Presented by Neighborhoods Partnership Network

July 2009

Residents’ guide to the draft ofThe 21st Century Plan for New Orleans

There are three documents that make up The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans:

Volume I Planning Framework, a summary of the contents of the Technical PlanVolume II: The Technical Plan, a very large document filled with important information for public agencies and

residentsVolume III: An Appendix, with additional technical details

There are many elements to each section of the plan, but each of the main sections on How We Live, (Housing and Neighborhoods);

How We Prosper, (Economic Development), Sustainability, (Infrastructure), and the From Plan to Action section, have certain key elements including:

• Goals and Policies • Findings and Challenges • Current Conditions • Strategies for Tomorrow • Implementation

By the end of July, you will be able to read the full draft plan document at public facilities around the city, as well as on line, at www. nolamasterplan.com

1 | The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans

A letter from the Executive Director of the Neighborhoods Partnership Network

Dear New Orleanian,The Neighborhoods Partnership Network is pleased to present this guide and summary of the City’s Draft Master Plan, “The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans.” NPN wants to make sure all New Orleans residents have

an opportunity to view the plan’s contents that they have worked to produce over the past year.

This guide contains a summary of recommenda-tions; a timeline for approving the plan, using it, and

changing it once approved; and a contacts directory to help residents reach out for more information.

New Orleans is a beautiful garment made up of a rich, colorful and tightly woven fabric with a multitude of beautifully diverse threads from uptown to downtown, “back of town,” and “out east.” This is a city in love with its neighborhoods including the Irish Channel, French Quarter and Treme; the waterfront neighborhoods of the Marigny and Bywater; the Lakefront; the deeply traditional neighborhoods of the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th wards; and the vibrant Uptown, Mid-City and newer neighborhoods of New Orleans East, all surrounded by the exceptional natural landscape of our region.

This treasure must be protected not just for us, but also for our future generations. Hurricane Katrina, a catastrophic natural and manmade event, was a galvanizing moment in the city’s history when our residents, workers, businesses and institutions proved they have the will and determination to take charge of the city’s destiny and protect this beautiful garment.

When our governments were reeling from the myriad implications of the devastation, our residents gathered in vacant parking lots surrounded by destruction and told the world they would bring their neighborhoods back. And bring them back they did. They built and opened resource, community and cultural centers, schools, libraries, health centers, and theaters. They wrote neighborhood master plans, launched new security districts and ad-vised their residents how to build sustainably. They opened farmers markets, herb farms, and school yard vegetable gardens. They attended endless informational, planning, City Planning Commission and City Council meetings, brought information back to their members, and brought direction from their members and neighbors back to the planners and public officials.

Empowered neighborhood leaders and residents throughout the city now know they can, in fact, change the destiny of not only their neighborhoods, but also the entire city. They have also come to realize their jobs have only just begun. Much of the city has been brought back, or I should say forward. We have also become more aware of what kind of city we can and should be, and what it will take to achieve it.

The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans, summarized in this guide, contains the vision, detailed projects, and action items that thousands of citizens have described during numerous meetings held throughout the city over the past year, and in individual contacts through meetings, phone conversations, and emails. It also contains issues and ideas culled from the recovery-oriented planning efforts that preceded the master planning, held since Katrina: the “Bring New Orleans Back” plan; the “Neighborhoods Rebuild-ing Plan” for “wet” neighborhoods; and the Unified New Orleans Plan.

The plan is mandated by the City’s Charter, and provides the tools neighbor-hoods will need to continue working toward the vision of our city and neigh-borhoods we have defined in these years since Katrina. The ideas in this plan are not blue-sky. You will not have trouble recognizing our city in the plan. It reflects the city we love and want to make better. In this guide we have tried to make sure you can see, at a glance, much of the plan. You can then dig deeper into the plan’s documents that will be available at nolamasterplan.com, and in public locations around the city at the end of the month.

This guide also contains a timeline to show you exactly how the plan was prepared, will be approved, and can be changed after it is approved. Importantly, the master plan will become a guide for decision-making by city government, but is also calls for the continued and expanded involvement of residents in changing it as time goes on.

The plan also serves as the foundation for the revised Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, the document that guides the lot-by-lot, house-by-house, street-by-street zoning that ultimately shapes what our neighborhoods look like. Work on the CZO has been going on during the work on the master plan, but it will continue for many months.

We hope this guide helps you, your family, friends and neighbors to learn what the plan contains, how to use it, and how to reach your goals for your own homes, neighborhoods and the city as a whole. We want you to know too that the Neighborhoods Partnership Network has been, and will continue to work with you, your neighborhood leaders and civic organizations. We welcome your continued involvement with us, and urge you to sign up for our newsletters and notices of our forums that we will be holding to help you put your ideas to work. Please feel free to contact me and other NPN staff at (504) 940-2207 or timolynn@npnnola.com

Finally, thank you for all your work for our city.

