A second house moved to make way for a massive new hospital complex in Lower Mid-City is being considered for demolition after standing open to the elements for months. The city spent $35,450 to move the house, an effort to preserve part of the city’s historic housing stock. The fate of the house, now in […]
Category: Squandered Heritage
Posted inLand Use, Squandered Heritage
Another cement lawn, but this one gets cited by city inspector
Sure it’s ugly, but at least you won’t have to mow the lawn! photo: Karen Gadbois Somebody call 311! Thanks to Lens reader Kurt Buchert for sending in photos of this recent Uptown paving violation—a 100-percent disaster. Construction was nearly complete and a certificate of occupancy was in process when the city sent out an […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Land Use, Squandered Heritage
Extreme caution: Handle with care—the billboard that is
In April, as city officials debated whether to allow its demolition, the shotgun beneath the billboard still bore some resemblance to a house. photo: Preservation Resource Center In the words of Ryan Berni, Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s director of communications, the city using “extreme caution” as it attempts the demolition of the Ninth Ward shotgun pictured […]
Posted inLand Use, Squandered Heritage
Hurricane Isaac destroys house moved to build new VA hospital
One of the houses moved out of the way of the new VA hospital in Lower Mid-City has met a similar fate as it would’ve if it had remained: destroyed not by bulldozers, but by Hurricane Isaac. In November 2010, the classic shotgun double was moved from S. Miro St. in the Tulane/Gravier neighborhood 10 […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Land Use, Squandered Heritage
Demolition of St. Charles Avenue mansion debated and deferred
A request to demolish the faded St. Charles mansion at the southwest corner of Valence Street was heard before the Neighborhood Conservation District Committee this week. And the result, after much debate pro and con: limbo. The demolition is sought by Jack Ryan, who has an option to purchase the property and wants to build […]
Posted inLand Use, Squandered Heritage
Lead-based paint sanding, health concerns to be discussed
It seems everyone with a child in this city has had a wake-up call regarding lead levels. You take your kid for a check-up, they do a lead test and – boom – your world is turned upside down while you try to determine what’s causing the dangerously high numbers. The city requirements for lead-paint […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Land Use, Squandered Heritage
St. Charles Avenue mansion: Another one bites the dust?
There have been cycles in the destruction of St. Charles Avenue, and we may be on the brink of a new one. The city’s most famous boulevard was once largely residential almost all the way from Uptown to Lee Circle, though you wouldn’t know it from the proliferation of Burger Kings and Speedy Oil Change […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Land Use, Squandered Heritage
Sometimes you win; sometimes the game is delayed by rain
Checking back in on a couple of stories we’ve been monitoring, it seems that, while some things change, some stay the same. Bienville Street, before: a parking pad for four cars The story about the front yard at 4136 Bienville that – without benefit of city permits – was paved over to make a four-car […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Land Use, Squandered Heritage
Bank-turned-burger joint: decidedly heavy on the dressing
Local bloggers are running an informal contest to see how long it takes before whatever subject that pops up turns into a conversation about food. My bet is that a lot of discussions just as quickly turn into conversations about zoning enforcement. Today’s topic – the old Whitney Bank building on Carrollton at the corner […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Squandered Heritage
City Council chamber finally gets Wi-Fi network
Back in November 2005, while most of us were still wringing out our houses and trying to figure out how to piece our lives back together, Mayor Ray Nagin announced a plan for free Wi-Fi – citywide! But even before Nagin’s tech guru, Greg Meffert, was convicted of corruption, reality had fallen well short of […]