New Orleans, September 5, 2008

To LCIA Members and Others Who Provided Us Their Email Addresses:

Listed below are several items of interest for our area:

1) The joint neighborhood informational presentation on low rise pumps scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 9th at St. Dominic's has been postponed. We will let you know when the meeting is rescheduled.

2) The Harrison Ave Marketplace is still scheduled to take place on Wednesday, Sept. 10th from 5 to 8 pm.

3) St. Paul's Homecoming Center / Beacon of Hope at 6268 Vicksburg Street has reopened. They have lawn equipment for loan, a washateria, lists of services such as tree cutters, roofers, etc., internet, fax, coffee, water and a place to relax. They will be open on Sat from 10-3 and next week 9-4:30 Mon-Fri.


Below is additional information provided this afternoon by Councilwoman Shelley Midura's office:

Curfew
There is a District A-wide curfew tonight starting at 10pm. Most of the rest of the city will also be under a 10pm curfew except for the CBD, Warehouse District, Lower Garden, French Quarter, and Lower Magazine St areas that will be under a 2am curfew.

The curfew is mandatory for citizens in all zip codes except for 70116, 70112, 70130, and 70115 (the neighborhoods along the river around the CBD with power and nightlife). Police officers will however have discretion in their enforcement of the curfew. Basically, if you are driving or walking around after 10pm in a dark residential area of the city without power the police will question you and if you don't have a very good reason to be where you are, you may be taken to jail. However, if you are leaving a restaurant after curfew and are on your way home around the corner then you should not have much to worry about.

Power
More and more power is coming online around the city. Entergy has said that virtually all power should be restored by Monday in Orleans Parish. All Orleans Parish substations except for one in the Bywater have now been brought back online. The issue now is making repairs to the feeder lines from the substations to your homes and businesses. Many streets have more than one feeder line. As a result, this might mean that your home has no power even though your neighbor next to you and across the street from you may both have power. You may not be on the same feeder line as your neighbors.

Storm Debris and Garbage
The city is providing curbside storm debris pickup on a daily basis. Please bag or bundle your debris and place it on the curb, not on the neutral ground. Normally scheduled trash pickup has also begun.

You can find Gustav recovery updates and resources on the home page of www.LouisianaRebuilds.info.

We will continue to provide important information about our neighborhood as it becomes available.


Al Petrie
Long Live Lakeview

New Orleans, September 4, 2008

To LCIA Members and Residents Who Provided Us Their Email Addresses:

Essential services in Lakeview are being restored. Power appears to now be available in most areas and many businesses are letting us know they will be re-opening by this weekend. It is estimated that approximately 68% of the City at large now has electricity. The forecast by Entergy is that 90% will be restored by Sunday.

The City has also announced that regular garbage collection will take place tomorrow, Friday Sept. 5th and onwards, from the usual place for pickup in your area.

Any storm-related debris (tree branches, etc.) collected should be placed at the curb in front of your home. A different contractor other than our regular garbage collection company will be picking up storm-related debris. Please do not place any debris on the neutral grounds.

The City's web site, www.cityofno.com has additional information on storm-related issues.

If we receive any further information, we will inform you as soon as possible.

We hope this series of emails over the last few days have provided you with useful information during a stressful time for all of us. Special thanks to Sgt. Doug Eckert of LCPD who stayed on duty in Lakeview and maintained continuous communication with us throughout this period, even during the height of the storm. Also many thanks to Councilwoman Shelley Midura who responded quickly to all of our questions and gave us regular updates from the City.

One of LCIA's primary goals this year was to develop communications with our members to keep you informed of important events in Lakeview as well as to be available during neighborhood emergencies like this past week. We hope you will encourage your neighbors who have not yet become members of LCIA, or provided us with their email addresses, to do so. The more connected we become as a neighborhood, the stronger our recovery will be.

Al Petrie
Long Live Lakeview
 

To Lakeview Residents Who Provided Us Their Email Addresses:

We have been informed that the NOPD and State Police will not stop any of New Orleans' residents from returning to the City and their homes at this time. Residents are free to return but are still cautioned about possible power problems.

Nonetheless, I have received confirmed reports that power has been restored in scattered areas in Lakeview but not yet in all areas. There are individual reports of restored power from Hawthorn Place, West Lakeview and central Lakeview near Harrison. Power is on in some sections but not across the street in some of those same areas. We also are getting reports that Street signals are working in the neighborhood.

If we get any further information, we will pass it on.

Al Petrie
Be Safe and Long Live Lakeview
 

I just spoke tonight (Monday, September 1) with Councilwoman Shelley Midura and received the following comments from her. Keep in mind the plans discussed below may change tomorrow after a damage assessment is made City-wide. In the meantime, it gives us some early indication of what we can possibly expect regarding re-entry.

"Re-entry will not happen tomorrow (Tuesday, September 2nd) - Entergy has to restore power, and the City has to clear the streets. The Mayor stated that if everything goes well, Wednesday, big business (like Lowe's, Rouse's, etc) will be allowed to return. Those businesses already have re-entry permits. Citizens will not be permitted to return Wednesday. The Mayor did not state exactly when, but he did say citizens would be allowed to return in days, not weeks, and given that the Saints are going to play in the dome on Sunday, you can figure that it will not be long, and he will make the announcement tomorrow about citizen return. I hope this information helps."


Keep in mind that LCIA doesn't have any role in making the decisions on these matters, we just report them. We will send out additional information as it becomes available.

Al Petrie
Be Safe and Long Live Lakeview
 

To Lakeview Residents,    
Sgt. Doug Eckert just provided an update on what he is seeing in Lakeview. He has not been able to go through the entire neighborhood yet, but he believes we have made it through the storm pretty well. There are some trees down but none that he has seen on houses. There were some signs down from businesses but no major damage. While the wind is decreasing, there are two more strong squall lines that may come through later this evening. There has been no standing water in the streets thus far. LCPD, NOPD and the National Guard are out in force checking and patrolling the area. They are getting help to clear any streets from the trees and debris.

Special thanks to Doug for keeping us informed of what is happening. As additional information is given to us, we will make it available. We have no word yet when the City will end the evacuation order. There are still widespread power outages in our area.

Al Petrie
Be Safe and Long Live Lakeview
 

To Lakeview Residents

I just heard from Sgt. Doug Eckert of LCPD and he said Lakeview is looking pretty good. He said there are branches and debris around the neighborhood, a few trees down, but no trees blocking streets that he could see. Power appears to be out. He has not had time to drive through the entire area but he did not see any significant damage to homes or businesses that he passed.

As usual, Doug, Greg Elder and LCPD are doing an excellent job of watching our neighborhood and keeping us informed of what's happening. He said NOPD patrols and the National Guard will be out protecting the area.

Al Petrie
Be Safe and Long Live Lakeview

We hope you and your family is safe during this storm.
If you decide to stay in your home, there is a good chance your phone, email etc. will not work.  If you have a FRS radio please tune it to channel 22, these radios have a long range and you might be able to find a neighbor that needs help or if you need help.
Best Wishes, LCIA

8:50am update: I have been watching security cams on my home, power went down for about 30 min around 6am but is back up and running.  LCPD is doing a great job patrolling the neighborhood (I see them often on the cams).
The wind is shaking doors and windows causing alarms to go off, please do not let a call from your monitoring service worry you.

11:10am: Power or internet is out on my block, talked to a neighbor and they said lots of wind, not much rain and no flooding.  You can check to see if you have power here: http://www.entergy-neworleans.com/outages/nola.aspx