Sincerely,

Timolynn SamsExecutive Director, Neighborhoods Partnership Network

How to Read The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans

Why The Plan? Why Now?The people of New Orleans tell stories of family, religion, music, history, art, and the city’s river delta setting. They share a cultural memory that blends legacies from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America and other parts of the

world. This remarkable city and its people have defied wars, booms, busts, and floods,

and are now well on the way to recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The

purpose of The Plan is to carry New Orleans’ stories into the future.

Moving forward requires recognizing that the years of economic stagna-tion following the 1980s oil and gas bust led many New Orleanians to lose confidence. Many saw the city as a place with a golden past it could never hope to recapture. Competition over a shrinking economic pie eroded a sense of shared destiny.

Yet with effective government, a new era of partnerships, and the shared political will to make tough decisions, New Orleans is poised over the next 20 years for a transformation that brings new economic growth, opportunity, and innovation into a city that continues to honor its roots. The city will achieve the promise of this vision, adding to its story in real and visible ways.

How will this happen?Hurricane Katrina could have broken the city’s spirit, but it did just the reverse. In houses of worship, at dinner tables, and in the aisles of grocery stores in Houston, Memphis and Atlanta, New Orleanians told their Katrina stories to each other—often strangers—who in turn shared, listened, and were moved. As people found common threads in their stories, they returned and wove them together, finding the collective will to write a remarkable new chapter together: The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans contains their voices, hopes and determination. It sets the stage for the stories to come.

The City Planning Commission (CPC) and Mayor Ray Nagin insisted that every aspect of The Plan—starting with its vision—be based on a new round of vigorous public participation, building on the intensive neighbor-hood based planning that developed after Hurricane Katrina. The community responded, and a process that began with widespread fears of “planning fatigue” ended with a level of community engagement far beyond levels of master plan participation seen in other cities. To a surprising degree, a process that began with sharp debate about issues of deep concern—Should the city’s footprint shrink? Did New Orleans have too much or too little affordable housing? Was “uptown” or “downtown” controlling the process?—ended in broad agreement. Roughly 5,000 people who participated identified priorities that should shape the values, policies, and strategies that guide their city’s future.

The Plan, now in draft form, matches these priorities, combining respect and love for New Orleans’s past with hope for a proud future. Here are some of the key principles on which residents reached agreement:

•Preserve and restore all of the city’s neighborhoods—whether wet or dry, historic or contemporary, rich or poor—with determined steps to reverse the blight and vacancy that began in the 1980s and spread across the city after Hurricane Katrina. •Rewrite housing policies to serve the entire community and support local commercial districts. •Redevelop underutilized “opportunity” sites and corridors as 21st-century neighborhoods that honor and build on the city’s rich traditions. •Celebrate and encourage the city’s rich and diverse culture. •Match preservation of the city’s proud heritage with economic and technological innovation. •Build a new diverse economy that will grow in the 21st century and create an era of economic opportunity not seen since the 1960s. •Insure that everyone gains the skills and education to benefit from

expanded economic opportunity. •Make New Orleans one of America’s most sustainable cities, recognized for innovative approaches to protecting the city from

heavy rains and storms. •Improve transit, parks, worn-out streets and utilities, and other elements that will make the city more livable and competitive. • Build on innovations in green building, environmentally sustain-

able living, and planning for climate change to establish New Orleans as a national leader in environmental quality.

• Launch an era of effective and efficient government. Foster trans-parency and informed leadership to help New Orleans finish recovery and move into a century of renewed promise.

• Foster new partnerships with all facets of the community to facilitate the work of government, working together to achieve renewed promise.

• Translate all of these qualities into a state-of-the-art comprehensive zoning ordinance (CZO) that captures New Orleans’s commit-ment to preserving its heritage and achieving the opportunities

of a new century.

What is The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans?The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans is the official name of the citywide master plan for New Orleans––a road map for the city’s growth over the next 20 years. The Plan, presently in draft form, incorporates lessons from best practices all over the world to support the expressed goals of New Orleans residents. The Plan provides a path to move the city forward into a new era of livability, opportunity and sustainability.

