Category Archives: public space

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A Closer Walk

See what happens when good people get together over music? They come up with something like this, a site dedicated to listing the musical history of our city, place by place.

Jazz, big band, gospel, soul, brass bands, funk, blues, second-lines, hip-hop, bounce, r&b, pop, zydeco, rock, classical all have substantial roots here in the Crescent City. This site will do more than just set tourists to a wandering around; as a visual map, it can help save some of these places and to connect the dots about the development of some of America’s greatest art forms.

The A Closer Walk (ACW) project and site is presented by WWOZ New Orleans and produced by five partners: Bent Media, e/Prime Media, the Ponderosa Stomp Foundation, Randy Fertel and WWOZ.

https://acloserwalknola.com/

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Tear that wall down

Here’s a link to a story about when highways are removed from inner cities:
http://gizmodo.com/6-freeway-demolitions-that-changed-their-cities-forever-1548314937

This is an issue at the forefront in New Orleans because of the ramps to the Claiborne Expressway built in the 1960s, need to be repaired soon. “An option that’s been tossed around for awhile is to remove the overpass, restore a former tree-lined boulevard there and let traffic run along it and surrounding streets.”

It may be important to remember both the spur that was never built:

220px-New_Orleans_Riverfront_Expressway_Octopus

 

And the expressway that was:

images.duckduckgo

And what Claiborne used to look like:
images.duckduckgo
As long as we’re on this story again, I am always surprised by how many freethinkers still trot out the erroneous story of how the win to not build the Riverfront spur in the Quarter in the 1960s led to the Claiborne Expressway. Simply not true.

In any case, it’s time to focus on the positive benefits of taking down the Claiborne Expressway and make sure that more negative developments are not put in its place.

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Parks Talk

THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015

5:30 – 7:00 pm

PROPELLER – 4035 Washington Avenue

National urban parks expert Tupper Thomas will speak about the critical role citizens can play to ensure the revitalization, protection, and well-being of their parks and open spaces. She will draw from her vast experience on the positive impact and benefits of alliances and public-private partnerships. Tupper Thomas is the Executive Director of New Yorkers for Parks. She served as Administrator of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park for 30 years, having been the founding president of The Prospect Park Alliance, which was formed in 1987 to revive, enrich, restore, and preserve the park, in partnership with the City of New York.
Tupper also was a founding board member and co-chair of the City Parks Alliance, the leading independent national organization that advocates for urban parks. The Committee has served as a model for other public-private park organizations across the country.

~FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC~