It has been nearly one year since we at the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research (CBR) in partnership with the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) first help the Holy Cross/Lower 9th (HC/L9) ward community undertake its sustainability planning for the recovery of the community post-Katrina. Some HC/L9 residents are just coming to understand what sustainable recovery even means. Other residents know its meaning but are still looking for deeper insight into what it means and how this concept can fully envelope their lives in order to live in a way in which they are routinely monitoring how they live in order to truly be sustainable inhabitants of this planet.
 A number of residents have seen and read and been involved in the development of the plan entitled, Sustainable Restoration: Holy Cross District and the Lower 9th Ward. Since this plan’s development (May 2006), the HC/L9 community has gone through two other community-planning processes.
CAPTION: A number of residents have seen and read and been involved in the development of the plan.
The first was one commissioned by the New Orleans City Council and managed by a firm known as Lambert Advisory, LLC. This process ran from June to August 2006. And, the second one called the Unified New Orleans Planning (UNOP) process ran from October 2006 to January 2007. In fact, our local City Planning Commission has just recently begun the review and public comment phase for this process. As a byproduct of the UNOP process, a committee called the Lower 9th Ward Stakeholders was convened to give guidance and closer stakeholder input to the UNOP process for planning District 8 which comprises all of the Lower 9th ward. And, throughout the two latest planning processes, various elements, if not the entire Sustainability Plan, were shared with residents, which allowed for an increased buy-in and support of various sustainability elements. This has caused a number of ideas and terms such as solar panels and compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) to not only be ideas but now realities for a number of our residents.
And now, the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association (HCNA) has a project funded by Mercy Corps called the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development (CSED) located in office space provided by the Greater Little Zion Baptist Church. The purpose of the CSED is help make the concept of sustainability for residents by actually helping to provide energy efficient, sustainable materials to residents for rebuilding their homes. As eluded to previously, there are 10 homes/structures in the Lower 9th ward, which now have solar panel systems, installed on their rooftops thanks to Sharp Solar International with the facilitation of various other local partners (including CBR). And recently, the Historic District Landmark Commission of New Orleans voted unanimously to allow for the development of the first phase of a sustainable development project of Global Green USA in Holy Cross. This first project is the development of 2-story single-family residence located on the corner of Douglass and Andry Streets. This residence will also be part of a larger project known as GreeNola which will include a 12-unit multi-family housing building, six single family homes and a community center. Lastly, numerous academic partners/universities along with the Sierra Club, New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board have stepped forward to the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association to help implement a restoration project for the Bayou Bienvenue ecosystem of the Lower 9th ward. One year after a beginning dialogue for this project, we now have a handful of project partners, a workshop hosted by the some of the same partners, and a tentative work schedule of summer activities for University of Wisconsin students to visit New Orleans to do preliminary work relative to the overall project. What a year it has been for sustainability in the Lower 9th.
It is difficult to believe we are nearing the 2nd year anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, it feels as though we are a little closer to a more sustainable future. The journey though is far from over. But, with every day and month that goes by and with every step forward we take, we come to realize more and more a stronger, more sustainable local community. |