Summary continued on page 3

The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans | 2Summary

The 21st Century Plan for New OrleansA Summary of its Contents

Who created it? You did. The draft plan is the result of a year of intensive public participation at citywide and neighborhood meetings, numerous smaller meetings, and further communications between citizens, planners, city officials and City Planning Commission members. Residents addressed the city’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina and the levee and flood wall breaches as well as long-term growth. The planning effort also incorporated the results of previous recovery oriented planning forums presented by the Louisiana Disaster Relief Foundation, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation. The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans will, when approved, have the force of law. What does that mean? This past November, voters approved an amendment to the city charter stating that any actions pertaining to zoning, development or government-funded improvement projects must be consistent with the goals and poli-cies of The Plan. The charter amendment also requires the city to create a system for effective neighborhood participation in government, meaning that once that Plan is approved, neighborhoods will have an official voice in city government. The Plan is currently in draft form, meaning that right now, there is no final document with the force of law. Once it is approved by the city council, it will have the force of law. The charter amendment requires that the city provide funding for preparing, reviewing and updating the master plan, which can be reviewed and amended annually with citizen participation. How does The Plan get approved? The current draft form of The Plan will be considered by the City Planning Commission. After public hearings with input from citizens, the City Plan-ning Commission (CPC) will submit the draft to the City Council, which will also host public hearings to gather citizen input. Once approved by the Council, The Plan will have the force of law and will guide city policy and land use decisions. The Plan can be amended in the future as needed with public input. How to use this guide: This document summarizes the policies in The Plan, which is divided into four main sections, corresponding to The Plan’s guiding principles, livability, opportunity and sustainability with an action plan. Also included is a timeline for the completion of The 21st Century Plan and a list of action opportunities for residents to stay involved. The full draft of the plan will soon be posted at nolamasterplan.com

The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans: A SUMMARY AND GUIDE I. How We Live (Livability) The overall goal is to create strong, safe neighborhoods that retain their distinctive character, provide quality housing for all kinds of families, put a park in walking distance of every resident, provide retail and services nearby, and make a civic center of schools, health care, libraries, cultural and community centers accessible from every neighborhood, all supported by economic opportunities and transportation. A planner from the CPC will be assigned to each of the Planning Districts to act as a liaison with neigh-borhoods, businesses and institutions. A. Neighborhoods and Housing Goal: Enhance the character and livability of every neighborhoodStrategies: •Preserve the overall character of existing residential areas •Cluster higher-density new development near transit stops and on

major roads •Ensure that design and scale of multi-family housing is sensitive to the neighborhood context •Tailor zoning to the existing or desired character of the neighborhood •Promote neighborhood commercial, civic, cultural centers that are

pedestrian and bike-friendly •Enforce codes against nuisance businesses and residential properties

where crimes are repeatedly committed Goal: Eliminate blight and accelerate redevelopment Strategies: • Create a comprehensive, high-priority program to coordinate all

the agencies and all the tools needed to eliminate blight, includ-ing Code Enforcement, the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, Safety and Permits, and others, to apply the best approach to each case

•Develop neighborhood-level plans in which residents prioritize code enforcement and needed public improvements tailored to their specific area and help prepare redevelopment guidelines

•Prepare guidelines to make sure that redevelopment achieves community goals and fits into the neighborhood

•Encourage innovative land assembly for faster redevelopment while maintaining standards

•Seek additional funding to supplement Road Home dollars, par-ticularly in neighborhoods where Road Home dollars did not cover the costs of rebuilding

•Create neighborhood-based community land trusts to hold and maintain land and plan for redevelopment

•Accelerate redevelopment of wet neighborhoods through programs that enable residents to return a block at a time rather than a house at a time

Goal: Reinvent the city’s housing policy Strategies: •Create a permanent Housing Policy Working Group to monitor the city’s changing housing market and recommend city plans

and investments to build neighborhoods and meet the needs of households of all income levels. The working group should in-clude members of city agencies, housing advocates, for-profit and non-profit developers, bankers, realtors, researchers and neigh-borhood residents. It should sponsor annual public meetings, and communicate city housing policies and needs to state and federal housing agencies

•Tailor programs to rehabilitate and create new housing appropriate to each neighborhood, including for sale and rental housing

3 | The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans

Summary

Goal: Enhance access to retail and public services Strategies: •Encourage corner and neighborhood stores where desired by residents •Conduct a grocery store market study to recruit stores to under-

served areas • Civic and cultural venues should be encouraged as anchors in

neighborhood commercial districts

B. Historic Preservation

Goal: Broaden the appeal and value of preservation to more people Strategies: •Include cultural preservation as part of the historic preservation

mission •Develop a community-based preservation plan to identify historic

values worthy of preservation in diverse neighborhoods •Identify criteria and priorities to rank properties for historical significance •Prepare illustrated, easy-to-understand design guidelines for owners of historic buildings •Respect the scale and character of historic neighborhoods •Expand visitor experiences with “heritage and cultural tourism

programs” in neighborhoods throughout the city Goal: Make historic preservation more affordable Strategies: •Create a one-stop shop for owners to find out about options •Encourage retailers of building materials to discount appropriate

products used in historic renovations •Provide renovation assistance for homeowners, including low-income homeowners

