(March 30) So: This was going to be an easy column. Namely: The New Orleans Recreation Development Commission appears dangerously negligent, but a major community coalition is determined, against all odds, to right the ship.
As it turns out, the column is not so simple. But that’s good news, because the complications arise from progress NORD is making. And the coalition that was ready to blow the whistle on NORD is even better poised to partner with it.
The subject arose, and took urgency, from a Substack post last December by former longtime local prosecutor Laura Cannizzaro Rodrigue, blasting NORD for the horrid state of disrepair of many of its playgrounds. Rodrigue’s reporting, full of photographic evidence, depicted fields in dangerous condition, garbage-filled concession areas, fallen electrical boxes, bleachers broken beyond repair, strong odors of urine and feces and even homeless encampments at a playground.
There is no denying the vast bulk of Rodrigue’s reporting — and NORD doesn’t deny it.
With all of that evidence in mind, seven key groups ranging from the NAACP to the Metropolitan Crime Commission to the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, all led by the NOLA Coalition (which itself is an umbrella group of well over 500 nonprofit groups and businesses), issued a March 25 statement lamenting the “unacceptable conditions of recreational facilities” and calling for “rebuilding NORD.”
Their statement comes on the backdrop of a February notice from the New Orleans Inspector General of an audit “to determine whether NORD spent funds for capital projects in accordance with policy and best practices.”
All of which looks, well, flat-out awful for NORD. At the very least, much more engagement from the mayor and City Council seems warranted.
There is, however, more to the story. What was admittedly horrendous in December is, in at least some of the facilities, improving significantly. Among the ball field facilities most criticized by Rodrigue, two are in remarkably better condition, with major work ongoing.
The first, which Rodrigue identified as Larry Gilbert Stadium in Hollygrove but which actually is the adjoining Cuccia-Byrnes Playground that for years was home to Carrollton Boosters Little League competitions, was the one where homeless people had lived for nearly two years…. [The full column is here.]
