Promised You a Miracle

Last month, the City recovery Czar Ed “large head, large foot, large mouth” Blakely announced $1.1 billion initiative to “…strategically invest public dollars to fuel investment from entrepreneurs and developers to anchor key business corridors.” The article goes on to describe the effort:

In the first decisive plan from City Hall that identifies which neighborhoods will benefit first from public investment, city officials today are expected to unveil a comprehensive blueprint pegged on 17 redevelopment zones -- the bulk of them west of the Industrial Canal -- as the anchors of a $1.1 billion effort to spark an economic resurgence.

A follow up article describes the support for the initiative, which seems widespread and includes the LRA:

After more than a year of infighting about how to orchestrate and finance New Orleans' massive recovery effort, city leaders coalesced Thursday around Mayor Ray Nagin's blueprint for spending $1.1 billion in public money to spur private investment in 17 target zones as the first phase of a decades-long effort to rebuild the entire city.

Andy Kopplin, executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, said the city's proposal fits the bill his agency's board has been touting. "The investments they're planning to make are consistent with the vision that thousands of New Orleanians helped to develop," he said, referring to the recently completed Unified New Orleans Plan.

Rather than fall back on the tried and true griping, bellyaching and pronouncements of doom that accompany any announcement about piling two clods of dirt on top of each other in this fun loving city, I decided to actually look at the information available about the proposed projects. In particular I was interested how these fit into the UNOP and individual district plans hammered out by the citizens in the last year.

I am told the UNOP plan is flawed because with the reduced population of the city the proper ratio of ten people griping that there is not enough participation and they are not being listened to for each person actually participating, and speaking was skewed. But it is, at this time, the only expression of general public sentiment on the rebuilding and improving of the city (see my Apathy...Superstar!? post from November for more, if you care). Therefore, I used it as one of the benchmarks to evaluate the proposals.

The City web site has recently put up a presentation of the individual recovery projects. It is short of detail at this time, but they are simply presentations to the press and public, and much of the information graphics are simply reproduced from the district plans. This will certainly change as professional Architects and Planners begin the task of design.

So far I have gone through the UNOP project list as well as five of the 13 individual District Plans in an effort to see how the recovery projects fit. On this one, I have to say that I cannot join the chorus of boos from those who would have Charlie Brown’s quip “Everything I touch Gets Ruined” as the official city motto.

I have not gone into the “Rebuild” category concerning the Lower 9^th ward and the site of the former Plaza Shopping Center in NO east. Due to the scale of the work, there is little to evaluate yet, and I am more familiar with the “inside the bowl” districts.

Here are some of the projects with the corresponding project from the UNOP and individual District Plans. My comments follow the list, which is a bit long and tedious, so feel free to skip ahead to the end.

Redevelop:

Carrollton Avenue at Interstate 10
Planning district 3

UNOP: Redevelop Carrollton Shopping Center

District 3 Plan: Economic revitalization at key intersection including infrastructure improvements. Opportunity to create a new "town square" around a shopping experience and community programs -- enables corridor to become City-wide commercial and service provider and keep purchasing dollars in the city elevating funds for capital improvements.

District plan contains overdetailed development suggestions, including a reworking of the I-10 on and off ramps and integration of the center with Xavier University and the surrounding neighborhoods and the extension of the Carrolton branch of the Street Car line.

Harrison Avenue (Canal Boulevard to City Park)
Planning district 5

UNOP: Address existing/ potential infrastructure/incentives requirements to facilitate Harrison Avenue redevelopment.

District 5 Plan: This project entails providing financial assistance/grant money to revitalize the entire commercial corridor along Harrison Avenue within the District, from the 17th Street Canal to the Orleans Canal.

Gentilly Boulevard at Elysian Fields

UNOP: Create Town Center/community nexus at Gentilly Blvd. and Elysian Fields. Undertake a study to quantify public costs and identify funding sources. p3.24

District 6 Plan: Create a new town center/community nexus on the existing shopping center site at Gentilly Boulevard and Elysian Fields; include commercial and civic uses.

The district plan names this project as on of its “key projects and initiatives” and cites possible funding sources.

St. Bernard/ AP Tureaud at North Claiborne Avenue
Planning District 4

UNOP: Create transit-oriented mixed-use redevelopment area along North Claiborne and St. Claude Avenues

District 4 Plans: St. Bernard Avenue is a cultural and institutional corridor attracting local and international visitors, as well as a commercial corridor for 7th Ward residents. Revitalization of the corridor is a top priority for the 7th Ward and the entire district, with efforts to focus at three locations: the I-10 overpass, the intersection of St. Bernard and A.P. Tureaud and the traffic circle at Gentilly and DeSaix.

Broad Street at Lafitte Greenway/Treme
Planning District 4

UNOP: Redevelop the Lafitte corridor as an urban/mixed-use district with central greenway

District 4 Plans: Desirable open space will attract business development including film production support industry and serve as catalyst for new investment. LIFT will provide over 2,000 direct jobs and over 1,500 indirect jobs. Leverage economic development generated by LIFT to transition remaining industrial properties into a new mixed-use corridor that unites neighborhoods.

The district 4 plans cite this intersection as a key transition between mixed-use commercial and residential and small scale commercial. This area marks the approximate mid point of the Lafitte Corridor greenway. The Greenway itself is a separate project, but re-development of this intersection would certainly help that project as well.

