NorthWest Carrollton

Clean up your act
Monday, November 05, 2007

Re: “Walgreens ready to grow in N.O.” Money, Oct. 25.

So Walgreens says it is “part of the community.” Here’s how it thinks it’s appropriate to do business:

Abandon your stores and leave them boarded, contributing to the appearance of blight, and open new stores just a couple blocks away.

Hang onto boarded buildings for years rather than sell them to someone who might clean them up.

Ignore the express wishes of the neighborhood and historical construction standards.

If Walgreens was a part of our community, it would clean up its messes before making new ones.

Elliott Hammer

New Orleans

Baton Rouge is doing pretty well with this program.

On Wednesday, the Bond Commission depleted the competitive pool. About $843 million in borrowing is left in the hardest-hit pool.

In the Baton Rouge area, the commission approved:
* $45 million for a Coca-Cola Bottling Plant under construction near Baton Rouge Metro Airport.
* Up to $35 million for Celtic Management Corp.’s North Winston Avenue film studio and media center near Coursey Boulevard.
* Up to $60 million for Stupp Bros. Inc.’s spiral weld pipe mill. The Ronaldson Road facility near the intersection of Scenic Highway and Thomas Road will produce large diameter light wall pipe.
* Up to $20 million to build a 90,000-square-foot office building.
* Up to $10 million to build a Southern Ionics Incorporated chemical manufacturing facility on Airline Highway near the Huey P. Long Bridge in Baton Rouge.
* Up to $250 million for Perkins Rowe, a retail, office, residential and hotel complex at the corner of Bluebonnet Boulevard and Perkins Road.
* Up to $75 million for the II City Plaza 280,000-square-foot office building and 700-car parking garage.
* Up to $4.5 million for a new headquarters office building for Starmount Life Insurance Co. at Goodwood Boulevard and Connell’s Park Lane.
* Up to $7.5 million to renovate Price LeBlanc Lexus dealership on Airline Highway.

And our Governor elect thinks it is a good thing

People aren’t looking for a handout. They want to go back to work. You know, one of the most effective programs down here has been a GO Zone program that has reduced taxes, given tax-advantaged treatment for people that want to invest down here.

The Go Zone looks to me a lot like legalized patronage.

Because of course Walgreens had to push their way to the front of the trough, and build a store we did not want.

They even attempted to make it seem that they were doing us a favor by bringing in some live entertainment in the way of Richard Petty

They could have had a local musical guest or someone or something that people in this area actually enjoy, but I guess the suits in Illinois think that because we are in the South we all watch cars driving around in a circle.

Just perusing this list is enough to make your blood boil. The Culture of Corruption is La. has been replaced by the Culture of Corporate Greed.

Where is the Grocery Store??

6000

Monday Update..Well Walgreens is the cheapest Milk around. But since I only put milk in my coffee I thought I would try another test of the index.

There is the obvious ironic connection..

I take a drug called Tamoxifen everyday.

At Castellon it costs me $26.00
at Walgreens it is $77.00

This drug is one of the largest selling drugs in the world. It may mean the difference between Life and Death for me.

If you are uninsured, as I and 48 million other Americans are. This cost is out of pocket.

Chances are 1 in 8 women will develop Breast Cancer,

It is October be aware.

I guess they are making up for their loss in the milk department.

Sunday Update

Rouses Market on Carrollton

UPDATE

Attention K Mart Shoppers

Today I did a price comparison on a Gallon of Milk

Here is a random sampling in the Carrollton area.

There were no prices on the milk but when they asked they said a Gallon was $4.99.

Next was Dollar General

Next I went to Castellon on Oak Street

Finally I ended up at the new Walgreens on Carrollton and Claiborne.

A Gallon of milk was $3.99.

So tell me what does milk cost where you live?

The following speech was read at the May 3rd City Council Meeting when the Accessory Parking Lot, CPC Report and BZA decision was endorsed by City Council. All Carrollton & New Orleans residents should be aware of what is taking place on this corner. Anyone interested in contacting our Council Representative, Shelley Midura, regarding this issue can contact her via Email at smidura@cityofno.com or via phone at 658-1010.

