New Orleans Renovation

Reality Check

2007-09-29T13:48:00.000-04:00

This very blighted house was approved for demolition by the HDLC (Historic District Landmarks Commission) a couple months ago. It was torn down on Sept. 27th, 2007 after sitting vacant for more than 15 years.

According to the Tax Assessor's Database, it was last transferred at a tax sale.
ROBINSON, CHRIS. % ALICE ANCAR, 2 COLGATE PL. KENNER, LA Tax Bill #: 207105722

Sale Type: TAX
Sale Price: $ 0
Sale Date: September 25, 2004

FEMA had officially stopped doing demolitions in New Orleans back around August 5th. After about a month of lag-time, the City has gotten it together and is back on the task of removing blighted/abandoned housing in New Orleans.

929 N. Villere was a very early example of our unique Creole Cottage. However without any plans for redevelopment this building was contributing to blight in Treme.

These are a few other blighted properties demolished in the past week:

Fairview

Washington Avenue Warehouse

Big Lie, Small World*

2007-09-16T20:13:00.000-04:00

UPDATE: Monday, Sept. 24th. My debris pile was picked up by the City in the past few days. One less thing to get depressed about today. I really needed the help at this point. I also got my household trash out at home before Team-Veronica, made it around the hood today. I got up late due to my new, wacky schedule I am trying to get used to. My needs are not that much different than the adaptive issues we had back in Oct. 2005. So today was a lucky day, or I just have learned patience? From here on out, things will be much better. No more of this nonsense, I hope. Truly, A Brand New Day, or ok, year. Six months . . . six hours? This definitely contributes to my new perspective.

Didn't stepping outside this morning feel refreshing? It was like California weather, no humidity! Likewise, things have suddenly turned a refreshing corner in regards to my being able to make personal decisions about my life rather than my life feeling like an episode of Lucha Libre for the past two years. I am restacking and counting my bricks.

We have put the Treme lot on the market. The insurance issues are clear and there being not much money to actually rebuild as it all was dumped directly into the mortgage (one reason people can't actually rebuild as they had imagined) leaves us only one option, really.

As things go in this hellbound recovery, the debris from the final clean-up of the foundation is now caught in the gap between the Army Corps' leaving and the City's taking over the task of debris removal. My neighbors suddenly are 'in touch'.

I reported my debris pile last month when we took down the foundation, which was prior to the Army Corps' official pull-out. Now, I am in a battle to get my debris picked up. The Army Corps has bailed on us after only two years.

I as an American citizen, have to beg for large garbage pick up after a Gov't Failure/Natural Disaster in America. Iraq gets an upgrade to top priority. Maybe I need to blow up my debris pile with some TNT left-over from WWII to get it picked up?? Maybe I need to crash a plane into it?? I'd love to set it afire if I hadn't really great neighbors. . . I am fed up. As they are. . . . So, I am in the queue for City pick up, but my neighbors are getting impatient. For the first year, I was so worried the Army Corps would come and clear the land without permission, now the problem has turned completely around. So there you have it ! Welcome to my existence in hell for the past two-years, in limbo with my insurance company, now in limbo for the new reality of cleanup. I am sure I am not alone in this respect. Schizo New Orleans life.

Here is Chris' email from across the street from me. It was a dud email address, so I could not respond directly to him. Chris is soon to be a father and will be relocating to a more suburban and family-friendly part of the city. I imagine he wants my lot clean before he puts his house on the market or just rents his place. He's not at all interested in raising his child in Treme.

"Laureen,I found your site through Metroblogging some time ago. Myself and several other neighbors have unsuccessfully tried to have the city pick up the trash heap that your workers left across the street from the remnants of you house. Could you have someone take care of it. I don't think that the Corps or anyone else is collecting debris from the neighborhoods. Thanks,Chris 1509 Gov Nichollsyoungobrien@hotmail.com."

I have contacted the QOL officer for the Treme and the 311 people who set me up in the first place. They have ALL assured me they are working on the list per the Sanitation Department on behalf of people like myself who were left in limbo. The reference No. is 201-6028. My correspondence with the agencies has been consistent and up to the minute. Stephen is getting his FEMA trailers removed as well. I happen to question the 'several' part of Chris' statement. We don't have several neighbors. At least not several who actually give a shit. We may have several if you count the guys who sit around drinking beer all day.

This is the first thing working its way out of my life at this time.

On the other end of brick restacking, I had recently thrown out a symbolic bouy to force myself to take the LSAT in an all out effort to return to my life in legal research. The perfect job here in the city seemed rather just out of grasp. So I decided it is what I really want to do and if I had to, I would go to law school to do it. I have invested many years of my life in learning and I have grown to love law libraries as a specialty.

In the simple act of throwing out this chance-riddled flare toward my own future, an opportunity of irresistable appeal was handed to me. Sometimes you only have to formally discard one thing in order to make karmic room for another thing of larger importance. I have been fortunate enough to have the option of going back to my professional field of legal research and am grateful as I can be for this critical change toward a more stable job that directly relates to my pre-K life. I have not yet recallibrated where my writing will fall into place, but I am sure it will. Frankly, I am bored to death with it right now. I am bored with observing this place. Emily has offered me one important thing about my perspectice vis-a-vis my work and writing since Katrina. A writer will write. No matter what.

Thanks to you all for your patience ~ I hope to get the debris pile is moved soon.
-L.

*Sting: Brand New Day

Everything Counts

2007-08-23T21:53:00.000-04:00

My Nephew Running Circles

Because we are living at the rate of two years for every one year since Katrina in our new life of intense civic engagement in New Orleans, I am finding that blogging has been helpful. I found that I can go back to my previous posts over the last two years and see how much I have learned and what I/we have accomplished. Mostly I am shocked, because in my head, it's all a blur. I sometimes wonder if we are running in circles or making real progress. Beginning from this post Red Sticker , I learned how I know how to get solidly removed from these lists. Now, I can get a house in tax adjudication threat fixed and I have gotten houses in very precarious situations more time, so the owners can stablize them.

After working with Karen on Squandered Heritage, I am now a "List Master". Not only that, I can suggest a contractor who is an expert on these old homes and an engineer who can give you a report on-the-spot. I have successfully helped owners apply for grants for historic building repair.

Since my house was hand salvaged by Willie White, my fascination with his level of knowledge led me follow him all over this city to teach me how these houses are put together. He has taken the time to show me the learning curve about "architectural forensics". We have crawled under many of our city's oldest buildings in the last year and what I thought was new was actually old. He taught me how to evaluate a building from the bottom up.

It really gives me a shudder to look back on my post for the approach of Hurricane Katrinawhich is now just horrifyingly prescient. To compare this with that last one from when MY house was on these threatening demolition lists it's all very logical that I am now assisting my fellow residents in getting some peace of mind by negotiating the labyrinth of processes I had to overcome myself. I can read that Red List post and see how I felt so afraid and the feelings of despair I held about the whole nightmare. And now I can see what we can do !

Many thanks to Karen for creating Squandered Heritage a viable project, something truly useful that I can look at as a real, solid outcome of all this. This, on the 2nd Anniversary of this all-consuming recovery from a great disaster. We both now know, it will be many years of continued diligence before things are stable. It's been a wild ride but as I look back, it makes sense.

As we had said to one another back in October of 2005, when we were under curfew, clearing our own streets of debris, helping our neighbors gut their homes, helping our friends open their restaurants to feed our fellow residents and give them a place to meet and heal over a meal. Today, two years later, we are still hungry for any sort of information from the people who are in charge at various agencies. We are still helping people gut their homes. The saying still stands.

Everything Counts.

Salvage Online

2007-08-20T16:49:00.000-04:00

As I begin to sell my own salvaged items from the house, I spoke to my salvager and we decided it would be smart to start a site to put architectural items online where people can browse at their leisure.

All the salvage warehouses are getting quite full with the high number of demolitions. I have begun with my own items from my salvage of my house. The hand salvage cost about 14K. This is not going to help me recoup those costs but could help find good homes for the items saved. I hope to add more content from various non-profit salvage programs in order to provide people a place to browse some of the best items online.

Hopping from salvage yard to salvage yard is very time consuming. With so much available, an online way to view them might be helpful in getting these specialty items back into commerce. My idea is that is be a clearinghouse for online architectural salvage. At least a cross-section of what is available.
http://neworleansarchitecturalsalvage.wordpress.com/

Taking Inventory

2007-08-14T21:49:00.000-04:00

Last night there was another shoot out in Treme which left two dead. The City Council scandal this week, the assessor's nightmare which citizens are burden with and the general spaz de media which is about to happen because of K-2 is just making this place all the more torturous. This place is sucking the life out of everyone. It's not the heat, it's the stupidity.

Someone I know was at a family reunion last weekend and many people asked her how things were in New Orleans. She was a) aghast that they really had no clue and b) she said she could not answer that broad question.

We have resolved the insurance issue finally and now I am putting my lot on the market. I am working with Willie White to remove the foundation and flooring, which he will be able to keep thanks to his tight tarp job, a year and a half ago now.

I am taking inventory of the salvaged items in the pod so I can sell them.

Things here will improve but it will take years and years. . . I do not want to die waiting for that to happen.

Vision

2007-07-29T10:21:00.000-04:00

"It's a shame to be caught up in something that doesn't make you absolutely tremble with joy." - Julia Child

The Set

Other Things Worth a Look-See Today:

*A Very Honorable Mention from Daniel O'Neil

*David Schalliol's Isolated Buildings Series

*Please . . .

Joe's Cozy Corner Original Facade Revealed

2007-07-21T08:31:00.000-04:00

This is Joe's Cozy Corner, where Kermit Ruffins used to hang out regularly, at the corner of N. Robertson and Ursulines in Treme. He mentions Joe's in his songs. The owner, Joe Glasper, was jailed after he shot someone outside his bar who refused to stop selling beer out of his trunk. The bar remained open while Joe was incarcerated.

In May of 2005, Joe Glasper died suddenly in jail a week before we were to close on the sale of the house which I purchased from the Glasper family. The bar has been shut since just before Katrina. There was a great Jazz Funeral for Joe. He had hosted a long history of bands in his bar and was a regular stop for all second lines. Some say had Joe not died in the jail, the family of the victim he shot would have killed him anyway.

PaPa Joe's Second Line

After Joe passed, a couple kind-hearted local women were renting the place and had been in the process of starting a food pantry/community center. They painted the bricks purple. The old shoe-shine stand which stood out front has been relocated by some full-time drinkers who hang out at St. Philip/ Clairborne Ave.

Then, in the past couple weeks, one of the people focused on renovations at the Corner of Ursulines and N. Robertson uncovered another old facade decorated with it's original advertisements. This is the second one of these in the immediate area.

Incidentally, I found another one at Marais and Independence in the New Marigny area.

More Photos

My Life With Maggots

2007-07-08T16:09:00.000-04:00

For the past year or so since the storm which destroyed my renovation house in Treme I have been dutifully going out to mow my lot around the foundation that is left. I feel strongly about my duty as a good neighbor to keep it clean. Most people would pay someone to do it for them but it makes me feel connected. I used to dig doing it. I like physical work but it's just become downright depressing lately. More and more, I have to psyche myself up.

Mowing around the foundation is part of the issue. The foundation represented my determination to rebuild. It could save me a lot of money if I ever can. Right now, it's a constant reminder that insurance companies have fucked thousands of us over. I always fantasize about what could be there and long for almost any structure to be a positive message to the neighborhood of victory and committment. In Historic Treme, any property up-and-running has a big impact.

Recently, someone who lives nearby has been dumping their trash on the easement out front. Last time, a week or so ago, there was a bunch of maggot-riden fish heads in newspaper along with the usual random beer bottles and Boon's Farm castaways. I am pretty hardened to trash issues since Katrina and can scoop up maggots/roaches with the best of 'em. Today, there was a bucket put up against the fence with flies buzzing around it and a repulsive smell which is still in my nose hours later.

In the past couple weeks, in addition to the fish-head moment, I had to pick up a dead cat, which my good neighbor helped me with. It sat in the hot trash for a few days, rotting . . . stinking. After the good people at SDT picked up that horrific load, I left my 90 gallon can out to get a rain-rinse and air-out in the sun. When I went the next day to get it and rinse it with the hose, someone had put their fucking crab discards and the styrofoam container in which it was served in my trash. This now had maggots too. I thought hard about dumping it out and bagging it up properly but I am getting worn down. Finally, I just threw some bleach in there and gave up on cleaning the can properly. It has killed the live-rot and the smell. My only small consolation here is that I guess it would have been on the street if my trash can had not been there.

I mowed around the worm bucket today on Gov. Nicholls today and took some photos but it was so gross that I could not touch it. It's there now as a science experiment. They left it, they can live with the next phase of this bio-hazard.

