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Write an article for the Trumpet ! Check page 2 for details

Neighborhood Voices, Citywide Power

April-May 2007

Issue #4 Volume 1

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

Find out more at www.npnnola.com

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NPN’S THE TRUMPET

APRIL-MAY 2007

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THE TRUMPET just keeps getting better. It’s all thanks to you, the contributors, and to you, the volunteers.

As for the submissions, we receive almost more than we can handle in our little office. It’s almost more than our simple PCs and programs can process to turn it all into what you see here. Forget the computers, it’s almost more then our tiny staff can handle!

This is our fourth issue. Little by little we’ve improved in all aspects, from seeking out submissions, to receiving them, to organizing them and then to laying them out in the paper. We learn little shortcuts here and there.

We streamline the process a little more. We seek out and use all the advice we can get.

We are in the process of creating an editorial board to guide us into the future.

In this issue, these stories and events, opinions and projects, and people and poems are evidence that we’re all putting’ in time. This city will not falter for lack of effort.

Like everyone else in this great city, we are working hard, long hours in an effort to re-make New Orleans. Sometimes it seems the progress is moving as slow as the growing grass in the neutral ground, around the abandoned houses and in the parks.

And the grass has grown tall.

But just as a good cutting and trimming improve the landscape, we hope all this time and energy we are all putting into the betterment of the city reveals its beauty hidden underneath.

Travis Leger Editor-in-Chief AmeriCorps Volunteer

Max Goldstein Assistant to the Editor

Pastor Bruce Davenport

Gill Benedek

NPN Board Co-Chair St. Bernard/St. John #5 Baptist Church

Distribution & Publishing AmeriCorps Volunteer

Patricia Jones

Mario Perkins

NPN Board Treasurer Executive Director, NENA Lower 9th Ward

Advertising, Writer AmeriCorps Volunteer

Emily Zeanah Editor, Writer AmeriCorps Volunteer

Deborah Langhoff Steering Committee District 5 Lakeview, Lake Vista Neighborhood Association

Amy Lafont Mid-City Neighborhood Association

Adrienne Crumpton

Latoya Cantrell

Editor UNO intern

President, Broadmoor Improvement Association

Village de L’est & Mary Queen of Vietnam

Father Luke Nguyen Poetry 3

Submission Guidelines: An article in .doc file.

Any photos and credits of photographer.

Contact information such as name, telephone #, email address, neighborhood/ district affiliation, organization.

Phil Costa NPN Board Chair City Park Neighborhood Association

AmeriCorps Volunteer

Travis Leger Editor-in-Chief, THE TRUMPET

Contact us with submissions or comments Email: thetrumpet@npnnola.com or call 504-940-2207 Write to us at The NPN Trumpet, 2401 Esplanade Ave. New Orleans, LA 70119

Founding Board Members

Lynn Aline Baronne Street Neighborhood Association

Community Events 4

Dorian Hastings

Neighborhood Voices 5

Project Manager, Central City Renaissance

Green Orleans 9

Julius Lee

The People In Your Neighborhood 10 Photo Album 11

Pine Timbers Neighborhood Improvement Association

Victor Gordon Pontilly Neighborhood Association

New Orleans’ Transient Blues 15

Correction Section •

“Kids Re-think New Orleans� 20

Kim Henry Oak Park Neighborhood Association

Photos for the “Marching In� article in the January 20 issue were taken by Rebekah Leger.

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Cover photo of February 15 issue was taken by Travis Leger, Photo Album photos were taken by Emily Zeanah.

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Cover and Photo Album photos of March 15 edition were taken by Dan Murdock.

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“Our Friend 2 Tall� in the March 15 issue was mistakenly combined with an

“Do We Need Watching?� in the March 15 issue listed Angela Mears, the author, as a University of Santa Clara student. She is in fact a Temple law student.

Non-Liability Disclaimers

in .pdf form, go to npnnola.com.

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A full version of the CHAT article in the March 15 issue has been posted on our website, npnnola.com. There you can find more links to more resources provided

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Physical submissions on paper, CD, etc. will not 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.

editor’s note, misrepresenting the authors’ work. To see the corrected version •

Third Party Submission Issues

by CHAT. In the March 15 issue, the “The Historic 7th Ward is the Backbone of New Orleans� article contained some errors. Mrs. Lucille Rivares sewed for the late Archbishop Rummell and not Mrs. Durelli Watts. Mrs. Watts was the modiste for many of the African-American carnival clubs such as the Young Men Illinois and the Original Men Illinois Club. Mrs. Durelli sewed the gowns of debutantes and queens, including her daughter the late Ina Watts-Gex, who was a past queen of the Young Men Illinois Club.

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 Neighborhood 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

SIDE

NOTES

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The third Festival of Neighborhoods, held at the Home and Garden Show in the Superdome from March 29th through April 1st, was a great success. Just over 30,000 people attended the Home and Garden Show and the event was a popular attraction.

Show-goers were able to visit tables with displays about each planning district, including a copy of their district plan and a free CD of the plan, and the tables were staffed by neighborhood representatives from that district. The response to these tables from show-goers was very positive – people were excited to talk about their neighborhood and their experiences and see their districts’ plans.

2500 CDs of the district and citywide plans were distributed to show-goers, and attendees were able to talk with someone from their area to share experiences and learn more about their district’s planning efforts. The tables also resulted in new connections between the neighborhood representatives at the tables, both between and within districts.

In addition, 22 non-profit organizations showcased their services at tables surrounding the district booths, distributing valuable information for the rebuilding and revitalization of our neighborhoods.

The Festival of Neighborhoods Planning Committee extends thanks to all who participated.

! " The Unified Nonprofits of Greater New Orleans, LANO, IPNL and the Good Work Network, with funding from the Greater New Orleans Foundation presented Social Enterprise: A Path to Greater Sustainability, a half-day workshop on earned income this past March.

During the workshop, participants were introduced to the concept of social enterprise, including social franchising; the benefits and risks of embarking on a social enterprise; identification and assessment of organizational assets that could be leveraged for a social enterprise opportunity; and brainstorming potential social enterprise opportunities that map to these assets.

The workshop started with opening remarks from the Case Foundation's Social Investment Manager, Michael Smith.

AOL's co-founder, Steve Case, and his

wife, Jean, founded the Case Foundation in 1997. The foundation invests in leadership, collaboration and entrepreneurship in order to achieve sustainable solutions to complex social problems.

Community Wealth Ventures, a leading social enterprise consulting firm, facilitated the workshop and presented innovative approaches to building earned income.

Social Franchise Ventures, a subsidiary of Community Wealth Ventures, discussed how the nonprofit sector can leverage the power of franchise businesses. In addition, two local social entrepreneurs, Cliff Doescher from the ARC and Craig Cuccia from CafĂŠ Reconcile, shared experiences about their community-oriented business ventures. CafĂŠ Reconcile takes teens off the streets and immerses them in several aspects of the restaurant business. The ARC takes mentally challenged citizens and puts them to work in janitorial services.

# " $ The Open Studio Artists Spring Tour will be held at different locations in Bywater, Marigny, lower French Quarter and Esplanade Ridge April 21-22, noon until 5:00pm.

Spring is the perfect time to enjoy art, and OPEN STUDIOS is a great way to meet the artists in their own spaces. Perfect for bicycling or walking, the OPEN STUDIOS event allows you to visit multiple artists on a lovely spring weekend, Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22, from noon until 5:00pm.

Using the tour’s easy-to-follow map, you can enjoy meeting painters, photographers, mosaic artists, fiber artists, jewelers, sculptors, book artists, ceramicists and more in the Bywater, Marigny, lower French Quarter and Esplanade Ridge.

More than 25 artists will have work available for appreciation and purchase. “The Open Studios continue to attract fine artists who live and work in some of our oldest neighbor-hoods,â€? said ZĂŠ daLuz, participant and organizer. “It’s exciting to meet and talk with people about art on a one-to-one basis. This unique event allows an enjoyable exposure to artists in a casual setting.â€?

Admission is free and the public is welcome. For more details on participants and examples of artwork, as well as a detailed map, please visit www.OpenStudioArtists.org. Maps will also be available at neighborhood businesses on the weekend of the event.

For more information please contact ZĂŠ daLuz, 504-947-8884, or email info@openstudioartists.org

Poetry

Pieces of the Sky The wind, the water Washed my home, My people away, My people wash far Away my home.

Pieces of the sky.

The wind, the water Took my home Into the lake.

Home so fleeting The pieces of the sky.

The wind and the water Biblical lesson.

The lake came to visit The river. The lake Came to my house.

The wind and the water So fleeting, Pieces of the sky.

Greg Fuchs

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NPN’S THE TRUMPET

APRIL-MAY 2007

& For more Community Events take a look at our calendar at www.npnnola.com

NPN WEDNESDAY FORUMS NPN Forums are held from 6-8pm on Wednesdays

Meetings

Musicians Union Hall 2401 Esplanade Ave. New Orleans, LA 70119

Central City Partnership

Meets last Friday of the month Tuesdays, 6 p.m., at Sav-AFriday April 27, 1-2:30pm Center, second floor, 6600 Identifying, developing and Franklin Ave. The group holds implementing strategies to a meeting to discuss commu- rebuild. nity issues in Gentilly. Call 2020 Jackson Ave., Second Crystal at (504) 943-0044, Floor ext. 112.

