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Sunday, April 15, 2007
French Quarter Fest
The French Quarter Fest is a great opener to the Jazzfest. Taking place in the French Quarter 2 weeks before Jazzfest, there are stages on the Mississippi riverfront (at Woldenberg Park), Royal Street, the Old US Mint and more.
With the weather being absolutely gorgeous today in New Orleans (65 F w/a breeze, sunny skies and low humidity), it would be a shame not to be out enjoying this festival. So with baby sitters (my wonderful parents) and the older kids busy, Robin & I are off on the folding bikes. Hopefully, we'll get some great photos.
I rode the Aerlite B folding bike down to the French Quarter this afternoon to take part in Mardi Gras. Following are some of the photos I shot while walking around as well as a brief movie of the Shark Cage Band. Among the photos: don't miss the psychedelic folding bike with the self described "otherworldly superhero" seated behind it (dressed in black).
I'll be posting more Mardi Gras photos in a few days. Meanwhile, have a look at this short movie of the Shark Cage Band. Look for the sword carrying passer by that joins the fun...
Jeff Ciabotti, Vice President of Trail Development for the Rails To Trails Conservancy (RTC), flew down from D.C. last weekend to pledge the full support of his national non-profit organization behind the Lafitte Trail. In a meeting Tuesday with representatives from the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission, the Governor's office, FOLC and other stake holders, Jeff made clear that the Lafitte Trail is of national importance and should be built without delay. (Photo: Bart Everson and Jeff Ciabotti on a dilapidated bridge over the last surviving remnant of the Carondolet Canal.)
I spent several hours bicycling around the corridor with Jeff, Billy Fields (also of the RTC) and Bart Everson (a fellow FOLC board member and the man behind "b.rox, Life in the Flood Zone"). We rode from Mid City to the French Quarter and back, stopping frequently to take in neighborhood features such as historical landmarks, locations of schools and the new motion picture production studio being built by the Louisiana Institute of Film Technology (LIFT).
Jeff was amazed by the level of devastation and the strange emptiness of once vibrant neighborhoods; yet, he acknowledged the corridor as an incredible opportunity to spur revitalization, unify neighborhoods and heal a great American city. He also noted that the Lafitte Corridor is one of the most significant urban greenways he's seen and that a portion of the trail could be in use almost immediately. (Photo: Bart Everson, Jeff Ciabotti & Billy Fields at the proposed Basin Street/Armstong Park trailhead for the Lafitte Corridor.)
I bicycled through the New Orleans neighborhood of Gentilly today with Dr. Ed Blakely, the recovery czar selected last month by Mayor Nagin. A regular cyclist and internationally recognized urban planner, Dr. Blakely was recently called "the master of post-disaster" by the Los Angeles Times for his recovery work in California following the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 and the Oakland Hills wildfire of 1991.
During our ride, Dr. Blakely saw areas where residents had returned and blocks where signs of activity were minimal if any. We visited the site of the levee breach at the London Canal. While there, a cyclist that had lived in the neighborhood before the flood pointed out the build date on the flood control structure that had failed; it had been built by the US Army Corps of Engineers just months before Katrina.
Both during and after our bike tour, Dr. Blakely voiced his support for pedestrian friendly, transit-accessible urban villages and expressed interest in identifying "trigger projects" to stir the pace of neighborhood recovery.
Of interest to Dr. Blakely are key areas in New Orleans where all the buildings could be rehabbed simultaneously via a pool of approved contractors. Dr. Blakely believes that quickly and completely rehabbing areas will inspire rebuilding by property owners in adjacent areas while simultaneously creating streets that are active, safe, functional & livable. If LRA (Louisiana Recovery Authority) money won't cover these endeavors, his goal is to secure a funding instrument similar to a reverse mortgage so a home owner's renovation costs could be paid after their death if necessary.
The Lafitte Corridor biking and walking path would certainly make a wonderful trigger project. Not only is the corridor itself historical, it runs through or beside historically significant neighborhoods like the French Quarter, Storyville (birthplace of Jazz), Treme, Tulane/Galvez and Mid City. The path is a critical connector to other biking/walking facilities such as the Jefferson Davis bikeway, the Marconi bike route, the Wisner Trail (now under construction) and even the multi-state long Mississippi River Trail. The greenway corridor would help fight diabetes, obesity, depression and provide New Orleans with another, family-friendly tourist attraction too. (Photo: After the bike tour, Dr. Blakely explained his plans at Dillard University's chapel.)
