In the Spotlight: St. Roch’s Road to Recovery

by Ted Hornick, Editor-in-Chief

Numerous independent associations have sprung up in distinct parts of New Orleans, each tying personal triumphs to the larger goals of city recovery. One of the most engaging stories of success is that of the St. Roch Project. For each month’s final Friday, the St. Roch Project organizes merchants, food vendors and musicians in the cozy neutral ground of St. Roch Avenue, where locals can laugh and dance the night away, together. November’s Friday on the Roch was not only the usual celebration – it was a step forward for the community, with the announcement of the St. Roch Walkway.
Pious Catholics associate St. Roch with combating plague – but on Friday, November 30, the New Orleans neighborhood with his name came to stand for another kind of renewal. Tulane University’s Partnership for an Active Community Environment (PACE) collaborated with the City of New Orleans to build a half-mile foot path on the neutral ground connecting Independent Square and the St. Roch Market. A survey of the area revealed that ninety-five percent of its residents would use the neutral ground if there were a walking path there. The space was made possible through a $50,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which allowed the group to construct the first two blocks. The New Orleans Office of Recovery Management was convinced by this construction to build four additional blocks and complete the walkway. Additional community groups are already fundraising to develop “public art displays” in support of the new foot path.
A superficial appraisal of St. Roch might leave one thinking that its historical contributions to the city surrounding it (such as being the birthplace of numerous jazz greats, including Jelly Roll Morton), are behind it. However, Dr. Jeanette Gustat, a steering committee member with PACE from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, sees the Path as a first component in a grander scheme of restoration for the city. She explained, “The city needs plans.” She elaborated on the relevance of the St. Roch Path to future plans by explaining similar events as the PACE Community Playspace, an open park located near St. Roch Avenue at Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary School at St. Claude Avenue. Construction of the playground involved over 400 volunteers from across the country and equipment donated by ABC-Disney TV. Dr. Gustat spoke highly of the park, saying it could host “Forty-to-sixty kids at a time. We are limited only by time and sustainability.
“With this [the path] and the playground, we are very excited,” Dr. Gustat continued. “The speed at which things progressed boggled our minds! The luck of working with the ORM in one of their target zones allowed things to fall into place.” In addition to Dr. Gustat, speakers at the event included Kina Joshua, a Coordinator with Fridays on the Roch, Dr. Ed Blakely, Director of the Office of Recovery Management, and Robert Mendoza of the Department of Public Works. Dr. Blakely opened his remarks by speaking to the importance of the event, saying “Small things mean a lot, and this is a big step for the recovery effort.” Regarding the numerous contributors to the event, Dr. Blakely emphasized that, “People made a real big difference.”
Robert Mendoza’s comments on the event were more modest, but no less aware of the path’s relevance: “This is a simple concept put to use. St. Roch will get many years of service out of this.” He was also certain to acknowledge the private contractors for the event, Hard Rock Construction.
Mr. Kenneth Ferdinand of the French Market Corporation could only joke at the podium, “We know how to do markets, we think. We’re happy to provide technical assistance to our neighbors, [and] you all are.”
Kina Joshua spoke in place of St, Roch organizer Greta Gladney. In Ms. Gladney’s place, she acknowledged a number of contributors, including the Mayor’s Office, Councilman James Carter and Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis, Parks and Parkways and the New Orleans Police Department’s Quality of Life Officers. As she left the stage, she jokingly added, “I cut it short, believe me!” Afterwards, it was time for, in Robert Mendoza’s words, the “Officials to cut the official ribbon on the official path and put it to official use!”
Perhaps the most candid and inspirational remarks of the evening were Dr. Blakely’s words for all of New Orleans: “We’re going to put it all together.” The St. Roch Walkway is open and ready for the city of New Orleans.

New Neighborhood Group helps St. Bernard 

Sharon S. Ober
Community Center of St. Bernard
St. Bernard Parish has many reasons to be grateful to the dedicated staff and directors of the Community Center of St. Bernard in Arabi, Louisiana. After the storm, more than 1,500 residents signed a Statement of Support calling for the establishment of a permanent facility where they could network, conduct business, socialize, connect to services, share stories and grieve for the family and friends they had lost. Thanks to this strong grassroots effort and the generosity and hard work of many volunteers and organizations, the Community Center moved from being simply a shared vision to a valuable resource. The grand opening ceremony was held in January 2007.
Today, the Community Center provides parish residents access to necessary services like free internet, faxing and telephones. Community meals, dances and other social and cultural events are also held at the Center and at nearby schools, giving people the opportunity to renew old ties and make new ones in a safe and all-inclusive setting. Food, personal care items and household supplies are distributed to those in need every week, and the Community Center has actively pursued partnerships with other agencies to provide people health care, housing information and legal aid. For all they’ve done to make this possible, we would like to thank the wonderful volunteer team of Executive Director R.M. “Iray” Nabatoff and Board Members Bruce Conlay, Chris Andry, Cynthia Burke, Alberta Lewis, Larry Aisola Jr., Claude Rome, Brenda Catania, George Barisich, Mark Madary and Lt. Col. David Dysart.