The board of NorthWest Carrollton would like to respectfully request that this matter be deferred until the next City Council meeting.

We want to believe that our issues and concerns can be addressed in a civil and organized fashion and be successfully resolved. Marc Robert has everything he needs to go ahead with the construction of his grocery store. This parking lot issue can be resolved as the primary development progresses. We are not attempting to “hold up construction” of the grocery store and resent the implication by Council Member Midura’s staff that this is the case. We have been consistently told that the grocery store and the parking lot were 2 SEPARATE issues. Now the implication is that one can not proceed without the other. Which is true?

We are simply working citizens who have repeatedly taken time off from their jobs to attend City Council meetings, CPC meetings and to meet separately with CPC and our Council member. We have been put through the grinder of city practices and protocols without the aid of the legal representation developers can afford and with very little assistance from anyone in city government on how to manage this maze. We have asked that the entire site plan for Roberts & Walgreens be developed holistically. It the fall of 2006 this it was even announced in the newspaper that would be the case. Yet there was a separate CPC processes for the primary Roberts development. The accessory parking lot at issue today was handled as multi-phase and convoluted conditional use grant, the CPC process and now this Council process. Walgreens has been handled separately because they agreed, under duress, to follow city ordinances. This is not the definition I have of holistic development.

1) More than a year ago during the many meetings and discussions held regarding the Roberts & Walgreens development we told Council Member Midura and Marc Robert that we were opposed to the conversion of residential property to commercial.

2) In the fall of 2006 Council Member Midura introduced a “Conditional Use” for this property “as an accessory parking lot”. The accessory parking was to be for employees only. This was done with out any discussions or notice to the citizens who had repeatedly communicated concerns over the intrusion of commercial space into the neighborhood, When the conditional use issue was first introduced we asked what we could do next. We were told “Nothing, it is done”. This was not completely true. It turned out that there was a CPC process. But even after the CPC process, what we were told yesterday makes it look like there really was nothing we could do to influence the process. Should ordinary citizens need lawyers to allow them to interact with the city government we elect and pay for?

3) In August of 2006, When the “compromise” was announced and Walgreens agreed, under duress, to follow the city’s zoning laws, a “design review board” was created. Never once, before yesterday evening, was any mention made of using this space as a storage facility. This design review board has not met consistently and has not addressed the concerns of the residents. It has only enabled the developers. It has been essentially a farce. We have only been asked what color lipstick we want on the pig. Although I’ll agree it appears that for the Walgreens & Roberts primary development it appears to be nice lipstick.

4) When the provisos were being worked for Roberts primary development we repeatedly told CPC that the citizens of the neighborhood were more inclined to grant Roberts waivers on the number of parking spaces required than to have this residential space used as a parking lot. We also indicated this at the meetings held during the initial Walgreens & Roberts placement discussions. This does not ever seem to have been an option.

5) At the April 10 CPC hearing on this issue there were a number of provisos attached to the use of this site as a parking lot. The space, that we are now being told will house a large storage facility, was referred to as green space. CPC report even goes so far as to recommend that this remaining green space be offered to the residential property owners impacted by the creation of a parking lot. No mention is made of a storage facility.

6) Immediately after April 10th CPC hearing we met with CPC and reviewed our remaining concerns over the accessory parking lot with them. We were told that these concerns were “minor” and could be addressed by Council Member Midura. We wanted this to be the case. We arranged a meeting with Council Member Midura last week. When we advised Ms Midura that the parking lot was to be used for both employee and customer parking, she indicated surprise. When we expressed our concerns regarding appropriate fencing and security on the “green space” no mention was made of a storage facility. We have repeatedly asked CPC, Ms Midura, Marc Robert, the design review committee to ensure that after hours this parking lot would be free of cars and secured. On Tuesday, because we had heard nothing from Council Member Midura regarding our concerns we respectfully requested that this matter be deferred. Yesterday in an afternoon phone call from Ms Midura’s staff one of our board members was told that the matter would not be deferred, our concerns were not going to be addressed in advance of this meeting and to add insult to injury that a storage facility, one not mentioned in any CPC report or to the design review committee, was to be built on the site

