orleans Parish, alternative out there. That’s St. Bernard, Plackman, and and exactly what we’re doing with we had one little job down here these particular alternatives. We’re

looking at any potential impact that may occur. We document those, we’re going to present that information to the public, we know the way the people in this area feel about some of these ideas and alternatives. We’re willing to work with them. Ultimately, it comes down to, as a taxpayer, and a person who lives behind this protection, how fast you want protection, and how much you want to pay for that protection.

The Trumpet: What was the decision-making like for this process? Where does this process fit in with regards to the Corps' larger long-term plans for New Orleans?

Kevin Wagner: Our goal is to get all the hurricane level protection in by 2011. You know, we want to get this in as fast as possible. Some of these projects take an extremely long time and that’s why a lot of people are concerned that we’re not going to meet that deadline. We’re trying to do everything we can to meet that deadline. The problem is, in order to provide hurricane level protection at some of these locations, we have to due significant raising of the levees and floodwalls out there. Just for example,

out here, along the GIWW, this levee right here, this was a levees that was significantly damaged during Katrina. We had a lot of overtopping at this particular levee as well. Right after the storm, a lot of this area here, east of Station 15, was pretty much ground level. We raised it up to 19.5 feet. To get to the 100-year level of protection, we have to raise that same levee to 28 feet.

That means not only going higher, but the levee may have to go wider. And if we want to minimize the impact associated with raising that levee, we have to do all of these ground improvement techniques, y’know, to try to minimize that footprint, and reduce the impact to the Bayou Sauvage refuge. So it takes a little more time to not only look into the type of design that’s required, as well as the type of construction that’s necessary. If we do these ground improvement techniques, a lot of it may require soil improvement, which means . . . for that to happen, we have to degrade some of that levee that we just constructed. A lot of people don’t like the idea of degrading levees (laughs). SO, the other option is that we build a higher levee, but then our footprint gets bigger. We have to account for mitigation that continued on page 22

Scenes from an Army Corps Presentation, available online at usace.army.mil

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NPN’s The Trumpet continued from page 21 may be required.

We’re trying to keep the cost down as well as provide the protection, as well as provide the protection, and do it by 2011.

That’s a significant mission. Right now, just in my area, we have 31 contracts to get completed by 2011.

That’s an awful lot of work . . . That doesn’t include all of the other work that we have going on.

In other developments, I understand that the Corps will be having public meetings in the coming weeks. Could we please have the times and locations of those meetings? Will Kevin Wagner be speaking?

The environmental website has a list of upcoming environmental meetings for the Army Corps. This website was set up to share with the public the efforts being made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other Federal and state agencies in south Louisiana regarding the

February 2008 environmental compliance for proposed Federal and state Hurricane Protection Projects. http://www. nolaenvironmental.gov/ If you click on the "Meetings" header on the homepage you'll be taken to a calendar with the upcoming meeting dates.

The next IER meeting which impacts the Bayou St. John area is February 26, 2008. The Open House begins at 6:00 p.m., with Presentation and Discussion from 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. The meeting is located at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, on 6249 Canal Blvd. For more information, contact Gib Owen at (504) 862-1337 The Trumpet: What’s the reception been in general?

Kevin Wagner: It all depends on what areas we’re working in.

Those areas that were unaffected . . . Most of those areas, the meetings go very well, but those are folks

that really weren’t impacted by the storm. When you get out here in Lakeview, out here in New Orleans East, people get upset that you’re not providing protection as fast as possible. Believe me, my house was right here, so I know how important it is to get hurricane protection . . . it’s just too important, particularly for the folks who live and want to return back to their houses . . . We live in an area that is below sea level. SO anything we can do to help reduce the risk to people and property here is what we’re after. My entire family lived in St. Bernard Parish and there was not a member of my family that was not affected . . . even though we move slow, we definitely have a sense of urgency to get these projects in place . . . We don’t want to tell people something, it’s sometimes unpopular, that it takes that long to put these projects in place. But, that’s just the nature of the beast.

A day like today is not too bad for

construction. But when get rain, and bad weather, and high tides, it all has an impact . . . These are not the most accessible places to get construction going on. A lot of times, we were not able to haul materials out here When we built this levee between Bayou Bienvenue and Bayou Dupree, not only did we take materials from behind the levee to reconstruct it, but we also barged in materials, so that we could help accelerate the construction, just because when it came in off the barge, it was a lot drier and met our specifications, and we could put it in place a whole lot faster.

The Trumpet: Could you elaborate on plans for the MRGO? Kevin Wagner: That’s not my project, I know that there has been some talk of the de-authorization of the MRGO Channel . . . I don’t know what the timeframe is for all of that to occur.

Tell the Army Corps what you think should be done for Bayou St. John Send a letter or call:

Gib Owen, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, PM-RS, P.O. Box 60267, New Orleans, LA 70160-0267; phone: 504-862-1337; fax; 504-862-2088 or by e-mail at: mvnenvironmental@usace.army.mil.

Attend the next meeting:

The next Individual Environmental Report meeting which impacts the Bayou St. John area is February 26, 2008. The Open House begins at 6:00 p.m., with Presentation and Discussion from 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. The meeting is located at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, on 6249 Canal Blvd. For more information, contact Gib Owen at (504) 862-1337

The People in your Neighborhood

Seasoning Life in Central City Audrey M. Browder Chair, Central City Partnership

T

he Central City Partnership has a way of seasoning life in the surrounding community of Central City. This non-profit neighborhood organization has been active since 1994, blending local organizations, residents, public officials, churches and schools together like a big pot of gumbo. Imagine how tasteless

food is without salt and you’ve got an idea of an organization without new ideas or positive action, innovations and creativity.

The CCP has been a source of excitement and energy with projects aimed at awakening the area. It is our dream that this enthusiasm will make Central City the sweetheart of the city.

The focus of the CCP is in five areas: crime, housing, education, economic opportunity and health.

However, The CCP is always

seeking ways to season life in Central City. Examples from its long list of accomplishments include: a Family Day; Night Out Against Crime: a Job Fair: a Health Fair: a Forum on Housing Assessments: a Christmas bike Giveaway in collaboration with the Sixth District Police; partnering with City Council Leaders to combat crime; and discussions with the national television Program America’s Most Wanted. This year, the CCP has even more innovative ideas

and plans for the benefiting the community.

All stakeholders are welcomed to join in the seasoning by attending a monthly community meeting at 2020 Jackson Avenue in the first floor auditorium. The meeting is at 1 p.m. on the last Friday of the month, with a delightful lunch at each meeting.

The Central City Partnership acts and hopes to be the salt of the Central City community.

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Faubourg St. John Merchants Give Back Charles London Faubourg St. John Neighborhood The members of the Faubourg St. John Merchants Association are all great at providing goods and services to the surrounding neighborhood.

The Faubourg St. John Merchants Association isn’t all about money, as its members know and care about the community they serve.

The Merchants Association celebrated in a big way on July 14th,

2007. France and the French are an integral part of New Orleans history and were very generous to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. July 14th is Bastille Day in France. So, the Merchants hosted a block party with food from all the local businesses and great music from VaVaVoom. Later that year, on August 18th, 52 stars of the street came out to participate in Fair Grinds’ Dog Daze of Summer. Thanks to Diane Angelico and the rest of the Louisiana SPCA team who helped make this event possible.

Fair Grinds owners Elizabeth and Robert Thompson continue to be catalysts for neighborhood unity by allowing an eclectic mix of meetings to take place in the upstairs area of their business. The coffeehouse has also provided free beverages to participants in FSJNA’s Crime Watch Walks. Even though they weren’t officially open, Fair Grinds provided free coffee for many months after the storm to many people in New Orleans helping to rebuild.

Fair Grinds is just one of the many businesses in our neighborhood that consistently contribute to the betterment of our community. Swirl Wines invested in our neighborhood with their store just after the storm, and has been a runaway success ever since. Beth Ribblett and Kerry Tully, owners of Swirl Wines have helped raise over $ 30,000 for the following charities and events: The Y-ME Breast Cancer Support Organization The New Orleans Metropolitan Battered Women’s Shelter Project Lazarus Fortier Park Fund Raiser National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

For this charity, Swirl Wines sponsored teams for the Audubon Park walk and organized a team of ten people to ride on a two-day 150-mile tour from Hammond to Mississippi.

Swirl Wines also knows how to have fun, having hosted the Howling Halloween event on October 30th. The event brought costumed dogs and their owners out to party for Halloween.

Swirl Wines also participated in the Bastille Day Celebration and the Esplanade Holiday Fest held on December 15th, 2007.