I took some more photos of my immediate area on Gov. Nicholls in Treme and put a little narrative on the photos. For all the bad things that are back in that area, there are just as many good things. The people who were working hard prior to Katrina are stuck; Lionel is gone, my neighbor Stephen no longer around working on his house. However, the houses that were stagnant across the street and in decline turned around. (Passebonne Cottage got grant money through the African American Museum.) This could be due to insurance money doled out or not doled out.

Photos of Gov. Nicholls @ N. Villere St/ Treme

Architectural Salvage: Rewards and Risks

2007-07-07T11:25:00.001-04:00

Architectural Salvage has been a long tradition in New Orleans architecture. Many buildings we see now are actually the second or third structure on the original site. The current structure having been built with materials from a more modest structure which occupied the lot previously. This can make determining the age of a building a bit tricky.

The true age of a building cannot always be nailed down to a specific year, rather, it is often a twenty-year span, or period. "Architectural forensics" is the examination which is required to really see the changes that have been made to a structure over time. It requires looking at every nook and cranny of a building; one finds that doors were closed up and additions added the back, fireplaces removed, galleries once open, closed for additional living and storage.

We saw what was uncovered when this building was 'de-bricked' on Ursulines St. in this previous post regarding a Treme preservationist's forensic discovery.

To do this sort of evaluation, it is first necessary to understand the basic structures of New Orleans' homes. This book is a staple for any architecture buff in New Orleans. New Orleans Houses: A House Watcher's Guide by Lloyd Vogt. Pelican Press, 1985.

Physical Risks of Salvage: Worst Case Scenarios

The structural demise of a building is usually due to multiple issues; neglect, natural disaster, unchecked termite damage. The post-collapse review of a building teaches us a lot about how buildings stand up as well as how they fall down. There are many buildings in the city right now which are various states of fragility due to demolition work or renovation work, both of which can cause a deadly collapse in a storm. This happened just this week in the case of the two story house at 2212 Marengo Street.

This house collapsed during a quickly developing afternoon storm which also produced lightning that caused another house in the immediate area to catch fire. The Marengo house which collapsed, was under salvage as part of a full demolition. The owner was making decisions as they worked regarding what might be saved and reincorporated into the new construction. However, the decision has now been made for them.

Basic surface salvage is sometimes called 'skimming' a house. Skimming removes inner details such as mantels, and also exterior details such as brackets and windows. In the case of Marengo, the goal was to take down and salvage as much as possible. This is much more involved than skimming. Unfortunately, the isolated afternoon storm torqued the house with a spiral wind. Thankfully, no one was hurt and none of the adjacent homes were damaged.

Marengo Street House Before and After

Working Against Time

Just as in construction, there are pivotal phases of demolition/renovation that are critical and must be worked through as fast as possible before weather threatens. Preventative bracing can be built if time permits.

The expert salvager working on Marengo St. has 20 years experience doing this in New Orleans. While working on the house, his team discovered that the house had a double layer roof. A regular shingled roof was applied over the top of an old slate roof. Slate roofs are great but they are very heavy. This was an additional factor working against this home in its fragile state.

The salvage team was very close to beginning the top-down process of hand demolition on this house. Usually, the windows and main features are removed, inner details such and decorative mantles and trim. Then the salvager begins taking down the structure in a methodical fashion beginning with the roof and working down and around the building. This method ensures that the the structure remains as stable as possible while hand demolition takes place. This is the same technique used in the hand demolition/salvage of the church on Valence St. which I took many photos of as it was demolished without bulldozers in order to save the materials for the new structure.

Architectural Poachers: The Dark Side of Salvage

There are some people for whom architectural salvage is big business in New Orleans. These people pay for elements which have been stripped from homes throughout our Historic Districts by random people who walk in with brackets, cornices and other cypress trim pieces. They are culprits in stealing architectural elements when they accept and pay cash for items whose ownership and provenance cannot be proven by the seller. This is very much akin to poachers who poach nearly extinct animal species in the world's quickly dwindly jungles.

There was a recent case this when a man in the Treme area who had just bought a house on Kerelec St. M. had just begun a courageous renovation of this badly damaged home when someone stole the milled headers off the windows on his house.

He sent out a plea for help to people in the preservation world who know the ropes. We pushed him to go to the various salvage stores and try to find the cornices that belonged to his house using photos he had as proof of ownership. He was successful when he got to the Bank, a known purchaser of items from architectural poachers. M. got his cornices back!

This problem has been rampant since Katrina because so many homes are left vacant and few neighbors are around to catch suspicious activity. It is also prevalent in our cemeteries and clients are often wealthy, elite scroungers from places like California.

More Renovation Photos on Kerelec St. House

The widespread copper scrapping market deserves mention here because it has been devastating to homeowners since Katrina. This is not salvage, this can happen to anyone, even if your house is fully operational and you are away at work. It has been black-market hell for homeowners in New Orleans for years and a scourge since Katrina. It is not reused as pipe, it is sold to molten into new product. I wrote about this on Metroblogginglast year and it's still a problem, though, there has been a crackdown in District B.

Another new threat to our architectural heritage is the unscrupulous, selective poaching by contractors who are being paid to rebuild or renovate a home and put out bounties on a specific item they need for a particular job. Doors are particularly vulnerable and in some cases, entire blocks of houses have had their old doors stolen. Owners have had to resort to the installation of cheap, Home Depot doors which are not historically correct replacements but are stop-gap security measures. For homeowners who can't find or afford salvage materials, the Home Depot-ficiation of our historic homes is a big preservation issue you will notice only if you take a stroll down our side streets in Mid-City.

What We Know: The Value of Individual Elements

The unique cypress millwork detailing our homes is not something that can be recreated with same quality with modern material. An individual bracket can weigh 40 pounds. These pieces often survive the rest of a building's deterioration due to termites or water. When a building collapses, the millwork pieces often pop out with little damage. I found this to be the case with my own house's collapse as well as this instance at the Prytania St. demolition on Thanksgiving day, in which no formal salvage was even attempted of this 1920's structure which had some great Arts and Crafts elements worth saving.

The empty lot sits now, with a sign, pleading for lease. This demolition was done under the false premise of Katrina damages. It was in a non-flooded area surrounded by Touro Hospital, Uptown. Frankly, the owners were simply too lazy to fix the roof and get it back into commerce. The PRC agent who was there with me on Thanksgiving Day, a suspicious day for a demolition, discovered this after looking it up on Velocity.com.

It took two weeks to demolish this building, it could not have been in bad shape. After the building was gone for a week or so, a real estate sign appeared on the vacant lot. I called them. The agent cheerfully suggested someone could put a coffee shop there. I said, "You had a coffee shop there."

Something salvagers know is that the pine flooring of New Orleans homes is often still salvageable after floods and collapse. It is in high demand as people remediate flood damage post-Katrina.

Bricks from entire masonry buildings can be reused. The bricks from fireplaces are commonly also reused. They are not only used in housing reconstruction, they are used in gardens and paved walkways.

Ironwork is reusable and very expensive to buy new. Fencing and railings can be reincorporated into new construction.

Windows with their casings are great elements to add to new construction because they add dimension to a facade and stained glasswork is particularly expensive to recreate but worth finding an artist to recreate for repair work on a mildly damaged old window.

Old doors are particularly beautiful with their detailed cypress millwork. These can run $800.00 each but are functional and add signature warmth to a house.

In the end, there is no dispute that new construction can be enhanced with original architectural elements. Remediation with salvage is arguable with your insurance company if you are in a National Historic District, most of us are. We cannot replicate the old materials/craftsmanship. Our unique building materials are finite resources. We live in a legacy. It is our responsibility to those before us to restore our homes as close as possible to their original character. We must think beyond the future but also to the past. We should follow the examples before us, using all the resources at our disposal. Once gone, they are gone forever.

Salvage Places in New Orleans: (websites are not available for all outlets)

NON PROFIT SALVAGE:

Habitat Restore

The Green Project

FOR PROFIT SALVAGE:

http://www.carrolltonlumber.com/architechturalsalvage.htm

http://www.architectural-salvage.com/

http://www.riccasarchitectural.com/

http://www.humanitas-international.org/perez/clients/armadillo/index.html

Educational Links:
Louisiana Studies in Historic Preservation

When I Grow Up I Want to Be A Junkie

2007-06-25T12:26:00.000-04:00

Today I report on the various perspectives from all over the city; Crime, Tits on Bourbon St, Econ Dev. and the privileged people Uptown, Schools, the Destruction of entire neighborhoods for Econ Dev., and Flooding problems, and the Vaccuum at the top. Let's begin with this report from Treme today:

I learned from Miss J. yesterday that her son is in jail for burlgary. She heard from a neighbor that he'd been arrested around the corner but she doesn't have any additional details. I checked it out on the sheriff's website, and sure enough, he was booked yesterday and has a bond of $35,000. Between the burglary, the looting, the crack, and his "lady friends" who come over all the time, I really hope he stays away for quite some time.

Leo is about 48 yrs old! He ain't staying in jail for more than five minutes. C'mon! Miss J., his 85 year-old Mom, will mortgage her house to keep his deadbeat ass out of jail and on our street, contributing to the drug traffic and prostitution. She just wants her son around to be with her. Is she completely oblivious to the criminal he has become? This backbone of the city's crime problem rests on this demographic. The hard-working parent gets old, the kids are in line for the roof over her head, so why work? Professional loitering.

Meanwhile in Uptown, I was at dinner with well-travelled academics last night. The land of, "It is what it is." Topics here include, art, literature, bickering with co-workers, the school system, the Third World vs our own Third World.

We need a Target in Mid-City ! We need bio-medical research facilities.Oh, but we can't get that until we fix the public schools, who in their right mind would move here? We're doomed until we address that . . thank god so-and-so got her kid into Lusher. I hear Lusher isn't really a better school, it's just a white school.

Another person text messaged me that the Swingers Convention was in town one night. The Bourbon St. titty flashing scene was ratcheted up to the idiotic frenzy that everyone thinks makes New Orleans a destination city. Meanwhile, residents in Tulane/Gravier worry about real problems. The demolition of their whole neighborhood. This email comment from one resident regarding the development of the LSU/VA hospital, while Charity Hospital sits empty.

Today's TP indicates that the Governor has figured out a way to go ahead with the project with the size and scope that she wants. I have only one question. If we have at least a year before we start being bought out and some of the decision will have to made by the next Governor, I can go on with my life and plans for my house as if this is not a huge factor. If something is going to happen in a matter of months then I am forced to stay in limbo.

Regarding basic, inner city flooding problems, here is how we are left to deal with serious issues in the city. This email was sent by a well-meaning citizen regarding the problem of Carrollton Ave Flooding under the I-10 overpass, which is shut down in moderate rain due to flooding. It's actually becoming laughable.

Most of us have spent the last 12 to 18 months and our resources(IRA'S,Insurance,etc.) to get back into our homes and will standstill for contiued mistreatment. As discussed with the Mayor during our ACORN meeting, the Recovery Office should handle this because it was a high priority in district A during UNOP. During last weeks city-council meeting with the Recovery Office Ms.Midura spoke to how we had been under-represented and needed help to find a resolution. Hopefully ACORN, AAPR and Amercore will not have to put down sandbags for this storm season(approx 125,000 bags for 3ft wall).There are better and faster long-term fixes than what S&WB has planned. Will keep you informed on progress.
Thanks,
J.

Sandbags? How about tying them around my ankles? This is all laughable.

The mayor refuses to fund NORA to get this critical agency up and moving. The Mayor's office of MIT turned down a new system of reporting and tracking issues residents report such as potholes, leaks in sewerage lines, etc. They opted to stay with the 311 system of calling in such problems. I thought that was a temporary system? You can't follow up on problems you report. The proposed system would have given you a way to check the disposition of any issue. I guess one of the mayor's buddies runs that piece-of-shit 311 phone 'system' which requires more of the donut-eating, deadbeat manpower New Orleans is famous for.

What remains to be seen are how the IG (Inspector General) and OIM (Office of Independent Monitor, which will monitor the 'police' force) offices work or how long before the leaders in these new offices get assassinated . . .

It's as if we are trying our best to destroy the city, not rebuild it.

De Signing Treme

2007-06-10T22:21:00.001-04:00

Today M. and I went out to post the flyers for the HFTA (Historic Faubourg Treme Association) general meeting and we started pulling down these stupid plastic advertising signs as we went along. Then we really got possessed. We took down over 50 signs in our immediate area from Claiborne to Rampart, Basin to St. Bernard.

M. had this curtain rod in the back of her car that came in handy as well as fold up stool which we needed to get the really high ones. It was hot and she was bionic in her sandals and skirt. We got a plenty of "yeah, you right!" Hollers.