Gentilly

Gentilly Terrace and Gardens Wednesday, 7 p.m., in Kirschman Hall, Room 137, University of New Orleans.

Call Norm Whitley at (504) 280-7120 or e-mail president@gentillyterrace.org

Bywater Neighborhood Association Meetings Tuesdays, 7 pm Holy Angels Concert Hall, 3500 St. Claude Ave.

Mid-City Recovery Planning Committees First Monday of every month, 6:30 pm, in the chapel of Grace Episcopal Church 3700 Canal St. Call (504) 905-9713.

Carrollton United Saturdays, 8:30am-noon Greater St. John Missionary Baptist Church, 8616 Hickory St.

May 26th--Bayou Boogaloo A broad discussion of all the (see page 8 for neighborhood issues relevant to the Hisfestival ad) panic community of the New Orleans region.

Holy Cross Community Fridays:

Meetings

District 6 Community Council Meets every other Tuesday 6:30 pm UNO old Business Admin Bldg Room 211

Hollygrove Saturdays, noon, at St. Peter AME Church, 3424 Eagle St.

Got Culture?: A roundtable conversation with representatives from local cultural organizations,tradition-bearers, artists, and designers sharing their experiences working in New Orleans culture.

4/27 at 1000 Howard Ave., NO, 1st floor 5/11, 1000 Howard Ave., NO, 1st floor 5/25, 3315 Maine Ave., Kenner 6/8, 1000 Howard Ave., NO, 1st floor 6/22, 3315 Maine Ave., Kenner

Events Uplay—Kaboom’s Operation Playground Three day training that provides all the resources and knowledge you need to build great

NPN FESTIVALS NPN’s Musician’s Hall Jazz & Neighborhoods Block Party May 2, 5pm-10pm, 2401 Esplanade Ave. Come enjoy live music and food with us at our home base. Hot 8 Brass Band, To Be Continued Brass Band and others. FREE

play spaces in your community.

Find out more www.kaboom.org or 202-659-0215

from the ferry across from the Courthouse. Features Reggae Band Ambush. The market is The Porch Programs Contact Carrie Burks for more open daily 11am-6pm. information on these proCall 364-3939. grams cburks1@cox.net

Eracism Discussion Group

3rd Annual CelebraciĂłn Latina

Saturdays, 10-11:30 am 3606 Magazine St., Topic: race relations in New Orleans.

Call 866-1163.

April 21, 2007 from 11am to 6pm Presented by Tulane University's Stone Center for Latin American Studies, Center for Public Service, the Pebbles Center of the New Orleans Public Library, and the Hispanic Apostolate, Laurence Square (corner of Napoleon and Magazine Streets)

Sistas Making a Change

Monday & Thursday 6:00 to 8:00 pm Ashe Cultural Center 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Zion City Neighborhood Blvd.

Improvement Association An Inner-city Wellness & Wednesday, May 2, 7-8:30pm Health Project Using Culture St. Matthias Catholic Church to Promote Wellness & 4230 Broad St. Healthier Lifestyle.

All age groups are welcome!

Citizens Road Home Action For more information contact: Team (CHAT) Lashundal Moore at Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m., in (504) 569-9070 the old Business Administration Building, Room 212, Uni- Upper Ninth Ward versity of New Orleans. The Farmers Market advocacy group meets Saturdays, 1-4pm,Holy Angels weekly. Visit Convent (St. Claude at Gallier) chat.thinknola.com.

Hispanic Forum

Thursdays, 5-7 p.m., Holy Cross High School, 4950 Dauphine St. Use Chartres Street entrance to the large white trailer on the left.

Forums Wed., April 25

Lower Ninth Ward Farmers Market Sundays, 1-4pm, St. David Church (St. Claude at Lamanche)

New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival April 12—22 Fourth annual citywide film festival, featuring visionary, powerful and beautiful new films from New Orleans and around the world. www.nolahumanrights.org 504.525.2767

“Reggae on the River�

The Caribbean Crafts Market Every Saturday, 11am-6pm, Take a Free Ferry ride from Downtown to the Village in Old Algiers, a few steps away

Kids Theater workshops at St. Anna’s Church 1313 Esplanade Ave. Tuesdays 4-6pm Fridays 12-2pm Saturdays in conjunction with NYU and Neighborhood Housing Services.

The 1st Annual 7th Ward Cultural Festival

May 11 - May 13 1943 Pauger honoring Baton Rouge Fair Housing Summit neighborhood mothers and Thursday, April 26 7am-5pm celebrating 7th Ward cultural traditions in conjunction with Geared towards housing adThe Original Big Seven Pleasvocates and housing professionals, the summit will cover ure and Social Club. advanced topics in fair hous- Fri. May 11 ing. The event will feature ad- Music and flyers passed out. dresses from Shanna Smith, Sat. May 12 President and CEO of the Na- 11-7pm Four neighborhood bands, spoken word performtional Fair Housing Alliance, and James H. Johnson, Direc- ances, Youth Theater Co., Kid’s Art Camp plus food and tor of the Urban Investment drinks.

Strategies Center.

Sun. May 13 www.gnofairhousing.org River Center, 275 South River The Original Big Seven Mother’s Day Parade in conRoad, Baton Rouge, LA. junction with other 7th Ward Homecoming Center Social and Pleasure Clubs.

Housewarming Party

Sat. May 19, 12-9pm Join us for food, fun and music!

Together, we're building a stronger New Orleans.

1222 Dorgenois

Listening Session for Hispanics Tues. May 29, 6-8:30pm Hispanic community members will be able to speak on issues of race relations and members of other communities may listen.

Basin Street Station.

Submit Your Event !

For the Community Events Calendar Email: thetrumpet@npnnola.com Call: 504-940-2207 Write: The NPN Trumpet 2401 Esplanade Ave. N.O. 70119 Submissions due May 7.

NPN’S THE TRUMPET

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Neighborhood Voices -

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By Heather Hall Louisiana Justice Coalition Protecting the rights of all people accused of a crime is a constitutional guarantee. In Louisiana, all persons arrested for a crime which runs the risk of a jail sentence are entitled to an attorney.

If the person cannot afford to hire their own attorney, they are eligible to be represented by a public defender. In Louisiana, between 85-90% of all criminal defendants are represented by the system of public defense.

Louisiana’s public defense system is broken. For more than 30 years, dozens of local and national organizations have condemned Louisiana’s indigent defense system. More than 45 state editorials have been written calling for reform, and the Louisiana Supreme Court has gone so far as to grant trial judges the right to halt certain prosecutions when resources to ensure an effective defense are not available.

Louisiana has had grossly underfunded indigent defense services for decades. As a result, public defenders are overwhelmed with unmanageable workloads and indigent defendants languish in jail for months or even years waiting to go to trial as part of the backlog.

Across the state, public defenders frequently lack professional office space,

updated technology, and investigative resources. Many times, the only time that a public defender speaks to their client is in the courtroom, moments before trial. The woeful lack of resources makes this experience the norm across the state.

National standards exist as a fundamental guide for a functional, effective, conflict-free public defense system. These standards include: independence from law

But it’s not only the rights of the accused at stake. For Louisiana to successfully rebuild, it’s got to be on the strong foundation of a justice system that serves and protects all the people and businesses — in New Orleans and statewide. A balanced criminal justice system ensures that we can trust the process, rely on the outcomes, keep everyone safe and rebuild successfully. The failure to preserve a

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% ' * $ ! & + $ " " , enforcement and the judicial system, prompt appointment of counsel, adequate training, manageable workload, parity with prosecutor resources and other standards.

When Louisiana’s system of public defense was graded against national standards for indigent defense services, it failed 8 of the 10 categories, and received below average grades in the other two categories. Louisiana’s public defense services for juveniles fail every national standard.

balanced justice system puts everyone at risk. Innocent people can be held in prison while the guilty remain at large. Further, sometimes situations develop where dangerous criminals go free because the current system is so broken that procedure isn’t followed and rights are violated.

Residents of Louisiana deserve a criminal justice system whose verdicts are swift, accurate, fair and final.

Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate of any state in the nation. In New

Orleans alone, statistics reflect more than 25,000 arrests every month. It is critical that the indigent defense system be remedied with additional funds and greater accountability in order to protect public safety and spend tax dollars in the most effective way possible. As Louisiana struggles to recover, part of its recovery must be to build a justice system upon which the state, its businesses, and its residents can rely.

Job one in rebuilding Louisiana has to be building a balanced and functioning justice system. Without a viable criminal justice system in place, there is no public safety. Without any assurance of public safety, how will the state rebuild? Trying to rebuild Louisiana without establishing a balanced justice system would be like trying to pump water out of New Orleans before fixing the levees – it’s a losing proposition.

Heather H. Hall is Director of the Louisiana Justice Coalition, online at www.lajusticecoalition.org. She lives near the Fairgrounds in the Mid-City neighborhood of New Orleans. Since she moved there in 2002, she has worked in the nonprofit arena, focusing on a range of equal justice issues facing the Louisiana community. In particular, she has focused on work related to the reform of Louisiana’s indigent defense system.

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By Nurhan Gokturk NOLA Homebuilders Returning to New Orleans is not easy.