Goal: Revitalize and sustain the city’s preservation tradesStrategies: •Develop job training programs in the building arts •Expand partnerships with preservation advocates and community groups Goal: Apply historic preservation sensibilities to land use and zoning principlesStrategies: •Preserve the good characteristics of existing residential and commercial areas

C. Green Infrastructure: Open Space, Parks and Recreation Goal: Create a green network of open space Strategies: •Protect wetlands •Implement a 50% tree canopy by 2030, focusing first on major

corridors and neutral grounds •Secure and expand community gardens, orchards and schoolyard

garden programs •Create linear parks and greenways, as well as tree-lined

streets; build the proposed Lafitte Greenway and bike trail •Introduce recreation uses into “blueways” or canals for water

management

Goal: A park within walking distance of every resident Strategies: •No net loss of park land •Open more parks in underserved areas and in high-priority areas

for all residents, such as waterfronts •Evaluate vacant public properties for use as parks or play spots •Indoor/outdoor recreation centers within five miles of every resident

Goal: Improve coordination and management of park and recreation agencies Strategies: •Create an inter-agency parks and recreation coordinating group •Merge existing departments into a single reorganized Parks and

Recreation Department •Develop systems for community input into programs and park and

facility planning and design

D. Health and Human Services Goal: Improve public health and human services delivery Strategies: •Encourage multi-service centers for health and human services in neighborhoods, ideally in community centers or other publicly

accessible facilities •Create a Citywide Health Care Consortium •Involve the community in the development of new health and human service facilities •Expand child care and after-school programs •Coordinate city policies and services to promote exercise and

healthy diets

Goal: Promote community-based safety and crime prevention programs Strategies: •Expand community policing and programs such as Crime Watch

and Neighborhood Night Out •Expand innovative crime-prevention programs such as alternative

sentencing, life-skill training and workforce re-entry programs •Work with neighborhoods to identify crime-related blight and call

in enforcement Summary continued on page 7

The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans | 4Summary

Timeline: The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans and You

July ‘08–Mar. ‘09

Thousands of residents participate in more than 40 public meetings. Thousands of

residents review and comment on 1st Draft Plan

Residents & civic organizations review 2nd Draft Plan

Public comments at hearings

Mar.–June ‘09

July–Aug. ‘09Sept. ‘09

1st Draft Plan submitted to City

Planning Commission and public

2nd Draft Plan submitted to

CPC and public

CPC reviews Plan; holds

public hearings

CPC submits Final Draft Plan

to City Council. Council reviews Plan

at public hearings Planning team reviews previous plans; listens to resident input;

prepares 1st Draft Plan

5 | The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans

Timeline: The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans and You

Public comments at hearings

Public comments at hearings

Residents, businesses, and institutions add voices as Zoning Ordinance is prepared

Oct. ‘09

Oct.–Nov. ‘09

Nov. ‘09–

Residents participate in project and neighborhood planning. Implementation teams work with planners.Plan is amended periodically with resident engagement.

CPC submits Final Draft Plan

to City Council. Council reviews Plan

at public hearings

City Council votes to approve final

21st Century Plan; Work on Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance

(CZO) moves forward based on The Plan.

CPC, Council, and City Agencies use Plan to guide planning

decisions and funding allocations

KeyRole of Residents

Role of City Planning Commission and Master Planning Team (CPC)

Role of City PlanningCommission, City Council,and City Government

The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans | 6

II. How We Prosper (Opportunity). The Plan envisions a 21st-century economy for the city, combining its established industries with new opportunities in life sciences, the creative sector and new media, alternative energy, green building and coastal restoration technology. This can be accomplished through better education, expanded job training and workforce development programs, consistent implementation of economic development strategies.

A. Sustaining and Expanding the Economy Goal: Strengthen and streamline economic development efforts Strategies: •Support the newly-formed economic development public-private

partnership (PPP)—the New Orleans Economic Development Council to build a strategic coalition of businesses, government, organizations and citizens for economic development

Goal: Maintain and expand established industries Strategies: •Tourism - Expand the tourism marketing budget and invest in new

attractions such as the downtown performing arts district; heritage museums; walking tours; and improved transit to deliver tourists to cultural resources in more parts of the city

•Maritime industries - Improve coordination between the Port Authority, city agencies and economic development organizations; increase manufacturing and distribution on port-owned industrial land

•Oil and gas - Support the retention of energy firms and alternative energy start-ups by asking them to identify their concerns and taking steps to address them

•Cultural industries - Support more cultural entrepreneurship training and marketing; advocate for income tax credits for artists; support neighborhood level cultural venues and programs

•Advanced manufacturing - Advocate for continued NASA commit-ment to the Michoud facility and recruit other NASA subcontractor businesses; improve workforce development through increased trade learning programs

