Monday, May 18, neighborhood residents and businesses are invited to come provide input on their concerns and desires regarding the new shopping center at 500 N. Carrollton.

You will also have a chance to see the most recent plans, which have changed considerably since the first release

The City of New Orleans Department of Public Works issued the following status update on April 30, 2015.

Placement of the asphalt portion of the Lafitte Greenway bicycle and pedestrian path is 100% complete in Areas 2, 3, 4, and 5.  The path in Area 1 is 80% complete.  The path in Area 6 will be concrete and is 50% complete.  The Department of Public Works construction contractor, Durr Heavy Construction, has completed installing most of the trail lighting fixtures in Areas 2, 3, and 4, and continues installation of trail lighting in Area 5. Lighting wiring will be installed toward the end of the project construction, when the project is ready for public use.

Next Thursday, May 7th, the City of New Orleans will hold a public meeting to present information about two upcoming street projects in the Mid-City and Treme-Lafitte area that affect the Lafitte Greenway:

• Broad and Lafitte Streetscape--aesthetic and safety improvements, landscaping, and traffic calming measures including a travel lane reduction between Orleans Ave. and Bienville St.

• St. Louis St. Repaving--removal and replacement of the existing asphalt roadway, replacing damaged sidewalks and installing American with Disabilities Act-compliant curb ramps between N. Claiborne Ave. and N. Broad St.

When: Thursday, May 7th, 6:00 PM

Where: Sojourner Truth Neighborhood Center - 2200 Lafitte Street

Click here for an informational postcard on the projects.

Please direct questions to:

Laura A. Mellem
Neighborhood Liaison
Mayor’s Neighborhood Engagement Office
City of New Orleans
(504) 658-4982
lamellem@nola.gov

Friends of Lafitte Corridor has picked up over 1,000 pounds of trash from the neighborhoods surrounding the Lafitte Greenway over the past two months with the help of extraordinary volunteers!

On May 11th, graduate students from the LSU School of Public Health teamed up NOLA Trash Mob litter-fighters, Success Preparatory Academy teachers, and volunteers from Boston to clean up the Treme-Lafitte neighborhood. We are so thankful for their volunteer work to make the Lafitte Corridor neighborhoods clean and healthy!

Greenway supporters new and old came out to Bayou Beer Garden on April 16 to celebrate springtime and the planting of the Greenway. Thanks to all who battled the rain to join us!

Grab your bike to have yourself a more fun and healthy commute this April. New Orleans is celebrating the fourth annual Bike to Work Week, April 13-17. Bike to Work Week is for everyone, from new riders to daily commuters.

Parkway Bakery is greening its parking lot and installing innovative stormwater management systems to prepare for the Greenway's opening directly across the street this summer. 

Jay Nix, Parkway owner (and Friends of Lafitte Corridor Board member), says that "Parkway is going the green way," pun intended. Where the parking lot was once the forgotten back of the building facing a vacant strip of land, it will now be the front yard for people walking and biking the Greenway. Jay want his business to embrace the Greenway, to be green, beautiful, and inviting.

Michel Varisco's Turning will be the first public art installation on the Lafitte Greenway, as winner of the 2015 Civic Design Pitch Competition. At Water Challenge Day, a feature of New Orleans Entrepreneur week, three finalists pitched their proposals for a $25,000 art installation at the intersection of the Lafitte Greenway and Jefferson Davis Parkway on theme of 'Living with Water.'

Varisco's Turning is sculpture that will contain a series of three large, stainless steel cylinder that viewers can spin, reminiscent of Tibetan prayer wheels. The cylinders will reveal patterns of the Mississippi River, reflecting its initial free-moving curvature and later levee restriction. At night, holes punched into the barrels will allow solar-powered electroluminescent panels to show through. The base of the cylinder will be decorated with mosaic- applied imagery, revealing the pattern of an unencumbered snake-like Mississippi River. Low chimes will emerge from the cylinders when spun, as a "gentle call to action."

Future Greenway riders now have a place to pump up their bike tires, change flats, and make basic repairs. Last week, Mid-City Market installed a brand new bicycle repair station along the Lafitte Greenway.

The station has a manual bike pump and tools for minor repairs, from changing a flat to adjusting brakes and derailleurs. The tools and air pump are securely attached to the stand with stainless steel. While making adjustments, you can hang your bike from the station's hanger arms that allow the pedals and wheels to spin freely.

BROAD + WATER is a creative place-making project of the Arts Council of New Orleans and Broad Community Connections that will contribute to the city's conversation about living with water through a public art installation at the intersection of Broad Street and the Lafitte Greenway.

On March 11, 2015, the Arts Council and Broad Community Connections issued a call to artists, requesting proposals for an artistic installation/sculpture framed around New Orleans' water challenges.