With Dr. Blakely also leading a study on how cities can adapt to global climate change, the environmental benefits of cycling as an emission free mode of transportation are hard to ignore. Since the Lafitte Corridor is already in the city's Unifed Plan for recovery, let's hope the corridor is selected as a trigger project.
Bike Tour Of New Orleans' Katrina Ravaged Areas Saturday
Recovery czar, Ed Blakely, will take a bike tour of Gentilly on Saturday to chart a course for the revitalization of the neighborhood. He will be joined by New Orleans City Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, who will focus on points of interest along the route.
Blakely said in January that after reviewing preliminary neighborhood plans, he intended to bicycle through the city's neighborhoods, talking to residents and getting a detailed view of life in Gentilly, eastern New Orleans, Lakeview and the 9th Ward. This will be the first of those bike tours.
The tour begins at 11 a.m. at a shopping center on Elysian Fields Ave at Gentilly Blvd. Cyclists will head west, turning right at Norman Mayer Ave., then merge into St. Anthony Avenue. They will then head north and make a right at Mirabeau Ave., then continue to Elysian Fields and turn right again onto Gentilly Blvd. The tour will end at Dillard University’s Chapel.
Residents who are not interested in biking may attend a briefing at the Dillard chapel at noon, where Blakely will discuss his impressions and gather input from residents.
All Gentilly residents with bicycles are invited to join in. For more information call Hedge-Morrell’s office at 504-658-1040.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hike the Grand Canyon? How about hiking the Canyon rim to rim in a day; better yet, with bikes strapped to your backs, in sub freezing temperatures and (of course) in the snow? Well, that's what the three guys of Riding The Spine just did.
I have been following the exploits of Jacob, Goat and Sean (a.k.a. RidingTheSpine.com) for several months now. The challenges that they've faced (and overcome) on their unsupported tour bicycling from Alaska to the tip of South America are beyond comprehension. Yet, the Riding The Spine tour has thousands of miles to ride and many more challenges ahead.
For me though, the most humbling and fascinating aspect of their tour is the cause they have chosen to support with their inspirational ride: The Friends of the Lafitte Corridor (FOLC).
As I wrote about in December when I was elected to FOLC's board of directors, this non profit organization that's spear heading a grass roots effort to connect, inspire and revitalize core New Orleans' neighborhoods that marinated for weeks in the putrid floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina. To accomplish this goal, FOLC is weaving together local residents and community leaders with national health, walking and bicycling groups so that a planned bike trail from the French Quarter can finally become reality.
Although most New Orleanians want to return home, factors like sickeningly low insurance settlements, inconsistent & slow governmental rebuilding efforts, an explosively violent crime wave, insufficient public education, rapidly escalating costs of living/rebuilding and unreliable public utilities have kept many residents away and on the verge of despair. Under such dire circumstances, the Lafitte Corridor becomes more than just a simple bike trail. Completing the project would spur the hopes and spirits of the entire region.
Without a doubt, the guys of Riding The Spine and the people of New Orleans are facing seemingly insurmountable odds. Nevertheless, as these 3 bicyclists have rode from Alaska to the Grand Canyon in the dead of winter, so has New Orleans risen from muck and mold (even the Saints made the NFL playoffs this year). Long shots though they are, I'm rooting for Riding The Spine. Ride on, guys.
Many years ago, to earn money while in college, I took a part time job selling Cutco knives. I learned two valuable lessons from that job: focus on the customer's needs and stay upbeat. Along those lines, I'd like to share some bright spots in the New Orleans recovery after Katrina.
Although some people far from New Orleans think otherwise, the floodwaters caused by the failure of the levees during Hurricane Katrina were pumped out over a year ago. Since the storm, President Bush and a long line of other leaders and dignataries from around the world have toured the devastation and promised help. Billions have been allocated for the reconstruction and many individuals from across the nation have come to New Orleans on their own nickel to volunteer. Additionally, fine people throughout the nation have helped Katrina evacuees find housing, clothing, home furnishings, food and more in their own communities. Indeed, with hundreds of thousands of New Orleanians displaced to this day, those volunteer efforts continue nationwide.
