Also, New Orleans City Council votes to make Congo Square name official
Over the opposition of the association representing neighborhood residents, the New Orleans City Council agreed Thursday to let businessman John Blancher tear down two buildings at Fig and Dublin streets, in the same block where he operates Ye Olde College Inn restaurant and Rock 'n' Bowl.
View full sizeLuther Gray leads a drum line down Loyola Avenue during a second-line celebrating the New Orleans City Council decision to make Congo Square's name official. The council approved the demolition request 6-0 at the urging of Councilwoman Susan Guidry, whose district includes the site. Councilwoman Stacy Head was absent.
Before voting, several council members paid tribute to Blancher, who wants to clear the site and make it a parking lot for his businesses.
Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson thanked him for "saving a very unique part of our culture" by moving and reopening Rock 'n' Bowl after Hurricane Katrina, and President Arnie Fielkow told him, "John, you represent all that's good about our city."
Blancher was appealing the action of the Neighborhood Conservation District Committee, which considers demolition requests in many old neighborhoods that have not been officially designated as historic. The committee divided 5-5 on his request, amounting to a rejection.
Noting that the block is zoned light-industrial, Blancher said the two-story residential buildings at 8125-27 and 8129-31 Fig are in substandard condition and "a nuisance to the neighborhood." Demolishing them would also make the neighborhood safer, he said.
He bought the two properties in December for $355,000, with the intention of razing the buildings.
The NorthWest Carrollton Civic Association has opposed Blancher's request, saying it is better for the neighborhood to have buildings than parking lots.
Association leaders have alleged that Blancher has threatened them with legal action if they continued to oppose his plans, and no one from the group addressed the council Thursday.
However, the group did send Guidry a lengthy position paper saying it believes the two buildings can easily be rehabilitated and should be used as housing where they are or moved across the street to vacant lots that Blancher also owns.
Blancher has said he has no interest in renovating the buildings but would give them free to the neighborhood group or anyone else prepared to move them. He offered to pay $5,000 of the moving expenses, but the neighborhood group said it was not able to take on such a project.
Guidry said nearby residents appeared to be evenly split on whether to allow the demolitions, with some citing the need for more off-street parking.
Blancher promised the council the new parking lot will be landscaped and will have some type of permeable surface. He said it will not be paved or blacktopped.
Saying he has been "active in preserving what makes New Orleans special," he said he wants "to preserve everything that is good, but I'm also ready to eliminate everything's that bad."
In other actions, also by 6-0 votes with Head absent, the council:
- Voted to rename Beauregard Square, the open space between the Municipal Auditorium and North Rampart Street, as Congo Square, one of the names it had in the days when slaves gathered at the spot on Sunday afternoons to market goods, socialize and make music, sing and dance. Many New Orleanians have long called it Congo Square, although since 1893 it has officially born the name of Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard.
- Endorsed Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer's plan to use a merit-based system to pick the operators who will get permits to operate 45 pedicabs in the city during a trial period of 12 to 24 months. The Landrieu administration had proposed holding a lottery among all applicants who met minimum standards, but some of the would-be operators who have led the drive to get pedicabs authorized in New Orleans opposed that idea. The administration has had no comment on Palmer's plan.
Bruce Eggler can be reached at beggler@timespicayune.comor 504.826.3320.