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2021 Regular Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 198
BY SENATOR HARRIS
PLANNING/ZONING. Requests the New Orleans City Council and the planning
commission to study and make recommendations updating neighborhood boundaries in New
Orleans East.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To urge and request the New Orleans City Council and the New Orleans City Planning
3 Commission to study and make recommendations updating neighborhood boundaries
4 in New Orleans East.
5 WHEREAS, the boundaries of the city of New Orleans are coterminous with Orleans
6 Parish, consisting of a wildlife refuge and fishing camps, suburban-style subdivisions, and
7 historic buildings, to modern high-rise buildings; and
8 WHEREAS, the city of New Orleans is governed by a Home Rule Charter form of
9 government which defines the boundaries of the city under Article I, Section 1-103; and
10 WHEREAS, the Home Rule Charter also created the city planning commission under
11 Chapter 4, which authorizes the commission, in part, to prepare and recommend to the
12 council, the official map of city and amendments thereto, upon which shall be shown all
13 existing and established streets, recommended street lines, all streets or street lines located
14 on final or recorded plats of subdivisions, and provides that street locations on final or
15 recorded plats of subdivisions shall constitute amendments to the official map and shall be
16 placed thereon; and
17 WHEREAS, historically, the city of New Orleans is divided into seventeen wards
18 which are used politically in voting in elections, subdivided into precincts; and
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1 WHEREAS, the modern day map of the city of New Orleans' wards has not changed
2 since the late 1800s; and
3 WHEREAS, in 1974, in order to qualify for a share of Community Development
4 Block Grant funds, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development partnered with
5 the mayor's Office of Policy and Planning and Curtis and Davis Architects to delineate and
6 name "planning areas" throughout the city; and
7 WHEREAS, the result of the New Orleans Housing and Neighborhood Preservation
8 Study of 1974 carved up the city of New Orleans into seventy-three rigidly defined
9 neighborhoods and their boundaries by surveying residents on issues of quality of life and
10 needs, as well as the name they used to describe the neighborhood where they lived; and
11 WHEREAS, today those seventy-three neighborhoods and their boundaries are used
12 by first responders, real estate agents, academia, nonprofits, and media outlets; and
13 WHEREAS, the area commonly known as "New Orleans East" is the suburban area
14 of the city of New Orleans consisting of the following eight neighborhoods by boundaries:
15 Pines Village, Plum Orchard, West Lake Forest, Read Blvd. West, Read Blvd. East, Little
16 Woods, Village De L'est, and Lake Catherine; and
17 WHEREAS, New Orleans East is more than sixty percent of the geographical area
18 of the city of New Orleans and the area is patrolled by NOPD's 7th District which
19 encompasses approximately one hundred thirty-three square miles, making it the largest
20 police district in New Orleans; and
21 WHEREAS, residents of the neighborhoods located in New Orleans East have voiced
22 concerns about how crime statistics and news stories paint their neighborhoods with a broad
23 brush as dangerous or unsafe by generally identifying the entire area as New Orleans East
24 and not by individual neighborhoods and their boundaries; and
25 WHEREAS, the residents say such generalizations have caused real estate values to
26 suffer in neighborhoods that are located in New Orleans East that are safe, secure, and
27 provide a sound quality of life and investment opportunities for families; and
28 WHEREAS, in 2010, the City Council and the City Planning Commission adopted
29 the initiative called Plan For The 21st Century, a city charter mandated planning framework
30 for the core systems that shape New Orleans' physical, social, environmental, and economic
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1 future; and
2 WHEREAS, currently the Plan For The 21st Century reflects the values and priorities
3 that emerged through a community participation process as the City Council and the City
4 Planning Commission engaged in a city chartered mandated amendment process from 2016
5 to 2018; and
6 WHEREAS, since 1974, the residents of neighborhoods located in New Orleans East
7 have actively created their own identifiable neighborhoods and have incorporated many of
8 them as security and improvement districts or homeowners' associations; and
9 WHEREAS, since New Orleans East is not a neighborhood, the New Orleans City
10 Council and the New Orleans City Planning Commission are encouraged to find ways to
11 address redrawing the neighborhood boundaries in New Orleans East in an effort to address
12 the residents' vision of the City's Plan For The 21
st
Century.
13 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
14 does hereby urge and request the New Orleans City Council and the New Orleans City
15 Planning Commission to study and make recommendations updating neighborhood
16 boundaries in New Orleans East.
17 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to New
18 Orleans City Council President Helena Moreno and City Planning Commission Chairman
19 Jonathan Stewart.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Michael Bell.
DIGEST
SR 198 Original 2021 Regular Session Harris
Requests the New Orleans City Council and the New Orleans City Planning Commission
to study and make recommendations updating neighborhood boundaries in New Orleans
East.
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