Planking suits New Orleans

Rails to Trails

Fair trade for sale

Dear Friends, Customers and Supporters;

I am writing you with some news which I felt you deserved to hear from me.

For almost ten years my wife and I have owned and operated Fair Grinds Coffeehouse. The experience has been a unique one and certainly memorable for us filled with a lot of special and wonderful moments. I especially cherish the friendships we have made during those years and am proud of the role you helped us play in the community.

Lately, however my resolve to sustain the business against financial and operational challenges has faltered. My energy levels are not sufficient for the recent requirements of a small business. We are still suffering from issues originating with Katrina, and face new problems from the present economy. It has become obvious to us that the time has come to let another owner try their hand at a business in that location.

I can never thank those enough who have helped us survive for so long. Generous support from my customers has been sincerely appreciated and is the source of my greatest regret that this decision has caused.

Ideally Fair Grinds could continue under new ownership with new energy and reorganized business strategies. We are selling both the building and the business and have engaged our friend Mark Herman (504 495-0474) as our realtor. It is hoped persons interested it purchase details would contact him.

Of course, operations will precede as normal until such time as there is a buyer and hopefully after that. I will try to keep all informed of changes as they may occur.

Thank you one and all, once again.

Robert and Elizabeth Thompson
Fair Grinds Coffeehouse

www.fairgrinds.com

Repurposing public space

In the article linked below, the author tells us about reuse of golf courses in many cities, and even uses the Big Lake at City Park as an example of one example of reuse. Even though New Orleans is mentioned, do remember that reuse is an idea that our city government almost never entertains. The project mentioned is one that the city government had no control over or cash invested in; relatively speaking, it has turned a cold eye and a deaf ear to the needs of public space almost entirely.
That may be a major difference from many other struggling cities; the lack of forethought to take something not working in the public arena and turn it into another that has use. Cleveland, Detroit, Madison, (even Abita Springs!) among many others are all adding useful public works to their cities; we seem to just hand our spaces over to developers again and again. And let me say that I am not talking about nets for group sports and fancy benches at every corner; sometimes we need to take a space that has been a trash heap and allow neighbors control. Or relax zoning to allow specific types of farming or art projects to exist without massive permitting or taxation. Or maybe just fix the damn sidewalks.

The city does have an opportunity to change that attitude with the Lafitte Corridor Greenway project. So far though, it has seemed much of city government hampers this rather than helps it. On top of that, the destruction of good housing along its length continues to make way for more resource-rich citizenry to live along it, all under the name of blight-reduction. The Greenway can be a turning point to think green while also making sure the small-scale and many levels of income remain in the middle of the city if we focus our energies to do more than make a bicycle path or a volleyball court along its length.

Utne Reader

Tried and Tru Burger

Had a nice lunch today with Octavia Bookstore owner Judith Lafitte. Went to thriving Oak Street and tried new place run by my friend Chef Aaron Burgau (of Restaurant Patois fame.)

Stopped at the general store (10 Dollar) before going in and got some necessaries. I am please by the proliferation of these stores; seems to me they offer everything one needs in general goods by selling overstock and are taking up where Woolworth's left off. Funny how some people are fighting these; is there something I don't know about them?

Back to Tru Burger:

Excellent food, great service. renovation was done well, the gray is soothing and suits the metallic design of the place. I will say that the many new places all seem masculine in design; one or two new places that are a bit warmer in look would also be nice but I'll try not complaining.


I had the hot dog (well 2) with grilled onions, jalapenos and relish. Excellent. Bun was chewy and delicious.


Judith had the veggie burger and we both had peanut butter milkshakes.
All simply well done.




as usual, the chefs in town all support each other; while we were there, Susan Spicer came in and ate a jalapeno-laden hamburger too.

Get up to Oak Street, there really is something there for everyone.

Ghost Bikes: Leave up or remove?

Story below about Chicago's ghost bike issue, where friends and family of fallen cyclists put up a stripped bike, painted white to signify a cyclist's death. Some neighbors (rightfully in my mind) wonder when it should be removed rather than left to disintegrate on its own. Families and friends, however do not share that idea.

The idea of permanent memorials for regular people has never been resolved as far as I know in any city or town. You pass the highway memorials put up by families and we certainly have some left from the federal levee breaks, especially those homeowners who have left their X as a permanent reminder but the public space is left for war and public officials memorials only.
The idea of using ghost bikes as a reminder of a bicycle death seems appropriate given the war between cyclists and those in tanks disguised as cars. Maybe the answer is a ghost bike which is then replaced after a period by a sticker or metal sign naming the person and date and time of the accident to be left as a reminder of the danger as well.

Ghost bikes

Nte2NO Neighborland meeting

Announcing a new Meetup for Net2NO (NetSquared New Orleans)!