Esplanade’s Asian Pacific Café is also a member of the Faubourg St. John Neighborhood Merchants Association and has contributed to Voodoo on

the Bayou, the Fortier Park Festival, Lafayette Square for the musicians, and Mid-City’s Bayou Boogaloo. Amy and Al Martinez of Asian Pacific also show family friendly movies in Fortier Park on Al’s inflatable screen. Asian Pacific also cooked BBQ for the National Guard every Saturday after the storm for fourteen weeks.

In January 2007, Asian Pacific Cafe supplied food for and participated in Deuce McAllister’s fundraiser for Children’s Hospital. It was also during this month that they contributed to the “Magic on the Bayou” at Cabrini High School.

Both Fair Grinds and Asian Pacific helped out “Caveman” and “Cowboy” as they are known in the neighborhood.

A neighborhood institution since 1925, Terranova’s Superette continues its tradition of excellence. Terranova’s is a family-run business that provides donations to all of the neighborhood’s events and causes. They participated in the Esplanade Holiday Fest, Fortier Park Fundraiser, donated to Voodoo on the Bayou and the Bayou Boogaloo, and even donated to the Big Easy Rollergirls when they raised money to resurface the skating area at Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World.

On August 15th, 2007, the City of New Orleans and Mayor Nagin bestowed upon Terranova’s Grocery a much-deserved commendation for their work after the storm. Even though their home flooded, Terranova’s stayed open seven days a week and had extended hours for months to make sure everyone had a place to obtain much needed items. The proclamation they received on August 15th states, “In recognition of your commitment to the business community and the City of New Orleans and in gratitude for your outstanding work in helping to Bring New Orleans Back!”

Because of the time it takes to make their famous stuffed artichokes, Terranova’s no longer carries them in their store. However, on November 17, 2007, at a fundraiser for Todd Windisch held in Fortier Park, Terranova’s made 50 of their legendary stuffed artichokes and did not begin selling them until the fundraiser started at 1 p.m. Fifteen minutes later all of them had been sold and the money was turned over to Todd.

While the stuffed artichokes aren’t

currently regularly available, you can still get their famous muffalettas once each week on Saturday only.

Get there early as all of the muffalettas are usually gone by 10 a.m.

Pal’s Lounge participated in the Bayou Boogaloo, donating their time to manning the beer tent and donating food, drink, talent and all their proceeds to the Renew Our Music Ernie K-doe Benefit, which supports New Orleans musicians. Pal’s Lounge also donated

continued on page 30

Photos by Charles London

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NPN’s The Trumpet

February 2008

KIDS RETHINK N E W

O R L E A N S

A series of monthly segments with Kids Rethinking New Orleans’ Schools, or Rethink.

Craig School:

What happened after mold closed the place down?

Conversations with Craig School Principal Wanda Anderson-Guillaume and Recovery School District Superintendent Paul Vallas Rethink: I can say as a student here that we like the Rethinkers new school better, but it was bad that we lost students in ust before Thanksgiving, the move. Some families felt students at the Joseph A. Craig uncomfortable sending kids School in Treme learned that to school so far away from mold was growing inside the old Craig. We heard that the school…big-time. After a lot of parents were angry at the holiday, the kids were the meeting where the school immediately bussed to a modular closing was announced. Some campus alongside Sarah T. Reed . . . thought there was a plot to High School in New Orleans close Craig. What do parents East. The site, originally think now? intended to house Reed Elementary, was not ready when Anderson-Guillaume: school started in September.

The parents who expressed Reed Elementary opened in those feelings all have their another modular campus on the kids here now. I don’t think grounds of Marion Abramson that the conspiracy theory had High School, leaving a new site a lasting effect. The real issue available for Craig. that concerns parents is that On a rainy day in December, they can’t get to their kids fast the Rethinkers visited Craig enough in an emergency. It’s School Principal Wanda the distance (from their homes Anderson-Guillaume at her to the new campus in New office in one of nine small Orleans East). No one has come buildings that also include five knocking on my door saying, classrooms, a security area “I don’t want my kids in this and a library that has not yet school!” Mainly the people that opened. left wanted schools that were nearer to their homes.

Rethink: What has it been like here on the new campus?

Rethink: How did you feel when you learned about the Anderson-Guillaume: It mold problem at Craig? feels really good. I think the students are happier.