We also talked to a man who stopped to ask us what we were doing. An African American guy from Lakeview who just is puzzled about the lack of City recovery work going on, grass, and maintenance kinda stuff. We said we are all taxed to battle the quality of life issues ourselves here and we must be determined. He said he didn't know if he wanted to come back to an area with no people. We said he should consider moving into the areas that are more populated.

Then, he took out a cough drop. Then he dropped the paper on the ground, M. said, "Hey!" We laughed, because it was so small, sure. He agreed, it is at that level that those of us who are living here ( he is still stuck in Texas) must care. We encouraged him to work with his Councilwoman to address his concerns, and to keep the faith.

PS: There is an ordinance on the books prohibiting these types of signs and our neighborhood signs biodegrade. Spend more time reading the Municiple Code and less Blogs.

I Know More Than I Knew Before

2007-06-07T21:56:00.000-04:00

We have reached a pretty solid plateau of recovery. The furrow in my brow can't get any deeper. Some things are really improving in New Orleans. They are. I am a problem solver, so I tend to focus on areas still in need of improvement. But we are reaching a tipping point. Some things are not going be fixed and will continue to get worse. We will continue to have new problems. FEMA is now selling the temprorary trailers to owners for $680.00. They are now, officially, part of our permanent landscape. Good luck trying to get rid of them down the line. Well, until we get a rough round of 80 mph winds . . .

Given this shift in perspective it is time to evaluate and adjust our social habits that have been a reflexive push and pull for active citizens over the past year of rebuilding. Remember, we live in Pajama Town, and it's summer and it's hot. The social paradigm of New Orleans is to move around as little as possible. It makes you sweat. Try to enjoy it.

I have put some behavioral observations/tips in one list. I am sure it's not complete.

1) Insert yourself into any given process at the proper time. Too many meetings/chefs will kill your libido.

Set a deadline for actions to be complete. Go do it. Send an update when you get back from the latest festival or fishing trip.

2) No more meetings on short notice when there is no real emergency. What is with this and how did it begin happening?

Look, meetings and booty calls are two different things. Stop getting them confused.

3) Do you know why you did not know? Because you did not ask! Knowing what you don't know is a big part of problem solving. Try to think beyond this very moment fill in the gaps of the larger picture with practical and targeted questions and some research. Be useful.

4) Practice not caring. Say it daily. Even if you really do care, just say you don't. Repeat after me: I do not care about the bubbling puddle of water in your block. I do not care about the latest political fuckup. I do not care if the city floods. This simple exercise will help you keep things in the proper perspective of where you actually live and bring your rage down to a manageable level. I know you care mostly about yourself, but c'mon, everything has a limit.

5) Chat can be a great alternative to a 'meeting'. Twitter, however, is just evil.

6) Now is the time to wean yourself off the meds. Now that things have calmed down around here, your false reality is becoming more noticeable. Start stockpiling them, you'll be immediately useful during Katrina II. Keep paddling. It's working.

7) Leave the city at regular intervals. Someone had to pound this into my head and it's really good advice. I know from reading Tolstoy, that feedback is a good thing. In fact, now seems to be a good time to rest up for the next big thing. Pack your insurance papers.

Sunday Safari

2007-06-03T09:54:00.000-04:00

Monday. Rainy. I am looking at the paperwork for our Fiduciary Agreement with CityWorks, I also mowed the grass before it started raining. My list today includes e-mailing my FEMA Debris and Demo contact to get some properties removed from their demo list because they don't meet the proper criteria. Donna Addkison couldn't seem to give the Housing and Human Needs Committee a straight answer about taking care of this last week. So I am doing research on the properties, pulling the seams. The list given to us from the city had Army Corps spelled, "Army Core". I am fortunate because I get to do this while at home, making beef tips, answering random e-mails from readers and drinkin a Fresca.

N.O. housing efforts are criticized;Council members say gutting order failing

Yesterday, I spent half the day with R., our young Squandered Heritage contributor. Sunday mornings are the best days for photo safaris because there are a lot less people pulling up behind you while you are stopped in the middle of the street staring at stuff.

I set R. up with a camera at Christmas and he started taking photos a couple months later. K. and I got him onto Flickr and then he was rolling. K. got him set up to post, she's the editor, and now R. goes out and gets the photos faster than I can read the damn lists! He's enthusiastic, or maybe he's just bored. His contribution has been a big help lately as K. and I have been doing a lot more 'other' stuff. R. is funny, he knows a lot of random shit. He knows about the churches in the city, which is helpful to me, because this has been a blind spot in my knowledge. R. is always excited about anything "Antebellum" on our architecture tour. He is always asking me what I think other people or committee THINK about things . . . I explain that this is kinda hard to do but you can often guess. . . or just ask them.

R. and I explored some really bad areas in town that R. was amazed by, due to the fact that they are almost wastelands but people are living there, in their FEMA trailers. We wanted to evaluate these areas together and just checked on some 'situations' around town to see the latest developments. We saw Leo at the Culvert, who was another topic at the Housing and Human Needs committee meeting on Thursday. R. was properly freaked by Leo. But you can drive through on Magazine, well, you could on Sunday. Another thing on our safari agenda was to get some photos of addresses where Jazz Musicians used to live, we're making a new blog dedicated to that. We'll see how it goes.

At two points on our safari, we got stuck by the trains. We saw a guy walk up to and climb over the connectors between two cars, so he could cross the tracks while that train was moving through at a snail's pace. We laughed because the guy did this while talking on his cell phone. R. tells me about a giant molasses disaster that happened once in Boston. It so happens that my sister's job is shipping molasses by train/boat.

Part of the deal for this week's field trip was that R. had to get that Flickr organized because it's really easy for the photo situation to get out of control. R. says I am a drill sergeant.

R.'s Flickr

Preservation Triage

2007-05-29T20:13:00.000-04:00

This is a post I originally posted to www.squanderedheritage.com

On the drive back from NC today, I got a call. I have to attend a hearing tomorrow morning to save this structure from the wrecking ball. Again. There is a spiritual sense regarding my return and fragile properties. I was not surprised. Last time I came back, the Apricot St. house was mistakenly demolished, and I had this sense to call Karen, "check on Apricot". Sure 'nuf, it was gone. Due to an error on the part of Tony Faciane, which I later learned through documents we obtained from an RFPI. Apricot St. was our sacrificial lamb and the lessons we learned in that case gave us the confidence to work harder to avoid marginal mistakes.

This little house on N. Robertson had been on the imminent danger list last year because it's in a bad way. However, Miss N. and her husband bought it after the storm along with some other properties in the immediate area of N. Robertson and Ursulines. They have already stabilized and redone most of the properties they assumed in this very high risk block and have made an enormous impact with other investors, including Gladys Marigny and Scott Veazey, two well known historic renovators in Treme. The first thing they did was remove the damaged roof from 1114 N. Robertson in order to stop further deterioration. It has become a race against time.

I jumped through all kinds of hoops to get this off the Army Corps' Red Sticker list last year, getting an engineer's report and submitting all the necessary insurance paperwork to City Hall to help save it from demolition. That effort was a success.

Before Katrina it was on the market for a mere 30K and I even gave serious thought to buying it myself but I went ahead with the very large Gothic Eastlake on Gov. Nicholls instead. So this house speaks to me. Miss N. and her husband are going to rebuild it, it's in the queue of their projects in this area of critical mass in Historic Treme. As many people know, N. Robertson has been the core problem crime street for Treme. Before the storm, some of the properties here were simply not for sale. After the storm, the Bynums took advantage of their respected position in Treme to acquire some essential properties with the collective goal of bringing the area up out of its slum state. Chrabonnet funeral home is one property that backs up on this block and has been completely and beautifully renovated. It's an historically important anchor in Historic Treme, home to many landmark Jazz funerals and is now fueling this larger effort toward an architectural rennaissance on N. Robertson and Ursulines St.

I got a call on the way home today that it's on the docket for the Good Neighbor adjudication process for 9 am tomorrow, and N. has to attend a meeting for Women of the Storm so I am going to the hearing, to, yet again, rally hard for giving them every opportunity to get this property back into commerce.

It's brick between post makes it unique because even though it looks bad, the walls are only supporting themselves and can be saved. It probably dates to the mid-to-late 1800's and brick between post construction is unique to the quarter and Treme, so it's worth the all-out effort to save whatever we can. Furthermore, it doesn't post imminent danger to any structure in the immediate vicinity, making triage completely worth the effort.

So this is my welcome home. . . I will attend the hearing on the owners behalf. They have a construction crew working their way to this, fragile structure. Having been through this process, I am confident I can buy them some time. We know, with storm season upon us, time is now of the utmost.

Of Old Men and Young Boys

2007-05-27T19:14:00.000-04:00

I forget that my Father is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He was my Dad but he was also a veteran of the Vietnam War. I was looking to see if there was a directory of burials at National Cemetery. There is, but it's hidden in the Veterans Affairs website.

My father was drafted just after I was born, he was fortunate to make it back from Vietnam, he flew choppers on reconnaissance and sprayed agent orange which earned him a Purple Heart. After being back in civilian life for about ten years, my father contracted cancer from those chemical defoliation missions and was part of the lawsuit that the government weaseled their way out of. The texture of our lives changed dramatically for the next many years, always aware of the reality of days quickly dwindling.

Discussing my Father's last wishes became casual and matter-of-fact. Our family disagreed with his insistance on being buried so far away in Washington,D.C. We whined that it wasn't necessary to validate his courage, we preferred him to be close to home. We voiced our attitude regarding the Government, but he really felt like the Government owed him at least this much.

Military funerals are very moving and majestically beautiful, but I refuse to romanticize it. It's a dead body garden, of war. No amount of ceremony makes up for the suffering and the waste of lives of young men brainwashed by the selfish greed and poisonous pride of angry old men.

Cockade City

2007-05-27T00:45:00.000-04:00

I haven't been able to get Petersburg,Virginia out of my mind for the past two years. One day, in about 2005, while driving from D.C. to NC, my companion pointed out that there was this town that seemed to have a lot of old houses he could see from the highway. Being curious, we had to stop. The town was almost a ghost town. All we could see in street after street were drug dealers. Where were all the people? This small community is a charming underdog of a city with a remarkable Victorian housing stock. Due to severe economic depression, much of this grand and elegant architecture has fallen into a blighted and marginal state. The affluent population seems to have moved down the road a piece to where the big-box growth is at the next highway exit.

Since submerging myself in the task of recording damage/blighted property in New Orleans since Katrina, this town has been on my mind for the quality and quantity of blighted properties to be found as well as the social phenomenon of property abandonment.

When something grabs my brain like this, I can only reconcile it by going to see for myself, to set the record straight in my mind. After two years, I was looking to see if; a) it was as good/bad as I had decided in only a drive-thru visit the first time and b) to see if the city had rebounded from its bleak state and if not. . . if not, how could it be worse?! If it was improving, could we learn anything that we could apply to the severe problems in New Orleans? Yesterday, I spent the entire day feverishly examining the architecture and layout of Petersburg, VA. Having given, literally about a hundred tours of New Orleans, I have learned how to crash-course myself in a new city.

I was encouraged to see that Petersburg is making great strides today. The real saving grace for poor little Petersburg is its history. Similar to New Orleans, in 1860, Petersburg claims to have had the highest percentage of free men and women in the slave holding states of the Confederacy and the Union.

Architecturally, Petersburg is the steward to a precious stock of antebellum masonry buildings in it's Old Town area near where the once reknowned port provided steady economic stimulation. At the center is a hexagonal market which was shuttered upon my last visit. It is now being conserved, as are many buildings in Old Town.

The Old Blandford Church, built in 1735, was closed and left to blight after a new church was built in 1791. This church has the distinction of being one of only a few churches whose entire program of stained-glass windows was completely designed and conceived by Louis Comfort Tiffany. Each window depicts a Saint for each of the States who voluntarily sponsored their own window to honor the soldiers from their region who died for the Confederate cause in the Civil War. Even more compelling for New Orleans, is that the Louisiana window was commissioned, not by the state, as is the case with S. Carolina, N. Carolina, Texas, Alabama, Virginia, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. New Orleans' window commission was proposed with the stipulation that it be presented by the Washington Artillery of New Orleans, a private elite organization. Thus, as we often feel in New Orleans, though we are a city, in many ways, we are our own state. Washington Artillery Park is located on Decatur St., next to Cafe Du Monde.

