Friends of the Faubourg St. Roch Project,

Much has been made in recent years over the inefficiencies of New Orleans municipal government.

Vital infrastructure projects moving at a snail’s pace, gross misalignment of actual resources and feasible goals, corrupt contractors and vendors—it seems as if New Orleans has seen it all.

But the past is the past, and dwelling upon it has no utility.

From our perspective, Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s new administration has done an exemplary job of sorting through its inerited problems, and has successfully emerged to present an ambitious, though realistic vision for the City’s future.

Most importantly, this new vision has been informed by a high level of community input. During the first few months of the mayoral transition, the new administration earnestly sought to listen to the needs of New Orleans residents while shaping its agenda for the next four years.

To capitalize upon the opportunity presented by this formative transition, FSRP joined with local groups, including St. Claude Avenue Main Street, the Faubourg St. Roch Improvement Association, the Faubourg Marigny Improvement Association, the St. Roch Community Church, the St. Roch Community Development Corporation, and the Entergy Innovation Center to direct the City’s attention to St. Roch and the broader St. Claude Avenue corridor community.

Throughout this process, District C Councilmember Kristin Gisleson Palmer and her staff proved to be tremendous allies in navigating City Hall to ensure that our collective voice was heard. It should also be noted that across City departments and agencies, we were met by officials and staff at every level who were ready to listen.

As you will see in the news items below, we are pleased to report that the Landrieu administration seems to agree that the St. Roch neighborhood is long overdue for its proper share of public investment.

Progress will not happen overnight, of course, but we are pleased to report that progress is indeed forthcoming.

The process has also underscored the shared missions and interests of community organizations throughout the St. Claude Avenue corridor community. We realized that we are stronger and more impactful together than we are apart, and our work is far from over. We look forward to continued collaboration in the future.

A final note, in an effort to better introduce our friends and supporters to the neighborhood, this newsletter features the first of what will become a series of interviews with St. Roch residents. We hope that as time moves forward and this collection of stories and perspectives grows, it will help to present an authentic, ground-level depiction of the neighborhood.

As always, feel free to contact me or our Director Darren Alberti with any questions or comments you might have.

Sincerely,

Drew Lang

Founder and Board President
Faubourg St. Roch Project

City To Push forward With The St. Roch Market, Seeks Community Input

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu recently identified the St. Roch Market as one of 100 priority recovery projects set to move forward.

In response to this welcomed news, the Faubourg St. Roch Project and local organizations are stepping up their efforts to ensure that all deliberations concerning the Market’s future are informed by a high level of community input. Most recently, FSRP coordinated a meeting between Landrieu administration officials and neighborhood representatives from St. Roch and the broader St. Claude Avenue corridor community to discuss preferences for an operator in the St. Roch Market.

As part of an encouraging report from the City, the community learned that the 60 percent funding shortfall in the Market’s renovation budget is now inconsequential. In creating its 100 priority recovery project list, the Landrieu administration has allocated sufficient resources to complete each project in full.

Moving forward, the City will focus its immediate efforts on identifying an operator for the Market, and is hoping to do so before the project moves out of preliminary design.

At the City’s request, FSRP will join with local groups to devise and conduct a survey to gather an accurate, comprehensive assessment of the community’s desired use of the building. The survey will be finalized soon, and Landrieu administration officials seem genuinely eager to employ its results.

Contract for FSRP Artwalk Drawing Closer To Mayor Landrieu’s Signature

Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s selection of the FSRP Artwalk as one of 100 priority recovery projects is proving to greatly expedite its path to completion.

Once packaged with the renovation of the St. Roch Market and repair of the pool and park facilities in Sampson/St. Roch Playground, the City contract setting terms of work for the installation of FSRP’s Artwalk has been separated and is quickly moving toward Mayor Landrieu’s signature.

Recognizing its relatively small budget and shovel-ready workscope, the City has elected to allow the Artwalk to move independently of larger recovery projects in St. Roch. Final paperwork is expected to arrive at the Mayor’s desk within a few weeks, and a Notice to Proceed will be issued approximately 15 days thereafter.

FSRP will provide updates as news unfolds.

Neighbor Spotlight: Ms. Monica Simms � 1529 St. Roch Avenue

Ms. Monica Simms grew up outside St. Roch, but the neighborhood always seemed to find a way to draw her in.

