"Sharing Dauphine" on the New Yorker.com--and other fact-checking adventures

I make a brief appearance in Dan Baum's New Yorker diary of living in New Orleans. Because it is the New Yorker, there was a lot of fact checking involved. "He says you are neighbors...would you say that is true?" "He says you wear hip glasses." But they didn't really let me change anything that was strictly complementary.

Meanwhile, over at the NOLA.com Forums, there have been a lot of fun rumors floating around. Chiefly, that I don't actually live here, that I live in Holy Cross, and therefore shouldn't have an opinion about anything. There are about five people posting under various names on that board, and they are mad at me, because I blogged about a condo development that is controversial. The main reason for the controversy, aside from the absurd enormity of the project, is that the developer of the project has a strange resistance to discussion of the impact the project will have on the community. She's the kind of person who talks a lot about how much she wants to listen, if you know what I mean. Two weeks ago, she presented the final plan to the Neighborhood Association, but as soon as that info was shared with the public, she insisted it wasn't truthful. A strange tactic. So then she distributed a fact sheet on the project, but avoided mentioning square footage or parking.

Meanwhile, there is stakeholders committee for Riverfront Development. The state has already raised issues of conflict of interest, and there is a real effort to appear to be taking input from the neighborhood. Our representatives include the president of the Neighborhood Association (that makes sense), another board member representing the non-existant Bywater Resdient Association, and yet another representing the Bywater Improvement Association, which also doesn't exist. This last representative of Bywater actually lives uptown on Calhoun. But apparently the representative who is perceived as being the central source of information on our neighborhood is an executive from Aveda Cosmetics, whose only connection to the area is a plan to open a beauty school at the Rice Mills, in a private project being developed by...the guy in charge of Riverfront Development.

Comments

Unknown said…
The Bywater Neighborhood Association (BNA) is planning to vote on the ICINOLA project (213,995 total square feet of condos/retail at Bartholomew and Burgundy) on Tuesday April 17th, 2007.
If you would like them to postpone the vote until you can receive more information on this project, please email BNAVote@gmail.com

Your email will be forwarded to the BNA and a copy will be printed to be presented to the BNA at the beginning of the board meeting.

Suggested text for email (please feel free to add your own comments):
"I have not been presented with enough information regarding the ICINOLA Development to make an informed decision at this point. I request the BNA postpone its vote on Tuesday April 17th, 2007 and offer the community additional opportunities to ask questions and make comments."

If you would like to help post fliers or distribute handbills with the above info, the fliers can be downloaded from:

http://www.esnips.com/web/bnavote

Please note: This is not a pro or anti ICINOLA action, just a request to the board to delay the vote as enough people have said they would appreciate more information. We would also like to request that people include their street in their email (doesn't have to include your street number, just the street itself).

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