Also of note, the Memorial Day fashion of rememberance, the decorating of graves of fallen soldiers, was said to have begun by Nora Maury, here in the cemetery of Blandford Church, the shrine to Confederate Soldiers. Here, June 9th is the city's own memorial decoration day, commemorating the Siege of Petersburg. There is a lot more to learn from Petersburg, I feel fortunate to have stumbled upon it. New Orleans' own historical contribution is much greater, we must continue to find a graceful balance to expand on how we can teach visitors about this history through our architecture. Oh, and though they have so much blight, they also have those giant garbage cans.

A large factor fueling the current preservation progress in Petersburg may be its location. It is located only 110 miles from Washington, DC, an enormous economic engine. Also important, the Virginia-based Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities was the United States' first statewide historic preservation group, founded in Richmond.

Flckr Photo Set

Emotional Equations

2007-05-25T11:48:00.000-04:00

The ability to generalize about things is often considered one of the great human attributes. As someone actually said to me yesterday, from the safe and the normal conditions in Kansas City, MO, one can easily generalize the emotional equation of life in New Orleans into a collective wallowing. She was, "Crocheting clothing for trolls."

Anyway, it's an easy default to meet this collective dismissive with collective anger. Collective anger eliminates the feelings helplessness and abandonment by exchanging it for a moribound sense of community. Feelings of abandonment and distrust flourish in situations where someone really has been humiliated, cheated, or insulted. This was affirmed yesterday in the Senate Subcommittee hearing, our Government is less than willing to assist the citizens of New Orleans beyond the current anemic level of allocation. Yet, today, the Senate passed Bush's Military spending bill without any timeline for ending the cash guzzling quagmire. We will continue to shovel money into the war in Iraq, which was largely based on lies, just as we have for the last five years. It's somewhat sinister that this military spending bill includes $17 billion in unrelated domestic spending, with considerable portions earmarked for rebuilding infrastructure in New Orleans. It seems, that rather than giving money to people to rebuild their homes, it was ok to hand it to Bush's big buddy contractors and banks.

Our real, long-term, heightened state of insecurity is exhausting on its own. But it looks like we are going to continue to be hostages to Bush's Terror Nation mentality, so he can continue to pipeline cash to his friends.

It turns into emotional trigonometry. The best thing we might do is to try to keep the equation linear. We need to remind ourselves that anger is often rooted in fear. Fear is often based on some 'unknown' which ultimately results in zero sums for us on the ground. After another nine months, citizens in New Orleans seem to be locked in a long series of unknowns. Our life in variables. At the beginning of another hurricane season.

Siberia

2007-05-24T19:04:00.000-04:00

In a situation where one thing has collapsed and something new does not yet exist, many people feel hollow and frustrated. This state is fertile ground for phenomena such as scapegoat-hunting, radicalism of all kinds, and need to hide behind the anonymity of a group whether socially or ethnically based. It encourages hatred of the world, self-affirmation at all costs, the feeling that everthing is now permitted, and the unparalleled flourishing of selfishness that goes along with this. It gives rise to the search for a common and easily identifiable enemy, to political extremism, . . . to a carpetbagging morality, stimulated, by the historically unprecedented restructuring of property relations, and so on and so n. -Havel

It is hard to imagine we could live in a world so instantly connected to up-to-the-minute events and yet still feel so isolated. So left behind. I watched citizens from New Orleans testifying today to the Disaster Recovery Subcommittee in Washington, D.C., begging for more funding and expedited processes from the Road Home. Residents did their best to explain with dignity how their lives, without using the word, were ruined. They were still waiting. Waiting for real hope or waiting for Godot? As Havel says, there are different kinds of waiting.

Citizens struggled today to connect the human and moral element of politics. To make up for lost time. To overcome years of convenient separation from politicians by the mass media. Today in front of the committee, citizens of New Orleans struggled to speak. If you have not lost your home, your spouse, job, you have heard thousands of stories of your neighbors who have. You have helped them to manage as they rebuild. Or you have stood by them as they waited.

It was a difficult to watch our citizens being forced to 'sell' their sorrow on tv to convince politicians to allocate more money to the program while ICF officials, who also testified, reside in criminal comfort.

In Over Our Heads

2007-05-23T18:25:00.000-04:00

Alright four readers. Go get ya a Guiness and sit down. This is bad news, unless you're just in New Orleans to exploit us for a story . . . you know, it's so exciting.

Matt McBride is leaving. Matt McBride, author of Fix The Pumps is the person who has been watchdogging the Army Corps since last year to be sure they do the work they promised. The work necessary for this city to survive. Matt McBride was sort of my only hope. When I found out I was nauseous, Karen, my partner on Squandered Heritage felt faint. For days we had this ominous feeling we couldn't shake. Without a functioning drainage system, which depends, not just on the popular and overused L-word, but heavily on the floodwalls which line our drainage canals and our mammoth pumping system, we are, uh, fucked. Nothing matters. I do not need to explain the necessity of monitoring the Army Corps.

Last night there was a meeting of a small group of citizens to try to reorganize behind him, to keep his work going. At least to focus on one major issue at a time. Matt sent out an 800 lb reading list (aka Head Explosion) today and some Actions for the Field Work:

Reading:
National Historic Register nomination study of S&WB pump stations

USACE Project Information Report for rehab of outfall canals;
Revision 1

Revision 2

Revision 3

Revision 4

USACE PIR for rehab of Orleans Parish Pump Stations

IPET report, final version, chapters 5 and 6 (including sections of appendices dealing with Orleans Parish failures)

Team Louisiana final Katrina report

NSF-sposored Katrina investigation, based out of Cal-Berkeley

FEMA-sponsored study of flood mitigation in Broadmoor, as well as
other documents available at UNO Floodhelp portal

Every entry on my blog (including everything I've linked to)

Every entry on thread titled "Thanks Flood Advocacy!" on broadmoorimprovement.com discussion board.

Floodgates Operating Manual

View my September PowerPoint presentation (requires free PowerPoint viewer,available at Microsoft's website), which, while it is wildly out of date, still contains important introductory information.

Read sections of Broadmoor and UNOP plans dealing with flood mitigation

I would estimate this as at least two weeks of solid reading, but
probably more like a month.

Sofa Citizens

2007-05-22T18:55:00.000-04:00

The sad truth is, the city has been in a bad state for the last 40 years and while the post-K landscape seemed like a good time to change the way things had been, as we all can see, this is not going happen. That's the truth. This is a provencial town and will never change. It doesn't matter how many meetings are held. The BS stays the same. Just look at the elections--everyone except 3 people are from the old guard. People don't want things to change here.

-- Anon

Is it necessary, at times, to practice indifference to keep one's sanity, live normally, enjoy a fine meal and a glass of wine, as the world around us experiences harrowing upheavals? . . . Indifference elicits no response. Of course, indifference can be tempting - more than that, seductive. . . A blur between light and dark. Indifference reduces the other to an abstraction.

-- Elie Wiesel

Three new people on the Council is rather courageous in an unstable environment. There have been other changes; Levee Board eliminated, Assessor Consolidation passed, Wetlands funding is gaining steam on the Hill, Criminal Justice Reform movements are being formalized. Will we get an Inspector General too? And don't forget your new garbage cans.

Bush Smackdown Gaining Momentum

2007-05-21T09:55:00.000-04:00

Here in NC, I am on a research and writing retreat, cleaning house. It's good to leave to gauge how things look from outside the hot-zone of desperation. I am catching up on what's happening here in this very progressive mid-size city of 193,755 people. While Winston-Salem is often overshadowed by it's larger nearby 'twin', Greensboro. Winston-Salem is a college town, it offers a much more tranquil balance. W-S is the home of the North Carolina College of the Arts, the first state-supported school of its kind in the nation. It's also the home of the prestigious private liberal arts university, Wake Forest. Because of this W-S is very diverse for it's size and also has a great medical/teaching facility. Wake Forest University Baptist Center And it's clean. And I haven't heard gunshots nor sirens in a week . . .

One thing I saw was a handmade sign on the main drag that said MOMS Against War. There seems to be a fairly well organized anti-war movement around here and from the photos, looks like they have not overlooked Bush's failure in New Orleans and are using it as leverage. Wow, imagine THAT !

North Carolina World

Winston-Salem

Straddling Success

2007-05-19T19:08:00.000-04:00

It's pretty unreal that I have been so behind in this blog but time in New Orleans moves in such jerks and starts and too many people pull me in too many directions. When I have had time, I have been writing for Metroblogging. The bottom line is that I am tired and beginning to feel pretty jacked around in every respect, like most people who have been here since Oct. 2005. No one here knows what they are doing, they have no experience in rebuilding a city. So they focus on their own specialization, make their own best contribution. All talents are valuable here these days. Well, not necessarily cash valuable. Good jobs are not easy to come by. Everyone is full of angst here and I am pretty damn happy right now to perhaps fall back on this to publish my own interests rather than material for a specifically defined topic. In other words, no one actually reads it.

In the past few months, I have had some great opportunities to write and also to meet some very talented writers. I have been asked to also contribute an Op-Ed to the Times Picayune on the state of demolitions in New Orleans.

Here's the text of my assignment:

I check in on Squandered Heritage occasionally, and was struck by the thought-provoking essay on Richard Nickel. I wanted to invite you to write something for the op-ed page on why it's important to preserve our architecture, including seemingly ordinary private homes, here. I think some people look at these houses and don't see anything special. Then there are houses that appear to be falling down, or were badly damaged in the flood.

The exact treatment wouldn't work for our op-ed page, since Nickel was from Chicago and the long passages quoted aren't ideal for us. It would need to be local, personal, about 600-700 words long and to argue a point. I am not really sure how you'd get into this topic, except to say that a Point of View is just that: Your point of view, hinging on your experience. Perhaps you could start with an account of watching a house be demolished, or one restored. Perhaps you could describe the death of Richard Nickel in explaining your work documenting the vanishing architectural heritage of N.O.

We can include a photo and certainly a mention of the Web site. The writing on SH.com is very strong, so I feel you'd be up to the challenge, if it's something you think you'd like to do.

Unfortunately we don't pay for guest commentary, but we do find that guest op-eds stimulate discussion on the issues. I understand you're probably very busy, but consider it an open invitation if you don't have time right now!

Thanks for your consideration and I hope to hear from you soon!

Annette Naake Sisco

Treme Transformation Continues

2006-12-07T22:50:00.000-05:00

Since Katrina, the Historic Faubourg Treme Association has gathered a lot of steam. Our neighborhood is changing as people have begun to realize that this area is prime, non-flooded real estate. The Vieux Maison Francaise (French Heritage Foundation) is helping to renovate and save three historic homes. The Soulie cottage on Treme St. and the Passebonne Cottage at the African American Museum and one of the houses that are part of a set of sister houses called LeBlanc Row.

We have been having meetings every couple/three weeks, to get our infrastructure in place and this week I was accepted as an at-large board member. I seem to be attracted to nothing but the most challenging neighborhoods. We have a grant to invest in beautification projects, planting trees and landscaping and installing some historic markers. We are also getting more and more very talented new residents. Post-K new faces include Judge Rose Ledet, Daniel Taylor, the architect for the LIFT project and Pat Evans just moved in on St. Claude St, she is a professional neighborhood advocate who works at UNO. We already had some unique people who love our city in Treme, like Scott Veazey who does top notch renovations and has done a couple more renovations in Treme since Katrina. His house will be featured in New Orleans magazine this month. Of course, Naydja and Adolph Bynum who already own many beautiful properties and they have bought four more and are about half way done with two of those renovations now. Meg just bought this house at St. Philip St. and uncovered a historical legacy that was buried under brick and old asbestos siding.

So much is happening in Treme, it's hard convince people that aren't here. You have to see it to believe it.

Meg's Gets Medieval on the Termites

2006-12-07T22:45:00.000-05:00

Meg had a case of drywood termites in a house she renovated about two years ago. This creole cottage is quite a sight tented. Meg's at her friends house while the gas procedure is done which takes a couple days. Her dogs are with someone else and her food is at yet another place til she can get back in.

Marmorino Veneziano on Ursulines Street

2006-09-22T07:53:00.000-04:00

You're probably wondering what's going on with my rebuild. I'll post an update on that tedium soon, we're all in the hands of the evil insurance companies and so it's like the whole city is in a coma. If you didn't have to file a claim, you have no idea how frustrating it is and how it makes you want to just walk away from the whole city. So, to fight that feeling, I figure that this is a good time to spend on the neighorbohood organization, writing grants, and to gain inspiration from local artists. Part of the reason I think I haven't been posting here so much is that I have been working in the superior blogware over at Metroblogging and now this Blogger formatting pisses me off because it takes me too long because it has too many glitches.

My neighbor and I have been having this ongoing discussion about superior interior details as she rebuilds her house from the flood. We have been going on and on about this interior paint finish using wax over plaster. It sounded like so much work that I just shrugged it off because I am not big fan of the faux finish except in the historical context found in antebellum plantations and some turn of the century homes in the city. So my friend, MaPo took me over to her friends house on Ursulines in Treme to see the results of this technique which involves a couple thin layers of a plaster with crushed marble in it and then an application of a wax paste that is then buffed to a soft glowing finish. It's really the finish as much as the color/texture that impressed me, a finely buffed wax that is fundamentally a matte finish but with a translucent quality that reflects light. Sandy says that she cheated and used a power buffer and it was fine and saved a lot of time and energy.

In addition to the wall work, I was really happy to be able to see Sandy and Bill's house. It's one of those houses I have always looked at from the outside and wanted to go in, and finally I got to see it. One of my favorite things in New Orleans is getting invited to private parties just to see the inside of people's homes here because you never know what architectural elements you will be treated to once inside. A beautiful courtyard, a carriage house, balconies or galleries you can't see from outside, old fireplaces, beautiful woodwork including some inspiring custom cabinetry and sometimes brick between post walls or the view from above, in this case, St. Augustine's steeple !

For more details:
Stucco Italiano

Historic Faubourg Treme Association Takes Aim at Blight, Crime and Grime

2006-09-17T18:43:00.000-04:00

Adolf Bynum, Beautification Committee Chair, Initiates Treme Cleanup Day

Since Katrina, Naydja and Adolf Bynum have spearheaded a new and more solid neighborhood organization in Treme. Prior to the storm there were a number of factions vying for control of this neighborhood because it stands as an icon to the culture and history of the city. We have the Backstreet Cultural Museum which is dedicated to the history of the Mardi Gras Indians, St. Augustine Church, the African American Museum, and Charbonnet's Funeral Home, and we were also the home of Joe's Cozy Corner, where Kermit Ruffins spent a good deal of his time. We also have Armstrong Park, home of Congo Square and we can claim the old Treme Market as part of our colorful past as well as Storyville. So there has always been a high degree of interest from various groups to steer the neighborhood.

Pre-Katrina, it suffered from a rash of drug violence which has been plaguing the second line scene for the past few years. Joe's Cozy Corner was the site of a few murders. North Robertson street still suffers from some bad elements who persist but we could see that the storm had created a vaccuum of leadership and for a while, crime. We decided this was the time to get start a very solid and very professionally managed neighborhood organization that would welcome all residents, erasing the past bad feelings that existed between old, ineffective groups that had failed to make any real positive impact in the area. After Katrina, the blighted ghetto looks more like a slum. The Historic Faubourg Treme organization is dedicated to the smaller historic area of Treme and focused on our main problems of Crime, Blight and Grime. In order to be successful, we have to keep our mission very focused, we want to make a measurable difference.

Trash is a big problem citywide right now. People can't seem to remember what a trash can is used for, throwing household trash in the street in grocery bags. Debris, which is everywhere was being picked up by the Army Corps of Engineers but we need to get residents back into the habit of renting dumpsters for construction debris.

We cleaned up a couple blocks of N. Robertson in late July preparing for our first ever Night Out Against Crime. This, the day after a quadruple murder on St. Ann and
Claiborne. But we hosted a very nice Night Out event and the media showed the good things happening in our neighborhood. We're a determined group.

On Aug. 20,2006 Adolf hosted a cleanup of most of the neighborhood that included many many residents and the city's sanitation department provided staff and trucks.
It was another great step toward our mission.

African American Museum Reopens

2006-07-16T10:51:00.000-04:00

The African American Museum had been bogged down in political and financial scandal
for the past three years due to mismanagement and fraud in the Morial administration. It was painful to see it from the street everyday and not be able to go inside or to see tourist traffic around the area. My friend Meg is on the board now and one of the board members is a key player in Jazz Fest too, so there are much more qualified people running it now. The building and the grounds are gorgeous, it's a great place to host an event. The jazz photos currently on display are the best I have seen, really, a must see collection. Tomie is the Director, she's got a great personality.

The buildings on the site suffered little or no damage from Katrina. A tree fell in the front, busting up the wall but missing the building by only inches.

Tubs Finally Come 'Home'

2006-04-22T17:19:00.000-04:00

Pre-Refinishing, back in October.

The people at Southern Refinishing have been so unbelievably nice to me. They held these tubs without charge since they took them in August. They could see the situation I am in. They expressed their regrets, we've all lost so much. They told me that they had evacuated to Mississippi from the Westbank and the house they were in was ripped apart. The son said he'd always wanted to see what a hurricane was like. He's over the curiosity of hurricanes. The father told me he lost his wife in January. It's getting to me, lately. I am in another wave of sudden tears again.

The most valuable part of these tubs is the feet, they are hard to get and the tub is useless without them. In my excavation, a set of feet turned up, they were in the POD. I gave this set of clawed feet to them.

Larger POD Arrives

2006-04-22T17:09:00.000-04:00

I had to empty all the stuff out of the POD because I finally got the PODS exchange done this week. Whitney helped me get the stuff out and Jen helped me put the ironwork back. The new pod was from corporate, the old pod was a franchise pod, they are all on the same lot. However, they couldn't be there at the same time . . . but they did make it in the same day, that was important so that my stuff wouldn't be out there all night.

Treme Begins to Recover

2006-04-13T13:13:00.000-04:00

The students from Tulane's Dept. of Public Health worked to help the neighborhood recover in October. My neighbor, Jen, in the uptown building is a grad student in the department, so we did a couple of great projects together. We did the Rapid Population Estimate for the city and got St. Augustine church cleaned up so they could open a food pantry with Second Harvesters which was very successful. The students were invaluable to the neighborhood and the church. They also did resident surveys to help assess the needs of the neighborhood. Their presence has been so good for Treme. Recently however, there has been some strife regarding the church and our local Momma D. (there are more than one in the city, I think they are regional matriarchs for large ghetto areas). One day, Momma D. said to one of the students who has worked tirelessly for the food pantry, "I'm sick of you white girls comin' in here thinkin' you gotta help the niggas . .. ". This is the crap that goes on in Treme and makes us the most dysfunctional neighborhood in the city. This made poor Erynn cry. These Momma D. women used to impress me, I thought they were the most functional and visible in the poor black community. Over the years though, I have seen this other side too and in some way reveals how afraid they are because they can't perform the supportive function in their neighborhood that they portray. I think they are counterproductive because they are unwilling to volunteer with the students. They want the credit or they won't do anything at all and they tear down the people who are trying to help. God forbid those people be white.

Recently, the archdiocese was going to cut funding and fold St. Aug parish into Peter Clavier parish. The kids from Common Ground rallied with the parishioners and just last Friday the archdiocese relented and announced that they will support the parish for another 18 months and keep Father LeDoux as priest. During this time, the parish must prove they can be sustainable.

Another great step in the recovery is the French government's announcement that they will help rebuild the Passabonne Cottage which is part of the Villa Meilleure, otherwise known as the African American Museum. My friend Meg is on the new board, so that is finally moving forward from the quicksand of the Morial fraud investigation by the feds.

On the bad side, the gangstah element began to rear its ugly head in the form of a renegade street party on Sunday two weeks back. This began in the front of the Candlelight, one of the few functioning bars left on N. Robertson St. When the cops failed to show up to shut it down, after about five hours, a bunch of us women, both black and white, made an appointment with Jackie Clarkson, our councilwoman and the Supt. of the 1st Dist. of NOPD. It was a good meeting and the following Sunday, the cops had this huge mobile police unit parked in front of the bar. Thank god it's election time for one thing but we do have a good relationship with the police who don't want to see the shoot 'em ups on N. Robertson start again like they were prior to Katrina.

Another great development as of this morning . . . the pile of debris from Mette Skou's property has been cleaned up! God, what a relief. Somethings that were bottlenecks seem to be dissolving. The neighbors across the street landscaped their
easement, it's gorgeous. Looks better than their building.

Mardi Gras Day and Thursday

2006-03-03T10:27:00.000-05:00

I walked by my property on Mardi Gras day, after going by the Backstreet Cultural and St. Augustine Church. They are threatening to shut St. Aug. The diocese doesn't want to commit the money. There were reporters from Sweden interviewing Father LeDoux. I took some photos of him being interviewed. I love that church, as do all Tremeans. It was a little depressing if you think I was supposed be staying there by Mardi Gras. It's all too depressing if you think about it too much at all. None of my immediate friends are in my place, that's making it a little hard at this immediate moment too. They try. But these are the cards in your hand. How ya gonna play em? You can throw down anytime. Or maybe throw away one at time.

If you recall, I had two clawfoot tubs I had refinished way back in mid-August.
August 3rd Post Well, over the last couple months I called them, waited a couple weeks, they had a death in the family. A couple weeks later they called me back to say the tubs are ready. That was a couple weeks ago and it's my turn to call them back. Keeps poppin back into my head, gotta take care of it. I have to find a place for them. The pod is full. I open it, stare at it. Shake something around. Close the door, walk away. I think I have decided that I have to empty the pod and get a bigger pod. The pod people can come on St. Pat's day, the 17th. The lady over the Southern Refinishers on the Westbank was super sweet. She knows how hard these things are to DO. They are holding them for me and she assured me not to rush and compromise the finish of my tubs. How 'bout that.

I am working on that and calling contractors for estimates. HA ! I actually had a couple call me back and they are so tired. You can tell over the phone. I am very fortunate because my architect gave me four numbers of local guys who know and love old buildings. And they are calling me! The principal calls me, not some secretary and they are just beggin me to be patient that it will be at least a couple weeks. "Call me back and remind me and I'll keep you on the list", they say. I say, "Ok, Will do, Please keep me mind".

So yesterday, I go pull the weedeater off the property for a couple friends who need to use it and discover that there is this pile of debris from the neighbor's house on N. Villere in my freakin yard. I am pissed.

This morning I go over there and I am trying to straighten out the tarps and drain water off them. Two seconds goes by and my hands are bleeding already (cuz as someone would yell at me for not puttin on my gloves). Some white lady is coming over to talk to me. It's Mette Skou, she's spends part of the year in Sweden and part in Treme. She gets just inside the fence when I start tellin her that I am in a rancid mood and not fit for human consumption. You know, mental health professionals encourage us to just say how we feel. So, I admit it straight away, Look, I'm a raging maniac, stay 500 ft. back and be ready to run at that. I tell Mette Skou, sorry and that I tried not to get out of bed at all today . . . but I always fail at that promise to myself. It's her debris. She's going to pick it up. So, now we will be having that banal chit-chat I wasn't in the mood for today.

Magically, this nice black dude that is not at all cracked up stops to give me a hand. He doesn't say a word. He hops off his bike and jumps up on the foundation with me. I know he'll want a bit o'money and I'll offer it before he even brings it up, save his dignity, because he kicked ass and we had a very good chemistry, like we'd been tuggin at that tarp together for a week. We had that zen thing going on that I could use more of lately. I hope I see him again. Leonard.

The dog is at the vet, she's not too well. The CD player in the van is broke. That means a trip to the dealer on the Westbank. And I am tired of tinkering with the spaces between sentences on this blogware. Mardi Gras was five days off for me but now I need five days off to recover.

NPR Story

2006-01-29T22:08:00.000-05:00

Eve's producers at NPR finally broadcasted her story regarding recovery preservation in New Orleans. Willie White sounds great. This past week I started working at the Preservation Resource Center which is already fun. It's really a great opportunity for me, I will learn so much !

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5157649

Our insurance company presented us with a check for a pathetically inadequate amount of money. That fight will continue. For all of us.

The Red List

2006-01-13T19:32:00.000-05:00

Willie called today, " We're on The List, you know." I said, "Yeah, I know, I have to change the signs." He agreed, that's a good start. None of us can quite figure out who you call to get off the list. Signs are the very the least I can do. http://www.nola.com/katrina/t-p/index.ssf?/katrina/pdf/redlist010506.html

The List, is the list given over to contractors for the Army Corps of Engineers to go out and demolish and clear houses that are causing a hazard to the people and structures around them. All structurally unsound homes. So, I have been watching the news regarding protesters who don't want someone tearing down their 'home' without their permission and I was thinking that mine was, you know, not applicable anymore. But, as Willie pointed out, the subcontractors don't know what they are looking at, they just want the cash money they get per home that they make, 'go away'. I mean, there's all my materials out there.

So, I'm still in purgatory with the red-sticker demons but I can look back a little and I am very grateful to have Willie White and Meg Lousteau keeping me on top of things. Emily and Brian for going to see it with me for the first time. I also owe a lot to Jim Louis for getting me out there with the chainsaw in the first place. It was a breakthrough day. It was the first thing done and then I just kept going and going. Even Preston Browning at Mercy Corps who called out of the blue one day to offer his help. THIS made me bawl my head off uncontrollably for hours but the only way I would stop crying was to get to work. On something, anything. So, I mowed the lawn around my corpse of a house. And Stephen Peychaud, for being a good neighbor and friend. I can't think of anyone else who I would have wanted to deliver the bad news. He's on one of the sub-committees now for the rebuilding process, this makes me feel good.