A Space for Peace

By Laura Pavicevic-Johnston

Uncle Lionel’s token wristwatch glistens from the top of his hand as he keeps beat with the Blind Boys of Alabama at St. Augustines.  Hours later, white, red, yellow and black flash in blurs of buoyant color as the dancers of the Kombuka African Drum and Dance Company spin to a mad drum beat.
Such was the scene at the Congo Square Rhythm Festival held on Sunday, September 30th.  The festival brought together musicians, dance collectives, poets, chefs, storytellers and people in a whirl of positive energy.
“When you hear music and perform it transforms you.  It’s seemingly magical, but science proves it too.  Something changes in you,” says Ausettua Amor Amenkum, a performer with the Kombuka Collective who has organized the event in the past.  Get to know Ausettua and you will be moved by her grace, her knowledge, and the power behind what she says.  Her hair, if let out, would likely root her to Mother Earth.  She speaks with some gravel in her voice, “When you perform, that space has been made better.”
In the early days of New Orleans, Congo Square exemplified this transition.  Previously swamp lands on the fringe of town, it was a place where African slaves were allowed to come one day a week—largely unsupervised—to make music, dance and trade.  Ausettua explains “Through all that exchange, Congo Square was significant to New Orleans as a space for peace.”  This year, the festival kicked off at St. Augustine’s Cathedral with a special guest appearance from the Grammy award-winning Blind Boys of Alabama.  It was my first time in the cathedral, and as I listened to the Priest, I was also elevated by the sight before me: white people in fancy suits, black people in fancy suits, black people in African prints, white people in African prints, punks covered with neck tattoos, babies and a few people so old they probably couldn’t see any of it.  Then again, seeing wasn’t really necessary, because the energy and the sound could take you anywhere.
Amenkum sees significance in that cultural exchange as well.  “Back in the 17-1800’s, when Louisiana was forming, you know it was so harsh.  It was rough on the Europeans, rough on the Africans, and rough on the Native Americans.  If it hadn’t been for all those people coming together they wouldn’t have survived,” she says.  “There was institutionalized racism, yeah, but daily life dictated that you got along.”
During the sermon, as the Priest lamented the woes of New Orleans, I wondered if and how this vibrant energy could be used as a tool.  “Music and art help you to tolerate those problems without being hopeless,” says Ausettua Amenkum.  “It is the culture that shows you there’s still a way.” As she speaks she radiates that same powerful energy that can be seen in her dance.  “Through that unity, through respect for cultures and preservation, through dancing, and good food, we can pull New Orleans to a better place than it was before.”
Her conviction leaves me doubtless that the soul of our city can comfort the world.  And if not, Sunday at the Square elevated me and left me with a deeper understanding of where this unique spirit comes from.  Events like this can’t explain the ever growing problems of our city, but they can explain why we all stay, and show us how we can thrive.
Thanks to organizations like the Jazz and Heritage Foundation, the Congo Square Foundation and countless other preservation, dance and music associations throughout our city—not to mention independent artists—New Orleans culture is guarded, preserved, and most importantly, made accessible.  Life here isn’t about watching a show- it’s about feeling that show and giving some energy, zest and dance back to that performer.  I think we do it here better than anyone.
A fortune teller on Jackson Square once told me that people who drink the water in New Orleans can’t leave because Marie Laveau put something in the river.  Perhaps, but I think it’s even deeper than that.  There is a soul here that is older than all of us and makes itself known through music and dance; that positive expression has the power to change a space and those in it.  That power makes this place better.

Letter From the Editor

Hurricane Preparation en espanol
Es la temporada de huracanes

Neighborhood Voices
Do You Know Where Your Bills Are?
Youth SmokeOUT Teen Smoking

Green Orleans
Only 1,432 to Go…

The People in Your Neighborhood
Classroom on Oak Street
PHRF Advocating Critical Social Change
Collaborating for Community Centers
NOLA YURPs
Leverette Senior Housing

New Orleans’ Transient Blues
Going GREEN

In the Spotlight
Central City’s New Peace Park

Crescent City Poetry
Blues, Blues, Blues
second line for dinerral shavers

July 10th, Norman Smith (center) and Harmony House members broke ground on N. Rocheblave. Photo by Mario Perkins

By Mario Perkins

NPN

On Tuesday, July 10^th, the Treme Community Education Program (TCEP) had a groundbreaking ceremony for its Leverette Senior Housing property located on 1023-25 N. Rocheblave Street.

Leverette will provide decent affordable housing for seniors in the area.

TCEP will create a wholesome environment that enhances the life, longevity and attitude of Treme’s seniors. The land was donated to TCEP by the Leverette Family, hence the name. TCEP is very grateful to the Leverette Family and Senator Edwin Murray for getting the project where it is today. State grants helped fund the construction of the building and there is a 240 day project timeline. The property had been dilapidated for several years beforehand. TCEP overcame a three year struggle with the city’s historic landmark commission before developing the property.