South Claiborne Avenue at Toledano
Planning District 2 and 3

UNOP: Revitalize South Claiborne Avenue as a transit oriented mixed use corridor.

District 2 Plans: A top priority project advocated and greatly supported by citizens, is
the revitalization of the Claiborne Avenue Corridor (part of State Highway 90) throughout the City and Region. Recent approval of the extension of the Inner-City Urban Corridor Overlay District to include S. Claiborne Ave. between Earhart Blvd. and Napoleon Ave. (entirety of District 2 S. Claiborne portion) sets forth the potential to promote urban design goals that support a harmonious relationship between commercial uses and the surrounding residential neighborhoods.

District 3 Plans: Revitalization of district- and city-wide corridor focusing, in particular, on encouraging mixed use development where Claiborne intersects with Carrollton, Napoleon, Louisiana, and Calhoun. In order to preserve residential fabric, the project proposes a zoning overlay. Fund integrated program for repairing utilities, streets, sidewalks and drainage.

Renew

Broadmoor (R. Keller Center and Library)
Planning District 3

UNOP: Broadmoor cultural and commercial corridor

District 3 Plans: Economic revitalization at key corridor with focus on neighborhood infill, cultural corridor along General Pershing St., mixed use redevelopment of intersection of Washington and Broad and along both corridors including an interpretive museum. Funding includes repairing utilities, streets, sidewalks, signage, lighting, drainage and street trees.

Plan includes “Restore and Renovate Rosa Keller Library”

Tulane Avenue at Jeff Davis (Comiskey Park)
Planning District 4

UNOP: Revitalization of the Tulane Ave. commercial corridor with emphasis on biosciences district.

District 4 Plans: Revitalization of Tulane Avenue between Carrollton and Claiborne with emphasis on the New Orleans Biosciences Economic Development District. The project includes infill development, renovation of existing buildings, and the creation of new open spaces. Fund an integrated program for repaving streets and sidewalks, plant trees, bury utilities and repair drainage, street lighting, signage and signals.

Plan includes the Tulane/Jeff Davis Commercial Node.

O.C. Halley Corridor
Planning District 2

UNOP: Revitalize Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. as a mixed use arts and cultural corridor.

District 2 Plans: Revitalize the Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard as a Mixed-Use Arts & Cultural Corridor. In addition to Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard being accepted as an Urban Main Street Grant, municipal and other resources should target OC Haley in a comprehensive fashion that ranges from tax incentives for residential conversions and construction and business development to enhanced city services in order to create a unique historic and cultural venue.

Bayou Road/Broad Street Cultural Corridor (Market Building)
Planning District 4

UNOP: Revitalize Broad Street commercial corridor with Main Street Program 3.24

District 4 Plans: Development of a new cultural corridor and interpretive route in Treme along Bayou Road. A corridor plan will improve commercial nodes (such as the intersection of Broad and Bayou Rd.) and support local cultural institutions (such as St. Augustine Church and the Back Street Cultural Museum). Will increase historic/cultural knowledege to a level of national interest and offer potential cultural tourism benefits.

Freret Street (Farmers Market)
Planning District 3

UNOP: Revitalize Freret St. Commercial Corridor 3.25

District 3 Plans: Commercial revitalization of key neighborhood retail street including landscape, street, and signage improvements. The project emphasizes creating new connections between the neighborhood scale of Freret and larger scale development at Ochsner Hospital. Fund an integrated program for repairing streets, sidewalks, lighting and drainage.

Plan includes the Freret St. Farmers Market

My Comments:

In city planning of the type now being undertaken in the city, streets or “urban corridors” are typically the way things are organized. The projects cited in nearly every case I have looked into involve a nexus of more than one of these corridors. There are few “spot” developments. They are fairly evenly distributed throughout the city, with the scale of the proposal increasing with the flood damage. In many of these, private investment has already been proposed in the affected area. Many have underutilized resources nearby. A large number of these projects had in some form been proposed years prior to Katrina, and had languished. All appear in the UNOP and District Plans as highly desirable items.

On top of this, the city is seeking additional state funds to expand the program to include the repaving of streets of many of these corridors, which would expand the impact further.

For example, the city included repaving projects along Carrollton, Elysian Fields, Louisiana and St. Bernard avenues for two reasons: they already were among rebuilding priorities identified after Hurricane Katrina, and they criss-cross the target zones.

The streets projects "tie in together to support the (target zone) initiative, but in a broader perspective, they still aid in our ability to get our citizens out of the city in an emergency," Smith said.

The adage in development is that money usually follows money, that is the redevelopment of and area spurs investment in the adjacent area.

While the investment was largely private, Magazine Street is a good example of this. As the area of Magazine around Louisiana Ave. and Jefferson slowly rebounded, the Lower Garden District section began to see investment, and the area by Napoleon Ave. following soon after.

It appears the projects I looked at were very carefully chosen to do just that. Each project seeks to concentrate the resources on key nodes that have a wide impact, capitalizing on existing private investment, and leverage as much impact as possible. But they also came largely out of citizen initiatives, either UNOP process or from before the storm. In many cases they are things civic groups have been seeking for years. Others represent new opportunities that were inconceivable before the storm. Not only are they well chosen from a planning standpoint, but they are politically savvy. If you are seeking LRA or any other funds, this is the way to do it. But, then, they just followed the plan…