What: Net2NO August Meetup: Neighborlands.org
When: Tuesday, August 2, 2011 6:00 PM

Where: 12 Bar On Fulton
608 Fulton Street
New Orleans, LA 70130

Join us at 12 Bar on Fulton August 2nd for your monthly dose of innovation, inspiration and inebriation! We'll hear from founders of Neighborland.org, "a fun and easy way for residents to suggest new businesses and services that they want in their neighborhood."


It's a grassroots, open platform built for residents, community leaders, and developers to talk about the future of New Orleans. The goal? To empower residents to help shape the development of the city.

Sound like something we could use? Absolutely. "It's a great tool for residents to voice new ideas for vacant commercial real estate, existing public space, and development projects in the works. As our community grows, entrepreneurs, property owners, and developers will be able to hear the collective needs and wants of a neighborhood, and build relationships with their future customer base."

And what better place to launch a project like this than "New Orleans, a city that embraces new technology and smart growth, and supports better resident-powered tools." They plan to expand the service to other cities this year, but they're getting it off the ground here, and you can help.

Bring your laptop to the meetup, so you can check out the site in realtime, ask questions, give feedback, share ideas, and generally do what Net2NO members do: help each other.

The project is supported by the Tulane Urban Innovation Challenge and was incubated at Civic Center. Founded by Candy Chang, Tee Parham, and Dan Parham, the team includes Community Director James Reeves and Community Manger Alan Williams.

As always, the meetup is 6-9 pm (one hour of cocktails/conversations, one hour of presentations, one more hour of drinking/networking). Free, open to the public, and a great way to meet some inspiring, awesome people.

Check it out!


Original blog posting

Tried and Tru Burger

Had a nice lunch today with Octavia Bookstore owner Judith Lafitte. Went to thriving Oak Street and tried new place run by my friend Chef Aaron Burgau (of Restaurant Patois fame.)

Stopped at the general store (10 Dollar) before going in and got some necessaries. I am please by the proliferation of these stores; seems to me they offer everything one needs in general goods by selling overstock and are taking up where Woolworth's left off. Funny how some people are fighting these; is there something I don't know about them?

Back to Tru Burger:

Excellent food, great service. renovation was done well, the gray is soothing and suits the metallic design of the place. I will say that the many new places all seem masculine in design; one or two new places that are a bit warmer in look would also be nice but I'll try not complaining.


I had the hot dog (well 2) with grilled onions, jalapenos and relish. Excellent. Bun was chewy and delicious.


Judith had the veggie burger and we both had peanut butter milkshakes.
All simply well done.




as usual, the chefs in town all support each other; while we were there, Susan Spicer came in and ate a jalapeno-laden hamburger too.

Get up to Oak Street, there really is something there for everyone.

Bloomberg gives Mitch millions

Not in his role as mayor of the largest American city but as billionaire, the CEO of Bloomberg Inc.has announced that 5 U.S. mayors will receive around 3 million dollars each from Bloomberg Philanthropies to form teams outside of city government to tackle issues within. Mitch was one of the winners.

Since our mayor's project was not listed in the article, let's hope Mitch chooses police reform or public transportation as his issue and gets brave on it.

Mayors Project

Ah finally a story that clarifies what Mitch is planning. Sounds like a weak plan to me. "Customer service" at City Hall? "Reducing serious crime"? Important, no doubt but how is studying these 2 issues going to help?

Why not choose 2 less complicated ideas to get something changed before tackling the 2 biggest issues of any city?


Bayou Buzz

The Big Uneasy hits the road

The largest engineering disaster in U.S. history continues:

Shearer movie

Bastille celebration in Faubourg St. John

Neighborland

Another inclusive, graphically simple idea for grassroots democracy. I sense designer Candy Chang's hand in this.
I have written about her before, with her Street Vendor pamphlet, "I Wish This Was..." stickers, "Before I Die...." wall, the "Please Disturb Me" door hangers.
If it will ultimately include a mapping element to track the ideas, collate similar concepts, have a print (or dry wipe) version for neighbors to use and embed the hot ideas into a city website, I think it will be even more fantastic.

Neighborland

Pedicabs will have lottery

I think using a lottery to pick the first group of pedicab operators is the right way to go. Let's keep this honest and useful for all people and reduce the cars and add some human scale activity to our streets.

T-P story

carpetbagger (pronunciation): kay•kay•prah•jex says her piece

I hope she remains in the news. Her point of view is so skewed and pompous that it gives us another disaster parable to tell for generations, as we walk past the "organic garden" that will no doubt rise in the place of these houses.

Mencken's "booboise" is alive and well but thankfully moving to places like Tasmania.

The Lens story

My original post here:

Carpetbaggers

Poetry bombing

Seed bombing was my favorite practice for guerilla activism, but it has been supplanted by poetry bombing: