BY Canal Street Beat Admin • AUGUST 3, 2017 

There’s been a lot of investment and development near the Lafitte Greenwayrecently. From the Edward’s Community’s 383 unit apartment complex , to the New Orleans Redevelopment Fund’s $4 million co-working space development, to Green Coast’s new mixed-use development at 2606 St. Louis, the Greenway has attracted significant private investment.

The City of New Orleans is still investing as well.  In June, the City announced another $500,000 earmarked for the Greenway, with additional efforts to create an outdoor pavilion at North Lopez Street and a clubhouse at Lemann Playground.

But with rising crime across the city and a long way to go, what else is needed to take the corridor over the hump?  The City still needs to remove the filling station at Broad and Toulouse, and more nighttime lighting and less crime are still major barriers to making the Greenway a lasting success. Recent recent articles in the Uptown Messenger  and Nola.com explore.  Check them out.

Source: Canal Street Beat

Full Article: http://canalstreetbeat.com/whats-the-future-hold-for-the-lafitte-greenway/

Planned upgrades between now and 2018

BY ERIC CRAIG AUG 3, 2017, 2:42PM CDT

Since it opened in 2015, the Lafitte Greenway has been on a non-stop development track. In fact by the end of 2018, we can expect at least five new additions to the Greenway. These upgrades include community pavilions, playgrounds, added lights, and multi-use buildings.

While the Greenway remains a top priority, take a look at these seven new developments planned on the Greenway.

Did we miss anything? Feel free to drop us a tip.

If you’re interested in developments happening across New Orleans, check out this Curbed NOLA map.

Source: Curbed New Orleans

Full Article: https://nola.curbed.com/maps/lafitte-greenway-developments-community-plans-construction-map

By Beau Evans [email protected],
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
French Quarter out, Lafitte Greenway in.

Staff with the city's recreation department scrapped a plan for an off-leash dog park in the French Quarter on Tuesday (Aug. 1) and, instead, pitched an alternative plan for a dog park located on the Lafitte Greenway.

That recommendation was delivered during a New Orleans Recreation Development Commission board meeting held Tuesday evening in Algiers, where officials were expected to decide the fate of the controversial proposal for a dog park at Cabrini Playground in the French Quarter. Though the recreation department's board of commissioners will officially decide that proposal's fate next month, Tuesday's recommendation appeared to cripple the Cabrini off-leash plan.

Mentioned for months by staff as an alternative to the French Quarter, the Lafitte Greenway off-leash plan pitched Tuesday would locate a dog park on the site of an old Department of Public Works traffic signal and sign shop. Officials say the shop, located on the Greenway two blocks up from North Broad Street on Lafitte Avenue and North White Street, is set for demolition next year.

Source: NOLA.com

Full Article: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/08/dog_park_lafitte_greenway_nord.html

August 01, 2017

By Michael Andersen, PlacesForBikes staff writer

Unlike urban freeways, which have the sometimes deliberate effect of separating neighborhoods from one another, New Orleans is finding that an off-street path seems to be doing the opposite.

The city's Lafitte Greenway, a converted railway that opened just north of downtown in 2015, has become a common road for people of many backgrounds, CityLab reported Tuesday.

Today the Lafitte Greenway is a 2.6-mile walking and biking trail connecting six diverse neighborhoods in the heart of New Orleans, from the French Quarter, where tourists congregate on Bourbon Street, to the city's bayous, where locals chill and host crawfish boils during the spring. Along the way, the greenway passes through the upper-middle-class streets of Mid-City, past a neighborhood made up of Section 8 public housing, past the historically African American music-drenched neighborhood Tremé, and finally, into the French Quarter.

It's that connectivity across socioeconomic lines that greenway supporters say helps Lafitte stand out from other bike paths around the country. Indeed, on any given day along the greenway, you can see hipsters on expensive fixed-gear bikes zoom past young musicians carrying instrument cases on their way to gigs in the Quarter. While in other cities some principal bike paths are geographically confined to well-off neighborhoods, in New Orleans the path runs through them all.

Source: People for Bikes

Full Article: http://www.peopleforbikes.org/blog/entry/new-orleans-lafitte-greenway-a-community-link-not-a-barrier

By SHANNON SIMS AUG 1, 2017

In a city known for bar-hopping, endless festivals, and maybe even a little debauchery, a bike path isn’t the likeliest place for a budding social scene. But in a narrow strip of central New Orleans, the 2.6-mile Lafitte Greenway is poised to become a new hub of activity—a commuter path that’s a destination in its own right.

Historically a transportation corridor, the Lafitte Greenway cuts through neighborhoods rich and poor, linking several of New Orleans’s disparate yet adjacent communities. Since it officially opened in November 2015, the Lafitte Greenway has quickly become the central artery of New Orleans' bike culture. It’s also steadily attracting attention from developers looking to build apartments, offices, coffee shops, and even a place to grab a drink. In March, the city granted its first permit for a pathside bar, and in June officials outlined plans to add sports and art facilities, playgrounds, and more.

According to the latest Real Estate Market Analysis from the University of New Orleans, more than $100 million worth of projects along or near the greenway have been built or are in the works. Before long, the greenway may become a very New Orleans bike path, where cyclists stop to socialize as they make their way around town—whether they’re heading to festivals, to the French Quarter, or just on the way home from work.

It might seem surprising that one of America’s hottest, muggiest cities seems ready for a bustling two-wheeled social scene. Biking here can be a challenge. Even if you manage to dodge the mind-bogglingly large potholes and the roving packs of drunken tourists, the humidity will leave any cyclist drenched in sweat. Still, New Orleans has quickly gained a reputation as a surprisingly bikeable city. It’s small and flat, and residents are increasingly seeing little reason to drive. The city now ranks 10th in the U.S. in the percentage of residents who cycle to work each day, and a new bike-share system is slated to launch this fall.

Source: CityLab

Full Article: https://www.citylab.com/life/2017/08/lafitte-greenway-new-orleans/534735/

As city leaders pass the reins to those charged with maintaining it, what will be the future of the Lafitte Greenway?

By Claire Byun

When New Orleans voters choose a new mayor and City Council in November, the Lafitte Greenway will mark its second anniversary. The 2.6-mile linear park has drawn praise for dramatically increasing the open space avail-able to the public and spurring economic growth in the surrounding neighborhoods. At the opening of the Lafitte Greenway in November 2015, Mayor Mitch Landrieu told the city, "This is yours. You have to take care of it. You have to protect it, and you have to make sure it's here for future generations."

  Almost two years in, the Greenway still inspires the optimism of that moment, but it also reflects the fears of a citywide increase in crime, development interests that displace residents of historically low-income areas and the threat of neglect that in years past has turned some public parks into undertended no man's lands.

The $9.1 million Greenway opened after several decades of dreaming, starting in the 1970s with an idea by civil rights activist Rudy Lombard and architect Clifton James. Following Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures in 2005, Friends of the Lafitte Corridor began a fundraising effort in 2006. It took nearly 10 years to complete the trail that stretches between Armstrong Park and New Orleans City Park and runs through neighborhoods spanning the French Quarter, Treme and Mid-City. Thousands of people now use the greenway regularly — to go to and from work, for recreation and for leisure.

  "Our goals have always been multifaceted," said Sophie Harris, executive director of Friends of Lafitte Greenway, "but one of the biggest goals has been to build a space where people could come out and meet their neighbors."

Source: The Gambit

Full Article: https://www.bestofneworleans.com/gambit/it-isnt-easy-being-greenway/Content?oid=5656122

NEW ORLEANS -- NOPD is investigating a mugging on the Lafitte Greenway in Mid-City.

For people who use the path for exercise or to get around town, hearing about trouble on the trail is very concerning.

"I hate to even hear about that kind of stuff, you know because when I get out here and run, I feel safe," Kelan Barton said. "But, when I hear about something like that, it makes me a little bit hardened and I'm like woah, do I need to look over my shoulder?"

"You tell me that someone got mugged, it kind of threw me off a little because I ride this strip regularly," Cardell Wright said. "I work for Gerhold Electric. I ride my bike back and forth this way."

Source: WWLTV

Full Article: http://www.wwltv.com/news/crime/mugging-on-the-lafitte-greenway-nopd-to-be-more-visible-on-the-trail/457670845

By Claire Byun
[email protected]

The future of the Lafitte Greenway has been uncertain in the past. But now, with new leadership and a slew of projects underway, officials are hoping to revamp the 2.6-mile bicycle and pedestrian path that runs through the heart of Mid-City and beyond.

The Greenway recently came under the authority of the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission, which has hired security and maintenance for the 2-mile stretch of public land. Vic Richard, NORDC CEO, worked to dispel rumors and answer questions about the future of the Greenway at a public meeting last week.

“The city owns that space,” Richard said. “We will not be giving it away.”

Richard and his team are working to make the Greenway a safer space open to everyone, which will encourage future development, he said. A team of groundkeepers, security patrol officers and a site manager have been hired to run the site every day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Security officers will not be commissioned to carry guns but will work to drive away “riff raff” who bring litter and crime to the area, Richard said.

Source: Mid-City Messenger

Full Article: http://midcitymessenger.com/2017/07/06/trash-cans-improved-greenspace-security-lined-up-for-future-of-lafitte-greenway/

In a string of new development on the Lafitte Greenway, three newly-constructed homes are bringing residential options to the “heart of the city.”

Atlas Greenway Partners, LLC, are readying to open three newly-constructed homes on St. Louis Street, directly facing the Greenway. Monty Lunn, co-founder of Atlas, said the project is a “bigger-picture” investment, since the Greenway has a chance at becoming a vein of transportation, development and living within New Orleans.

“People don’t know about the area, don’t know what’s been done with it, and they’re blown away,” Lunn said.

The St Louis Project consists of three near identical double gallery single family homes located directly on the greenway, a few blocks from Whole Foods and University Medical Center. Four municipal lots were converted into three in order to provide additional off-street parking and a sizeable back yard, Lunn said.

All the residences are about 2,000 square feet, with three bedroom, two and a half bath, laundry rooms and a front balcony.

Source: Mid-City Messenger

Full Article: http://midcitymessenger.com/2017/06/28/brand-new-housing-on-lafitte-greenway-contributes-to-heart-of-the-city/