Goal: Foster emerging industries Strategies: •Life sciences - Secure full funding for the LSU medical center and

the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium joint research center; develop land use and design principles for the Medical District; ensure that Charity Hospital is preserved and reused in some way; coordinate infrastructure needs among Medical District stakeholders; promote partnership research institutions and technology transfer

•Coastal protection and restoration - Encourage research institu-tions to take on more related projects; prepare the workforce to fill these imminent job openings at all skill levels; support local firms in exporting coastal protection/restoration services, products and technology worldwide

•Alternative energy - Encourage the creation of research and pro-duction facilities for hydrokinetic, solar, bio-fuel, and wind energy with incentives; train workers for green energy jobs; develop infra-structure to export alternative energy outside the region

•Green building - Provide incentives and training for construction companies to adopt sustainable building methods; market New Orleans as a center of green building; capitalize on energy-effi-cient construction through the emerging carbon-credit market

•Film/video, digital media and other creative industries - Attract new talent through marketing, incentives and networking; develop production and post-production facilities to support film/TV/music production; provide start-up assistance for entrepreneurs, particu-larly for digital media; expand education and workforce programs to meet the needs of these industries.

B. Building equity through Education, Job Training and Entrepreneurial Resources Goal: Create a well-educated and skilled workforce Strategies: •Advocate for increased funding for local universities and colleges •Collaborate with higher education to identify research needs

among key industries •Increase efforts to attract and retain young professionals •Establish an early-college-education program in high schools •Expand sites and education programs for adult workforce training

at Delgado Community College •Expand number of adult education and career centers •Expand workforce retraining programs for mid-career workers

and workforce re-entry programs for ex-offenders Goal: Foster an entrepreneurial culture Strategies: •Build infrastructure for technology-based enterprises •Identify needs and sources of venture capital funding in the region •Make commercial space available for start-up ventures Goal: Nurture downtown and vibrant small businesses Strategies: •A 24-hour downtown will support its role as an economic driver •Coordinate small business assistance services •Streamline permitting and regulatory processes for businesses •Improve access to public contracting opportunities for small and

minority-owned businesses

III. Sustainable Systems. Going forward, New Orleans will grow with social and environmental responsibility in mind. The city will

encourage energy- and resource- efficiency of all kinds, and will become a global center of knowledge about flood protection.

7 | The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans

Summary

A. Community Facilities, Services and Infrastructure Goal: Enhance public safety Strategies: •All public safety facilities should be state-of-the-art, with integrated

services and designed to withstand 1-in-500-year storms •Expand and enhance community policing efforts •Improve the 311 system with email and Internet access, making it

an effective information source during storm and other emergencies • Focus on programs that rehabilitate offenders and prepare them

for re-entry into society

Goal: Cluster public facilities as neighborhood anchors Strategies: • A library system that functions as a center of learning and a center of community • Renovate and rebuild public schools and locate schools close to other city services, such as health care and job training • Include community groups in planning of these clusters Goal: Rebuild water, sewer and drainage systems Strategies: •Build a resilient and efficient water system with improved efficien-

cy and reduced water leakage while preserving public health •Seek Innovative water management solutions, such as wetlands

restoration and natural stormwater retention •Build natural drainage systems such as swales, rain gardens, and

pervious pavement to manage storm water, provide infiltration and reduce subsidence

B. Transportation Goal: Fix streets and bridges Strategies: •Repave and rebuild all damaged streets and bridges •Identify and prioritize road and bridge improvements •Establish a pavement-management program to monitor need for repairs •Secure grant funding to explore the feasibility of removing the

I-10 Claiborne Expressway and replacing it with a multi-purpose, tree-lined boulevard

•Hire a transportation planner for the CPC to focus on coordinating transportation and land use

Goal: Provide transportation “choice” Strategies: •Expand streetcar lines and new Bus Rapid Transit service between

downtown and New Orleans East and the West Bank •Institute a “complete streets” policy to provide for pedestrians and bicycles as well as motor vehicles •Encourage greater density near transit hubs to support better

transit service

Goal: Enhance inter-city transportation Strategies: •Improvements at Louis Armstrong Airport •Support light rail service to the airport and Baton Rouge and high speed rail along the Gulf Coast •Integrate main arteries of traffic into evacuation plans

C. Resilience - Living with Water and Natural Hazards Goal: Manage storm and flood risk through a multiple lines of defense approachStrategies: • Promote a community dialogue about storm probabilities, risk,

protection and mitigation options •Integrate strategies including structural levee and floodgate

improvements with coastal wetlands restoration, limits on further development in wetland areas, the creation of water-retention areas throughout the city and elevation of structures to reach a minimum of a 1-in-500-year standard

• Build a strong city agency, such as an expanded Office of Environmental Affairs, to lead city efforts and collaboration on creating a resilient city •Use natural drainage methods to improve stormwater management

and reduce subsidence •Identify funding for low and moderate-income residents to elevate their homes •Explore the potential for a canal system that would provide flood

protection, parkland and recreational uses

Summary continued on page 9

The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans | 8Summary

Equity means fairness, equal opportunity, and treating everyone with respect and dignity. It is a concept of fundamental importance to every New Orleanian regardless of background, economic or social standing, or other kind of difference.

