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As we turn our attention to the New Year, the Urban Conservancy has set an agenda for action, with the new year bringing new issues, as well as some old favorites, to the fore. Here are a few issues on our radar screen for the near term.

Rationalizing the Planning Process

A lot of wasted energy goes into development in New Orleans. The developers have to spend their time creating complex alliances with public relations firms, attorneys, politicians and other assorted hangers-on while many neighborhood associations seem to be in perpetual fire drill mode, watching for any development proposed for their communities, ready to launch a public relations blitz of their own if it’s undesirable. The neighborhood associations are left cynical and suspicious of ANY new development, and burnout is high among members, who tire of the same recurring battles, diverting communities from addressing other problems. And even when successful, many developers are bitter about their experiences doing business in New Orleans. Ultimately, no one is happy with this Sisyphean process. Well, maybe a few politicians are happy that everyone has to kiss their ring to get anything done. While the solutions to this problem are far from simple, there are some best practices out there - and not just from those trendy, oft-cited cities either. We’ll be reporting on ways that communities are maintaining their sense of place in a way that allows for sensible and profitable developments to take place.

Affordable Housing

It’s clear that high concentrations of poverty like those in New Orleans’ remaining housing projects are not the best place for human potential to flower. At the same time, many of the efforts to redevelop these communities have looked a lot more like exporting poverty - to the suburbs, to other impoverished neighborhoods, or for some, to the streets. Plans to revitalize Canal Street are starting to look a lot like an excuse to knock down the Iberville Housing Development. The old excuse, namely previous plans suggested for building a new facility for the New Orleans Saints on the land, besides being offensive to almost anyone who doesn’t own a portion of the team, suddenly seem unlikely for an unsuccessful team with an eye towards leaving New Orleans anyway.

While there are no easy answers to the issue of housing the very poorest of our citizens, we will do our best to facilitate the discussions necessary to help bring this issue to the forefront of thinking when it comes to land use.

%(caption)Basin Street view of the Iberville Housing Development. What Does The Future Hold for the 1800 Residents of Iberville?

Education

If there was ever an excuse for angry mobs in the street, the condition of most of the New Orleans public school system should be it. After coastal erosion, the deplorable quality of education in New Orleans is the greatest threat to the long-term viability of the city. Virtually every problem facing New Orleans can be traced to the breakdown in the education of the majority of its residents. While the death spiral of the schools is not a new story, we’ll be looking at some new approaches being taken to address underfunded and mismanaged school districts around the country. Some of these are just crazy enough they might work.

And The List Goes On

There’s plenty more hanging out there too. Recent strife over WWOZ’s expansion into Armstrong Park highlights the critical issues of managing public space for the greatest benefit to the community. A key component of economic development is executing a coherent plan for transportation in and out of the city. We’re working on some approaches for attracting people to New Orleans and helping solve some of the region’s pressing transportation issues. Here’s a hint: if you lived here, you’d be home by now. And of course, we’ll be working hard on sustainable, sensible economies with the Stay Local! program.

Thanks for your support as we enter our third year of operation. We hope you will continue reading and getting involved. Let’s put some of that social capital to work!

Filed under: Editorials