The five story high debris piles that stood in places like the wide, grassy West End median are gone. More stop lights are working, the streetcars are back on a segment of their historic route and the electrical outages are less frequent. Many tourists are coming to town soon for New Years, the Sugar Bowl and Mardi Gras. A movie studio (LIFT) is being built just outside the French Quarter, private investors are proposing new housing developments all over the city and a handful of the 90,000 homeowners that applied for money from the $7.5 billion Road Home program have received checks.
Without a doubt, all this is great news; however, the road to New Orleans' recovery will take years if not a decade. Whole neighborhoods are ghost towns of empty, gutted structures. Major storm related issues such as a much greater cost of living, scaled back city services, continued utility outages, etc. are tying the hands of regular folks that just want to return home.
With so many emergencies to manage, the City of New Orleans has little time to spend on quality of life issues like parks; yet, with few places for kids to burn off energy and so many residents suffering from depression and anxiety, the need for green space is high. There is a group working to create a linear park through several of the most flooded neighborhoods. The group is called FOLC, the Friends of the Lafitte Corridor.
FOLC is a grass roots, 501 (c)3 non-profit organization cobbled together by regular folks to breathe life back into historic New Orleans neighborhoods like Treme and Mid City via the creation of a linear park through the Lafitte Corridor. Stretching from the French Quarter to Bayou St. John, the Lafitte Corridor was first known as the Carondolet Canal, a ditch dug by the Spanish in the 1600's to enable commercial goods to get to New Orleans without need for sailing 50+ miles up the Mississippi River. Eventually, the canal was covered and a railway was built along the corridor. Decades ago, the railroad stopped using much of the corridor and the tracks were ripped up last year.
The city's master transportation plan calls for the corridor to become a bike trail and over $400,000 is available now for the project. Unfortunately, city officials are busy concentrating on more pressing, major emergencies. City Hall has also been pressured by private investment groups to sell portions of the land. If this occurs, the land will be broken up forever.
Last week, I was elected to serve on FOLC's board of directors (a volunteer/no pay position). I have vowed to do all in my power to see the project to completion. We'll soon be adding a PayPal donation button to the FOLC website and are planning a fundraiser too. If you can donate money or time to this project, great. If not, please tell others that New Orleans is rebuilding and let them know about what "FOLC's" in the Big Easy are doing. We may be known as the City that Care Forgot but New Orleans IS a cultural treasure worth saving for generations to come.
Today, I had the great pleasure to ride 40 miles through the Western suburbs of New Orleans on the Montague MX suspended, full size, folding mountain bike.
The urge to ride has been building within me since my spill at Spanish Plaza about 2 weeks ago. I had ridden downtown to photograph the QE2 at dock on the Mississippi River. It was night time and the Plaza's polished marble pavement was wet with condensation. I went to make a turn but the bike wanted to go straight... Luckily, the fall resulted only in a nasty oozing knee. I shot some halfway decent night time photos of the QE2 and her guest queueing up for a steamboat jazz cruise on (see the 3 photos in this post), then proceeded to ride the 15 or so miles home.
The scab I earned from the fall kept me off the bike for a few days. Meanwhile, I got busy on a Hurricane Katrina repair project ripping out lots of 2x4's that had to be thrown out a window. Once the job was done, my lower back was sore for almost a week. Fast forward to today.
The weather was gorgeous: brilliant blue skies, temps in the mid 50's and a 5-10 mph breeze from the East. Frankly, I hadn't intended to ride 40 miles; however, once I hit the road, I just didn't want to stop riding.
Along the ride, I encountered a traffic accident scene, cruised past Destrehan Plantation, did some shopping at the new Dollar General in St. Rose (trail mix and sports drink), took a snack break at Rivertown, watched sheriff's deputies in 8 patrol cars meet & prep for a drug raid, watched the oil tanker Ficus sail round a riverbend on it's way to a terminal upriver and passed about 15 or so other cyclists on the Bill Kellor / Mississippi River Levee trail.
If you'd like to see the route of my ride, I charted it on Dave Ploch's 2wheeltech.com bike route mapping website.
The French Quarter Fest is a great opener to the Jazzfest. Taking place in the French Quarter 2 weeks before Jazzfest, there are stages on the Mississippi riverfront (at Woldenberg Park), Royal Street, the Old US Mint and more.