Given that, during our meeting with Ms Midura last week, we asked and she indicated it was possible to add an amendment which would cause the entire property under discussion today to be remideated back to green space should the Robert development prove non-viable; the last minute revelation of a storage shed was a bit of a shock. We want a grocery store. We do not want the intrusion of commercial space into the heart of a residential block. The space that we are now told will house a storage facility plunges like a knife into the middle of a residential block and abuts 5 residential properties. There are too many unresolved issues to charge ahead.

So again we respectfully request that this matter be deferred until the next City Council meeting. Council Member Midura was sent Emails this morning from the president of Central Carrollton Association and member of the design review board supporting our request and concerns. Ms Midura was also sent support from Claiborne-University.

I would also request that this Council cause CPC to issue a revised report including the revelations uncovered yesterday regarding use of the “green space” for a storage facility and this revised report be reviewed at CPC meeting before this issue comes before City Council. We want to believe that the CPC was sold a “pig in a poke” and may not have recommended for approval of the conditional use if they had known that the green space which abuts 5 residential properties would not stay green. We would prefer not to have to put lipstick on yet another pig.

PRELIMINARY NOTICE AND AGENDA
STATE BOND COMMISSION
MEETING OF DECEMBER 21, 2006
10:00 A.M. - SENATE COMMITTEE ROOM A
STATE CAPITOL BUILDING
TAB - INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT BOARD - PRELIMINARY APPROVAL - GO
ZONE BONDS
40. L06-567 - Industrial Development Board of the City of New Orleans, Louisiana, Inc.
(Carrollton Revitalization, LLC Project) - Not exceeding $8,000,000
Revenue Bonds, to
finance the cost of restoring to commercial use the corner of Carrollton
and Claiborne
Avenues in the City of New Orleans, Louisiana by building a Walgreens
retail store in its
place.

There are many unresolved issues on this site plan. The traffic flow, the size of the Walgreens in relationship to the Neighborhood and The Grocery Store. The truck traffic and storage of cardboard are also an issue.

I have a couple of renderings to post but they are so ugly that I am only going to post one at a time out of respect for my readers.

Could someone please tell me what this drawing has to do with the corner of Carrollton and Claiborne?

While we wholly support the Roberts Fresh Grocery project, we are not happy withthe way that Walgreens has treated this Neighborhood. The conversion of Residential Space to Parking lots. The refusal to budge on issues related to traffic, and general “good neighbor” policies, make this project a tedious nightmare.

The BZA HEaring that was scheduled for Nov. has once again been postponed till December.

Request:

This request is to allow construction of a 15,218 square foot full service grocery store and

delicatessen with insufficient (1) minimum depth of front yard on Nelson St., (2)

minimum depth of side yard setback on Dublin St., and (3) number of required off-street

loading spaces.

Requested Waivers:

Section 5.6 (Table 5.F) — Minimum Depth of Front Yard (Nelson St.):

Required: 20’ Proposed: 0 Waiver: 20’

Section 5.6 (Table 5.F) — Minimum Depth of Side Yard (Dublin St.):

Required: 10’ Proposed: 0’ Waiver: 10’

Section 15.3 (Table 15.G) — Number of Off-Street Loading Spaces:

Required: 2 Proposed: 1 Waiver: 1

Here is a Holiday Post about Walgreens.

For all those familiar with the story of Cinderella, who could forget the Evil Stepsisters and their unwillingness to compromise and accept that their fat feet did not fit into the slipper.

Much like the evil Stepsisters Walgreens would like to stuff their Fat Feet into the site at the Corner of Carrollton and Claiborne. Overflowing into our Residential neighborhood and virtually rendering our Neighborhood worthless.

