Break time OVER - Let's talk Nawlins

The past couple of weeks have been a no-go for me on the blog. Although very little has really been going on with my office work, I have run into some very interesting topics for the modern day city development advocate.

Last week I had the great pleasure and opportunity to participate in an exclusive meeting with the Arts Council down here in New Orleans. The purpose was to select 2-3 finalists for the project proposals sent in from artists and professionals from all over the country, a couple even came from abroad. The project they were competing for in the entry was for the St. Roch Project. For those of you are not familiar with the cityscape of New Orleans, St. Roch was historically an area where people of different ethicities lived together, cultivating an atmosphere of local business and a melting pot of culture, distinctive to New Orleans' identity. The people at the meeting serving as the decision board for the project consisted of one member of the St. Roch community, an architect doubling as the representative for the nonprofit funding the project, one representative from another local nonprofit for arts in New Orleans, and the rest were from the Arts Council in New Orleans. The Director of Parks and Parkways and I were the only ones not voting on any final decision, etc. We were both there to put in our two-sense on maintenance, landscape, and practicality of the site's plan. Much of the meeting was spent looking at photos from the artists' and professionals' portfolios. It was very tedious and brought out the true characters of how people work with each other and amongst a rather well-sized group of people. Although I thought the meeting would be more exciting, I found myself being resentful towards much of what this Arts Council was drawn to in terms of a defining project that would allow the community to identify itself with. Many topics on cultural identification, gentrification, safety, practicality and accessibility were considered. I found that the people on the board held back a lot and were not as genuine in their approach towards the project as I expected. The experience itself taught me a great deal about the functions of such meetings, as well as the unspoken hierarchal respect and ability to show their true colors due to the hierarchy amongst the crowd. Much of what I would have said had to do with my own urge to speak up for what SHOULD be represented in the space and what SHOULD be representing the community in a progressive manner.

Again, New Orleans has continued to challenge me with these sorts of characters running around and making decisions for the city that could ULTIMATELY change it and make it a landmark for people to come back to.