Equity is also central to economic competitiveness. The City Charter says that New Orleans does not tolerate discrimination and a city that is both fair and fully competitive for jobs and investment denies no one their basic rights and opportunities because of race, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or disabil-ity. New Orleans faces a long-term shortage of skilled and educated workers. Regions that fail to actively train people for a diversified economy and emerging industries are at a competitive disadvantage. Without equity in city policies, the community-wide consensus needed to realize the goals of The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans becomes much more difficult.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has gone through a period of rapid change, including a sharp decline in professionals, municipal employees and public school teachers that dramatically reduced the city’s African-American middle class. Equity is about addressing such a development, and helping every-one find their place in a changing economy. Addressing equity does not mean preserving jobs no longer required; it means making sure that the hard-working people who held those jobs are helped to take advantage of new opportunities. In the process, New Orleans will be better able to protect one of its strongest assets—educated residents who can help the city’s economy diversify.

Equity is about economic development, but also land use and environmental practices, education, health, and cultural development. Here are some key equity related recommendations found throughout The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans:

Employment: Enhancing Workforce DevelopmentAn educated and skilled workforce is the bedrock of economic competitiveness and directly correlates to residents’ earning power. The Plan outlines strategies for offering more opportunities for lifelong education and career development to people of all education and skill levels, including:

• Providing training that focuses on long-term “ladders of opportunity” for entry-level workers. • Strengthening career preparation programs in the K-12 school system. • Providing retraining programs for experienced workers in transition. • Building partnerships with private-sector industries to provide internship

and apprenticeship programs and job-recruitment for high school and college students.

• Focusing workforce-development initiatives on emerging industries with high earnings potential, such as health care, life sciences, and media and other creative production, construction, renewable-energy technology, and coastal restoration.

• Opening more sites for adult technical education. • Providing comprehensive rehabilitation and job-readiness training to

help at-risk populations enter or re-enter the workforce.

Entrepreneurship: Creating an Environment Friendly to Small BusinessSmall, locally-owned and minority-owned businesses represent a significant source of job creation and can play an important role in revitalizing neighborhood business districts.

• Help locally owned small and minority businesses compete for contracts. • Encourage joint ventures and partnerships with larger businesses. • Make DBE/WBE/MBE programs more accessible across public agencies.

D. Environmental Quality Goal: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote green practices throughout the city Strategies: •Encourage smart-growth development patterns with walkable,

mixed-use communities; compact development; and multiple transportation choices

•Construct municipal buildings that conform to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) or similar green-building standards

•Transition the city’s fleet of vehicles to hybrid models Install low-energy LED lights as street lighting is replaced •Identify additional funding to implement the Energy Smart New

Orleans program to make home and businesses energy-efficient over the next 15 years

•Implement the city’s GreeNola environmental plan •Develop a climate change plan to ensure adaptation to climate

change consequences, such as rising sea levels

Goal: Support local food systems Strategies: •Support urban agriculture, with appropriate controls and incen-

tives, in the city’s regulations •Promote gardening as an interim or permanent use on vacant or

adjudicated properties.

Conclusion: Getting StartedNew Orleans is still in the midst of recovery from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as this is being written. This is not at all surprising—experience has shown that it takes an average of 10 years for cities to recover from catastrophes. This is a master plan to take New Orleans through the recovery period and into a new future.

Can all this really happen?Yes. The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans is not a prediction. It’s a plan. There are big decisions to be made and hard work to be done, but The Plan represents the common ground New Orleanians can reach together. They already have. If there’s one thing that has emerged from countless meetings representing every neighborhood, income bracket and lifestyle in the city, it’s that New Orleanians want their city to progress and move forward, changing for the better while retaining its timeless allure.

9 | The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans

Summary

A summary of Equity Recommendations Found Throughout The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans: Equity is the Underpinning of Consensus

Dear Residents,

The City Planning Commission of New Orleans has been working with thousands of citizens over the past year to formulate a long-term plan for the city’s development as a sustainable and livable city that provides opportunities for all New Orleanians.