Stepping back into a flood-damaged environment is something none of us have ever done. There is no “how-to� manual to navigate permits, reconstruction and in general, getting a lost life back to normal.

Despite this challenge, anyone wanting to return to New Orleans can. There’s a lot of talk lately about the role apartments, Section 8 and public housing fit into the

“new� New Orleans. What role will housing now play in the comprehensive plan our city desperately needs to get off the ground? While post-storm tax credits and other incentives are laudable initiatives, now is the time to advocate long-term home ownership over month-to-month rental ownership.

New Orleans has always been a town of renters. Pre-Katrina, statistics showed this city’s ratio of those owning homes compared with renters was the exact opposite of national trends. We need to be a place where returning home leads to keys

that open doors we own – not those of government subsidized units and mortgage-paying landlords .

We all know rents have skyrocketed since the storm. In this supply and demand dynamic, now is the time for us to take a long look at the many private market incentives encouraging home ownership.

Neighborhood revitalization groups and local banks offer free classes that educate the public to manage debt, establish credit and in general become worthy candidates to reach America’s number one goal: owning their own home.

We can continue to plan and debate what New Orleans will ultimately look like. But now’s the time to change our thinking that has ruled the housing culture here for decades. Increasing home ownership rates could be a catalyst to attract outside real estate interest to New Orleans.

The possibilities are endless.

Nurhan Gokturk is founder and president of NOLA Homebuilders.

E-mail the author at: nurhangokturk@gmail.com

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NPN’S THE TRUMPET

APRIL-MAY 2007

0 ( # $ European Dissent As white folks committed to holding ourselves and other whites accountable for our conscious and unconscious racism, we were extremely disturbed by recent media coverage featuring white people talking about applying for concealed weapons permits for their "safety." None of this coverage has asked the question, "Against whom are these white men and women arming themselves?"

We have a long and sordid history in this region of armed white men "taking aim" at people of color and justifying their vigilantism in the name of safety for themselves and their families. The violent birth of the Klan and the N.R.A., and the lynching of Black men by white men, supposedly for the protection of white women, come vividly to mind.

Those acts were also done by "average citizens," white people similar to the ones in these articles who are learning to fire a bullet directly into someone's chest. And in more recent history, white men with guns in Gretna used them to turn Black

New Orleanians away from safety during the flooding.

The thought of lots of white citizens covertly arming themselves on the streets of our city doesn't make those of us writing this letter feel any safer. In fact, quite the contrary. The thirst for more guns and more cops as a solution, fueled by an underlying fear and suspicion of people of color will never bring us the safety we need.

Real safety begins when we as white people join the conversations happening all around our city that resist profiling people and instead seriously and compassionately target the root causes of violence. It's not just rhetoric to insist that safety comes when we all work toward everyone having decent housing, enough food, meaningful work, credible healthcare and a quality education.

New Orleans' "recovery czar" Ed Blakely noted this April 6th when he commented, "[T]he poverty problem has to be solved, not the crime problem. And we have to bring safety by bringing jobs. As my grandfather used to say, he'd never met a criminal with a second mortgage...And

you can't feel safe until your kid's in a good school, so we're working on that.

And you can't feel safe unless there's a good hospital."

As whites living, working and rebuilding in the greater New Orleans area, we ask other whites to join us in being as committed to "public safety" as we are to our personal safety. We ask you to reexamine our tendency to remain silent and seemingly unconcerned when it is Blackon-Black violence happening in mostly Black neighborhoods.

We ask you to speak up and out when anyone is harmed or murdered, not just when that violence hits white bodies in 'good' neighborhoods. Otherwise, our silence and inaction will continue to reinforce the idea that a white life is worth significantly more than any other, an idea absolutely detrimental to people and communities everywhere.

European Dissent is a white antiracist New Orleans-based collective of The People's Institute for Survival and Beyond.

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Wednesday, April 25 6pm-8pm Musicians Union Hall 2401 Esplanade A roundtable conversation with representatives from local cultural organizations and tradition-bearers sharing their experiences in New Orleans culture.

We hope to hear about many different aspects of our culture from a wide range of New Orleanians. It is important to identify the neighborhood roots and origins of New Orleans' world famous cultural economy.

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By Nathan Shroyer Downtown Neighborhood Improvement Association The following was presented to the City Planning Commission on March 8th, 2007 ‘Thank you for having us. I am a resident of N. Johnson Street Planning District 4, 7th Ward, Esplanade Ridge section of Treme. I am a Board Member of DNIA Downtown Neighborhoods Improvement Association. ‘I am here to support the adoption of a citywide recovery plan with your leadership that adopts the suggestions being submitted. My comments are about scale in a recovery plan. ‘The scale of the disaster should be measured in a recovery plan by a scale of opportunity that all citizenry of New Orleans is acutely aware of following Katrina. The scale of this disaster should be measured by the scale of the opportunity that follows from it. New Orleans has an enormous opportunity and responsibility to measure ourselves against our restoration, both human and physical. The two are inseparable. ‘The scale that was not discussed in the citywide recovery plans is what I would like to describe to you here at the City

Planning Commission; I will focus on three different aspects of opportunity and give you one example. ‘These three aspects of the scale of New Orleans post-Katrina opportunity are: (1.) The scale of democracy growing in New Orleans should be recognized as a newly forming export economy - producing new and stronger relationships that can be harvested here and reseeded elsewhere.

Citizen democracy can produce a new export economy.

(2.) Like Kobe, Japan before us, the scale of expertise developing at citizen and organizational levels, puts New Orleans on the cutting edge of preparing the world for the next major disaster. A Gulf South Disaster Initiatives Institute should be constructed from the complex networks of expertise developing here through mutually beneficial partnerships.

The disaster expertise developing here should be built into rapid reaction teams to serve the world, building knowledge exports that assist the world after future disasters.

(3.)The rethinking of our neighborhoods and the subsequent reconstruction efforts should leverage the scale of the disaster to build economic alliances between environmental, geographical, and cultural opportunities.

‘By example, here is one of many scale-driven economies that will restore New Orleans: If you are building a solar powered development for 500 families, it is cost prohibitive. This community is available for the wealthy only. If you are building a solar powered community with 50,000 solar rooftops, it is affordable to everyone.

Better, you have (1) created a green building export industry, (2) developed renewable and sustainable energy resources, (3) protected communities from emergencies by providing an alternative to electric grid problems following hurricanes and storms, (4) built on our asset of natural geography, and, (5) fostered environmental stewardship and civic responsibility. ‘Let us leverage opportunities of scale that follow from disaster to restore our queen city. ‘The leaders of this community, (business, civic, and community working together), must negotiate and innovate for the necessary resources of scale needed by citizens to manage a restorative and change-focused philosophy which all of New Orleans is waiting for. Together, through social, economic, and cultural entrepreneurship, we can leverage this disaster into the opportunity which the Country and the World expect from us.

‘In summary, create economic development, jobs, micro and macro industries of change, social and economic equity, and a more human, sustainable living environment. ‘Thank you, again, for allowing citizens to shape the change necessary for a restorative recovery and rebuilding process to build a healthful and sustainable New Orleans.'

Submit Your Ideas and Opinions.

To The Neighborhood Voices Section We want to hear from everybody!

Email: thetrumpet@npnnola.com Call: 504-940-2207 Write: The NPN Trumpet 2401 Esplanade Ave. N.O. 70119

NEIGHBORHOOD VOICES

NPN’S THE TRUMPET

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By Endesha Juakali Survivors’ Village One year ago, Survivors'' Village took its first steps towards the front of the bus and started an active resistance against the City of New Orleans, its housing authority (HANO) and their combined efforts to prevent public housing residents from returning to their homes.

Residents and volunteers stormed the gates of St. Bernard Developments, forcing through barbed wire fences erected by HANO, to allow residents access to their homes. For some it was their first opportunity since hurricane Katrina and Rita to view the state of their apartments and retrieve things they wanted.

Our campaign is an active and vibrant struggle, surging and soaring in some moments, lagging and depressing in others.

One of our members summed up our year aptly: Tell no lies...claim no easy victories.

A year ago, when HANO officials boarded up windows and doors and erected barbed wire-topped fences around the developments, the destruction of public housing was a foregone conclusion, but residents and supporters did not stop fighting.

Firstly, our fight to preserve these neighborhoods moves forward via a viable lawsuit, a lawsuit most thought would be summarily dismissed.

Secondly, via Rep. Maxine Water's Bill (HR-1227), which mandates the reopening of 3000 apartments by August, and halts the demolition of public housing while it guarantees one-for-one replacement for any development,. The bill passed with overwhelming support in the house and has moved on to the Senate.

Thirdly, via the construction of Resurrection City, several wooden structures meant to house protesters. Fourthly, via winning the public support of elected officials. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has endorsed maintaining the current housing stock. Finally, St. Bernard residents are meeting with representatives of the AFLCIO to discuss the possibility of residents buying and redeveloping the area.

Our setbacks only highlight our city's misguided recovery and rebuilding effort.

Following one of the most violent weekends in New Orleans, seven murders in a 72 hour period, city officials diverted the police force to ticket a Survivor's Village protester exercising his First Amendment rights and then destroyed the structures of Resurrection City. The city also assigned future security of the St. Bernard Development to the New Orleans Police department.