The Trojan Horse on this issue has been the Grocery Store, something that the Neighborhood has expressed an interest in. While we welcome Roberts and would like to work with them this can only be accomplished IF Walgreens is willing to do actually compromise.

It would seem that the City would want to encourage the residents who came back and rebuilt to STAY. Not devalue property by dumping something that is not needed in our Neighborhood.

CAL. NO. 26244 BY: COUNCILMEMBER MIDURA
An Ordinance to temporarily suspend the requirement for a Conditional Use for accessory parking in an RD-2, Two Family Residential District, for the property located at the corner of South Claiborne Avenue and Dublin Street, only for the purposes of permitting this property to be used for accessory parking for the grocery store and drug store to be constructed on the square bounded by South Claiborne Avenue, South Carrollton Avenue, Dublin Street and Nelson Street; and otherwise to provide with respect thereto.

Passed by City Council 6-0 on October 5th, 2006

Shelley, you were told explicitly and repeatedly that our neighbors and your constituents in NorthWest Carrollton were vehemently opposed to the conversion of any residential properties to commercial. NorthWest Carrollton Board members were in your office on Monday October 2nd indicating that we were opposed to this.

We specifically and directly asked if any items associated with the development on the corner of Claiborne and Carrollton were going to be on the Oct 5th agenda and were told they were not. Please don’t tell me this was a mistake. Given 4 NWCCA board members were in your office on Monday, there was ample opportunity to advise us of your intent.

A neighborhood review board was established in August 2006 to review design of the commercial development on the corner of Claiborne and Carrollton. NorthWest Carrollton had to repeatedly ask for plans for the development to be provided to the review board and to our neighborhood. The board had only one meeting, last Tuesday October 3rd, and this at the insistence of NorthWest Carrollton. One of the concessions that NorthWest Carrollton had indicated it was willing to make was to allow a variance (fewer than required) on the number of parking spaces needed. Claiborne and Carrollton is NOT the corner of Magazine and Arabella. If decisions like the one you made last Thursday were going to be made without even allowing us the ability to respectfully disagree in the public format of a City Council meeting, what was the purpose of this board?

Given the events of this week, I’d like for you to explain to me how we are to trust you to represent us? As I see it we were lied to and intentionally deceived.
Fontainebleau has members who are colleagues of the developers for Roberts and Walgreens and a mid to high socioeconomic standing. NorthWest Carrollton has no such connections with the developers and a lower socioeconomic average status. So I’d also like for you to explain how this is not socioeconomic racism.
Ethical decisions are not always the easiest ones to make. It does not take the existence of a review board to know this. Children know this, which is why they squirm when they know they are doing something wrong.

The members of the NorthWest Carrollton organization deserve an explanation regarding your actions. Please tell me what to say to them on your behalf or I’ll have no choice but to tell them what I think.

Sincerely,
Jenel Hazlett
NorthWest Carrollton

Mr. Robert has met with the Review Committee to further develop the plans for the Fresh Market on Carrollton and Claiborne. His team has requested a deferral in order to more fully develop the plans. The hearing on this matter will be held in November.

All interested parties are hopeful for compromise on this site.

Please be advised that the location of the October 9, 2006 meeting of the Board of Zoning Adjustments has been switched from City Council Chambers to the City Planning Commission conference room, located in Suite 9W03 on the ninth floor of City Hall. The meeting will be called to order at 10:00 a.m.

Dear Friends and Neighbors of the Dublin Street/Nelson Street area and all of Northwest Carrollton:

Today, I received a letter from the City Zoning Adjustment Board regarding a public hearing requested by Pivach-Perrino Realty (the owners of the vacant property on Nelson and Dublin Streets where the Canal Villere bldg is), and Robert's Fresh Market, doing business as Claiborne Fresh Market, LLC.