I’d like to thank Norman Smith for his contribution to this article. Norman has been with TCEP for 31 years and is the Executive Director of Harmony House, a seniors program organized by TCEP.

A rendering of the Leverette Senior Housing building

second line for dinerral shavers

i am waiting
in the cracked street
sinking into the asphalt
like the broken houses all around
and the faces in this tableau
are a million shades of coffee
streaked with tears

i am growing roots here
the mist is fine and pulls
us a little further down
a trumpet barks impatiently;
but the preacher rumbles behind red bricks

it is electric out here
where tragedy upon tragedy
is spread out in blue sheets
all eyes are trained on the doors
the trumpet bleats a last complaint;
causes a white dove
to materialize there

and he is announced!
his mourners are screaming
the only appropriate song
to strike courage into the band

and his casket floats out
on waves of gold
tones before open throats
raised hands;
here is one of our own
passing before us

watch the story of his life
dancing all around you
from the house where he was born
through the empty projects
through his tragedies and victories
hear it in the beat of some kid
who magically, just for today
hits the snare just like him

follow it
unto his final rest, and dance out
as much of his mourning as you can today
…more death is on the way

— R. Moose Jackson

Blues, Blues, Blues

When you get the blues, sometimes,
do you ever want to wrap up in it
like it was an old blanket
on a night of syncopated rhythms and blues
and funky sad songs and old songs
like those you heard when you were just a child,
that keep that sad feeling running through you,
that say you’re still alive
with a heart and a soul and
all that stuff that makes you human and real and
not like some of the phonies
who are always happy or always mad?

Don’t you ever get the urge to just sit there
in some melancholy lost dream state of mind
that ain’t really a state of mind
but a state of being
when you remember all the sad times
and feel all the sad days
like one day that never ended
and you wonder what happened to the happy times?
But you don’t try real hard to remember
just try to wrap up tighter in a blue blue
sky blue midnight blue blues
you done gone and got yourself
like you ain’t had in a long time?

And don’t it make you mad—
real ticked off mad —
when people try to unwrap you with stuff like,
“hey, it ain’t so bad” or “cheer up”
or some other pathetic trite saying
that you wish they weren’t saying
and you wish you weren’t hearing?

No, maybe it ain’t that bad right now
but it’s been real bad sometimes—
the death you never died
and the hell you ain’t been burned in yet.
And you know that you don’t know
how you survived some of those bad times,
when your body worked without your mind
and did what it had to do
because you had lost your mind
in the blues you was wrapped up in.
Hey, don’t you ever just want to have the blues,
sometimes?

— by Valentine Pierce © 2007

At the Nola YURP Initiative people settled into focus groups to discuss the kinds of opportunities and support needed to attract and retain young people in New Orleans.  Among the attendees were Meghan Finn, Melissa Schigoda, Jonathan Stewart and Colleen Maley (above).

Creating a Culture of Brain Gain in N.O.

By Jesse Martin

YURP

More than seventy-five young professionals were at the Garden District Hotel on July 25^th to begin discussing the future of New Orleans, a very bright one at that.

From the start, everyone who walked in the door was ready to reach out, share opinions, and exchange ideas on how to retain young professionals in the city. The Young Urban Rebuilding Professionals (YURPs) attending the event spanned racial and ethnic boundaries, representing a wide spectrum of occupations: students, lawyers, bankers, advertisers, publicists, educators, non-profits, architects and volunteers.

After the meet and greet, people settled into focus groups to discuss the kinds of opportunities and support needed to attract and retain young people in New Orleans.

The Nola YURP Initiative marked the first event for young professionals in New Orleans by the non-profit group The mission of the organization is to attract the young and educated to New Orleans and retain those that are here by connecting them with the community.“The event was a huge success and really showed that there is this community of young professionals in New Orleans that care about the future of this city,” said Zach Kupperman, one of the group’s founders. “We want New Orleans to become a national destination for college graduates. In your senior year of college, most kids don’t know where they want to go or what they want to do. A lot end up moving to New York, LA, Chicago, or Atlanta, with or without a job. We want New Orleans to be at the top of that list.”Considering there are eight colleges and universities with graduating classes every year in New Orleans, the city is well equipped with intellectual, educated young adults.

The ideas generated at the meeting included: welcome events for newcomers, making it easier to find jobs, and other programs to connect young professionals with the community.

“We are using the ideas and suggestions from the focus groups to guide our future plans and programs,” said Ross Kantor, one of Nola Yurp’s organizers.

Nathan Rothstein, a co-founder, discussed these future programs. “Last week we launched the first professional and social networking site for young people in New Orleans. Members can create profiles, share jobs, post events to the calendar, and upload pictures, videos and powerpoints.“The goal is really to be a one-stop-shop for connecting young professionals in the city. Over 300 members have signed up in the first week. The enthusiasm is very encouraging and we urge everyone interested in helping out to visit our website.” You can support the future of young people in New Orleans by going to www.NolaYurp.com.