The Cantrell Administration is working with the existing pump capacity by building additional storage around the city utilizing parks, vacant land, and innovative streetscaping to create temporary storage to hold rain during those big events while the pumps catch up.  This approach, combined with efficiencies to the pump system to get the most capacity of the pumps and reliably provide power to the system, as well as our ongoing effort to keep litter out of the drainage system, is our immediate priority to get the most out of the existing system.
 

The $141M HUD-funded Gentilly Resilience District (GRD) is a combination of efforts across the Gentilly neighborhood that are designed to reduce flood risk, slow land subsidence, improve energy reliability and encourage neighborhood revitalization.  Visit www.nola.gov/resilience for more information.

The following projects and programs currently comprise the Gentilly Resilience District:

Mirabeau Water Garden, Pontilly Neighborhood Stormwater Network, Blue & Green Corridors, St. Bernard Neighborhood Campus, Milne Playground Resilience Project, St. Anthony Green Streets, Dillard Wetlands, Community Adaptation Program, Workforce Development, and Public Art Placemaking.

There have been delays with moving GRD projects into construction, largely due to getting HUD approval for the de-bundling, which essentially means breaking down bigger projects into lower bonding thresholds to make them more accessible to small businesses. Construction is anticipated to begin on all GRD projects in 2021. 

The Dillard Wetlands project site is a 27-acre dense woodland tucked along the western edge of the London Avenue Canal. It borders the former Gregory Junior High School / Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) site and is across the canal from the historic Dillard University campus. 

 The project is being designed in collaboration with the community to develop a comprehensive program with the following core goals and benefits:

• Stormwater Management - mitigate flooding and improve water quality 
• Support biodiversity and ecosystem restoration 
• Create a community space with varied educational / recreational / social opportunities

Mark Your Calendars for Upcoming Dillard Wetlands Events
Visit nola.gov/neoevents for the latest information on or to pre-register for upcoming events.
 

Thursday, June 10th (6-8pm): Who has Access? |  Format: Zoom (Virtual)

• This event aims to share information about the history of segregation in parks and public spaces, while highlighting Indigenous and Maroon history in New Orleans.

Saturday, June 12th (10am-12pm): Remember and Reclaim Event & Installation 

• This effort will be used to address public safety within the project site, and generate ideas for project elements such as signage, lighting, walkways, outdoor classrooms and sacred spaces.
• Tulane Memorial Baptist, 3601 Paris Ave, New Orleans, LA 70122

St. Anthony Green Streets

Thanks to everyone who came out to enjoy the St. Anthony Green Streets and Public Art Projects in the in May.  We welcomed artists Langston Allston, Courtney Egan, Brendon Palmer-Angell and Ashley Pridmore to the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission Gatto Playground to engage in hands-on creative activities for kids and adults alike that spoke to issues such as adaptation and ecology, water and remembrance.

Photographer Jose Cotto also was on hand to take portraits of neighborhood residents for a temporary display at Gatto Playground. Residents learned more about our work on the St. Anthony Green Streets project which will retrofit about 15 residential street blocks and two neighborhood parks with various stormwater management features and the $141M GRD.
Photo Credit: Devin Ball and the Arts Council New Orleans