Community Meeting Saturday 8/2/2014 Re Rezoning of Florida Ave Properties

The CSED owns the vacant lots at 2639 Caffin Avenue, 5620 Florida Avenue, 2636 and 2640 Lamanche Streets. The site is currently zoned as residential. In order for CSED to use the property as a visitor and learning center along with office space, its zoning must be changed to B-1 to accommodate a non-residential use.  We are required to apply for approval to change the site’s zoning designation. Our application must be heard by the City Planning Commission and the City Council. We anticipate this approval process will take several months. 

If you own property in the area, or are otherwise interested in the neighborhood, I am inviting you to a meeting where you can learn more about what we propose and have an opportunity to present your questions or concerns.  We are required to do this before we submit our application to the City Planning Commission. 

This meeting will take place:    Saturday, August 2, 2014, at 10:00 a.m.

                                                              2636 Lamanche Street, New Orleans, LA 70117 

At the meeting, a sign-in sheet will be provided to obtain phone numbers and/or email addresses so that we can keep you updated if there are any changes to the plans.

We see the site as a great opportunity to develop environmental education and connect the community and visitors with their natural surroundings.  The CSED initially plans to install a modular classroom building on the vacant lot at 2636 Lamanche Street in late 2014 or early 2015.  Future plans include building a Lower 9 Environmental Learning and Research Center. 

Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions or comments.  I hope to see you at the meeting on Saturday, August 2, 2014, 10a.m., at 2636 Lamanche Street.

Arthur Johnson, Executive Director                                   Phone: (504)324-9955  

       

Community Meeting 7/12/14 Re: Rezoning 5227 Chartres Street

July 7, 2014 

Dear Neighbor: 

I am contacting you on behalf of the Lower 9^th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement & Development (CSED).  The CSED owns the building and property at 5227 Chartres Street between Lizardi and Egania Streets. The site is currently zoned as residential. In order for CSED to use the property as a visitor and learning center along with office space, its zoning must be changed to B-1 to accommodate a non-residential use.  We are required to apply for approval to change the site’s zoning designation. Our application must be heard by the City Planning Commission and the City Council. We anticipate this approval process will take several months. 

Because you own property in the area, or are otherwise interested in the neighborhood, I am inviting you to a meeting where you can learn more about what we propose and have an opportunity to present your questions or concerns.  We are required to do this before we submit our application to the City Planning Commission. 

This meeting will take place:            Saturday, July 12, 2014, at 11:00 a.m.

                                                                      5227 Chartres Street, New Orleans, LA 70117 

At the meeting, a sign-in sheet will be provided to obtain email addresses so that we can keep you updated if there are any changes to the plans. 

We see the site as a great opportunity to reduce blight in the neighborhood. The CSED is renovating this historic, 100 year old barge board house into a learning center.  The center will showcase energy efficiency upgrades and primarily serve as an educational center for the Lower 9^th Ward community. We estimate work will be complete in late 2014. 

Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions or comments.  I hope to see you at the meeting on Saturday, July 12, 2014, 11a.m., at 5227 Chartres Street. 

Sincerely, 

Arthur Johnson, Executive Director

Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement & Development (CSED) 

5130 Chartres Street - Post Office Box 770407 - New Orleans LA 70177-0407

Phone: (504)324-9955         Fax: (504)267-5583

www.sustainthenine.org     

 

Thank you Marquette Volunteers!

Volunteers from Marquette University help out on the Center staining barge board walls and prepping floors for sanding!  When finished, beautiful old growth wood floors will be sanded and restored by Charles Reddick & Vincent Fedeli.

Sub-floor Goes In @ The Center

 Work moves steady as Charles Reddick and Vincent Fedeli install sub-floor at The Center.  Last week lead remediation on bargeboard walls was completed.  Next steps: staining of barge board partition walls with Safe Coat water based polly - and installation of reclaimed T&G flooring.

Great Giving Global Kids!

The CSED was fortunate to host Global Kids volunteers from New York City yesterday!  They gave their hands, hearts, and minds in service to two homeowners who are rebuilding their homes.  These high school students spent the day painting, cleaning, doing yard work, and sharing their  impressive thoughts about life in general. Very special kids indeed!

