Letter From The Co-President

Dear Members,

Our last newsletter carried an opening message from Michael Murphy who is sharing duties with me as Co-President of the organization. Michael and I are working together with an outstanding Board to continue our tradition of supporting outcomes which will contribute to the quality of life for residents of the French Quarter.

In doing so, I would be remiss if I failed to note that the French Quarter recently passed a milestone: one year since Councilmember Jackie Clarkson began representing our neighborhood.

The years without Jackie were marked by significant losses for the preservation community in the French Quarter, including approval of projects involving variances and waivers, little concentration of effort on safety and sanitation in an area visited annually by millions, proliferation of tourist-centered commercial activity, decline of resident-friendly businesses and more.

Jackie has changed all that. Her consistent message has been a mandate from the voters throughout her district to do something about "the gateway to the City." She has been willing to tackle the tough issues: sanitation, crime, Jackson Square, walking tours, zoning changes and much more.

She secured more trash receptacles for the French Quarter and worked with the City's Department of Sanitation to improve services. She engaged Sheriff Foti's work force to begin a cleanup of the storm drains. She is an active member of the Board of the Vieux Carré Alliance and is working with that group to secure additional funding to continue sidewalk steam cleaning and pressure washing as well as expanding the VCA's scope of work in future years.

Jackie has made Jackson Square a place where all people have the opportunity to sit on benches, where one of the nation's oldest continual outdoor artists' colonies has space for display/sales and where safety of buildings and human life is assured through clear lanes for emergency vehicles.

She has worked diligently with 8th District Police Capt. Louis Dabdoub to make the streets safer for businesses to do business, for residents to live and for visitors to enjoy. As the Quarter's crime statistics improve, Jackie and Capt. Dabdoub are not content to rest on these accomplishments but rather continue to work to make the neighborhood safer for all.

Jackie used her influence to insure that new appointments to the Vieux Carré Commission included residents of the French Quarter. She led fellow Councilmembers in decisions to deny appeals involving exterior alterations to a club on Bourbon Street which would have resulted in higher noise levels for residential neighbors and a zoning map change for a St. Philip Street block from residential to commercial. Additionally, when French Quarter Citizens and VCPORA jointly appealed three Vieux Carré Commission decisions to the City Council using Act 1228, Jackie's fellow Councilmembers joined her in upholding each of our appeals which then reverted back to the Commission for further consideration.

When special interests obtained street closures which penalized businesses and residents, Jackie began work on a series of rules and regulations which would govern all who apply for permission to close French Quarter streets. She has made sure that the draft Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance continues to require the Vieux Carré Commission to hold hearings on changes of use in the French Quarter. She introduced an ordinance legislating fair rules and regulations to govern walking tours in our neighborhood.

Jackie chaired meetings with all affected neighborhood groups in connection with the proposed Desire Streetcar Project and helped the group reach consensus on several issues. She has also agreed to support this compromise to the RTA leadership.

Jackie introduced an ordinance regulating the operation of carriages in the French Quarter and supports Jesse Bridges of the Taxicab Bureau in enforcement.

She has promised to work with us on the redevelopment of the Rampart Street corridor and understands our concerns about recent remarks by the Mayor which would significantly (and negatively) affect quality of life for residents. She has promised to introduce a pair of ordinances which would make it easier to enforce penalties against property owners who engage in illegal short term rentals and in the near future against reservation services/agents who refer illegal properties.

There are many issues which Jackie quietly handles behind the scenes like closing the Decatur Street establishment which opened without proper licensing during Mardi Gras, meeting with the Royal Street owner who was illegally using his premises for receptions and parties or getting a deferral on a proposed training facility so that residential groups in the Quarter can get answers to troubling questions about the project.

Before Jackie, our wins were minimal. Since Jackie, our wins are significant. She has given us a voice and a place at the table. Her willingness to stand strong in the face of opposition has truly changed the landscape of the French Quarter.

Her critics say that she is sanitizing the French Quarter, that she is causing it to lose its ambience and mystique. Bunk. There is nothing glamorous or wonderful about dirty streets and sidewalks, panhandling on every corner, fear for your life when walking alone, being unable to sit on a bench that is covered by someone sleeping, walking tours that are too large and too loud, the unbearable stench of mule droppings on hot pavement, or businesses and residents who routinely break the law.

To those who criticize her and to the media representatives who are biased in their reporting we counter by saying that Jackie is enlightened, supportive and caring to the people of the French Quarter. At the risk of repeating myself to the 150+ people who attended our 2002 Annual Progressive Dinner when Jackie was honored, I say.

Faster than a mule in diapers, more powerful than the bullhorn of a nighttime tour guide, able to leap over a clogged storm drain with a single bound --- it's a crusader, it's a movie star's mom, it's Super Jackie!
Thanks, Jackie, for returning to the place where you belong and giving us a great year. We look forward to more of the same.

Warm regards, Lyn Reed