HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?
25 years
HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?
I started by getting involved with my homeowners association and then in 2021, applying to and graduating from, the New Orleans Civic Leadership Academy.
WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?
I live in Lake Barrington and I absolutely love the beauty, serenity and peacefulness of the lake. I love the family friendly nature of the neighborhood. I love that people move here, and stay for decades here and still come back to this neighborhood. We are under a 30 minute ride to the airport and everything in between.
WHAT SUCCESSES HAVE YOU HAD IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?
I actually consider all of New Orleans East(NOE) my neighborhood. It was my stomping ground when I was in high school at Ursuline Academy. I have been successful in fostering a love and pride of my greater NOE “neighborhood”by spearheading efforts to clean it up and keep it clean. I created the New Orleans East Resident Volunteer Illegal Dumping/Code Enforcement Task Force(a subcommittee of Nee Orleans East Matters Coalition). The goal of the Task Force (TF) is to find and track illegal dumping and code enforcement infractions in our areas. Volunteers are asked to take ownership of several neighborhood blocks, monitor it on a schedule convenient to them and 311 reports that the TF tracks on a spreadsheet. Our TF team, Terrance Neely, Desha Greely and Tricia Mims, have been extraordinarily successful in heightening visibility of outstanding 311 ticket issues and problematic 311 processes by creating and sharing with city council members our data set report extracted from the 311 system. We’ve heightened awareness of tire dumping and partnered with state agency Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality(LDEQ), our councilman’s office and city leadership to get things cleaned up. We have seen success with getting LDEQ involved in the cleanup behind Eastover Subdivison, getting Michoud Blvd cleaned more than once and the tires dumped on the street behind the old Lowes building cleaned up more than once. We have located tire dumping sites and funneled that information to Alex Pavlakis at the Mosquito, Termite and Rodent Control Board to ensure that they are tested and treated until picked up by Sanitation. We’ve been successful in expediting the long overdue clean up of the old St. Simon Peter school site at 7600 Gannon Road. We’ve seen tire clean ups along the I-10 Service Roads, but sadly, illegal dumpers thwart our efforts by finding new spots or re-dumping in old ones. BUT, WE WILL NOT BE DETERRED!! We have already begun to bifurcate our efforts to finding and helping institute stricter preventative measures at both the federal, state and city level to hopefully prevent this once and for all.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON RIGHT NOW IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?
Three major things. First, we’re hoping that a suggested change to the 311 “resolution” email be adopted. Instead of sending an email advising residents that their 311 issue has been resolved, we are advocating that that email instead “ASK” if the issue has been resolved. This will give the power to the resident to confirm and keep contractors accountable. Second, we’re currently focusing heavily on Operation Turn! On! The! Lights! This initiative is just what it says. We want all of the lighting that has been out for years in corridors in the East, turned on. I moved back home in 2019, and there is patchy lighting on the interstate from the base of the high-rise to Bullard Avenue, Crowder exit streetlights, Morrison Road from Read Road to Wright Road and every exit off of 510 into the East is out. And coincidentally, it is an area where some of the most egregious tire dumping is occurring. We have been really really encouraged and are grateful for conversations with both Councilman Thomas’s and Councilman Giarusso’s offices to ensure that the lighting is fixed, hopefully before hurricane season commences in June. Lastly, we’re working with LDEQ and Councilman Thomas’s office to get the tires dumped on Dwyer Road cleaned up.
ANY WORDS OF ADVICE FOR OTHER NEIGHBORHOOD LEADERS AND CHANGE MAKERS?
If you really care, get involved: make inquiries, send emails, build partnerships, shake up the status quo. Don’t assume someone else is out there advocating for the changes you want in your neighborhood. Sometimes “someone” has to be YOU!