Anderson-Guillaume: I felt relieved. It solved the Courtney French and Lucy Tucker

J

mystery about some people who felt a little ill. A few people complained of flu-like symptoms and upset stomachs.

We did not know why they had these symptoms. Some had the symptoms continually.

would have its own section of the building. The whole place would be clean and safe.

Rethink: What is the main difference between the old and the new Craig schools?

Anderson-Guillaume: The classrooms. Also, we have access to the (Sarah T. Reed) high school football field, so our kids get to play in the grass.

Anderson-Guillaume: The classrooms are larger and that gives the kids more workspace.

It’s cleaner and safer. We have a lower student / teacher ratio.

It used to be 25 to one or more.

Now it’s 20 to one.

Rethink: Do you think you will ever return to the old building?

Anderson-Guillaume: That’s a tough one! Maybe . . . maybe in about a year.

Rethink: If you could redesign the old Craig, what would it look like?

Rethink: What do you like best about this new campus out in the East?

Rethink: Do you have problems here you did not have at the old Craig?

Anderson-Guillaume: One minor thing. The emergency evacuation route is more difficult.

Rethink: If you could bring new programs to Craig, what would they be?

Anderson Guillaume: STAIR (Start the Adventure in Reading), YA/YA, Girls on the Move. And I would like an etiquette class.

Anderson-Guillaume:It Rethink: Would you prefer a would have larger classrooms, lots renovated Craig or a newly built of learning materials and a gym Craig? with a swimming pool, basketball court, tennis court and a huge Anderson-Guillaume: A yard. It would have a KaBOOM! newly built Craig! playground. Each grade level

NPN’s The Trumpet

Rethink: Why? Anderson-Guillaume: So we could have a real 21st Century learning center for children.

Rethink: Have you had any

brand new school. We’re still evaluating Craig to see whether we can renovate, or if it makes more sense to rebuild. I have to also add that the final decision about building a new school would be part of the Master Plan that is currently underway.

Rethink: Craig lost a lot of kids because of the move. Does that mean Craig lost money for each student?

Mr. Vallas: Craig won’t lose money because those students transferred to other schools.

indication that you’ll get a new school? Or a rebuilt school?

Anderson-Guillaume: It is not our decision. It is the RSD’s decision.

The Rethinkers emailed R.S.D. Superintendent Paul Vallas for further discussion of these issues. Here is a summary of Mr. Vallas’s comments.

Rethink: Mr. Vallas, we Rethinkers have some questions for you. Our first one is, will Craig School ever reopen?

Mr. Vallas: Hello Rethinkers! Yes, Craig will reopen, either as a completely renovated school building or a

Mr. Vallas: We don’t think we’ll have to move other schools.

But if we have to make that decision, it will only be to make sure that students and staff are in the best and safest environment.

There is mold in a lot of buildings in New Orleans because of our climate, so it’s important that we monitor our school buildings to make sure the levels of mold aren’t creating a problem for our children and school staff.

At Craig, the problem became worse after heavy rains damaged the roof and let water into the building.

Courtney French (left) and Wanda Tucker

The good Our counts for (right) with Craig School Principal Wanda thing about the funding are based Master Plan is Anderson-Guillaume. on October 1st that people in the community, enrollment. Also, the district including kids like you, will is registering dozens of new have a chance to give planners students every day, so Craig will their opinions about how our probably gain more students. schools will look in the future, and where schools will be Rethink: Do you think other renovated and rebuilt. schools will discover mold and kids will have to leave?

Rethink: Where do you think the Craig students will be next September?

Mr. Vallas: If we can completely renovate the Craig building, there’s a possibility students will be able to return by fall. But it’s still too early to say for sure.

Rethink: Thanks, Mr. Vallas.

Poetry

Of the virtue of the rain Jean-Mark Sens

take all it erases, leaves fallen in the furrow of time beyond printed dates on newspapers, crumpled wrappers and the half-face silvery turn of a moon.

Walking the night you are a fulcrum of your spine balance of your shoulders, shadows thinned in and out at street light intervals the weight of your life your steps punctuate the wet pavement reflects visible stars in their attentive brightness a much further realm our eyes captivate dim belief constellations are path ways to our fates-5 a.m. silence, plissé into the night watery folds in the sheen of its fabric.