So I really do know how hard it is for many people just to begin taking those small steps toward cleaning up this mess we have here. I am a pretty self-motivated gal, but we don't really do anything alone and I am really lucky to have people to support me through this thing. We might not realize how the little things we do might give someone the push they really need to get over the psychological weight and go forward.

I'll put this sign up on Monday.....

NO TRESSPASSING

Attention Army Corps of Engineers or subcontractor:

This property, 1502 Gov. Nicholls, was on the Red, Danger List due to damage from Katrina, however the owners have already done all necessary excavation on this property and salvaged materials and are preparing to rebuild. This address is no longer a ‘red sticker’ property. However, how we officially remove our address from the list is unbeknownst to us at this time. We have paid a professional salvage expert out of our own pocket in order to prevent further damage to affected structures. This property is now stable.

Thanks for your help in rebuilding our city and providing a very necessary service that will save many people a lot of money, however, this property is NOT in need of excavation nor demolition.

Contact the owner, Laureen or the excavation expert, Mr. Willie White if you have any questions.

Salvage/Excavation Finished

2005-12-23T17:24:00.000-05:00

Here's a little before and after for ya. Willie White and his guys picked the rubble apart by hand and it's done. There are numerous posts and millwork pieces I have saved. Also window casings which will help so that we can match them or remill them. The ironwork is in the pod, which we now refer to as 'the office'.

We debated whether or not to pull up the floors and we are going to attempt to wait for a variety of reasons. One good reason to keep them is that it keeps the footprint solid and also avoids the need for an industrial container. The risks are water and thieves but I have a lot of eyes and ears in the neighborhood. These tarps are very thick and with some tweaking, should be
good enough. The grass is pretty ripped up so the good news is that I won't have to mow for a while.

The next big thing is the insurance settlement. We are still waiting for Lloyds to send some sort of number to us that we will most likely reject. We'd love to get in there and get back to work, as many property owners in New Orleans would like to do but the sluggish response from the insurance companies are causing a huge bottleneck in the rebuilding process.

Gables Come Down

2005-12-13T14:20:00.000-05:00

The Gables came down today. Wow, what a process . . .this is the only time Willie has had to use a power tool. All the rest has been taken down with crowbars. Eve, NPR reporter, came by, all excited. "This is a huge story!", she said. She has been researching all the aspects of preservation and salvage. It is fascinating and an industry unto itself. The interview should be on NPR later this week. It's beginning to feel pretty sad that my house will be gone. Well, it will be in a giant box.

Sorry if the photos are wacked, I had a heck of time with that part today.

The Treasures

2005-12-09T17:36:00.000-05:00

So my neighbors, 4 of them, who are affected by my fallen house, had to be notified of the excavation so they can tarp, etc. Not surprisingly, only one person called.
Gladys Phillip.
She just wanted to know if my insurance was going to pay to fix her house. . . . I was waiting for these calls. I told her I would ask my adjuster and would do what I could to toss some
corporate cash in her direction.
No go. Gladys didn't have insurance. Pensioner,
has paid the house off years ago. I did tell her about the PRC's rebuilding together program but that was the best I could offer. She asked me if I could tarp her roof or something and Willie did mention he would do his best to seal the affected homes. So, I underpromised, overperform. That's my M.O. anyway.

The majority of the floor has been uncovered. The boards are way warped. Don't know if they, the very most valuable part of the house, can be reused. However, these tiles around the fireplace are intact in the the 4 fireplaces that had this original detail. Willie has also retrieved the millwork, some windows. It's really fascinating and surprising what survived !

The Autopsy

2005-12-07T14:19:00.000-05:00

The work of picking apart the house has started. Willie White is the best in the biz. He was recommended to me by the Dir. of the LA Landmarks Society and he really is great. He got my permits through the back-door in one day and is fine with me keeping some of my own wood rather than pressuring me to sell it to him. Some I will let him have, some I will keep and some I will donate to the Green Project. I am giving some tiles to a friend so he can patch his roof and they have a large pile of maybe 1500 bricks they have salvaged already. NPR did an interview with Willie and I about salvage, I hope it makes it to the air. He did a great job, I want to hear it.

There is an unscrupulous band of architectural raiders who steal this stuff from people's houses and a master pirate who pays people for these stolen items. So we are pretty worried about our
stuff over there being stolen. I am on the task of getting an industrial container for the wood which could be on our property for months before we can rebuild.

I have to head to the restaurant and am always under some sort of thing to do so I apologize for
the brevity today. I want to tell you about the damage to the neighbors....remind me.

More Blogging ......

2005-11-26T12:53:00.000-05:00

This blog has earned me a spot on Metroblogging ! It's hard doing both blogs and besides, working at the restaurant along with the volunteering stuff I have been doing, it's making
it hard to do anything regarding the house itself. Plus, we still have nothing in writing from the insurance company so it 's a war. I am not the only one. Much of the city is in limbo for this same reason.

So to keep up, here's the link: http://neworleans.metblogs.com/ It's linear, you can cruise the
articles for mine through the link on the left for the archives pertinent to the current month.
If you forget the link, just search blogs new orleans, it comes up. Don't be a retard and ask me a million times for the link...it's called a bookmark, if you can't use it yet, check into a nursing home.

I was approached by Mercy Corps to help salvage my item of desire from the home, then let them keep some wood for reuse through the Green Project here in the city. In this deal, they
would do the excavation for free. However, they can't touch the asbestos shingles. This is so ridiculous and it causing a lot of problems for many homeowners. As one person put it, "asbestos shingles are eating the lunches of a lot of contractors right now." If I could get up there I would pick them off myself. The whole thing is utterly stupid. The absurdity makes me just want to leave it. No one cares.

I did commmission my very dear friend, Jason Hawkins to do a painting of the house. He's not going to do the end result nor the blighted state, somewhere in between. He paints all kinds of
houses in New Orleans and has a degree in preservation. His work is on display all the time
at La Crepe Nanou and is for sale. Since the storm, his stuff is moving !

"Jason London Hawkins is a native of North Carolina and a New Orleanian since 1995. An ardent preservationist, Hawkins lives in the restored former residence of Kid Ory, Louis Armstrong's mentor and a leading jazzman of his day. His paintings are mostly of famous churches, whorehouses and gothic mansions. "http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2005-07-26/art_review.php

Uptown Askew, Uptown Anew

2005-11-06T20:42:00.000-05:00

The building on the left is at the tipping point. It's so blighted that one small breeze is going to bring it down. This building is located on a hoppin' stretch of Magazine street, it's right across from Whole Foods. The window casings are all bent, it's a real life Michalopoulos. Check out his stuff here: http://www.michalopoulos.com/gallery.html

The photo on the right is the pocket park at Toledano and St. Charles. The neighborhood took it upon themselves to clean it up on Saturday. One man paid for a dumpster or two and everyone came out and got rid of all the tree debris and trash. It's so beautiful. We can't wait around for the city to maintain public areas here in the city so folks are doing a great job of doing things for themselves. The area was a dumping ground for the last month, this is such an enormous
improvement. I sure am glad the residents were able to come home and pitch in. It took about
10 people the whole day to get it done.

Excavators and Adjusters: the renovation revisited

2005-10-30T15:49:00.000-05:00

So I have met with an adjuster, who was very nice and he told me that we would probably get close to the entire amount of our policy as this was trully destroyed. He then drew up an estimate that was about half of our policy amount. Now, this is not a half destroyed home....it's a totally destroyed home. We did not
pay only half of our premium. We are furious.

This week I lucky enough to get an excavator/salvage guy to come out and tell me what we could and should save. I have to attempt to contact the owners of the 4 other homes the house has fallen on before we can begin work. We need their permission to enter the property and some will need to get tarps on their roofs. This will not be easy. They are not there. Ever. Then I have to get a permit. Then they can begin picking this mess apart.
Someone will buy some of that old wood and later, I suppose I will be buying some of it back.

I have a feeling we will be making some big alterations in the scope of this 'renovation'. I may just do a smaller house without the camelback, I may go with those new metal roofs (pictured) on my friend Meg's down the street. They held up the best in the storm. And they make them in copper! Imagine that ~

Le travail quotidien

2005-10-30T14:58:00.000-05:00

Jill and Eva came to town to do some work on their homes. Things went really well ! Jill got
some major things done like cleaning up her yard, getting a new water heater, meeting with an adjuster. It was a very productive 6 days.

We toured the damaged areas of the city and saw the giant debris heap on Ponchartrain Expwy~ whew.

When they first arrived, like most people, they were pretty overwhelmed by what they saw. It was just a matter of days, however, before they were passing thru neighborhoods saying, "oh, this is looking so much better!". I had to laugh at this transition because we all swing very heavily between the emotions that accompany this shift in our perspective and many of us feel like we don't know for sure if we are ok with how we
feel about the city. Good, hopeful one minute, tired, fed-up, disgusted, exhausted, wondering if it's worth all the work, where is everyone?, who are all these people?, proud, indignant to those not here helping to get our services up . . . it's a wide gamut of emotions. With every friend we see again, we feel happy and reassured. I am putting a curse on everyone who bails on us right now. Sissies can just stay away. It's totally doable and it's not infinite and it's not dangerous unless you're stupid.

A fine example of daily life in New Orleans right now happened this morning. First, there are
3 coffee shops open uptown. One has no espresso, he is waiting for a new one to arrive, his
shop was looted. Each day I go to the one near me and I get and iced breve. Today, he has almost no half-n-half. I am tired. I put my head down and just order the espresso and figure I can just go buy some half-n-half at the store. Instead, I went and bought about 5 jugs and brought it back to the coffee shop because I know what it is like from my filling in at La
Crepe Nanou......you don't even have the staff to get supplies sometimes. Turns out that his
dairy man, a local distributor, Brown's Velvet, somehow shorted his shipment. That guy is probably working overtime too, so he's probably exhausted like the rest of us who are really
pitching in to help local businesses get back up and running in addition to our friends and our own homes. It's cars on a cable and some folks don't get it. I do, and I will be getting some free
coffees I am sure, they really appreciated it.

Some guy was giving the manager of CC's on Jefferson such a hard time this morning because they aren't able to be open on Sunday! What a jerk! Grab an apron, asshole. Help them, don't yell at the poor man. He is bringing employees in from Baton Rouge to help have the coffee shop
open 6 days a week and we should be thankful.

I see a lot of people who seem to have the time to sit in the coffee shop and linger. Boy, those were the days!

And those local folks who were always like, "you're not FROM here", meaning you weren't born here. Well, there are some of those "local" people who aren't here either and I can't wait to run into them some night! They can never say that again, I will kick them right back to their silly little high-school.

In an effort to give you a complete picture of the current status of things, another example is that at La Crepe, we can't offer a full menu because the two chefs and the dishwasher are doing all the prep work too. So anything that's high maintenance, like fondue or their signature french onion soup we can't offer. Mussels we are doing with great effort.

One of the owners said perhaps one night we should have only those high maintenance items
and none of the other dishes. I think it would be funny. I am getting a kick out of working there and I learn so much about how they make the dishes and how they make decisions.
I am also surprised how many people ask for alterations to standard offerings, which to me is
somewhat insulting to the chef. Jeff and Son go out of their way to make people happy.

For Becky

2005-10-24T22:52:00.000-04:00

Yep, that's Ozzie ! He's was hard to get a photo of but at least Becky can see he's ok. We had not seen him for about 3 days. I posted this for her while she is away, it's like KittyCam!

People In and Out

2005-10-24T22:37:00.000-04:00

Many many people are coming back and then having to leave again for obligations and so they are in and out and need to have someone on the ground meet people and check their houses, etc.
That's me.

I am glad to do it but I had to start telling people no as of today. No new 'clients', I am getting too burned out. The restaurant work makes my whole body ache too, I am not used to it so I can't spread myself too thin.

So my friend Becky went to W. VA for her mom's birthday. Her cats were here during the hurricane as she was out for a short trip when it hit and they are outside cats and hard
to get a hold on. The cats were fine, it's a miracle and they don't want to leave.

The neighborhood is a giant construction zone and large machinery drones all day and the cats just stay. So I am feeding them while she is out. You can sort of see the deck is all messed up, it is detached from the house. She had about 5 feet of water. Her place is salvageable, Becky had someone gut the part that was flooded. This is north of Claiborne Ave., uptown. Helping the kitties actually cheers me up a lot. Pet therapy.

Librarian/Dishwasher/Real Estate Broker/Animal Sitter

2005-10-24T22:25:00.000-04:00

On Monday I went to see if I could help my friends get their restaurant open. They put me on as a food runner/dishwasher on Tuesday. I was terrified having not done this type of work for about 15 years. We only had 2 original kitchen staff, the chefs. Then we did have some fill in folks with much restaurant experience, like Mike who everyone knows from Dick & Jennie's.
Then we also had a few people like myself who just want to help. It was fun, we actually had a great opening night. The second night, the dishwasher broke. We barely kept up but we did keep up. The teamwork is unbelievable in that place right now.
The owner was washing dishes too. Here's a link to their website !
http://www.lacrepenanou.com/
I need to get a photo up here of Son's AK-47 hanging in the kitchen. He's the Vietnamese chef and he returned to the city really early before many people were back and was there cleaning out the kitchen, he had to bring his own protection.

Brave New World

2005-10-24T21:55:00.000-04:00

I arrived one week ago, on Friday, Oct.14th and I was struck by how bad things looked to me again, after being gone for a week. When I returned it was so depressing, I wondered, "Can I do this?"

Well, I am doing IT ! I have been so busy it's hard to impress upon readers that every day in New Orleans right now feels like it's only five hours long. The first thing I did was help out with a great project sponsored by the mayor's office called "Clean Magazine" on Saturday. It was great! Hundreds of residents helped bag leaves and trash along with hundreds of National Guardsmen. Then these guys came behind us with huge trucks and machines to gather bags, piles of debris and appliances.

By the end of the day the entire street was so much more beautiful and they even had a streetcleaner give it a wash. Now businesses are up and running. I also saw a mailman! I still have not received any mail but my friend Emily is getting mail regularly. I am guessing this is because her carrier has returned.

Go New Orleans !

2005-10-11T11:24:00.000-04:00

You have to look up sometimes ~ this was great.
All over the city people from all over the world are here putting our city back together again. It's
up to our citizens to get back and help in that effort. I met people from everywhere from the Netherlands to Cuba and people who left their families for long periods to help us. I thanked
everyone I could personally.

New Orleans: In the Quarter

2005-10-11T10:36:00.000-04:00

There was plenty of parking in the Quarter, and no meter maids. I might like this smaller city thing.

New Orleans: CBD Fire

2005-10-11T10:27:00.000-04:00

This is around the Doubletree hotel in the central business district.
For those who have experienced loss, we share your sorrow citywide. The French Quarter is lucky but they are the ones complaining right now about curfews and fear of code violations.
I went to Harry Anderson's town hall meeting and I've already had it with the quarterites. Jim Monahan, the owner of Molly's is the only one I have heard with any sense. He understands how lucky they are to be able to operate at all and also understands he is part of the larger city.

New Orleans: Bunny Bread Survives

2005-10-11T10:24:00.000-04:00

This was not the only loaf of Bunny Bread I spotted in random places around town in piles of rubble.

New Orleans: Uptown Fire at St. Andrew

2005-10-11T10:19:00.000-04:00

There were 3 major fires uptown during Katrina and while I was there, another devasted a home
in the most expensive part of uptown, on a private street near Audubon Park. Another fire broke out in the Marigny, so it's a continuing
threat. I spoke to a woman in the neighborhood here who never left. She said these houses were burned by crackheads, she said that they had tons of looted merchandise in there. This fire destroyed 3-5 homes. It even jumped across the street. There was a cat who was still living under one of the half destroyed homes that I fed/watered.

New Orleans: Katrina Damage Lakeview (Ponchartrain Expwy)

2005-10-11T10:07:00.000-04:00

Lakeview was pretty much wiped out by heavy flooding because the 17th St. Canal is in their backyard. The lake rushed in the cravasse wiping out everything in it's path. The toxic water killed everything it touched. It was hard to believe even looking at it. I drove through this area regularly because it was a nice 'safe' place that interested many of my clients as possible places to live. Now, it looks creepy. I have always said there's no such thing as a safe place.

New Orleans: Not Alone

2005-10-11T10:03:00.000-04:00

This house, uptown, had one too. The damage prevents the front door from even closing.

New Orleans: Gov. Nicholls Photo 3

2005-10-11T09:53:00.000-04:00

Any home in New Orleans that is structurally unsafe is tagged with a warning sticker. We thought it was kinda funny that they couldn't even stick it on the house.

New Orleans: Katrina Damage Gov. Nicholls Photo 2

2005-10-11T08:49:00.000-04:00

Well, here's what's left of the house ! The photo we've been waiting to post. I feel like I need to change the blog title to neworleansrebuild.

Sigh. Grunt.....head begins to pound, feel kinda
dizzy.

When Emily and Brian and I visited the house,
the neighbors who were around (the city is still sparsely inhabitated) came out to express their sympathy and some reminisced about times they had spent there before it fell into it's neglected state. This sincere response compels one to persevere and rebuild. Another positive fact is that this property was not even close to taking in water because the piers are quite high, so flooding is not a serious threat and rebuilding would not be folly. One man said he heard the house fall. He said it was slow and graceful.

New Orleans: Katrina Damage Gov. Nicholls

2005-10-11T08:34:00.000-04:00

I travelled back to the city Oct. 1-6th to survey the damage from Katrina. Here's what's left of the house.

New Orleanians lament the loss of this unique architectural gem, but perhaps the worst thing about it is that it is resting against 3 houses/properties. In the very back, it's difficult to determine if it has damaged the 3rd home or if it's just in pieces on their property. The large building on the corner was not inhabited but the others were. We knew that winds around 100 miles an hour were just too much for this blighted/gutted structure. Our insurance adjusters have contacted us, as well as our
very dedicated architect, James Farr. The house was heavily insured and our ability to rebuild will depend on their assessment.

Lost Our Dreams?

2005-09-10T09:45:00.000-04:00

This is the boat in Stephen's yard. 10/1/05

Stephen called on Friday, Sept. 2nd to tell he had been in New Orleans until Wednesday the 31st. I was horrified because Meg and I had thought he'd gone to Baton Rouge. His voice had a very haunted sound, all that he could say was, " It's just like on t.v. ". So, sadly told me he made it down our street in Treme and that our house had collapsed in the force of the storm. I knew that structure wouldn't have a chance against winds most humans cannot begin to imagine. We were prepared for the worst, I just hoped it wouldn't land on anyone.

The good news this, two weeks later, that once the federal help arrived, things would improve very quickly. It is.

We have reports that the water uptown is on and the pipes are being flushed and they have cleared some trees and they are putting the power lines back up on St. Charles Ave. Thank goodness that we are right on one of the most important streets in the city, they must get the streetcar up and running. Also, the headline in the paper today says there are the estimate of fatalities was higher than what they are finding so far. We can only hope that more people were rescued than we thought. They also estimate that they will get the water/sludge cleaned up in just a few weeks!

We have lost entire neighborhoods, and many beautiful, jewels that make our city unique. For me this house project was a dream come true. So if you had your hopes and dreams in New Orleans, you have to ask yourself, "have we lost our dreams?" Or exchanged them for nightmares? I say, no, of course not. You just adjust your definition of your dream a bit.

I hope we won't lose our memory and will rebuild New Orleans as it should be according to the cultural style unique to our city. Like clothes, architecture is a personal expression and we have a responsibility to carry forth the personal expression of those who had the vision to build our beautiful city. We must carry that vision forth. Now, we may feel closer to them and their stuggle to develop our graceful city on a festering swamp but are luckier because we have the wisdom of Then and Now. I can't wait to get back. Can't wait to smell the sweet olive trees.

Thanks to Jacques for saving Stephen ! He said he had a photo, hope to get it to you soon. Right now, what we have is this link to our aerial view of the downtown area.
You can zoom in but only if you know where to go.
http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24427976.jpg

Profound Despair

2005-08-28T16:56:00.000-04:00

We are out of harms way at this time and in contact with friends who have escaped the path of this monster. I can't do anything but watch the coverage from WWLtv on the web.
This is the one.
The essential personnel in the city are in our thoughts as they stand by to deal with the damage. We are trying to come to terms with the total devastation that we will see once we can return.
We feel nothing but despair for our beloved city.

http://www.wwltv.com/ for a live feed of local news.

Stephen and Stafford's Huge Project

2005-08-25T14:13:00.000-04:00

Stephen and Stafford, our neighbors next door inherited this creole style shotgun house. Stephen grew up learning how to shore up foundations and he is doing this to his house now. There was extensive termite damage.

Shoring is incredibly hard work and to pay a contractor is very expensive. They have to replace sills and piers throughout the entire house. I have been watching the progress over there and thought you should see it because it's not the fun type of esthetic progess that people enjoy but it is essential. It's hard to believe two guys can do this. Stafford spends all of his time under the house, it's tight under there but he says it's not too hot but actually somewhat cooler than the outside temperature. Unfortunately, Stafford had to return to college for the fall semester and Stephen's trying to find a contractor to help him get the job done. I always tease Stafford that he does all the work and Stephen just stands around talking to the neighbors and I said while he was gone Stephen would probably just put a lazyboy in the yard and be hanging out. We miss Stafford back in the ghet-to but I bet he doesn't miss being under the house all day. Stephen probably would like to have demolished most of the house and started from scratch and he teases the preservationists about it but he knows
he's doing the right thing.

Don't Faint.....

2005-08-09T21:11:00.000-04:00

I know ! How about that ! ? I can't believe it either.....the guys from Arrow Fence took a long time to get here but they were good. Swweeet ! The ironwork is going to have to be replaced. The cost of repairing is more than buying it new so it come out but we're going to hold onto it.

I was in Colorado when they finished but my spy boy, Derryck called me. He's great that way. It's a team project. There are going to be many people to thank when we're done.

The architect is working on full sets of drawings then we must get approval from the HDLC. I love it that we have a YARD. I think I can plant one Oleander! It needs flowers. Can running water be far behind?

Joe's is Closed

2005-08-03T23:39:00.000-04:00

Joe'sCozy Corner is closed. It's taken me a while from the day the announcement was made, to believe it. Joe Glasper owned this bar and our renovation home. In 2004, he went to jail for shooting a man who insisted on selling beer illegally outside the bar. Here's a link to a nice history of Joe's: http://www.southernspaces.org/contents/2004/spitzer/1.htm

Joe owned our renovation project, he died in jail right before we went to the act of sale. It was in the middle of Jazz Fest. I went to Joe's jazz funeral, when they came through and they brought his casket in the bar. Then I went out Jazz Fest where I heard performers on stage acknowledging the loss of someone who had been a leader and good neighbor in Treme.

Much later that night, after that funeral, there were shots fired and someone was killed. Of course the neighbors caught flack from the hoodlums, accusing the neighbors of calling the cops. This rationale makes residents kinda crazy. Yep, we're the bad guys. We ain't the ones in the street shooting people. Unfortunately, Joe's had become one of the bad hot spots around the corner and while it used to be an institution, drugs and violence have taken it away. Now they have dismantled the shoe-shine stand out front and things are pretty quiet. It was Kermit Ruffins' favorite place.

Things change.

Check out the news about the incident that landed Joe in jail: http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=1533
This is a link to Nick Spitzer's first hand account. It's good.
http://www.southernspaces.org/contents/2004/spitzer/1.htm
Having trouble locating the story about the shooting post-jazz funeral but I will keep trying.
Stay tuned !

The Old/New Clawfoot Tubs

2005-08-03T23:30:00.000-04:00

In addition to working with my architect and trying to get the fence krewe out to the property, a friend sent me a notice from the Faubourg Marigny list-serve that these tubs were for sale for $100 each. Today I was very very lucky that I could get the refinishers to meet me at the site to pick them up. Refurbishing runs between $600-$800 per tub depending on their condition and size.

Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff's Office

2005-07-22T21:44:00.000-04:00

Ok, this is the bag I found under the house on Sunday, the 17th. It's a bag from someone's personal effects, left under my house apparently on their way back from the pokey. It had some clothes in it, I would have thrown the whole thing out but thought you might like to see it....O.P.C.S.O. is the Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff's Office. yep, probably the dude sleepin on the porch. Cindy wiped out the anti-napping glitter.....time to reload.
Posted by Picasa

2005-07-22T21:39:00.000-04:00

This is Stephen Peychaud. He's my neighbor on Gov. Nicholls street and he entertains my egragarian side as a homeowner. I can't see much progress right now but mowing the lawn
is cathartic. Problem is, I don't have a mower and no place on the property to store one yet.
(Don't ask where the fence guys are....) So Stephen loads his in on the weekend and we sweat our asses off. Here he using the backup mower cuz we busted the new one already. He calls this trusty old workhorse "old reliable"....but I know I am going to owe him a mower.....and a weedeater.
His M.O. is to keep a low profile, we both dig that approach. He and his nephew, Stafford, have been under their house next-door jacking up the sills to stabilize the foundation/frame. It's nuts that they are crawling under the house for hours. I will try to get a picture.

