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What's Up Downtown April 4, 2008  | Block-by-Block Keeps Cans Clean Every week, DDD sanitation contractor Block-by-Block dedicates at least two members of its special projects team to pressure wash DDD trash cans around Downtown. Using mobile, industrial-sized pressure washers, Block-by-Block washes away grime and spills from the cans. They follow-up by removing any graffiti. This past weekend, Block-by-Block teams concentrated on trash cans in the Warehouse Arts District, in particular, those around Camp and St. Joseph Streets. The team didn't stop there. While the cans on Canal Street are normally scheduled to be pressure washed every other night, the special projects team spot-cleaned several this weekend that required immediate attention. |
 | "Streetcar Named Inspire" Is on a Roll! Now is your chance to jump on board the “Streetcar Named Inspire” and enjoy a truly iconic New Orleans work of art. The Young Leadership Council is presenting this public art project both to beautify the cityscape and to raise funds for a public project on Canal Street. YLC announced in March that the Downtown Development District will be the recipient of the proceeds from the sale of the decorative streetcars. The DDD will use the funds to jump-start development of a multi-purpose pavilion at Basin and Canal streets as part of its efforts to revitalize the theatre district. YLC hopes to raise $500,000 from the project as it did in 2000 with the “Festival of Fins,” and thus is reaching out to businesses and individuals to purchase the streetcar replicas, which will be decoratively painted by local artists. For more information or to request a sales kit, visit the YLC Web site at www.youngleadershipcouncil.org. |
 | Magazine Streetscape to Be Upgraded With the current expansion of the World War II Museum, it became apparent to planners that the infrastructure around the area needed some upgrading, so with support from the Regional Planning Commission and City’s Department of Public Works, Magazine Street will be getting a major facelift. The project is being funded by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, with design support by the museum’s designers HNTB of Baton Rouge. One of the most important improvements will be the placement of the current overhead utilities underground. New crosswalks, bump-outs for parking, brick sidewalks, granite curbs and landscaping from St. Joseph Street to Calliope Street will help to improve the pedestrian experience within the growing Museum District. The new streetscape will be complemented in the near future with the DDD-sponsored Museum District Streetscape Project, slated for construction in 2009. The work is scheduled to begin in the fall andis expected to take approximately four months to complete. To see the full-size image of the conceptual streetscape proposal, click here. |
 | City Reminding Motorists:
Red-Light Camera Citations Began April 1 On April 1, the City of New Orleans began issuing citations to red light traffic camera violators at select intersections throughout the city. The citations follow a month-long warning period that also included the testing of the cameras for efficiency. Cameras will operate 24 hours a day and capture images of vehicles running the red-light at the intersections. Warning signs alerting drivers of the cameras were installed prior to the warning period. One Downtown intersection will be monitored by the cameras: Loyola Avenue at Poydras Street, Eastbound. Drivers who receive a violation may log on to www.violationinfo.com to retrieve information on how to pay the fine. |
 | Basin Street Records 10th Anniversary
CD Release Party The event will be held at Le Chat Noir, 715 St. Charles Avenue on Saturday, May 3, 2008. Shows are at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. and will feature Henry Butler and Irvin Mayfield. Tickets are general admission and are $25.Ten percent of the gross proceeds will benefit Desire NOLA. For ticket information email tickets@basinstreetrecords.com. $2 parking is available in the Central Parking lot next door if you pay in the venue and remember your stall number. |
 | Film Work Slated for
Lower Canal Street
Please take note that filming activity will affect lower Canal Street from St. Charles Avenue to Convention Center Boulevard on April 5 and 6. Film work involving the Canal Streetcar Line will require intermittent detours of traffic and pedestrians. Canal Street will not be closed, but extra travel time may be required. Public transportation service, including buses, streetcars, and the Canal Street Ferry will not be disrupted. For more information, citizens may contact the Office of Film and Video at (504) 658-0923. |
 | “Cash” May Be Answer to Homelessness “Cash Rules Everything Around Me”, a solo exhibition at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery by multi-media artist, curator and activist Dan Tague, will provide some much-needed cash to a New Orleans homeless services agency. Thanks to the generosity of the artist, 50 percent of the proceeds from the sale of the limited edition giclees of “Home Is a Tent” will be donated to Unity of Greater New Orleans, a collaborative of 60 agencies working together to end homelessness. Each giclee will sell for $500. “Cash Rules Everything Around Me” is a politically charged exhibition of works addressing issues ranging from politics and religion to homelessness and terror.
The exhibition will be on view through April 19, with an opening reception on Saturday, April 5, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, 400 Julia Street, in the New Orleans Arts District. |
 | Keeping an Eye On Downtown World renowned artist Louise Bourgeois' sculpture "EYEBENCHES IV" was recently installed on the Camp Street side of Lafayette Square across from the federal courts. It will remain on two-year loan to the park as part of the Sculpture for New Orleans exhibition, which will be placing up to 25 monumental sculptures in public spaces around New Orleans. Louise Bourgeois was born in Paris in 1911 but has lived in New York since 1938. She has emerged as a key figure in modern and contemporary art and has produced a singular and extraordinarily diverse body of work that cannot be assigned to any of the major artistic tendencies of the second half of the twentieth century, though partaking in them all. Ms. Bourgeois has just finished a 200 piece major retrospective of her work at the Tate Modern in London. The exhibit is now at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. For further information on Louise Bourgeois go to:
http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/bourgeois/index.html For more information about the installation, please contact Michael Manjarris, Project Director, (361) 441-6527 or info@sculptureforneworleans.org To get involved in the work of the Lafayette Square Conservancy contact Babs Johnson at (504) 899-5284 or lafayettesquare@gmail.com. |
 | Symposium Featured at Ogden A symposium and performance will take place Sunday, April 13, at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, in conjunction with the exhibition "Jose Torres Tama: New Orleans Free People of Color and Their Legacy." This program has been made possible through a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and by the Highlander Research Center. To reserve tickets, call (504)539-9614. |
 | Hornets Back Home in the Arena After an 11-day, six-game road trip in the East, the Hornets are back in the Arena tonight to host the New York Knicks. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m. As the current Western Conference leader, MVP candidate Chris Paul and the rest of the team are looking for two more home victories over the weekend. The Hornets will face the Golden State Warriors this Sunday at the Arena at 12 noon. |
 | Don't Forget ArtWalk This Saturday The first Saturday of every month is DDD-sponsored ArtWalk, a night where art enthusiasts can visit the many galleries in the Warehouse Arts District and view new exhibitions. Come enjoy one of Downtown's most thriving industries, the arts, this Saturday, April 5, at ArtWalk. |
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