Activists fighting alongside residents face charges in municipal court which under normal circumstances would routinely

be dismissed. In addition to myself, Malcolm Suber from the People's Hurricane Relief Fund, Jay Arena from C3, Bork from Mayday NOLA and Curtis from Common Ground have also been jailed and forced to fight various charges.

The New Day Community Center, inside St. Bernard, was destroyed by S.W.A.T. team members and HANO maintenance men after they removed peaceful protesters. It is clear to me that we are about to be met with a serious effort by the city to close both Resurrection City and the Survivors' Village permanently.

Our response must be to dedicate ourselves the rebuilding of both Survivors' Village and Resurrection City. We must take the battle to the mayor and City Hall.

Tuesday April 3, 2007, there was an emergency Survivor's Village meeting, and we decided to implement the following action steps.

1. Starting Saturday, April 7, we will replace the signs, symbols, and memorials torn down by the city.

2. Saturday, April 14, we will have a 24 hour protest vigil at the home of our Mayor, who won re-election primarily because of the support of public housing residents.

3. After the vigil we will begin 24hour, 7-day a week, in-your-face direct

action campaign targeting the mayor.

4. We will picket and march on the Jazz and Heritage festivals to educate tourists as to what is going on in New Orleans.

5. We will plan and implement a time limited tent city in Duncan plaza in the near future.

6. We will rebuild Resurrection City on Saturday, June 2, 2007, and maintain a 24 hour, 7 day a week presence from that point on.

How can you help? We will need the help of righteous and dedicated people in the following ways to continue our struggle successfully: 1. We need financial resources to rebuild Resurrection City, the Survivors' Village and the New Day Support Center (to house volunteers and to insure a place for people to live close to the battle front).

2. We are calling for physical supporters. If you can, come to New Orleans the first weekend in June and meet us at Resurrection City. We will need as many bodies as possible! Going to jail may be part of this job description.

To donate make checks payable to Survivors' Village 3820 Alfred St. New Orleans, LA 70122 For more information contact Endesha Juakali 504-239-2907 or ejkssno@yahoo.com

New Orleans may have turned a corner with the unveiling of Blakely's $1.1 billion recovery plan. Meanwhile, indicators suggest that the rebuilding of New Orleans' essential infrastructure is basically stalled as federal recovery dollars remain mired in red tape. Housing indicators are mixed at best, but economic indices suggest a notable strengthening of the economy in the New Orleans metro area.

Unemployment Claims Operational Buses & Open Public Transportation Routes in New Orleans

Source: New Orleans Regional Transit Authority Sources: Louisiana Department of Labor; Office of Workforce Security, U.S. Department of Labor.

Notes: Cell entries reflect the number of unemployment claims filed during the previous week. na = not available. Data for Orleans Parish and RLMA 1 are recorded only once each month. RLMA 1 = Regional Labor Market Area 1 (New Orleans Region) and includes Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist and St. Tammany Parishes.

The Katrina Index is a joint publication of the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center and The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program.

It is updated monthly at www.gnocdc.org

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Green Orleans

Green Orleans

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3 # Talk to your neighbors and then talk to Parkway Partners. Identify a vacant area and develop a group of interested neighbors. Select a representative to call Parkway Partners’ Community Gardens

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By Hillary Strobel and Theo Eliezer Replant New Orleans Replant New Orleans was founded in the spring of 2006. At that time estimates of New Orleans’ tree canopy loss due to Katrina were anywhere from 35 - 75%.

The solution to this devastation is a large scale reforestation effort that ensures trees are placed where they will be of the most use. This includes planting food producing trees in folks’ backyards and making sure that the benefits of tree cover extend equitably to the most people possible. The right kinds of trees should be placed in the right places and cared for properly — this way we will create an urban forest that thrives and reflects New Orleans’ regrowth.

One of our programs that we are most excited about right now is the weekly Neighborhood Tree Planting Project.

Through this program, residents can contact us and request free trees and planting assistance for their block. We survey the proposed site and gain permission from the city to plant, and then set up a tree planting

day. This project has proved to be immensely rewarding for all participants, residents and volunteers alike, because the implementation is rooted in community.

We’ve worked in the Lower Ninth Ward, the Bywater, Hollygrove, Mid City, and Central City. We hope to work with every neighborhood in the equitable distribution of this most precious resource.

Replant New Orleans will also be planting 100+ trees, many of which will be food producing trees, with the residents of Central City for Earth Day. The scope of this project includes planting 15 trees in front of the 6th District Police Department, 20 trees in the New Hope Baptist Church’s Peace Park, and 10 in the Kwanzaa Garden on Oretha Castle Haley Blvd in cooperation with the Neighborhood Gallery and Parkway Partners. The remaining trees will be donated to and planted by Central City residents in their yards, neutral grounds, and banquettes.

In the coming months we will also begin offering regular workshops free to the community on topics such as home

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Hike for KaTREEna Thousands of trees in New Orleans, Louisiana, were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Many of those trees were located in public spaces. Monique PiliĂŠ, a lifelong resident of New Orleans, intends to do her part to replant those trees.

Forty-one year old Monique has sold her home, left her job, and in April, 2006, set out to hike the Appalachian Trail. She completed her journey on October 7, 2006. The Trail is 2,175 miles long, cutting through Georgia, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. It was Monique’s lifelong dream to walk the Trail. In the wake of Katrina’s destruction, she wanted to combine that dream with the chance to give back to New Orleans. Through sponsorships, she hopes that each mile of her trek will lead to the

planting of at least one tree in New Orleans.

To further these goals, Monique has created a non-profit organization, Hike for KaTREEna. It is through this organization that she will raise the money for the trees.

Currently, she has raised over 30,000 dollars, but still has a long way to go to reach her goal of planting 2175 trees in New Orleans.

Hike for KaTREEna will work together with other New Orleans organizations, among them the Young Leadership Council (YLC), a volunteer-led organization whose mission is to address a myriad of issues facing New Orleans, including the beautification of its public spaces.

To find out how Hike For KaTREEna can help your neighborhood recover please contact Monique at 504 301-5628 or visit the website at www.HikeforKaTREEna.com

composting, phytoremediation, native plant identification, garden crafts for children, and urban sustainability.

Replant New Orleans is looking for volunteers to assist with our neighborhood plantings every weekend. This work involves digging holes, moving trees, planting, mulching, watering, and begins with a tree planting intensive. We usually plant 15-30 trees at a time, and we are always looking for as many tree lovers as possible to welcome these beauties to their new homes! For more information or interest in volunteering and donating, please contact us at: trees@replantneworleans.org. Also, please visit our website at www.replantneworleans.org

Project at 620-2224 or email macon@ parkwaypartnersnola.org with the addresses of adjacent buildings to the vacant property. Parkway Partners will begin the research necessary to identify the owner and to obtain permission for its use.

Once the site is approved a clean-up day is organized. Next, a garden plan is designed by Parkway Partners in cooperation with the gardeners. Finally, the framing is set in, soil is amended and the garden is planted.

To learn more about becoming involved in Community Gardening, call 620-2224 or email: macon@parkwaypartnersnola.org

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The People in your Neighborhood

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By Travis Leger Neighborhoods Partnership Network

Photos: Travis Leger

Vera waved to me from across Elysian Fields Avenue. She also goes by Dr. Triplett. Among many other things she is the Clinical Director of the Thomas E. Chambers Counseling and Training Center and Assistant Professor of Counseling at Our Lady of Holy Cross College on the West Bank. She is also a proud resident of Milneburg, a Gentilly neighborhood. As soon as we met she led me into Sweet Savor’s Bakery, a business that had just opened March 29. A glass display case housed every variety of enticing donuts. I don’t know how I resisted.

Next door were a Angela’s Dry Cleaners and a Chinese restaurant called Chinese Tea Garden. Two closed businesses were next door and across Elysian Fields was a closed Mona’s CafÊ and Italian Pie. Across Filmore was Crescent City Floors. The building housed financial advisors before the storm. Young oak trees lined Elysian Fields in the neutral ground.

The Milneburg Neighborhood Association had planted them where there were grand oaks before the storm.

Further down from Crescent City Floors were the vacant Marian Central Catholic Middle School and St. Raphael Catholic Church, the painted X’s looking

Dr. Vera Triplett took time out to drive me around her Milneburg neighborhood.

even more out of place on the church doors than on homes.

We turned onto Prentiss Avenue and near St Roch Avenue we pulled in to A to Z Framing where I met one of the owners, Karen Zimmer. “Did you hang your pictures?� she asked Vera. She hadn’t had time, she said.

Karen and her husband, Alan, ran the shop.

They do preservation framing, frame restoration and gold leafing for picture and mirror frames. I asked her why they re-opened here in Milneburg. “We love Gentilly,� she said. “It’s ten minutes from everywhere.�

On Elysian Fields, the middle school next to St. Raphael Catholic Church is still closed.

Katrina graffiti can be seen on the locked doors on the left.

These three businesses are alive amid many still closed. Sweet Savor’s Bakery is the most recent business to open, to the delight of the people of Milneburg.

Outside, I noticed the small sign for A to Z Framing up on the storefront. It could be easily overlooked from the street. When I revisited the next week, Karen said they should be getting a new awning any day now with their name nice and big on it.