They have submitted plans to build a grocery store/delicatessen on the lot. (Please see attached site plans).  Unfortunately, the plans being submitted place the building directly on the corner of Nelson and Dublin Streets and not on the Claiborne/Dublin corner which is the most appropriate space for a commercial building.

Although this neighborhood has worked long and hard to get a grocery store in our area, the site plans to be presented, in no way, honor the integrity of the residential area.

As the plans read now, there will be large flat walls on the Dublin and Nelson Street sides, with a loading dock and garbage storage/pick-up area immediately on the corner of Nelson and Dublin Streets.  They also own the vacant residential lot across on the opposite corner of Claiborne and Dublin.

This placement lends itself to nothing but negative things for our neighborhood.

1) Increased traffic They are requesting that Nelson become two way for the 8100 block only. This increase of traffic will greatly effect the corner of Nelson and Carrollton which is almost impossible to pass over now not to mention it could, most certainly put the Firehouse response time in jeopardy.

2) The loading dock and garbage areas will be intrusive, noisy, and very dirty.

3) From the property lines of the residents on the 3 adjacent corners, the distance is 50ft. to the proposed commercial property. They have requested no setback. This is a very highly trafficked area now. With the addition of a loading dock, garbage storage/pickup area, and two-way traffic on Nelson Street, there will be no room for two cars to pass in each direction and no on street parking for the residents.

4) The large, flat walls will create a dangerous site barrier at the corner. Because the grocery store will be selling alcohol, the blank corner will become a place to hang around for drinkers, could become a more heavily visited drug traffic area, and will provide space for graffiti and possible other crime.

Page two

5) The garbage storage/pickup area location will increase neighborhood trash and debris and most certainly increase the rodent population.

6) If they are allowed to rezone the residential lot on Claiborne and Dublin it will
will remain a commercial space rather than reverting back to residential in the event that the grocery store does not remain open forever. Commercial properties will continue to encroach on our residential area.

As a resident of this area, I am asking for your help in opposing the site plans as they are being presented and to demand that the commercial building be placed at the other end of the lot where it will more appropriately serve the community, collect additional tax revenue dollars from passing Jefferson Parish residents for Orleans Parish, and allow us the respect to maintain our residential status

We are not against the building of a grocery store, but in fact completely for it, just not as the site plans read now.  If we allow these requests as they are now without a fight, we not only face all the negative possibilities sited above, but also the value of the properties in the immediate surrounding area will suffer greatly.  Our City Council representative has seen alternative plans for this site, which places the store at the Claiborne/Dublin corner.  It CAN work that way.

The most effective and important thing we can do immediately as the neighborhood most impacted by this site plan is to attend the meeting at City Council Chambers on October 9th at 10:00 am to voice our opposition.  If you do not have transportation I will arrange a ride for you.  If you cannot attend the meeting, please write a letter of opposition and I will submit them to the Zoning Board.  I will be going to speak and hope that you can join me and other homeowners of the Northwest Carrollton area.

Thank you very much.  This is a great neighborhood, full of people trying to make things good again.  Please don't allow the big boxes to mandate how we will live.

Best Regards,

Debi Theobald
8200 Nelson Street

It looks as if the shed behind Mrs. Berthalots went up first, there were lots of paint cans and debris in the shed. Fortunatly the Fire Station is next door and they were able to get the fire under control.

There has been a war on the corner of Carrollton and Claiborne. The enemy has shifted at times, and there was never a Peace or Resolution. Just an uneasy cease fire.

Our Neighborhood was never much of a player in this war. We live in the Territory but we had always figured it was someone elses fight. That we were powerless to effect a change and that the outcome would be one that we would have to live with.

As is said so often “Katrina changed everything”, it changed our landscape and it reinvigorated our desire to save our Neighborhood.

Jenel…..One of the quickest thinkers ever, she walked the Neighborhood and passed out flyers till she assembled the beginings of a Team. She wrote the letters and spoke up when perhaps Silence was what was expected.