“My mom was social and loved to be out and about,” Ms. Simms recalls. “We’d take drives across town just to come to the Market. We’d buy our seafood and get a Po’ Boy.”

The market to which Ms. Simms refers is the St. Roch Market, the historic St. Claude Avenue icon that has been shuttered since Hurricane Katrina.

“Lord I hope that Market reopens. And reopens soon,” Ms. Simms adds.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Ms. Simms is something of a rarity. Whereas many of the city’s residents spend their lives firmly rooted in one neighborhood, Ms. Simms has spent considerable time throughout New Orleans: in Uptown, Gentilly, and New Orleans East, to name a few stops.

“My mom was a nurse, and she made sure we were in nice neighborhoods,” she explains.

A single mother of three—Caitlyn, aged 9, Jalen, 6, and Kolby, 2—Ms. Simms is now trying to do the same for her children.

It was not until fairly recently that Ms. Simms and her three young children began to call 1529 St. Roch Avenue home. She has quickly become a part of neighborhood’s pulse, working only a few blocks away at the St. Roch Community Church (“I do a little bit of everything there,” she says), and also taking part in the community garden at 1700 St. Roch Avenue.

Despite her swift integration into the neighborhood’s fabric, it is with sorrow and confliction that Ms. Simms admits she wavers on whether St. Roch is a good choice for her young family.

“In all my 41 years in New Orleans, this is the most crime I’ve ever been around,” she says. “There are some great people here, it’s family-oriented, and I love the architecture of the homes—the shotguns, the camelback styles, I love them—but we share this neighborhood with a bunch of criminals.”

Asked what could be done to help alleviate the crime, Ms. Simms replies:

“I think it’s simple. We need to get rid of all this blight. We need to open the Market again; we need to fix up the park; we need to pay some attention to this neighborhood.”

“You can count on your hand the number of people who walk out on that (St. Roch Avenue) neutral ground everyday,” she continues. “You know why? Because people are scared. I’d love to go sit out on that neutral ground, I’d love be able to take my youngest daughter out there at night and just sit – to sit outside in peace without worry, I think that’s something you have a right to do no matter what income bracket you fall in – but right now you just can’t do it. Not here. You want to take your children outside, but you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

On weekends, Ms. Simms often takes her three children not to Sampson/St. Roch Playground, which is only two blocks away from her home, but instead she travels to Washington Square Park in the nearby Marigny neighborhood. She thinks the park is safer, and also more comfortable.

Nevertheless, once a young girl herself who used to love playing with her two older brothers in the streets of New Orleans, Ms. Simms realizes that kids need to be allowed to simply be kids. And weekends alone certainly are not enough for her three children.

“Jalen, he absolutely loves being outside, and I have to let him. Children should be able to enjoy their lives without the worry I feel as a parent, so I have to let him go play. But Lord, do I pray that he stays safe,” she says.

“And Caitlyn, she wants to be a lawyer and a judge. She’ll talk to anyone, and she’ll talk your head off,” Ms. Simms says with a smile. “But I worry that she’ll end up talking to the wrong people in this neighborhood.”

For now, Ms. Simms is still only renting at 1529 St. Roch Avenue. Several families in the neighborhood have asked that she consider making St. Roch her permanent home.

Ultimately, Ms. Simms says, she will base her decision on what is best for her children. Though leery of St. Roch’s notorious issues of crime and blight, Ms. Simms is convinced that the neighborhood has the potential to be a wonderful place to raise her young family.

“If this neighborhood starts to see some investment, if some positive things start to happen here, it could really be a special place,” she says.

CONTACT
Faubourg St Roch Project	Media Inquiries
Darren Alberti Executive Director 618 Spain Street New Orleans, LA 70117 Phone: 504.527.6936 dalberti@strochproject.com	Denise A. Estopinal The Estopinal Group 501 Basin St., Suite B New Orleans, LA 70112 Office: 504.269-9233 Fax: 504.269-9232 denise@estopinalgroup.com

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Mission Statement

The Faubourg St. Roch Project (FSRP) has as its mission the renaissance of one of New Orleans' most historic, urban neighborhoods. The organization was formed post-Katrina as a collective of neighborhood activists and New Orleans natives who have expertise in sustainable housing, preservation, finance and the arts. FSRP is augmenting the resources of longstanding institutions to help residents return to and benefit from a revitalized community. FSRP's strategies include rebuilding/renovating damaged housing, invigorating public spaces, and establishing and supporting commercial and community enterprises.