An old wooden table in a garden,

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painted blue and sitting under a willow tree --table to eat on an early breakfast, sort out shells and crabs, open a newspaper, or just lean on against the finishing slant of the day.

Dusty with pollen, dewy with night mist, its warped top my finger coursed tracing the shape of your name as if letters could be the contour of your face the rain will fill out dimpling it to the rhythm of disappearance giving back a glistening after-image something of memory, filled and unfulfilled and the rain itself over my head to the edge of my lips, still new in a first taste of a place.

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NPN’s The Trumpet

February 2008

Stallings Gets Photoessay a New Look

by Breonne DeDecker S

aturday, January 19 was cold and rainy but far from miserable. That was the day of the Stallings Playground renewal, a KaBoom! building event that drew more than 200 volunteers. The Olive Stallings Playground, located at 1600 Gentilly (near the Fairgrounds), was first built in 1938.

The playground is a tribute to Olive A. Stallings, the first President of the Playgrounds Association (established in 1911) and a woman who contributed more than $150,000 to New Orleans’ playgrounds.

NPN was on the scene as part of its new Neighbor 2 Neighbor initiative, recruiting volunteers from throughout New Orleans and using the build as a space to network and discuss potential future collaborations.

Successful as the Playground renewal was, it is only the first step in longer-term improvements that the park will need if it is to do its namesake justice. The park still needs funds for future maintenance and repairs.

That said, the events of Saturday will most certainly be vital to the future of the park, the surrounding community and New Orleans.

-Ted Hornick, with additional reporting by Charles London

NPN’s The Trumpet

Ask City Hall Question:

My neighborhood wants to name our area, much in the way that Marigny, Bywater and St. Roch are named. We might also like to put up some signage at the entrances to the neighborhood. How do we go about doing that? Who can we call to find out more?

Answer: Interesting question. Maps developed through the UNOP

process used neighborhood names that were produced through an early 1970s study. Many people in the neighborhoods had never seen these names before and neighborhood identities have evolved over time, so sometimes they don’t match how the residents currently identify their neighborhoods.

My recommendation would be that citizens ask their Council members to sponsor a resolution identifying an area within specific boundaries.

Regarding signs, if they are to go in the public right-of-way, the people should submit a scaled drawing of what they would look like to the Design Advisory Committee (apply through City Planning staff) and then secure the approval of the Department of Public Works. I advise against calling a neighborhood a “parkway,” as a parkway is a grand landscaped boulevard such as Jefferson Davis or English Turn. A parkway is not a neighborhood.

Have a Question for City Hall or need a particular concern addressed?

E-mail it to sean@npnnola.com and the Trumpet will do its best to get an answer.

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District A City Hall, Room 2W80 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, LA 70112 Phone: (504) 658-1010 Fax: (504) 658-1016 SMidura@cityofno.com District B City Hall, Room 2W10 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, LA 70112 Phone: (504) 658 -1020 Fax: (504) 658-1025 SHead@cityofno.com District C City Hall, Room 2W70 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, LA 70112 Phone: (504) 658-1030 Fax: (504) 658-1037 JCarter@cityofno.com District D City Hall, Room 2W20 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, Louisiana 70112 Phone: (504) 658-1040 Fax: (504) 658-1048 CHMorrell@cityofno.com District E City Hall, Room 2W60 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, LA 70112 Phone: (504) 658-1050 Fax: (504) 658-1058 CWLewis@cityofno.com Council Member-At-Large City Hall, Room 2W40 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, LA 70112 Phone: (504) 658-1060 Fax: (504) 658-1068 AFielkow@cityofno.com Council Member-At-Large City Hall, Room 2W50 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, LA 70112 Phone: (504) 658-1070 Fax: (504) 658-1077 mdarnell@cityofno.com

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NPN’s The Trumpet

February 2008

NPN Forum Wrap-up:

From Bribery to Accountability: Public Parking Lot Management Mia Parlow NPN Public Relations

O

n Wednesday, January 16, 2008 the first public meeting of Transparent Accountable New Orleans met at NPN’s offices. Here are some of the outcomes and ways to get involved: With his group Transparent Accountable New Orleans, civil/

environmental engineer and urban planner Marty Rowland is leading an initiative to investigate public parking lot management in New Orleans. Rowland sees an opportunity to take a small part of government—its parking lots—and evaluate performance by looking at efficiency, generated revenue and transparency of the contracts. Transparent

Accountable New Orleans will look at contracts awarded since 1997 and will also conduct fieldwork to measure parking lot performance.