Scott… One of the first ones back, no gas, no hot water, no heat. His first fight was with Entergy and our then Council Person. He is The Architect, and the quiet force who balances our strident yells with a quiet firm no.

Kim…. The Bow Tie Man, he is the Yin to our Yang and flew the Flag. Before we met I would silently salute the Flag on the front of his house on Carrollton. “DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP” it said. He has taught me a lot.

Morrey…. The passionate pragmatic actress. See her now at Southern Rep. [shameless plug] She kept us on point with paperwork and membership and remebering to dot the i and cross the t. It made all the diffrence.

Our last recruit. Debi…. She lives at the corner of Blight and Despair. Her house overlooks the 4 Corners. When we met she was worn to the nub from this fight and sure that the outcome would be one that was inevitable. She brought reality to the situation. When ever I thought that the fight was over I drove to the Parking Lot and looked at her house. I thought about being a single mother and trying to make a home for a 11 year old. As the piles of trash and gas tanks and flooded cars grew I thought about what it was like to live there. As I write this I am listening to “Room with a View [of the Blues} by Johhny Adams. That is her theme song.

Me…All I know is that there is a right way and a wrong way, and my list of gratitude is long. Alan at Think New Orleans he pointed me in a the direction of Civic Activism that has forever changed the way I see things. Maitri the Magnificent and Ray from New Orleans relocated to Austin and back again with a shovel and broom.

All of this is an introduction to the announcement this week that Walgreens will be working with the City, and the residents of our Flooded City. They are planning on building according to the Carrollton Overlay and including a much needed Grocery in the equation. Marc Robert is on board with this and we are as well.

For the first time in a long time the residents of the 4 corners are working together for a better community.

We have Shelley Midura to thank for that. Shelley did not even have time to hang her hat in her City Hall office, and she was meeting with us, and other residents in the area. She and Alex Morgan worked tirelessly and dogedly to resolve this issue. At a time when there are nothing but issues, she gave this one her full attention and we can not say enough about her even handed approach.

So Thanks to all those who made it happen. Walgreens, Gordon Kolb, Justin Schmidt, Marc Robert and all those that care about the future of this City. And not to forget, Mid City, Neron Place, Marilyn Barbera [The Sage], Richard Layman in D.C. Michelle and Peter, for gas when I was running low.

I have probably forgotten to thank you, my mind is now hampered by chemo and Double Post Traumatic Stress, and the relentless sound of jack Hammers in my Neighborhood.
So Thanks…

New Orleans.

WHO: Councilmember Shelley Midura, Walgreens, Robert’s Fresh Market, Surrounding Neighborhood Associations and Residents

WHAT: Press conference announcing plan to develop Claiborne & Carrollton in accordance with Carrollton overlay, formation of neighborhood design committee.

WHEN:        Monday, August 28th, 2006 at 12:30 PM

WHERE:     Site of Old Canal

The details are not in just yet. But Walgreens has expressed an interest in a more Holistic site design. Working within the Carrollton Overlay and with Roberts Fresh as well as the Neighborhood Organizations. Thanks to all of you who helped in this on both sides of the issue.

There is a brand new fence around the proposed Walgreens parking lot. This will cut down on debris and vagarancy and we are happy to see it installed.

Don’t worry all you taco Truck fans. He is still in front serving tacos and patrolling. I stopped and talked to the Taco Man the other day, he cleans the Parking Lot and keeps the “element” away.

In spite of the fact that the Walgreens Corporation has leased property for 8 years and has let it fall into a a state of disrepair.

In spite of the fact that it has become a public nuiscance to the degree that the neighbors next to the site fear for personal safety.

In spite of the fact that we have experienced the worst man made disaster in the History of this Country.

In spite of the fact that we are busy trying to fight for the survival of our Neighborhood with no help from The LRA and our Federal Government.

In spite of the fact that we have asked repeatedly and been lied to repeatedly by Walgreens Corporate offices as well as local representatives.

In spite of all that they want to continue to ignore the Zoning Laws of this City.

Time for a change