The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans is a planning tool that emphasizes the big development picture. The Plan will be used by property owners, resident and business organizations to identify proposed land uses and street improvement projects. Developers and investors will use The Plan to identify locations and allowable density for development. Other agencies including the school districts, local government and utility companies will also be able to use The Plan to help them forecast future service needs. Surrounding municipalities will use The Plan in evaluating the appropriateness and compatibility of their own master plans for proposed land uses.

Participation in development of this Plan has greatly exceeded City Planning’s expectations. Residents have attended community-based meetings on the Plan throughout the city, adding their personal contributions to the planning process. The City Planning Commission is grateful for these efforts. Even as we thank you for helping to prepare this Plan, we must urge you to stay involved as we proceed with the next steps on our timeline. Public input is critical to all of the approval stages with City Planning public hearings and City Council review scheduled in the upcoming months.

Even after the Council’s approval, the public’s voice remains important during the Plan’s implementation and in the development of a brand new Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance that will translate the vision and recom-mendations of the Plan into detailed zoning recommendations for every parcel in the city. Finally, the Plan itself will get public scrutiny on a yearly basis, to make sure it continues to reflect our hopes and ambitions for our city.

These years since the storm have been a learning process for all of us. One of the things the City Planning Commission has learned is how willing our citizenry is to help with rebuilding our neighborhoods, not only from the ravages of the storm, but from economic decline, blight and apathy. The City Planning Commission and Mayor Ray Nagin thank you for your resilience. We encourage you to stay involved in the planning of our city’s future.

Sincerely,

Yolanda W. RodriguezExecutive Director,New Orleans City Planning Commission

Creating a Business-Friendly Culture within City GovernmentA streamlined, business-friendly culture within city government is essential to economic development at every level to raise confidence in both residents and potential investors from outside New Orleans. The Plan includes steps to:

• Ensure transparency by making city information readily available and user-friendly.

• Make government procurement processes fair, transparent, and fully competitive.

• Promote entrepreneurship and a business-friendly environment by streamlining licensing and permitting; creating a one-stop shop to improve effectiveness of small-business assistance; developing a business retention and expansion program; establishing and supporting the public-private partnership for economic development.

• Provide effective services and maintenance of City facilities and infrastructure and better distribute the tax burden; providing basic public services such as roads, utilities and technology on which businesses depend.

Rebuilding: Making Strategic Investment in Neighborhoods According to Condition and Need New Orleans should address disparities among neighborhoods by ensuring that all receive public investment in facilities and infrastructure. Hurricane Katrina intensified the disparity between neighborhoods. The city remains committed to the concept that every resident and every part of New Orleans should participate in recovery and growth.

• Revitalization neighborhoods faced significant blight before Katrina and then confronted storm-related damage. These areas need new ways to assemble land to encourage redevelopment at a block at a time rather than house by house. They also need restoration of retail, services, public facilities, health care and help in closing gaps in Road Home funding that has slowed neighborhood restoration.

• Recovery neighborhoods had few vacancies, stable housing markets, and active neighborhood groups before Katrina but are still working toward recovery. These neighborhoods primarily need more targeted approaches to storm-related blight such as liens based on health and safety hazards. These neighborhoods also need help rebuilding infra-structure and closing Road Home funding gaps.

• Stable neighborhoods are currently well-occupied and sought after but still require vigilance to maintain stability. These neighborhoods need effective code enforcement to fight Pockets of blight, better main-tenance of infrastructure and good service delivery.

• All neighborhoods need aggressive enforcement against crime and nuisance

businesses.

Cultural: Support the Creative Contributions of Every Member of the New Orleans CommunityReduced federal help and increased demands on public education budgets across the U.S. contributed to lost access for arts programs in New Orleans even as demand for creative products and jobs have grown worldwide. Minneapolis/St. Paul and other cities use the arts to keep at-risk youth in school and move people into the workforce. The creative sector is the second largest employer in the Louisiana, and the fastest growing. Making sure creative individuals have educational and business training, and presenting and marketing programs is essential to the region’s benefiting from the opportunities of the growth of this economic sector. The city’s cultural practitioners and other cities point the way:

• Boost neighborhood based cultural programs through cultural grants such as those San Francisco provides artists for neighborhood projects

• Pursue funding for programs to help artists and other creatives start small businesses ranging from furniture-making to music performance, catering, and event planning.

• Create a New Orleans Cultural Commission within city government that could collaborate with nonprofits, schools and other partners such as the National Park Service, Arts Council of New Orleans, and the preservationists to grow the creative sector. The commission could promote the unique cultural richness of neighborhoods to attract high-value heritage tourism; market creative products produced in New Or-leans for export including music, visual, architectural, design, theatrical, film, video and digital media, written works and crafts; and work with the schools to provide students creative and business training.

