I attended this meeting and livestreamed/ live-tweeted throughout and at no point commented or addressed the board. At the beginning of the meeting, BNA President Mandy Pumilia asked me if I would go up to the podium and introduce myself and explain that I was filming the public meeting. I thanked her and said I would be glad to comply. However, President Pumilia did not ever invite me to the podium to honor her request. To my knowledge, President Pumilia did not ask mainstream media reporters from WWL to introduce themselves.
Almost immediately after the meeting began, President Pumilia turned the microphone over to featured guest Desiree Andrepont from HANO. Andrepont discussed the future of a property at Mazant and Royal and financing for the housing that will be developed there. Community members asked questions about mixed-income housing and residents expressed their desire to not see a "huge high-rise" included in the development. They were assured that community input would be considered. Those interested in providing input were encouraged to email bywaterpresident@yahoo.com.
Attendees expressed misgivings about the value the BNA places on community input and referenced the Markey Park controversy.
At the heart of the Markey Park controversy lies the BNA’s lack of consideration for community input.
The Bywater community thought their input regarding Markey Park was taken into consideration when the BNA conducted two surveys that returned in favor of including a designated fenced in off-leash dog area in the new plan for Markey Park (the Markey Park Booster Club conducted a third survey). After these surveys were conducted, The Trust for Public Land (TPL) submitted three proposals to the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission (NORDC) that each included an off-leash dog area. However, in the meantime the BNA wrote the letter to NORDC rejecting an off-leash dog area in the new plan (the community wasn't aware of this letter until recently). Then NORDC rejected all three proposals and suggested to TPL that if they were to submit a plan that did not include an area for dogs, they'd accept it. TPL acquiesced to this and turned in a fourth and final plan that did not include a dog area.
Now, residents from neighborhoods outside the Bywater have joined Bywater residents to voice concern that the BNA's letter did not reflect the requests of the community. There are currently over 400 signatures on a petition asking to include an off-leash dog area.
At the March 12 BNA meeting, before any of the community members who were obviously attending to discuss Markey Park could speak, President Pumilia announced the meeting’s adjournment.
At this point, attendees dressed in red shirts demanded the opportunity to comment on the BNA’s handling of the redevelopment.
Miles Swanson inquired as to why the BNA was framing the redevelopment as a “people versus dogs” issue when it is not.
The board refused to answer or to respond to any questions about the secret letter John Guarnieri sent.
Bywater resident Rhonda Findley spoke eloquently. She first asked about the agenda, mentioning that she felt like meeting was stopped abruptly to keep members from speaking. She respectfully asks BNA Board and committee to engage the group that has done so much work to find what lapsed in communication about the park. Since NORD-C has the final say-so in the redevelopment, Findley requested that the BNA and SMP community come back together. The letter sent by BNA seemed very suspect and did not equally present both sides (did not send full crisp picture of what needs to be addressed in neighborhood). These respectful requests seemed to fall on deaf ears as Pumilia refused to entertain the idea of the BNA drafting and sending a second letter.
"Why is the BNA against dogs?" someone asked. "Why did they ignore community input?"
At this point, a woman addressed the board to ask if there was any way to get the attention of Councilwoman Palmer regarding a housing situation related to Project Homecoming. She is almost 70 and almost did not get to speak because the BNA board tried to adjourn meeting without opening the floor for comments.
The point - that the Bywater Neighborhood Association - should be bringing people together instead of dividing them - seemed lost as the BNA attempted to stifle any dissent or simply not answer questions.
The meeting soon disintegrated when BNA board members refused to answer community questions, ending abruptly.
On my way out, I was told by a board member that the agenda was available on the newsletter - an e-publication one subscribes to.
Halfway through the meeting, John Guarnieri did make a point of photographing me with what appeared to be an iPhone. He was not available for comment after the meeting, so I do not know why he felt compelled to document my presence. He was not photographing anyone else to my knowledge, and I did not speak at the meeting. If he intended to intimidate me, he failed.
According to the most recent BNA e-publication, The BNA Parks + Recreation Committee Meeting will be held on Thursday, March 14 at 7pm at Holy Angels 3500 St. Claude Avenue. I am unable to find an agenda at this time.
Meanwhile, this stuffed dog remains chained to the fence of Markey Park.
No comments:
Post a Comment