Vera pointed out a rent house across the street from the shop. The Milneburg neighborhood includes renters in its association. That way they can work with the renters to make sure the house doesn’t look like a rent house. In other words, the house is in good shape and the grass is cut just like the others houses, making it impossible to tell the difference.

A few feet away, the intersection of Prentiss and St. Roch was eerily quiet. On three corners were closed businesses and on the other was an empty lot.

Next to A and Z Framing was Bacchus Lounge and a closed garage for sale. Bacchus Lounge, home to the Krewe of Dreaux, was a small building that, according to Vera, is only open during the Mardi Gras season.

On another corner was a closed building that used to house Winn Studios, a photography studio where Vera and her family used to get their family portraits done. The owners lived behind the building in a trailer and out of sight .

Across from the closed studio was another vacant building that was once home to three businesses: a bar, a pizza place and a barber shop. The barber shop’s window was broken in and two dusty barber chairs

were inside, one laying next to the other.

Vera said the building was recently bought and she was curious as to what the new owner had planned.

As we traveled up St. Roch, we passed by a much more pleasant scene. A trailer, owned by Courtney Boyd, was decorated with flowers and other art. Across the street, in the neutral ground, he had planted a small flower garden. He had two signs, one on the trailer and one in the garden, that had the same hopeful message: I ♼ NO. But on the other side of the avenue it was the same old story. Avery Alexander Elementary School sat in the same state it has been since Katrina. Though the grass had been cut and the school looked reasonably well, something was wrong. There were no children. No laughter in the air, no sounds of bells ringing. Though letters were missing, the school’s sign along St. Roch has ironically said the same thing since August 2005: Welcome Back. It’s Going to be a Great Year.

When I revisited the school a week later I was surprised to find trucks out front and people cleaning out the aban(Continued on page 12)

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THE PEOPLE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

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Milneburg residents take pride in their park.

They’ve recently painted the equipment. All it needs now are some swings.

In the neutral ground in front of the St. Roch trailer home of Courtney Boyd he’s planted a sign that says how he feels about the city.

Sweet Savor’s Bakery , a newly opened business on the corner of Elysian Fields and Filmore, is a treat for Milnneburg residents.

This Milneburg Walgreens store was one of the first to open in the city. UNO is right down the road.

Karen Zimmer, who runs A to Z Framing with her husband Alan, is happy to help anyone out with their framing needs.

Owners of rental houses, like the one above, are included in the Milneburg Neighborhood Association and are encouraged to keep up their property.

The Avery Alexander Elementary School is finally being cleaned up. The man on the right is tossing some of the rubbish into a dumpster.

The “X�ed doors of the St. Raphael Catholic Church, an Elysian Fields landmark, are still closed.

This mini mall is one of the buildings the residents of Milneburg hope will be cleaned up soon.

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We came upon the tidy little neighborhood park on the quiet corner of St. Roch and Robert E. Lee. Volunteers had recently cut the grass around the red, yellow and blue painted playground equipment . “Next we’ll put the swings in,� Vera said. I took a closer look. In the shadow of a beautiful oak the large, brightly painted swing set sat quietly with only one swing.

Nearing the end of the tour, we took a look at the businesses near the intersection of Robert E. Lee and Elysian Fields. We passed a Walgreens there at the corner, one of the first to re-open after the storm, Vera said. Both the Walgreens and the Shell gas station across Elysian Fields were busy as we drove by.

There was a daiquiri business nearly ready to open. It’s signs were now up, signs of large daiquiri cups complete with straws. Next door was an open Capital One bank and offices for a dentist and eye doctor. Next to that was a building that Vera said would soon be a new business.

We could see UNO right there on the other side of Robert E. Lee. Not far away, Vera showed me, was a closed mini mall, untouched since the storm and now surrounded by a fence. It used to house a

Photo: Dr. Vera Triplett

doned school. Wrecked and discolored lunch tables stood together at one school entrance. I noticed a dirty microphone hanging by its chord from one of the folded up tables.

As we drove past the school Vera pointed out the block of houses next to it.

They were untouched and had been since the storm. This was the only block that has seen absolutely no progress in Milneburg, she said. These houses were built by their owners, elderly people now, people who could not return.

We drove on through residential areas.

Vera pointed out a bright and thriving flower garden in front of a home. She pointed out the home of Father Maestri, well-known superintendent of Catholic schools for the archdiocese of New Orleans. His house was torn down and rebuilt, she said.

We drove past two-story doubles. At Mexico Street we reached the riverside boundary of the neighborhood. The modest homes of Milneburg ended there and the grand homes on New York Street, in the Lake Oaks neighborhood, looked down upon them.

Volunteers from the University of Illinois and the University of Florida recently helped gut and paint Milneburg houses.

They also helped plant trees and flowers .

comic book store and a manicure business.

Vera drove down Elysian Fields, the young, newly planted trees passing by in the vast and green neutral ground. This

was the end of the tour. We ended where we began at the bakery. I thanked Vera, got in my car and headed back to the office. It was only ten minutes away.

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Does Milneburg Have a Neighborhood Association?

Yes, Milneburg has an active neighborhood association that meets once a month usually on the 2nd or 3rd Saturday of the month. Our meetings are usually announced ahead of time in the Times Picayune newspaper and on the Gentilly After Katrina internet forum. We also place announcements on the Gentilly neighborhood forum on NOLA.com. The president of the association is Shannon Blue and she can be reached at sblue001@yahoo.com. Please contact her and get involved.

Recent Events and Neighborhood Activity Recently we have had an upsurge in rebuilding activity and community projects. We’ve had two groups of students come down, one group from the University

of Illinois and the other from the University of Florida, to help gut houses, paint and plant trees and flowers. We’ve been very excited about all the help we have been getting and are looking forward to welcoming more volunteers in the future.

In October, the Milneburg Neighborhood association sponsored a beach blanket trick-or treat on the grounds of the Chapel of the Holy Comforter. We had face painters, a space walk and plenty of snacks for the kids. A great time was had by all.

In December we had our neighborhood walk and gave out candy canes. We were very excited to see our old neighbors and meet some new neighbors.

Coming Events Our neighborhood walk and ice cream social is scheduled for Saturday, April 21, at 9:00 am. We will meet at the corner of Filmore and Elysian Fields along with our quality of life police officers from the third district and walk the entire neighborhood.

The walk will end at our neighborhood park where we will have an ice cream social. All are welcome, children and adults, pets, homeowners and renters. We are looking for volunteers to help serve icecream.

We will also begin working on our 501 (c)3 application soon so that we can apply for funds to buy properties in our neighborhood and have some control over neighborhood stabilization efforts. Beauti-

fication is also a goal as we would like to see every house beautifully landscaped.

We will be hosting a flower planting day in May for all of our residents. We are also interested in putting up a Milneburg neighborhood sign.

Economic Development and Neighborhood Stabilization Milneburg has several economic development corridors. They are located at the corner of St. Roch and Prentiss, Elysian Fields and Robert E. Lee and Filmore and Elysian Fields. We currently have a cleaners, a bakery and a Chinese food restaurant open at the corner of Elysian Fields and Filmore. An art studio and frame shop is open for business at the corner of St. Roch and Prentiss Ave. We anticipate more openings soon and are watching with diligence all business openings in the area as we would like to avoid nuisance business and low quality retail.

Neighborhood stabilization is also an important issue for the Milneburg community. Although we were primarily an owner-occupied residential neighborhood pre-Katrina, we now recognize that we will now have significantly more rental property. However, we want home owners to be responsible for maintaining their properties and making sure that they are renting to individuals who will help to maintain the sense of pride that we have in our neighborhood. Ultimately, we welcome all good neighbors.

Photo: Travis Leger

Where is Milneburg?

Milneburg is a neighborhood in Gentilly that spans from Elysian Fields to St. Roch and From Filmore to Mexico Street.

It is a quiet neighborhood with tree lined streets and 1950’s ranch style houses. The residents of Milneburg have always been very diverse in the areas of race, socioeconomic status and age. Some of our landmarks include St. Raphael Church and Marion Central Middle school. Avery Alexander Elementary School is also located in our neighborhood. Our Neighborhood Park is on the corner of St. Roch and Robert E. Lee.

One of many Elysian Fields oaks planted by Milneburg residents.

Crime and Safety Violent crime has not been a prominent issue in the Milneburg neighborhood.

However, as the entire city has been gripped with increasingly violent acts we recognize that we need to be watchful of suspicious activity. We also encourage everyone to be active in the upcoming neighborhood watch meetings and to attend meetings with the 3rd district to discuss crime or suspicious behavior. There are two establishments that we know of that have applied for liquor licenses in our neighborhood . They are the Daiquiri shop on Elysian Fields and the Former Bud’s Broiler. We anticipate that both of these establishments will be opening soon and we plan to keep a watchful eye out.

Submitted by Dr. Vera Triplett, Milneburg resident.

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By Ross Kelley Tulane School of Architecture

Photo: Amanda Buberger

Coming into Tulane University as an architecture student, I had heard about the things that the school was doing for the city. The most talked-about program was UrbanBuild, an upper-level class in which students design a house and then actually get to build it. However, this semester I participated in a service project where the scope was much larger than a single lot on a city street; it encompassed whole neighborhoods, reached back through time, and will hopefully have a positive impact on the future.

