Another Ruth's Article, but...

Here is another article about Ruth's but what I find interesting in this one is not the ruth's stuff, but rather the stuff at the end:

he Restaurant August chef, whose local empire doubled in size last year with the opening of Luke and the rechristening of La Provence, is now planning to open an Italian restaurant in New Orleans. The shuttered Fairmont Hotel is being converted into a Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and Besh said his restaurant will be attached to the renovated property.

They then note the opening will be in 12 months. Does this mean that we will have only more sad Christmas without the splendor that is the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel decked for the Holidays?

East-West Corridor

Does anyone remember this idea that was floating around a year or two ago? I idea was actually around for a good while before that, and has manifested itself as the improvements that have been made to Earhart Blvd. from Claibiorne to Pine St. and those that are going to be begining late this year, from Hamilton to Fern. What about the 2 blocks from fern to Pine, BTW? (Apparently the city is trying to acquire some land along Earhart, which makes me very curious as to what eactly they will be doing. this land includeds the building which used to house electric Ladyland and the small block out of which Carrollton).

The idea was to have a high speed Corridor from Downtown to the Airport or possibly even I-310. It would follow Earhart from downtown to dickory, then at Dickory it would, via an overpass that would be built from the current Expressway, cut over to Airline. It would then follow Airline in one manner or another out to the Airport and/or 310. There were three possibilties for the method it would exist in Airline: an improved, repaved version of what currently exists + something like a streetcar; an at grade, restricted access expressway, like I-10 through Laplace; or an elevated expressway with access streets beneath like the Westbank Expressway. I am personally a fan of the last option.

There was a big deal made of this, and even a webpage explaining all the options. It boasted that the work on Earhart Blvd. was complete save the Hamilton to Fern phase. Now, i can find nothing on it. Infact, rather a failure to update the webpage, it has been removed. I really liked the whole concept, I wish someone would revive it.

Also, I noticed on another DOTD projects to be LET website that the state is (at a cost of $30 million) widening I-10 in Red Stick from the 10/12 split to Seigen. This has me jumping for joy. I am thrilled. I am extatic. Only one problem: As soon as this project is done, there will be some other bottle neck in BR. That city seriously needs to expedite the loop they've beent alking about. hence one of the many reasons that I call it, Atlanta, Jr.

My thoughts on even more new New Orleans news

Shopping Center at the Toni Morrison Interchange. (For those of you who don't know, Toni Morrison was the son of New Orleans Mayor DeLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, Sr.)

The mall developer plans to bring in new retail tenants including a bookstore, pet store and shops selling office supplies, electronics and clothes, according to the application.

I really hopethat, rather than rebuilding it similar to how it was, they make it a retail center like Perkins Rowe in Baton Rouge or the District at Atlantic Station in Atlanta (I especially like the latter as it has parking below the main retail space which seems appropriate in a city where flooding is always a possibility). I also had hopes that they would use the space to simplify the insanity that is the Toni Morrison Interchange.

Oops, I closed the windows witht he other (and ultimately less interesting) stories. I'll give y'all more tomorrow. Almost time to leave the office. I'm done making flood maps for today.

More News Snippets

Lincoln Beach Redevelopment

An architect involved in the redevelopment of historic Lincoln Beach in eastern New Orleans said he has traveled to the Netherlands to talk to a consultant about the project.

I'm glad that someone is doing something to the delapidated piece of land, but I really must wonder, "WHY?!"

If one needs to consult engineers for the Neatherlands to build a retail development, he should really reconsider his site.

Its outside of the levee, its on a piece of land that was the flagship of the segregated south, it is difficult to get to, the population in that area isn't too high at the moment, and there are areas in my opinion much more worthy of redevelopment. If someone wants to create retail space in a traditionally African-American neighborhood, I think the section of Dryades Street (or Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. as some call it (which is the continuation of O'Keefe(also spelled Okeefe) which is for a single block called University Pl., before crossing Canal to become Burgundy. Incase you didn't know.)) just upriver of the Pontchartrain Expressway, which clearly was at some point in time a small little commercial area, would be a fine choice to be made nice once again.

Pump to the River

Babcock’s contract includes placing three side-by-side 84-inch diameter pipes, about 700 feet long, from the Soniat Canal to the proposed site of the pumping station near Dickory Avenue in Harahan.

Thats a total cross sectional area of 116 square feet. Three pipes 9,000 feet long each. Damn. Thats alot of water.

The Conspiracy to Keep our City Dirty

It Seems like not only does the city want our sidewalks to be dirty, he also wants the streets to be dirty.

Sanitation Director Veronica White said Tuesday that she told contractor SDT Waste & Debris on Feb. 29 to quit cleaning streets in the area bounded roughly by the Mississippi River, Calliope Street, Claiborne Avenue and Canal Street because the DDD has hired its own contractor to perform similar work, including manual, round-the-clock street cleaning.

But the DD hired people to clean the sidewalks (which the city was neglecting), not the streets. The city should realize that tourists don't want to come to a dirty place.

2 Random Articles

The First:

The Young Leadership Council said today it will raise about $50,000 for "a bold, public art space" at the intersection of Canal, Basin and Rampart streets.

uhhhmmmm? Do you mean where the Saenger is? or was? or will be? or [as this article makes it seem] where it won't be? Maybe they mean where in neutral ground of Basin Street where the Southern Railway Terminal (Norfolk-Southern?) used to be. All that is there at the moment is some benches and pavers. This project might be better than benches and pavers, but I'll be damned if they alter or destoroy the Saenger (both because it is historic, and because the city now has an insufficient number of theatres) to construct "a bold, public art space." If they do build it, they should really bring some streetcar lines past here. ;)

The Second:

“The original building obviously has sentimental value for the New Orleans community," said Craig Miller, Ruth’s Chris CEO, president and board chairman. "We plan to return it to the community through a philanthropic gift consistent with our company's historical commitment to giving back to our communities.”

These traitors... no, traitor is to harsh. maybe defectors? nah. Oh, I've got it... These turncoats claim to be giving back to the city. They are giving back to the city by moving the headquarters to Miami. They are giving back to the city by not reopening the original location. They are giving back to the city by opening a location in an area that is clearly not designed for anyone but tourists to be able to get to. Ruth Fertell must be rolling over in her grave. Anyone have any idea what Ruth's Chris would do after a Hurricane when she was alive? It didn't move the whole company to Miami (from Metairie... the friggin offices were not at the orinial loaction on Broad that got 6 feet of water. They were on vets, and could have be back in full operation just a couple weeks after storm.) Ruth went to the restaraunt, cooked the steaks herself, and gave them out for free. "They were going to go bad if no one ate them" was her philosphy. Maybe the city should take its newly acquired steak house and [re]open it as the "orignal Chris Steak House." Just an idea. But of course that would pay no tribute to the woman who made it the great restaurant it once was, Ruth. I suppose it is a public company, and the execs are legally bound to do what is in the best interest of the share holders, but that doesn't mean they can't do that while not being dicks to New Orleans.

I'll leave you now with a quote about New Orleans from a writer of Japanese ghost stories from Cincinatti:

Times are not good here. The city is crumbling into ashes. It has been buried under a lava flood of taxes and frauds and maladministrations so that it has become only a study for archaeologists. Its condition is so bad that when I write about it, as I intend to do soon, nobody will believe I am telling the truth. But it is better to live here in sackcloth and ashes, than to own the whole state of Ohio.
-Lafcadio Hearn (1870s)