How you can get involved: Transparent Accountable New Orleans is looking for accountants and attorneys, as well as professors and students of political science, engineering, law, sociology, economics and

urban planning. Students will have the opportunity to conduct fieldwork. Those interested can learn more at the next meeting, scheduled for February 5, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at Futureproof, LLC, an architecture firm located at 822 1/2 Baronne Street, near Julia.

Please visit http://www. thirdlegconsultants.com for more information.

Teen Center Promotes Arts

January 21, 2008 saw “A Day On, Not a Day Off”

for teen members of the YOUTHanasia Foundation, Inc. The legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was honored by teen leaders from Jefferson and Orleans parishes.

2Cent, a New Orleans social change group of college students, led YOUTHanasia members in creating a mural painting honoring Dr. King at The Teen Center for Non-Violence.

The Teen Center was developed in response to the rise in teen violence in Greater New Orleans. It is a safe haven exclusively for teenaged youth in grades 8-12.

Located at 2031 Hancock Street in Gretna, the Teen Center is currently accepting youth for its after school and community service programs from the. For more information, call (504)-366-9025 or visit http://www. teenfriendlygno.com. For more information on the work of 2Cent, visit http://www.2-cent.com.

NPN’s The Trumpet

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Crescent City Celebration:

“The citizens who forgot to not care” Gill Benedek NPN Programs Manager

“What we really need to find

out is who is doing what!”

Have you heard this statement before? It can often be heard among friends discussing the recovery of New Orleans. The remark is also a favorite of non-profit organizations and neighborhood groups. With limited time and money for recovery efforts, duplicating other groups can be a costly endeavor. Answering the question of “Who is doing what?” is not as simple as creating a directory or computer database. Just as important is discovering why and how a neighborhood has organized to recover.

The Trumpet serves as NPN’s written record of New Orleans, helping illustrate the who, what, why and how of the city's recovery.

Recently, The Library of Congress began archiving the Trumpet through the Special Collections Library at Tulane University. When our children in RSD, Charter, OPSB and private schools grow up they will be able to read about the advocacy efforts of their parents (New Schools for New Orleans, TeachNOLA) and their peers

(Fyre Youth Squad, ReThink Project) to improve local education.

Like the Trumpet, the Crescent City Celebration is an opportunity for neighborhood residents to showcase their successes to the community at large. As NPN Executive Director Timolynn Sams notes, “Often times we are so involved with rebuilding, we don't take a moment to reflect on the good that we have done. The Celebration provides a moment as an artist to look at the craft from another viewpoint.” The Crescent City Celebration originated with the first Festival of Neighborhoods that was held in City Park’s Botanical Gardens in June 2006. Former NPN Executive Director Nathan Shroyer believes it was an opportunity “to stimulate collective conscientiousness between neighborhoods . . . A way for neighbors to meet each other, find answers and learn about grassroots success in a fun New Orleans environment.” Jared Zeller, co-producer of the Festival of Neighborhoods, notes “the first one was full of emotion. Residents were very involved in the planning process. Now, people are waiting to see what is being implemented from all the planning.”

While the speed of the government’s response to neighborhood needs left

Jenise Green, Ben Diggins, Ms. Linda, and Cheryl Diggins from the Rosedale and Melia Subdivision (NO East) swap stories. The two subdivisions have joined to form one neighborhood organization and have welcomed many former residents back to their community. Photos by NPN Staff

a lot to be desired, New Orleans residents have taken matters into their own hands. “No one is waiting on government handouts or assistance to get things accomplished,” emphasizes Mario Perkins, Broadmoor resident and Business Manager at NPN. “The Crescent City Celebration is a chance for residents to put their hard work and efforts on display.” It represents the best of people collaborating and sharing information to improve New Orleans quality of life.”

In fact, the concept of the Crescent City Celebration can trace a deep historical lineage. During the Moon Landrieu Administration in 1973, the Administration established the Neighborhoods City Hall, a common meeting place for neighborhood residents to ask questions and discuss their goals with New Orleans city officials. Even with the end of funding from the public administration, neighborhoods have shown their interest with each of the three Festivals of Neighborhoods gathering over 1,000 residents.

Vera Triplett, active resident of Milneburg Neighborhood Association, shares that the Crescent City Celebration “is valuable for me because I am able to go and physically spend time with leaders from other neighborhoods and learn how they organize and work with public services.” As March 7th and 8th near, Vera believes that the focus will be slightly different this time, as “Now money is being allocated and we need to make sure that as neighborhoods we are in a position to benefit. This is a great opportunity for me to learn from the neighborhoods that have a strong grasp on how to . . . Plus, I want public government officials to come and be prepared to answer our questions.”

As residents learn more about New Orleans’ neighborhood successes, we should recognize important changes. As New Orleans’ distinct neighborhoods make larger progress in improving the whole of city, different neighborhood organization representatives and members share their thoughts on their work:

The NPN Block Party in May 2007 brought together New Orleanians of all types: government workers, residents, entrepreneurs, musicians, and artists.

Andrew Amacker: Who: Neighbors United – “A Neighborhood group since 1974 of neighbors in Freret and Milan communities.”

What: “Not just revitalize the neighborhood, but bring it to where people want it to be – diversity across all ranges to revitalize the Freret corridor and build the foundation to sustain recovery and redevelopment.”

How: “Having gone through the planning process and been named as the recovery district helped focus the community. Our neighborhood survey also helps get data and outreach to residents.”

Why: “Because that’s what the people of our neighborhood want.”

Mario Perkins: “The first one had a lot of emotion and pieces. Now people are waiting to see implementation matching the speed of the planning. If we don’t start seeing the tangible fruits of the labor from all that stuff it could result in negative results. Apart from private developers where is the movement?”

We’re not seeing the money’s use. The city is even sitting on money.

What’s the next step? Do we need to hire project managers to put these initiatives forward? We have the people and the talent so there should not be any hold-up. We have so many negative conceptions of officials in positions of power that it seems more and more important for us to take the initiative to recognize what New Orleans needs and, if necessary, seize it ourselves. Insurance is a gatekeeper that may be preventing the economic growth of commercial and residential developments. As residents learn more about the who, what, why and how of New Orleans' neighborhood successes at the Crescent City Celebration we should recognize and important change.

Maybe it is time to re-adjust that old New Orleans slogan, and make sure the city never forgets to care for anyone.

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NPN’s The Trumpet

February 2008

continued from page 23 funds to get lights up in Fortier Park.

Pal’s Lounge continues to support the FSJNA in any way possible, encourages everyone to call on them when they can be of help and Pal’s looks forward to participating in community efforts.

Jacques Soulas of Café Degas dancing with any and all willing participants at the Esplanade Holiday Fest. Cafe Degas started serving French

bistro fare in 1986. Its owners are Jerry Edgar from Flint Michigan and Jacques Soulas from Paris, France. The chefs are Ryan Hughes from Ohio, Laurent Rochereux from France and Didier Ardoin from Venice Louisiana. Cafe Degas employs roughly 32 employees, 80% of which reside in the Faubourg St John area.

Most of the organizations that Cafe Degas supports are cultural and

education oriented. They include French organizations (Alliance Francaise, and the French American Chamber of Commerce) but also the New Orleans Museum of Art’s Arts in Bloom and Love in the Garden, City Park’s Christmas in the Oaks, and Audubon Zoo’s Zoo to Doo. Café Degas also supports through in kind donations many other local organizations such as Bridge House,

the Children’s Museum, Children’s Hospital and local schools: Mount Carmel Academy, Holy Cross, Cabrini, Christian Brothers and more.

The diversity of these businesses shows the Faubourg St. John Merchants Association’s sincere concerns for their community and for each other. Learn more about the group and their work at http://katrinafilm. wordpress.com

Community Events Neighborhood Meetings

Downtown Neighborhood Improvement Association February 12, 7 p.m.

Musician’s Union Hall, 2401 Esplanade Avenue, Upstairs

Bywater Neighborhood Association February 12, 7:00 p.m.

Freret Neighbors United Holy Angels Concert Hall, 3500 St. February 12, 6:00 p.m.

Claude Ave. Green Charter Middle School 2319 Valence St Bunny Friends February 9, noon Gentilly Greater Mt. Carmel 3721 N. Tuesdays, 6 p.m., Sav-A-Center Claiborne Ave Second Floor 6600 Franklin Avenue.

Carrollton United (504)-943-0044, ext. 112.

Saturdays, 8:30 a.m.

Greater St. John Missionary Pontilly General Meeting Baptist Church Saturdays, 11 a.m.

8616 Hickory Street St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church (504)-957-0585 Gentilly Terrace and Gardens Central City Renaissance Alliance February 13, 7 - 8 p.m.

Saturdays, 2 p.m.

Postal Workers Union Hall Ashe Cultural Arts Center 4200 Elysian Fields 1712 O.C. Haley Blvd.

(504) 280-7120 or president@ gentillyterrace.org Central City Partnership February 22, 1 p.m.

Hollygrove 2020 Jackson Avenue, second floor Saturdays, 12 p.m.

St. Peter AME Church Claiborne/University 3424 Eagle Street Neighborhood Association February 28, 7 p.m.

Lake Bullard Homeowners Jewish Community Center, Association 5342 St. Charles Ave. Saturdays, 3 p.m.

Cornerstone United District 6 Community Council Methodist Church Every other Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.

5276 Bullard Ave. University of New Orleans, Old Business Administrator Building, Mid City Neighborhood Room 211 Organization

February 11, 6:30 p.m.

Grace Episcopal Church 3700 Canal St. Holy Cross February 14, 5 - 7 p.m.

February 22, 5 - 7 p.m.

Center for Sustainability, Greater Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 5130 Chartres, Lizardi and Chartres Lake Bullard Homeowners Association Saturdays, 3 p.m.

Cornerstone United Methodist Church 5276 Bullard Ave. St. Roch February 14, 6 p.m.

Truve Vine Baptist Church, 2008 Marigny Street

Events Eracism Discussion Group Saturdays, 9 – 10 a.m.

3606 Magazine St. (504)-866-1163 Upper Ninth Ward Farmers Market Saturdays, 1 – 4 p.m.

Holy Angels Convent (St. Claude Ave. at Gallier St., in the 3500 block) Special events on the first Saturday of each month! Fresh local produce

Lower Ninth Ward Farmers Market Sundays, 12 – 3 p.m.

St. David Church, St. Claude Ave. at Lamanche St. Sistas Making a Change Mondays and Thursdays, 5 – 7 p.m.

Ashe Cultural Arts Center 1712 O.C. Haley Blvd.

(504)-569-9070 Friends of the Cabildo Book Signing, February 2, 11 a.m. - 1. p.m.

Errol Laborde signs copies of “Krewe: The Early Carnival from Comus to Zulu” 523 St. Ann St., Jackson Square Green Charter School Parade February 1 Green Charter School’s Kindergarten through third grade students will parade down the Freret corridor from their school. There will be beads!

KaBOOM! Build Mahalia Jackson Early Childhood and Family Learning Center Jackson and Freret February 15, 8:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

(202)-498-5488 Check http://www.npnnola.com for exciting information about NPN’s upcoming forums and events! E-mail Mia@npnnola. com for more.

NPN’s The Trumpet

Trumpet Awards celebrate neighborhood groups, advocates, and partnerships that build a stronger New Orleans.

E T O V R U CAST YO

31

Nominate up to 3 individuals or groups to receive one of

NPN’s First Annual Trumpet Awards!

Good Neighbor of Neighborhoods

Best Recovery Resource

Neighborhood Pheonix

Best Community Beautification Project

Best neighborhood councilperson

Best Business/Neighborhood Partnership

Best City/Neighborhood Partnership Most Outstanding Youth Group

Model Citizen

Best Faith-based Community Initiative

Best Education Advocate

Return this form to your liaison, or send to Elizabeth: Fax: 940-2208 Email: Elizabeth@npnnola.com

Send in the Trumpet Awards Ballot, and you will be entered into a raffle contest to win TWO TICKETS to

32

February 2008

NPN’s The Trumpet

y t i C t n e c s Cre

Celebration

March 7th

s s d r d r a a w w A A t t e e p p 2007 m f o m s u e s r u s e r c T c u TTHhhigeehlTighting the NEIGHBORHOOD S A Toast To New Orlean s Ne ighborh oods An Evening of NPN’s Members

March 8th

s o o h d r b h o ig N f o e l tiva F esTh e Neighborhood Showcase Event of the Year Nominate your neighborhood's leaders for the Trumpet Awards today!

For Tickets & Information Contact Mia@npnnola.com or 504-940-2207