When Tulane reorganized its undergraduate curriculum following Hurricane Katrina, the university created a graduation requirement obliging all incoming students to take several classes integrating both classroom and service components throughout the students’ time at Tulane.

My first such class happens to be a history of architecture class. I have been working with fellow students and the Historic Seventh Ward Neighborhood Association surveying the Seventh Ward to complete my service requirement.

The sixty or so students in the class were spread out across the city. Along with the Seventh Ward, teams have been working in Pontchatrain Park and Gentilly Woods with the Pontilly Neighborhood Association, in parts of the TremĂŠ and along Esplanade Ridge with the Downtown Neighborhoods Improvement Association, and in the Tulane-Gravier neighborhood with the Phoenix of New Orleans.

To say that I was ambivalent to start volunteering in the Seventh Ward is an understatement. I received my orientation for my work from representatives of the Historic Seventh Ward Neighborhood Association following a day spent in the New Orleans convention Center at Community Congress 3. The congress was my first experience in large-scale planning and hearing what the people at my table had to say negatively influenced my opinion of the congress.

Among others, sitting at my table was an activist and her son, two friends from the Fifth Ward, and an academically uneducated but thoughtful gentleman from Gentilly.

They rarely, if ever, had anything positive to say about UNOP, the Road Home program, and the Community Congress itself. They had many common complaints about UNOP and the Road Home, and they felt that the congress did not adequately represent the goals of New Orleans citizens.

Furthermore, Community Congress 3 being the last Community Congress, my

Ross Kelly and other students from the Tulane School of Architecture worked with the Historic Seventh Ward Neighborhood Association surveying the Seventh Ward to complete their service requirement.

table felt that the issues we were voting on were far too vague and could be “interpreted� to rebuild New Orleans in any way that the Powers-That-Be would see fit.

We were told by Angela, our neighborhood liaison, that FEMA, the infamous FEMA, was surveying a large part of the

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' ! , Seventh Ward, but that the area we were to survey, a pie-shaped area at the top of the ward bounded by St. Bernard and AP Tureaud Avenue, was not deemed “historic enough� for the agency to survey. After my experience with Community Congress 3, my faith in the government’s ability to rebuild the city was not restored.

Despite FEMA’s apparent disdain for

“our� part of the neighborhood, we were to work under the guidance of an agency field worker, analyst, and architecture historian. My reticence towards the project increased even more when the architecture historian taught us about the neighborhood’s various building types and styles at the beginning of our first Saturday in the Seventh Ward.

He showed us pictures of several neighborhood buildings and ignored Angela’s and other neighborhood association representatives’ input about the history of the buildings. He even argued about some of them with the representatives, who were clearly well versed in the neighborhood lore.

Again, FEMA was living up to its mediocre standards popularized by the news and its reputation.

However, once we got out into the neighborhood, everything changed. I started surveying houses and saw the true devastation of the city’s flooding, but I also heard the stories of the people who live in the Seventh Ward.

The stories were what gave my experience gravity. After hearing what many of the people who moved back had to go through, it no longer mattered with whom I was working, just that the work was getting done.

One woman, whose family had owned three houses on one block for over one hundred years, talked about how the neighborhood was great when she was a girl, but how it had become a dangerous place to live. Another woman said that her home currently sits on its third lot. Years

ago, the house was moved from another neighborhood to a lot on which I-10 currently sits. When the expressway was built, the woman moved her house from the construction zone to its current location.

A third woman talked about how lengthy and difficult the rebuilding process has been because she could not get any money from the government. The government’s stated reason was that her home was too close to I-10. She was told that she might be able to get rebuilding money for her father because he is an old jazz musician; she opted against even trying because she knew how disappointed she would feel if she did not receive any money after going through the long, frustrating application process.

These stories and others angered me but also encouraged me to work my hardest to help the community. As I worked, I realized that the FEMA workers were not all “heartless monsters,� as the media portrayed the administration to be. During our second week, one worker explained to us that our overall goal was to compile a convincing report so that at least one level of government would recognize the neighborhood as architecturally, culturally, and/or historically significant, which would in turn bring more rebuilding money to the people in the community. This information became a turning point for me; I worked with new dedication to document the houses and to listen to the community members’ experiences.

When we first started working in the Seventh Ward, there was concern that we would be viewed by the community with

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the work we did, by the end, I, too, was happy that I was there.

I hope that this small project, which brought a few over-privileged students to a community that needed them, will have a great positive impact. I hope that our overall goal is reached and that the people of the Seventh Ward, some of the people who need the most assistance in rebuilding, will get the assistance they need to make their life what it once was. After seeing the dedication of my classmates and the community association, as well as a completely different side of FEMA, I believe that that goal can be achieved.

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By Spencer Dorsey Tulane School of Architecture Since the beginning of February, more than a dozen architecture students at Tulane University have actively participated in the rebuilding effort of the Historic Seventh Ward. The students have not touched a pair of work gloves or even broken much of a sweat; how then how could they possibly be helping this area that has suffered so much since Katrina? Uniquely, they have adopted the outlook of a neighborhood planner.

After Katrina, the Historic Seventh Ward stood in the most pitiful condition it had ever been. People dared not return to a neighborhood in such shape, leaving more than half of the homes abandoned.

Today many people have returned to their homes in the Seventh Ward and are in various stages of rebuilding.

In response to the reconstruction of the neighborhood, Tulane students evaluated the condition of each building, indicating the architectural style of each and labeling each building according to its form. The students then took photographs of the more than 1200 homes in the Seventh Ward and compiled them into a singular database.

Currently, the students are putting technology to use by creating a virtual map which combines three sets of information: the geography of the Seventh Ward, the condition and characteristics of each home/lot, and a picture of each house in the entire neighborhood. For instance, when a person interested in the planning of the revamped neighborhood opens this virtual map, he can click on a particular lot on a block and find out each house’s postKatrina status, being either occupied or abandoned, having a double shotgun or cottage plan, or having Craftsman-style or Mediterranean-style architecture.

By working closely with FEMA and

neighborhood partners, these Tulane students learned some history of the neighborhood. The construction of Interstate 10 directly through the neighborhood left an inescapable wave of violence and neglect.

Today, the Seventh Ward still deals with these problems, but the effects of Katrina continue to permeate the lives of residents. Both Seventh Ward natives and newcomers have dealt with the flawed Road Home Program, runaway contractors, and the inattention to reestablishing public housing. Hopefully the Seventh Ward’s planning team will use this virtual map to create a stronger sense of community and devise a cohesive plan, for it is a gem of a tool.

Three pictures of houses documented in the 7th Ward neighborhood. One house is in good condition, another in fair, and the final is in poor condition, representing the large variety of houses in the area.

Photos: Michael Zizik

disdain as “the white kids in the black neighborhood,� as some of the other service-learning groups had been viewed. The first week or two many people in the neighborhood approached us very guardedly, but when we explained that we were volunteers with the neighborhood association working to get them rebuilding money, they were very grateful towards and open with us.

By the third week, when word had gotten around that we were there, many more people approached us and told us how happy they were that we were there.

Even though I was initially turned off by

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By Mario Perkins Neighborhoods Partnership Network

Photos: Mario Perkins

The Joytown Square Barber Shop and Beauty Salon on 1200 St. Anthony Street in the 7th Ward is more than what meets the eye. Behind the modest storefront is an art gallery, photo studio and neighborhood meeting place. The front of the building houses a barber shop and an art gallery with several original paintings by owner and artist Nat Williams.

One of the more interesting features of the shop is the church pews that seat waiting patrons. I mistakenly assumed that the shop was converted from a church but as Nat explained it, the pews were donated by a friend who owned a church and didn’t want to throw them away after Katrina.

The pews give the shop a unique regality that I have never seen in a barbershop.

Then there is the artwork. Nat Williams has been a painter for over 30 yrs.

His original artwork decorates every wall in the shop. As I looked around, it felt like I was on a walking tour through a folk art museum.

There is a story and significance in every piece. Nat’s Katrina evacuation story is told in a symbolic painting above the entrance of the shop. He calls the painting a re-mix because of a change in title. The original title was “Katrina Spirit Thank You Jesus� but changed to “God is Trying

Barber/Artist Nat Williams in his unique shop (left) and “God is Trying to Tell You Something� (right), one of his many paintings lining the barber shop walls.

to Tell You Something� after his evacuation experience to Atlanta.

Nat had found himself at a gas station in Alabama with only twenty dollars. “It was not enough money to get to Atlanta� he said. Out of the blue a woman had offered to pay for a fill-up and then gave him another $100. He asked the woman, “What would your husband say if he found out that you had given me all this money?� “If my husband was here,� the woman replied, “he’d give you the shirt off his back.�

Another powerful painting in the rear of the shop portrays a victim of gun violence in New Orleans. The victim, a young boy shot in the leg, is not fatally wounded.

He is being held by an older man with a t-

shirt that says 3 nails + 1 savior = 4given.

It was painted in 2004 and sends a message to the youth that the Love of Christ is the alternative to senseless violence.

Nat’s style is rich in color, symbolism and religious meaning. He believes that being versatile in his painting style is an asset and broadens his appeal. His gallery is a mix of vivid portraits and landscapes.

The Beauty Salon is in the rear of the shop. There were six or seven women chatting in the waiting room when I walked in. Miss Jackie was creating a piece of artwork on a young woman’s beehive style hair-do.

She has worked at Joytown for ten-plus years. She’s known Nat for twenty-plus years. Jackie evacuated to Shreveport after the storm and still lives there. She comes

back to Joytown to work for a couple of weeks at a time because her clientele is still here and because she enjoys the family atmosphere at the shop. She becomes emotional even today when she tells her evacuation story to me. When I asked her about Nat she said, “He’s the best, he would do anything for us here.�

I’d been visiting the shop for more than an hour and stayed and chatted with Nat, the stylists and the patrons for a while longer. When I finally headed out of the door, I left Nat’s place with a healthy respect for the stories and experiences behind the modest storefront.

Mario Perkins, the author, is a former resident of Houston. He now lives in the Historic 7th Ward.

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By Shana Dukes Broadmoor Poet/Writer

Spring. Yeah. It’s kept me smiling a pretty good bit of the time so far. My backyard is turning green again, and the trees have most of their leaves back. We are off to a slow start at my place; but the necessary supplies are finally coming together.

We can now mow, clip, weed, and be out barbequing by Easter. Meantime, I have wondered if my neighbors look at my yard and shake their heads. I admire their landscapes; but maybe they think that we are neglectful, oblivious, or just lazy. The possibility makes me anxious and leads me to think about the larger picture.

In recent months, I have heard lots of volunteer stories. Most recount experiences in renovating; gutting and cleaning houses while nearby neighbors hung around outside aimlessly, just watching. In one story, some volunteers had decided that the neighbors were waiting for someone to fix their homes for them; and that they must have spent the building-supply fund on something more frivolous or recreational. Consequently, the story became one of residents who didn’t want to work to help themselves.

I thought the volunteers’ impression over. They hadn’t seen work being done, so they assumed that no work was being done. But I wondered if perhaps some of those aimless neighbors, watching the volunteers progress, just wished that they had the tools, the resources, the organizational backing to begin their own projects. Did

the neighbors watch the volunteers and gain knowledge of how to build and mend? I wondered if those neighbors were conscious of the volunteers watching and judging them as well. Maybe the neighbors felt anxious then, as I felt anxious when I looked at my yard, considered my neighbors’ work, and wished that I had the tools.

The bottom line for me is, sometimes volunteers can get the wrong impression.

They might work in an area for a limited amount of time, but their impressions of area neighbors can be static. How can these volunteers know that a week after they leave a neighborhood, the formerly aimless onlooker will perhaps receive some donated supplies or save enough cash to buy the missing tools needed to begin renovations themselves? Why should we, who live here as residents, care what the volunteers think of us? Are the

volunteers our new neighbors?

I feel a neighborly kinship with the volunteers. I want them to feel a part of a team that builds together. Also, when a volunteer leaves the gulf coast, he/she will take these stories with them. The stories meld into a collage, a face that begins to represent NOLA. I think we have seen the “Two Faces� so far. I hope that current and future volunteers, including the very generous Spring Breakers who’ve given up time from all over the country, will keep this in mind: There is a collective rebuilding process, yes; but much of it is contingent upon the means of the individual. We all want to rebuild, but we have different situational timeframes. Be encouraged that progress will continue when you have to leave us.

And I will be waving and smiling to my neighbors from my freshly cut backyard by Easter.

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term facilities, one on Magazine St. and another on City Park Ave. Each long-term facility, led by married couples known as Family-Teachers, is home to six girls or boys ages 11-17. Children live in a resiInside a three story dormitory style dential home an average of 18 months. building on Frenchmen St. near the QuarThe two short-term facilities are in ter, there is a boys shelter with a common Gretna and on 700 Frenchmen St. in New dining area, a kitchen area, a classroom, a Orleans. They provide a safe environment game-room, admin offices, a reception for girls and boys in crisis, including runarea, and a large conference room. There away, homeless, court-placed or abused are eight dorm rooms that house two boys children. Highly trained professionals at apiece. The boys are assigned chores, do the Assessment and Short-Term Residentheir own laundry and are taught social tial Center provide individual assessment, skills throughout the day and earn points counseling and care to help girls and boys. towards extra-curricular activities and Children are referred to them from the privileges. judicial system, social workers or from the I had no idea what to expect when I community. In other words, if you know of walked through the doors of the shelter for a family with a teen in a troubled living the first time. The term “shelter� always situation you can refer them to the GBT of brought visions of black and white TV La personally. with Orphan Annie-style cold and bleak Once in care of the shelter, the boys dwellings. The clean, modern facility and and girls are taught several aspects of sodynamic, intelligent staff blew those precial skills including: peer relationships, conceptions away instantly. Girls and Boys following instructions, greeting skills, role Town La. was voted one of the 100 best playing, accepting feedback, accepting no, communities for kids in America and it’s accepting consequences, resolving conflict easy to see why.

The facility on Frenchmen St. is a short and disagreeing appropriately. 88% of kids that come out of GBT of La go home to term facility providing shelter for up to 16 family, friends or less restrictive environyoung men from the surrounding New ments. Many residents in their long-term Orleans Area since 1989. Their focus is to care facilities have come from the shortprovide a family style environment for term shelters. GBT of La keeps a national troubled teens. database of their residents and maintains They maintain four facilities in the ongoing feedback to monitor the successes New Orleans area. There are two longand areas for improvement of their program. Most of their kids are not going to jail or detention. However, even though a child’s behavior may change, a return to a negative environment may often result in a return to negative behavior patterns.

GBT is committed to family preservation. Their priority is to keep the family unit together first. “In most cases, when a The Game Room at The Girls and Boys Town child leaves the family unit

By Mario Perkins Neighborhoods Partnership Network

Photos: Mario Perkins

Family Consultants: La-Quanda Taylor, Troylyncia LeBrane, and Assata Knight

Executive Director Dr. Dennis Dillon and Program Operations Manager Rashain Carriere

he or she seldom returns once they are in the foster care system� says Dennis Dillon, the Executive Director of GBT La. Therefore community outreach is a very important mission here. There are three Family Consultants who will work in community schools, homes and churches to provide families with resources and skills they need in order to maintain the family unit.

They work to prevent the child from leaving home in the first place. If they do leave, they want the child to come back to a more positive family environment. “Katrina tore the social fabric of New Orleans apart,� says Sandra Panna, the Volunteer Manager at 700 Frenchmen St., as she explains the needs of troubled teens. “Once there was an auntie down the street, a grandmother around the corner and a best friend around to confide in. In many cases the folks that made up the social safety net for teens have evacuated and the safety net has disappeared. “GBT of La is stepping in to try and fill the gap. Katrina has been hard on the adult population of New Orleans so you can understand why it’s been so hard on kids.�

Girls and Boys Town has a National Hotline which is a toll-free crisis and resource referral service. It is the only national hotline accredited by the American Association of Suicidology and the Council on Accreditation of Services for Family and Children, Inc. Trained counselors assist callers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, completing every call either by re-

solving the problem or making a referral.

The number is 1-800-448-3000.

There is a tapestry hanging in the conference room depicting a boy holding a polio-stricken boy on his back. The story goes the two boys couldn’t afford a wheelchair. Father Flanagan, founder of Girls and Boys Town America, asked the boy holding the other, “Isn’t he getting heavy?� The boy’s reply, which is knitted into the bottom of the tapestry, was, “He ain’t heavy, Father... he’s m’ [sic] brother.�

GBT of La. was officially established as a 501-3c non-profit in December of 2006. All donations go directly to the care of kids in their care. 88 cents of every dollar they receive go towards care and facilities. If you’d like to make contributions to the GBT of LA please send to: 700 Frenchmen St. New Orleans, LA 70116 Phone: 504-949-9248 Fax: 504-949-5735 or go to their website: http://www.girlsandboystown.org/ aboutus/locations/louisiana/index.asp I’d like to thank the wonderful staff of GBT of La for their contributions to this article: Dr. Dennis Dillon, Executive Director; Rashain Carriere, Program Operations Manager; Sandra J. Panna, Volunteer Manager; and La-Quanda Taylor, Assata Knight and Troylyncia LeBrane, Family Consultants

THE PEOPLE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

YO U T H

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By Lucy Tucker and Isaiah Simms Rethink On March 8, the Rethinkers caught up with Recovery School District Superintendent Robin Jarvis at her Poland Avenue headquarters. The Rethinkers wanted to know how things were going, and if – as the news media reported – Dr. Jarvis might leave her post. Below is an excerpt from their conversation.

Rethink: Dr. Jarvis, what is your vision for the public schools of New Orleans?

Dr. Jarvis: My vision is that we are able to provide quality education for all of the children in New Orleans — regardless of their family situation, their parents’ income level, their race and where they live in the city.

Rethink: What do you personally want

clusion that will work for everybody. I don’t know if I’ll be here full-time forever or ‘til the end of the year. I’m sure I’ll have a role in the school system for a while.

Rethink: A girl at Douglas (Frederick Douglass High School) told us they still don’t have any stoves there and kids eat cold pizza twice a week. What do you think about that?

Dr. Jarvis: At Douglass and several of our schools, students do get sandwiches and they do get pizza several times a week – hot pizza. I believe it’s delivered from Dominos. The problem at Douglass and several of our schools is that before the hurricane, the kitchens were not up to the Fire Marshal’s codes or didn’t meet the health codes. The Fire Marshal and the Health Department didn’t shut them down because they were already operating. After the storm, the Fire Marshal and the Health Department said, “We’re not going to let

It’s not perfect, it’s not what I would like to have, but we have to deal with the problems of the past and get them fixed and it it’s taking a while.

Rethink: Does it really take that long to fix a kitchen?

Dr. Jarvis: Amazingly, it does. (She laughs.) There are all these code issues and you have to go through a process. Before the storm, some of the kitchens actually did not have hot water. You cannot be approved for food preparation without hot water, so in those cases, plumbing needs to be repaired. If there is paint peeling on the ceiling, that’s a health code violation, and it can’t really be corrected with kids in the school. If the problem is complicated or a large cost item, it has to go out to bid through the state process. It’s quite different from what you would do if it were your own commercial kitchen.

Rethink: We hear you live in Baton

Photo: Lucy Tucker / Rethink

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Part of a series of monthly interviews by Kids Rethinking New Orleans’ Schools, or Rethink.

Rethink: Is there anything you would like to tell our readers before we end this interview?

Dr. Jarvis: I would like to see your readers actively engaged and coming to our meetings and giving their opinions on what needs to happen. I’d like to see them talk about how we can make things better.

I agree with criticizing when you have problems, but there’s also coming up with solutions. Help us problem solve and come up with solutions that can work and make things better for the children.

For more information about Kids Rethinking New Orleans’ Schools, contact THE TRUMPET.

Dr. Robin Jarvis

to accomplish as head of the Recovery School District?

Dr. Jarvis: My goal is to get us started down that road. I’m a mom, and someday I want things to be at a point where I would send my kids to any of the schools in the District.

Rethink: So are you going to stay?

Dr. Jarvis: (She smiles.) I don’t know right now. I’m still working that out with my family. Hopefully we’ll come to a con-

you open the kitchens back up until you fix everything.� So that’s why only about half the schools have operating kitchens and hot food. Two are going to take a while - I believe they are Douglass and John McDonogh.

Right now, John McDonogh gets its food from Clark (Joseph S. Clark High School) where it is prepared then delivered to John McDonogh. When we get another high school with a kitchen up and running near Douglass, then we’ll be able to deliver hot food to Douglass. So we’re trying to problem solve this in a different way.

Rouge. It must be really hard for you to work in New Orleans with your family so far away.

Dr. Jarvis: It is difficult. I commute some and I stay in New Orleans some.

Your moms probably check your homework and cook dinner and do those kinds of things. That’s what I did when I was home and that’s what I do when I am home now. It’s hard for my kids. Sometimes I miss things I would like to be at with them because I have to be in New Orleans.

Submit A Story about Youth! for the

Youth Center Email: thetrumpet@npnnola.com Call: 504-940-2207 Write: The NPN Trumpet 2401 Esplanade Ave. N.O. 70119 Submissions due May 7.

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By Bill Herman Youth Leadership Training Program If given the tools to see clearly, young people have the vision to do something positive in their communities. They also have the energy to translate their vision into action. What they don ‘t have is the support that an organization provides.

YLTP creates a platform for youth to make a difference in their own world.

The Youth Leadership Training Program (YLTP) makes leaders. It inspires young people to take responsibility by bringing service projects and youth programs to their community.

This is what we have seen in the last two YLTPs held in New Orleans and for the last five years.

Young people connect with each other so deeply, working together in teams focused on service. It blasts them out of their boundaries and they come out strong, ready to take action.

They bring these skills and enthusiasm with them when they leave the program to rejoin their lives at home or school! “A Sustainable Re-development Service Learning Program for the Young People (ages 14-30) of New Orleans� is a major project planned for the summer of 2007.

Also, we will be hosting the largest YLTP in North America to focus on sustainable community development projects that will involve the young people of New Orleans. A 300 person international YLTP will begin June 18 . The training goes for 10 days and then for the next two weeks

the YLTP team will continue to prepare service learning projects for young people to rebuild and redevelop the city.

They will focus on six specific areas: Violence Alternative/Prevention Programs; Sustainable Community Gardens; Sustainable -Affordable Green Housing Projects; Creative Arts Projects, Music, Theatre and

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# ( & ( " ) ( & : ! ( , Dance festivals, and Large Scale Public Mural and Mosaic projects; Innovative Educational Methods for New Orleans Schools; and Youth Community Centers/ Sports Camps and Programs for Children It will be kicked off with a large event July 1 4, 2007 at the New Orleans Arena, a 17,000 person venue (which we have already reserved) next door to the Super-

dome. We will fill the venue with young people from all over the city by networking with churches, high schools, universities, social service agencies, and government agencies.

The event will include celebrity appearances supporting the rebuilding of the city, unique musical events, and dynamic interactive processes to emphasize the importance of attending to peace of mind. This event will inspire young people to participate in dynamic service projects to revitalize the city. Specialists in the six areas will give short presentations to inspire participation in the service projects.

Young people will choose one focus area and then for the next four days workshops will be held with specialists and YLTP teams to educate, organize, and solidify the teams for the summer’s activities.

Breath Water Sound (BWS) will be integrated into these activities for one and a half hours each day to provide clarity to the focus of the service projects. After the workshops conclude, the six focus areas will execute their projects around the city. This activity will continue through the summer and indefinitely into the future of New Orleans.

Contact Bill Herman, Director, Youth Leadership Training Program, biIIhermani2d(yahoo,com or call 530-277-5230.

Go to artoflivingyouth.org for applications and program details.

YLTP EVENTS New Orleans Symposium April 22

Youth Leadership Training Program (YLTP) June 18 - June 29

YLTP organizing service learning focus areas and outreach June 30- July 14

“A Sustainable Re-development Service Learning Program for the Young People (14-30) of New Orleans�

July 14 through the summer

Kickoff Event at the New Orleans Arena July 14 3pm

Sustainable Redevelopment Focus Area Workshops July 16-19

Service learning projects in process all over the city July 23 - throughout the rest of the summer

OPENS IN JUNE

TEEN CENTER FOR NON-VIOLENCE 2031 HANCOCK ST. IN GRETNA PART OF YOUTHanasia’s CAMPAIGN FOR A TEEN-FRIENDLY GREATER NEW ORLEANS

THE TEEN CENTER NEEDS YOU! 1) DONATE FURNITURE AND OFFICE SUPPLIES 2) MAKE A MONETARY DONATION 3) MENTOR OR VOLUNTEER

MAIL TO P.O. BOX 913 HARVEY, LA 70059

Or visit www.teenfriendlyno.com to learn more You can also support YOUTHanasia’s effort to obtain a $15,000 grant for a computer lab for the teen center! Visit www.myhometownhelper.com, click FIND A PROJECT and search for YOUTHanasia. Then, leave a comment!

THE PEOPLE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

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By Rogers Youngblood Fyre Youth Squad

Photo by Chuckie Waffles

The Fyre Youth Squad is an organization formed by inner city youth with the goal of creating a fair and just educational system. The Fyre Youth Squad (FYS) consists of young people from all over the city of New Orleans ranging from age 14 - 22.

The Fyre Youth Squad was formed because a lot of our young people wanted to effect change, not only in their individual schools, but in the whole public school system.

The school system is in desperate need of change and the Fyre Youth Squad is in a great position to be the front runners for this new-age movement of youths speaking on behalf of their personal experiences at school. With the help of some adult supporters the FYS has got a lot of balls rolling.

The Fyre Youth Squad has organized several rallies, youth forums, protests and also a march against the high stakes requirement of the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP). The Fyre Youth Squad feels that one test should not determine whether a student passes or graduates.

The LEAP test is an exam that is totally unfair to our youths. Statistically and apparently the LEAP test has forced thousands of our precious students to drop out and find other things to do with their time.

The majority of that time is wasted on negative activities leading to the penitentiary or the cemetery. There are already enough struggles in a day in the life of

Member of the Fyre Youth Squad at a recent march to protest the high stakes requirements of LEAP. The march took them from the bayou at Orleans Ave. to the courthouse where they held a press conference and rally.

these adolescents without the added pressures of a standardized test. In 2003-2004, 15,000 high school students dropped out before the worst experience of most of their lives, Hurricane Katrina. These outrageous numbers are easily overlooked by school officials and are not being taken into consideration for the planning process

for the next school year.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is only a phrase to most young adults, and a joke to some, because in these schools most are not only left behind, but left at home watching their friends graduate. So, ask yourselves, “ Is this fair?� No, it is not fair, but this is reality for these students. This is

where the Fyre Youth Squad comes in. We have decided enough is enough and it is time for a change. FYS continues to look for ways they can get involved and change this failing academic system.

For more information: www.myspace.com/1fyreyouth 504.615.5497

Having Trouble in School ?

Want Some Extra Help ?

Come to the Homecoming Center! Free after school tutoring.

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays 4-6pm The Homecoming Center is located at: 1222 Dorgenois, St. Luke’s Community Center Gaudet Hall Open: 12pm - 6pm, Monday - Saturday • • •

Free internet and computer access, limited copying and faxing Community meeting space Recovery and Rebuilding information

For More Information Contact Shakoor at (504) 258-6741