OUR TOWN | MAY 2018

Pool at Joe Brown Park Will Close for Renovations Through June 1

The pool and pool house at Joe W. Brown Park, 5601 Read Blvd., will be closed to the public until June 1, for renovations which will include renovated locker rooms with Americans with Disabilities-Act compliant showers, and new floors and benches, repainting the pool tub, deck, officer areas and locker rooms and the installation of new LED pool lights and ceiling lights.

The renovations will total $78,000.

All previously-scheduled programming at Joe Brown Pool through June 1 has been canceled. The nearest indoor pool is located at the Sanchez Multi-Service Center at 1616 Caffin Ave. in the Ninth Ward and is opening Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For up to date programming and event information, please visit www.nordc.org, or call (504) 658-3052.

HANO Celebrates Grand Opening of the New Guste Homes Apartments

The Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) recently celebrated the completion of the third phase of redevelopment in the Guste Homes Community.

The William J. Guste Homes community was originally built in 1964 with 993 public housing units. The initial site consisted of one 12-story high-rise, elderly-only building, and six low-rise buildings. In 2004, HANO began its full redevelopment following approval of a conversion plan by HUD and the subsequent demolition of the low-rise buildings through the use of a HOPE VI Grant.

Construction of phase III began in 2013. The $61 million project was financed with $26 million from HANO, $21.9 million from FEMA, and $13.1 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits. With the completion of the project, HANO adds 155 units to the city’s affordable housing stock. Currently, there are 638 homes located on the entire Guste site; 577 of which are public housing units.

Local Screening of Film on Black Business set for April 26

Business in the Black, a documentary detailing the rise and history of Black-owned businesses in American is coming to New Orleans for a one-day-only screening 6:30 p.m., Thursday, April 26 at the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center, 1618 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.

The event begins with a reception. The film screening starts at 7 p.m., followed by Q&A with Anthony Brogdon, the film’s producer.  Admission is $10. Tickets are available on Eventbrite and businessintheblack.net.

Brogdon says he is excited about showing the film in New Orleans and looks forward to meeting local Black businessmen and women—some of whom he hopes will share their own stories surrounding the triumphs and challenges of business ownership.

The film specifically focuses on the rise of Black business in America between the late 1800s and the 1960s and includes a segment on the destruction of thriving Black business districts across the country by White supremacists and institutional racism.

A native of Detroit, Brogdon says the film took two years to produce and premiered last May at the Charles Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, with subsequent screenings in Harlem, Los Angeles Seattle, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and Canada.