Connect The 9

SECOND ANNUAL COMMUNITY BIKE RIDE

SATURDAY, APRIL 5th

Ride to connect the Upper and Lower 9th Ward and advocate for safe transportation options for bikers and walkers on the St. Claude Bridge!

This FREE ride starts at The Green Project, crosses the St. Claude Avenue Bridge to the Lower 9th Ward, stops on the levee at Deslonde, and wraps up at Bayou Bienvenue. 

 Join us at any of these stops!

9:30am      Ride from the Lower 9^th Ward - meetup at Sam Bonart Park at 1200 Forstall Street

10:30am    Ride Starts at the Green Project, 2831 Marais Street

11:00am     River to Bayou ride, meet at the Levee and Deslonde Street

12:00pm    Ride ends at the Bayou Bienvenue Wetland Platform with Snoballs!

Visitwww.bikeeasy.orgfor more information 

http://bikeeasy.org/events/archives/1417/ 

Read more about the dangers and use of the St. Claude Bridge as a pedestrian & bike crossing.

Download Bridging St. Claude_Final Report

 

Hail to Historic Green 2014 Spring Greening !!!

A hearty thank you to all the Historic Green 2014 Spring Greening volunteers who spent a week in the Lower 9th Ward working on community projects. 

Their energy and enthusiasm produced a rain garden in the back yard of our Chartres Street property and a Bayou Pavillion designed by Anne McTernan with rain catchment and a small rain garden on our Florida Avenue property. 

But they accomplished much more at our Chartres Street house and at the Delery Street Playground.  They topped it all off by hosting a crawfish boil for the community!

Thank you, Historic Green, for your seven years of support through Spring Greening Events in March of each year since 2008!

Learn more about Historic Green and see their extensive photos of the 2014 Spring Greening event on their facebook page http://historicgreen.org/2014-spring-green-event/

 

University of Sioux Falls Blight Busters

University of Sioux Falls student musicians, led by Dr. Jonathan Neiderhiser, Director of Instrumental Music, came to serve and blessed us with their hard work AND their musical talents.  They joined us in our never-ending battle against blight and tackled the backyard of the blighted house next to our Dauphine Street orchard.  Our ongoing goal is to avoid the jungle of overgrowth that happens here every summer.  Following up on another volunteer groups' efforts to clear the lot, these diligent folks from South Dakota cleaned up, dispersed the piles of debris, cut down tree stumps, created a compost "bin," leveled the lot, and thoroughly enjoyed our sunshine. 

But these student musicians had much more to share with our community.  Their chamber wind ensemble regaled us with a half hour of glorious music! 

Inspired, delighted, but still wanting to serve, they "returned to their roots" and dug them up!  They also unearthed at least 100 bricks!  This lot will now be easily maintained by regular mowing and another area of blight has been obliterated. 

Thank YOU for lifting us up with your service and your music.

 

Colleen Butler Computerized Our Design Plan for CSED Lots at Florida & Caffin Avenues

 

We would like to give a shout out to Ecologist Colleen Butler who generously offered to volunteer her services to computerize our landscape design plan for the CSED lots at Florida and Caffin Avenues.   The Florida Avenue lot will be planted with red maple, pecan, and cypress trees. The naturalized "island" blooming with goldenrod that currently exists in the rear of this lot will be enhanced with additional plants to further attract butterflies.  A community fruit orchard will be planted on the Lamanche Street properties.  A perimeter fence of recycled 4x4 posts strung with rope has already been installed.  

As per our request, Colleen designed a temporary seating structure for the Caffin Avenue lot to stage groups of visitors who often come to learn more about the Bayou Bienvenue Triangle. She included an attached rain catchment system to provide a water source for the site. 

 

Colleen, we so appreciate your time and effort!

Tireless Jewish Center Volunteers Go Above & Beyond

Boundless energy and amazing initiative would begin to describe the students of the Jewish Center in Princeton, New Jersey, who volunteered with us in our community garden and orchard at 4817-19 Dauphine Steet. We constantly battle the overgrowth from the adjacent blighted property but these folks made short order of removing at least a foot of weeds, sand and debris from the alleyway. They cleared the fence line as requested and then took the initiative to go above and beyond and chopped down the entire "jungle" that overshadowed the orchard! But they didn't stop there...100 daffodil bulbs were planted in hopes of a magnificent Spring bloom.

Thanks so much for your heartfelt service to our community, for your great attitude, and your sunny smiles :)