July 10 ~ Funeral for a Chief ~ Photos and Article By Ian McNulty

2005-07-12T19:58:00.000-04:00

This spring there was a bad rumble between the police and Mardi GrasIndians during a traditional nighttime gathering of the brightlycostumed maskers near one of the city's housing projects. Meetings werecalled to talk down the situation in the aftermath, including a hearingbefore the City Council in late June. One of the speakers from theIndian camp was Big Chief Tootie Montana, age 82, the most prominentand beloved of the Indian chiefs and known in his circles as the chiefof chiefs. Surrounded by supporters, he began an impassioned speech tothe City Council about the need to ease the tension between cops andthe community. He said "I want this to stop," then collapsed to thefloor and a short while later was pronounced dead at Charity Hospital.Heart attack.

Mourning rituals by the Indians and others began almost immediately.This weekend was his actual funeral. On Friday night he laid in stateat the city's opera hall, the Mahalia Jackson Theater, for visitationand Saturday morning a service was held at St. Augustine church in theTreme. Thousands gathered outside the church for the jazz funeralprocession to the cemetery. There was a brass band, with musiciansattired in traditional caps, shirts and ties, and what looked to beevery Mardi Gras Indian in the city turned out in their feathers andjewels. Naturally, the heat was broiling and even people in lightclothing were dripping sweat. The streets around the church were packedfor blocks around by onlookers and the area was buzzing with MardiGras-like energy. There was zero sadness expressed. The air was allbody scents, tropical blossoms from front gardens and wafting dopeclouds. Men were selling beers and mixed cocktails from tailgates,women hawking sweet potato pies and pralines from baskets held overtheir heads in the crowd. People were wearing hats decorated withclippings Montana's newspaper obituary.

The coffin emerges from the church and Indian whoops and tambourinerattles light up. The coffin is pushed into a black, horse-drawn hearsecarriage with a tuxedoed driver at the reins. The brass band sets up adirge and every one creeps forward with exaggeratedly slow steps as theprocession begins. The pace is miniscule, step by step in the blazing,crowded heat. Around the hearse, Indians and others in zoot suit paradefinery and ornate sashes chant and sing. The brass band picks it up alittle with "Didn't He Ramble" and "I'll Fly Away" as the processioncrosses under the bloodstream pattern of oak limbs lacing overEsplanade Avenue. Continuing through the Sixth Ward, shade disappearsand the heat intensifies. People run into corner bars and run out againwith beers and napkins to mop brows. Dancers and mourners wearing suitsare soaked to the lapels in sweat. Jostled in the crowded smallstreets, people bump into parked jalopies and burn themselves on thesun-sizzling steel. Dressy parasols and plain black umbrellas sproutup.

The procession makes a brief stop at Montana's home and loops around beneath the elevated interstate en route to the cemetery, St. Louis No.2, a walled and crumbling city of the dead fronting the Iberville housing project. The hearse clops slowly down the cemetery's main thoroughfare, past all the brick vaults and whitewashed tombs. The rotting smell of the recently interred is evident. People are crawling onto tombs of various heights and packing into the slim alleys between them to get a look at the coffin leaving the hearse, carried by soaking wet pallbearers to a tomb recently opened for the chief's arrival. He goes in, and last words are spoken, the Catholic lord's prayer recited. A kid falls from a tomb in a crumble of bricks and dusts himself off. Mourners pass by, placing a hand on the coffin inside the tomb and,when they're done, two workers from the archdiocese haul out a bucketof mortar and tools and wall in the coffin one aged brick at a time. Everyone disperses back through the Treme, where a repass reception is waiting in the community center. The criminal sheriff has sprung for lunch and at either end of the center's indoor basketball court twodozen prisoners wearing "O.P.P. Inmate" T-shirts spoon out bowls of redbeans roped thickly with sausage over rice, overseen by armed deputies. Around this time in the afternoon it became certain that Hurricane Dennis and its 130 mph winds would strike somewhere else along the GulfCoast, sparing New Orleans once more.

Some pictures of the above are below.
Ian

Goons v. Glitter

2005-07-12T18:58:00.000-04:00

So an new goon has been on the property which would'nt even be worth mentioning except he took the board of the porch window. He ripped it off, so I replaced it with a much thicker board before I took off out of town. I don't mind the old guys who go back there and drink beer, they don't hurt anything and they'll have to move on soon.

However, on June 25th when I was over there to show my friend Andrea the project, this new fella crossed the line by breakin into the place. It's important to keep the crackheads out. In fact, it's a miracle this house hasn't been inhabited by them in the many years it has been empty. Our best guess is around 15 years. I feel responsible for keeping it that way for the safety of
my neighbors and they can't wait for my fence and the electricity to be up. My neighbors have both said this to me. They will be relieved.

If you have been through any kind of robbery, then you know that you tend to start thinking
'booby traps'. There's a fine line you have to walk in executing booby traps, you can't cause anyone to be hurt but you do want to deter. I went out and bought six cans of spray glitter and coated the porch thoroughly. I took a photo but it's the glitter didn't show up.

I just imagined the street thug comin back there at night and taking a nice relaxing nap on our porch and then being totally covered in glitter. Rather an embarrassing state for street toughs And any real New Orleanian knows how impossible it is to get that glitter OFF. My neighbor and I suspect that maybe since they shut down Joe's Cozy Corner, the thugs that did biz over there are looking for a new storefront.

T.S. Cindy really did a number all around town. No power uptown for a day, trees down all over. I had to replace a board up in a really icky part of the house, I couldn't do as well as the old board but it's band-aids until construction. I also had a dead bird to pick up, it was rather awful. I had a down moment about the hassles of this waiting period.

So, while the architect is drawing, I'll try and gather some stories from around the neighborhood.

The Organ

2005-06-17T17:38:00.000-04:00

I was going to be back in NC while the tenting happened but I have some work
related duties and had to return early so I am happy to document the process
for you.

Interestingly, David, from House Call, set up a job that piggybacked on my job.
This organ has termites so they asked if they could put it on my porch to treat it. Of course, I am always willing to help a local musician. It's a gorgeous instrument.

Treme Resident: Lionel George

2005-06-17T17:17:00.000-04:00

Y'all need to meet my neighbor around the corner. Lionel George turned 82 on Monday and he's proud of it. He makes a little money on the side selling 'Frozen Cups'. These are basically plastic cups of kool-aid or lemonade frozen. Lionel's known all over downtown for his recipe. He is one of the neighbors who helps chase away the crackheads who like to sleep under the house. My back porch is right behind Lionel's house.

Lionel has lived in Treme his whole life and has 3 children. He is a retired baker and still sells pies and cakes to people in the know. In addition to baking, he also delivered flowers for 17 years. One of his boys is a member of the Treme Brass band, his daughter has worked in the government and enjoyed early retirement, and one is a Baptist minister even though Lionel sent his children to Catholic schools.

In talking about the musical heritage of this neighborhood, Lionel added that he was unhappy that Kermit Ruffins moved from his place on Ursulines to one of the bordering streets. He said Kermit 'sold out' and when he sees him, Lionel said he'd throw a brick at Kermit for moving out. Did I hear him right . . .? It's a tight community with much to be proud of, what can you say? Well, I said, " he's still real close to Treme". Literally he is just up the street, you would think he moved across the lake. Anyway, I saw Kermit last night and I passed this along, maybe he'll go stop by Lionel's for a frozen cup. I didn't tell him he might get a brick thrown at him....

Lionel shares a lot about the history of the neighborhood and I am happy to see him everyday. Today, he told me how the brick church up the street used to be a carriage house with mules and horses that pulled the produce carts around town. We also talked about the demise of the old Treme market. I have seen the old photos of it, we both wish it was still there.

House Call Rocks

2005-06-17T17:13:00.000-04:00

All the guys from House Call did a great job from beginning to end.
Posted by Hello

Length of the House

2005-06-17T17:11:00.000-04:00

Bye bye termites !

Tenting Complete

2005-06-17T17:10:00.001-04:00

The pigeons are probably pretty mad they can't get in their house tonight!

Deadly Poison

2005-06-17T17:10:00.000-04:00

This might be more effective in keeping the crackheads off my property than a fence.

A Sight to See

2005-06-17T17:09:00.000-04:00

This attracted a lot of curious folks ! At this point, the toxic gas has been released into the house.
A fan, run by generator, ensures even circulation throughout. They have a man that stays on the site overnight and monitors the level of the gas and also makes sure no one attempts to
crawl inside.

Underneath the Tarps

2005-06-17T17:07:00.000-04:00

This was an interesting perspective as they used a light colored tarp over the porch.
Posted by Hello

On the Ground

2005-06-17T17:06:00.000-04:00

They laid the rolled up tarps on the roof the day before. Some tarps weigh 100 + lbs. Doing it all in one day in this heat is not rational, they spot the job the day before. This is about 9:00 am. They have been on site since about 8 a.m.

Back to Front

2005-06-17T17:04:00.000-04:00

They begin tenting the house from the back. The back is not stable in all areas, this made me nervous to watch. They told me they could feel that back area moving.
Posted by Hello

Tenting Begins

2005-06-17T17:02:00.000-04:00

This is the day the termites are goners.....these are very brave gents. One of these guys
is nicknamed Squirrel. According to his boss, Squirrel was a 'must have' man for our job due to the steep pitch of this roof and the terra cotta tiles as well as the structural issues.

Daily Monitoring

2005-06-04T12:38:00.001-04:00

The backyard was still pretty clean today.
Posted by Hello

Meet Bunisha

2005-06-04T12:38:00.000-04:00

This is Bunisha, I found her in the yard.
Now she's all clean and looking forward to watching
the house get it's second chance too.
Posted by Hello

This Week June 3, 2005

2005-06-03T20:55:00.000-04:00

So this week, after a lot of interviews, I chose James Farr as my architect but I have to get him the actual square footage so he can do a contract.
I got a fence guy but he can't come for a month because he's swamped.
This morning the termite guys came to begin treating the ground. They needed water, which we had to 'borrow' from the guy across the street. It's going to be a big deal when I have water.
So there is some progress in that short time, but waiting for the fence is hard. I will miss the tenting for termites, that's going to be a bummer. I wonder what the legions of pigeons will do when they tent. Will they get killed? or wil they just go away for a day and return?

After Grooming

2005-06-03T20:26:00.001-04:00

After grooming !
After all the debris was out, I borrowed a mower
and mowed the lawn. It's looking up back there !
Thanks to my neighbor, Stephen, he let me borrow
his mower. He's very encouraging.
Posted by Hello

Before Grooming

2005-06-03T20:26:00.000-04:00

Before grooming
Posted by Hello

Truck Man

2005-06-03T20:21:00.000-04:00

I was out in the street taking photos on Sunday morning, this fella said, "take MY picture!" so I did. Everyone's pretty cool and engaging over here in Treme.
Posted by Hello

Living Room

2005-06-03T20:20:00.000-04:00

The living room was full of junk, now it's starting to look not so scary.
Posted by Hello

Jeffrey's Krewe

2005-06-03T20:17:00.000-04:00

Jeffrey and his team are not only good at cleaning all this crap out, they're funny too.
Posted by Hello

First Order of Business

2005-06-03T20:15:00.000-04:00

First order of biz is to clean out all the dead rat bodies.....and debris.
Posted by Hello

The Project

2005-06-03T20:10:00.000-04:00

It's not a mansion in the ghetto.......maybe a chalet in a 'neighborhood in transition'.
Posted by Hello

Certificate For Fence

2005-06-03T20:09:00.000-04:00

Our first CoA from the HDLC ! now if the guys could actually come and install the fence......

The closing

2005-05-24T12:49:00.000-04:00

It was great to finally sit down with the owners. Our act of sale was a long-time comin' as we had many bumps along the way. In spite of the death of Papa Joe, one of the owners and longtime anchor in the neighborhood, everyone was willing to do whatever it took to make it happen.

After a wonderful celebratory lunch at Commander's Palace,
we went about taking care of some financial loose-ends before Ben
headed back home.

So now it's our problem. The magnitude of my project and it's peripheral issues began to set in and I felt fried and exhausted. The only way to combat my anxiety was to get to work. I began e-mailing my project and photos to some architects.
Once you must begin making payments, you want the project done in time. So far, it's been rough enough just getting to the closing but I know the next process or three will be long too. We have to find an architect, a contractor and get the conceptual approval from Historic District Landmarks Commission. Oh, and then permits ~ when the port-0-let is on the property and hammers start banging away, then I will feel much better.