The New Orleans Citizen Participation Project

Most years seem to get off to a slow start in New Orleans, especially when Mardi Gras is late.  This year Mardi Gras was March 5, and the pace is only now beginning to pick up.

Unfortunately, this has included a pause in the top priority for the Community Participation Program, the neighborhood boundary mapping project.  We are still trying to get the final duck in the necessary row at City Hall, and apparently that duck was more interested in watching parades.  We have followed up since the end of the festivities, but are still waiting on a response.  While we have a strong relationship with both the mayor/administration and most of the City Council, we (and many of our colleagues) are starting to get a little frustrated with how long it takes to get action from city government.  Hopefully we will have more progress to report on this front next time around.

We did have a very successful launch for the 2019 Big Easy Budget Game, which we did in conjunction with international Open Data Day and in partnership with Code For America.  About 75 people turned out for the launch event, including quite a few who had not played the Budget Game before.  This gets us off to a great start for the year, a great way to build on the success of last year, which saw our new mayor incorporate significantly increased spending in two of our residents' top priorities into her first budget.

There is one very sad thing we want to address.  Many of you no doubt read about the tragedy here when a very drunk driver crashed into eight cyclists after one of the Mardi Gras parades.  One of the two people killed was a friend, colleague and graduate of our annual Bryan Bell Metropolitan Leadership Forum.  Four of the injured were also friends and colleagues of CBNO.  Despite the addition of some 100 miles of bike lanes, New Orleans remains a very unsafe city for cyclists.  If there is one sliver of a silver lining to this tragedy, it is that it seems that there will be a major conversation about this issue in the coming months.  However, already there are questions about how comprehensive and inclusive that conversation is going to be.  While we work closely with both the main bicycle advocacy organization and main transit advocacy organization here, neither has the capacity for a truly citywide community conversation.  And people are already starting to take some hard positions on this issue.  To design and implement real solutions for safe streets, all interests must be at the table:  cyclists, motorists, pedestrians and the city; and this must include the demographic which produces the greatest number of cyclists, which is lower income residents who typically do not participate in any of these kinds of conversations.  CBNO is committed to working with various partners to convene and conduct a truly accessible, inclusive conversation on safe streets.  It is the least we can do to honor the memory of our lost friend.

So 2019 has not gotten off to the best of starts.  That said, we still see this as a year of tremendous opportunity and progress, on the CPP and our city budget work.  We greatly appreciate your continued interest and support.  It keeps us motivated and moving forward, no matter what the challenges may be.  Thank you from the NOLA CPP team.