Meetings and such

Brief list of events that I probably can't attend but would very much appreciate seeing anyone who can attend do so and write or tweet about:

Tonight: Actually pretty much right now. RTA is holding a community meeting regarding the installation of the Rampart St. Streetcar.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at the Hyatt French Quarter (800 Iberville St.). Topics covered will include the project's schedule, track alignment, the location of stops on the streetcar and designs for shelters.

The RTA has enough money to extend the streetcar from Canal St. down N. Rampart St. and St. Claude Ave. to Elysian Fields Ave. Current plans call for about 1.2 miles of new track to be laid. Previous plans called for streetcar line to run down Elysian Fields between St. Claude and the riverfront, but that portion of the scheme was later abandoned.

Apparently Gambit will have someone there covering it.  Their usual Tweeter Tube is @The_Gambit but they've been trying to push the live tweeting stuff onto @The_GambitLive recently so try both.

Tomorrow: They're going to work on choosing the person they want to hire to monitor the consent decree monitoring of the police department.

The city of New Orleans and the U.S. Department of Justice have agreed on a schedule of meetings to choose a contractor who will monitor the New Orleans Police Department's (NOPD) compliance with its federal consent decree. The first one is Thursday, March 7, at 1 p.m. at the Superdome
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The point of the consent decree is obviously not the hiring of a monitoring firm. But the monitor is, in some ways, the most important piece here. That's not only because the contract — estimated to be worth as much as $10 million over five years — is one of the biggest expenses the city will take on in consent decree implementation.

Next weekend and early the following week: The deathmarch of charrettes (paraphrasing a quote here) continues apace as a pair of public meetings/workshops designed to provide faux "public input" justification for gentrifying Central City and other neighborhoods along the "Claiborne Corridor" will take place.

The city of New Orleans announced a second round of community workshops to discuss the future of the Claiborne Avenue corridor and the surrounding neighborhoods. The first public meeting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. March 16 at the Joseph A. Craig Elementary School, 1423 St. Philip St. The second is scheduled for 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. March 18 at the Ashe Cultural Arts Center, 1712 O.C. Haley Blvd.

The Livable Claiborne Communities' team of planners and architects will present redevelopment strategies for Claiborne Avenue based on ideas offered by residents during the first round of meetings in December.

"The success of the Claiborne Revitalization Study is reliant upon community input," Mayor Mitch Landrieu said in a prepared statement. "We invite all residents to come out and engage us as we discuss the future of our city. The potential impact this study could have is huge. The Claiborne Avenue corridor is more than just a vital transportation artery for our city and region, it's where many of us work, live and play. Resident's input through these public meetings is essential to developing the best outcomes."

I'd really like to sit in on either of those if only so I can light myself on fire while there.  But if that doesn't work out for some reason, I do hope someone can let us know what goes on.