Neighborhood Planning SWOT

The first public United New Orleans Plan meeting for the Garden District was held on September 7, 2006 at the Rink. The purpose of this first meeting was to establish a SWOT analysis, aka, Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats. Below are the points gathered from that meeting. If you have any other suggestions to add to this list, please post a comment by clicking the "Comment" button below, or email GDA Executive Director Shelley Landrieu at gardendistrictno@bellsouth.net

STRENGTHS
➢ Historic architecture, streetscape
➢ Tree canopy, gardens
➢ High elevation
➢ Walkable “European” style neighborhood with positive commercial entities
➢ Security taxing district with private patrol
➢ Proximity to downtown
➢ National Historic District
➢ On Mardi Gras parade route
➢ Strong sense of community, strong neighborhood association
➢ Mixed demographics (families, students, retired people, young professionals, etc.)
➢ Relatively quiet
➢ Public Transportation - Magazine St. bus and St. Charles streetcar access
➢ Affluent homeowners
➢ Network of churches and schools
➢ Mixed housing types (large and small singles, doubles, 4plexes, condos, apts)
➢ Proximity to Hospital and Fire Dept.
➢ Five-star restaurant in heart of neighborhood
➢ Historic cemetery
➢ Walking tours, tourism
➢ Film industry interest in neighborhood
➢ Attractive to national and international luxury home buyers
➢ Good scale and density of buildings
➢ Relatively low crime rate

WEAKNESSES
➢ Above ground utilities – practically and esthetically
➢ Poorly repaired potholes, cracked sidewalks
➢ Limited line of sight at intersections causes dangerous traffic
➢ Too much on-street parking
➢ High speed traffic on major thoroughfares
➢ Low water pressure, old sewer lines, water leaks
➢ Clogged drainage causes street flooding in certain areas
➢ 1xweek garbage pickup
➢ need for stronger voice in City Hall
➢ late bar hours on Magazine Street
➢ no public trash cans (pet droppings everywhere)
➢ not enough street lighting at night
➢ no public mailboxes on the street
➢ surrounded by areas of high crime
➢ loss of 100+ old oak trees
➢ termites
➢ buckmoths
➢ no child-friendly greenspace
➢ “unfair” tax assessments
➢ weak zoning laws
➢ need Local Historic District status
➢ bottle-necking on Washington Avenue
➢ need for cross-walks on Magazine Street
➢ narrow 2-way streets in some areas
➢ damaged street signs and historic street tiles
➢ St. Patricks Day parade route “boxes in” neighborhood
➢ Large delivery trucks (mostly for A&P grocery) knocking historic trees and causing traffic jams

OPPORTUNITIES
➢ Montero Park renovation
➢ Our Lady of Good Council redevelopment
➢ Redevelopment/rezoning of area around Louisiana Ave. and Magazine Street corner
➢ Better City Council representative – Stacy Head
➢ Crosswalks or some more pedestrian friendly solution to Magazine
➢ Cutouts in sidewalks for strollers
➢ Bultman Funeral home property for sale/redevelopment (LA & St. Charles Avenues)
➢ Exxon Station property (LA & St. Charles Avenues)
➢ Political clout for historic district
➢ Local Historic District Designation
➢ Help neighboring areas help themselves, show good example for planning
➢ Community Development Corp (Janet Howard comment)

THREATS
➢ expansion of condo conversions in doubles, 4-plexes, etc. that may not have strong condo associations/condo docs
➢ falling trees
➢ falling power lines
➢ blight and crime in surrounding areas such as Central City
➢ weak zoning enforcement by City Council
➢ uncontrolled commercial influx, overdevelopment of Magazine Street
➢ Walmart traffic
➢ Increase in # of rental units -> parking problem
➢ Demolition by neglect (ex. Josephine & Prytania church)
➢ Potential falling real estate values
➢ Old utilities overloaded
➢ Strength of levees at river???
➢ Too many assessors
➢ Cost of insurance determined by zip code – unfair because some flooding in our zip codes outside of our area
➢ Lack of public psych care in the city – more crime
➢ Losing businesses
➢ Uncontrolled new construction and demolition
➢ Late bar hours on Magazine Street
➢ TIF’s
➢ Moving vans knocking old oak trees

Comments

[L Meyers]

Weakness:
Allowing unqualified contractors to keep repairing our streets and sidewalks poorly!
We want to show off our city and the Garden District is one of the places that the Tourist, the Media, and the Movie industry come to see. We do not want them to come and see sloppy workmenship and think that we ourselves do not care about our city and neighborhood. It is one thing to see a sidewalk that is moved by an old oak tree and in need of some repair and another to see a sidewalk that has been "repaired" by someone who does not care or who does not know how to do a good job AND Still in need of repair. We have Contractors,such as Boh brothers and Landis,who would stand by their work - WHY don't we use them or someone like them?

[Scott P. Howard]

What are the next steps for addressing the weaknesses? My particular hobby horse is the street and sidewalk disrepair in our immediate neighborhood, the blocks around 8th and Camp. It's a wreck, though I imagine a low priority with all the other problems the City faces. That's my question, in a way. What happens to all the routine, yet still important things to improve in the face of so much devastation? Do we get put at the bottom of the list for the next 10 years? Just where does the Garden District stand in the scheme of things?