Environmental: Promote Environmental EquityThe City must promote fair treatment and access to opportunity for every New Orleans neighborhood:

• Beautify the city through water management and parks, creating a network of water features, rain gardens and parks designed to relieve flooding in low-lying neighborhoods—and enhance their appearance at other times.

• Protect neighborhoods from pollution of industrial uses. Control noise, soil or water contamination, trash, light spill, and related health, and safety. Where necessary, help businesses find more appropriate loca-tions. Identify innovative solutions to solid-waste disposal and similar uses to preserve and enhance the city’s environmental quality.

The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans | 10

City Planning Commission Board

Lester V. JohnsonChairman Lynes R. SlossVice Chairman Dr. George Amedee Kelly Brown Sandra S. Duckworth Lois Carlos-Lawrence Edward J. Robinson. Sr. Louis J. Volz III Joseph Williams City Planning Commission Staff Yolanda RodriguezExecutive DirectorCity Planning Commission(504) 658-7033ywrodriguez@cityofno.com Leslie AlleyAssistant DirectorCity Planning Commission (504) 658-7033ltalley@cityofno.com Paul CramerAssistant Planning AdministratorCity Planning Commission(504) 658-7033pcramer@cityofno.com

Planning Consultant Team Core Planning Team David DixonGoody Clancy & Associates, Inc.(617) 262-2760david.dixon@goodyclancy.com Ray ManningManning Architects(504) 412-2000wmanning@manningarchitects.com Rafe RabalaisGCR & Associates, Inc.(504) 304-0789rrabalais@gcrconsulting.com Les PollockCamiros, Ltd.(312) 922-9211 ext. 225lpollock@camiros.com Communications Bill RouselleBright Moments(504) 592-1800billr@brightmomentsnola.com Jeanne NathanCreative Industry(504) 218-4807nathan@creativeindustryusa.com Other Team Members Villavaso & Associates Mt. Auburn Associates Julien Engineering & Consulting Concordia Architecture & Planning Perez, APC Tulane University Institute of Water Resources Law & Policy Zimmerman/Volk & Associates W-ZHA, LLC EJP Consulting Group, LLC Fernandez Plans, LLCKittleson & Associates, Inc.

Neighborhoods Participation Network Timolynn SamsExecutive Director(504) 940-2207timolynn@npnnola.com City Officials Hon. Ray NaginMayor of New Orleans(504) 658-4900 Hon. Arnie FielkowCity Council, President(504) 658-1060afelikow@cityofno.com Hon. Jacquelyn Brechtel ClarksonCity Council, Vice President(504) 658-1070jbclarkson@cityofno.com Hon. James CarterCity Council, District C(504) 658-1030jcarter@cityofno.com

Hon. Stacy S. HeadCity Council, District B(504) 658-1020shead@cityofno.com Hon. Cynthia Hedge-MorrellCity Council, District D(504) 658-1040chmorrell@cityofno.com

Hon. Shelley MiduraCity Council, District A(504) 658-1010smidura@cityofno.com

Hon. Cynthia Willard-LewisCity Council District E(504) 658-1050cwlewis@cityofno.com Dr. Brenda HatfieldChief Administrative Officer(504) 658-8900bhatfield@cityofno.com Cynthia Sylvain-LearDeputy Chief Administrative Officer(504) 658-8600cslear@cityofno.com

Penya Moses-FieldsCity Attorney(504) 658-9910pmfields@cityofno.com Austin PennyExecutive DirectorOffice of Recovery and Development Administration(504) 658-4200apenny@cityofno.com Edward HoranZoning Administrator(504) 658-7125ehoran@cityofno.com Paul MayDirectorDepartment of Safety and Permits(504) 658-7100pmay@cityofno.com Robert MendozaDirectorDepartment of Public Works(504) 658-8000rmendoza@cityofno.com Ann E. MacdonaldDirectorParks and Parkways Department(504) 658-3200amacdonald@cityofno.com Dr. Kevin StephensDirectorDepartment of Health(504) 658-2500kstephens@cityofno.com

Richard WinderDirectorDepartment of Human Service(504) 658-3300rwinder@cityofno.com Marcia St. MartinExecutive DirectorSewage and Water Board(504) 529-2837mstmartin@swbno.org Richard MonteilhActing Executive DirectorNew Orleans Redevelopment Authority(504) 658-4400rmonteilh@cityofno.com Emtumisi St. JulienExecutive DirectorFinance Authority of New Orleans(504) 524-5533mstj@financeauthority.org C. Elliot PerkinsDirectorHistoric District Landmarks Commission (HDLC)(504) 658-7040ceperkins@cityofno.com FEMA(800) 621-3362

The 21st Century Plan for New Orleans | 11

Planning Contact List

Publisher: Neighborhoods Partnership Network with donation by Surdna Foundation Editor: Creative Industry