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Beyond Bourbon Street: Tuesday's Mobile Workshops

by Paula Dohnal

The Pontchartrain Bridge over the Mississippi river, New Orleans.

November 17, 2009

Mobile workshops and walking tours give conference participants a wonderful opportunity to get away from the conference and see actual projects on the ground in the New Orleans area. Many of this year’s events are sold out, but we do take as many “stand-bys” as we can because we hate to send the buses out with empty seats.

Whether you’re pre-registered for an event or not, please arrive at Hall D-2 Drive at least 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled departure time so we can get the buses loaded in a safe fashion.

Today’s workshops and walking tours are described below. Check your pocket guide or the website for a description of tomorrow’s excursion to the mixed-use complexes at the American Can Factory and Falstaff Beer Brewery.

Rolling on the River: A Walking Tour of New Orleans’ Riverfront to the iconic “NOPSI” electrical generation building (FREE)

11:30 am–12:30 pm

This is a walking tour along the section of New Orleans’ Mississippi River frontage from the Convention Center to the former New Orleans Public Service Inc. (NOPSI) electrical generation building. Participants will see first hand the industrial dock areas that are planned for redevelopment under multiple programs, such as the City’s “Redeveloping the Crescent” plan, and the Trust for Public Land’s “New Orleans Upriver Greenway Corridor,” as well as already completed riverfront redevelopment at the Erato and Julia Street Cruise Ship Terminal and the Port of New Orleans Administrative Building. The tour will end at the privately owned NOPSI building in the planning stages of redevelopment, known for its landmark smoke stacks that tower over the riverfront. The tour will include presentations by professionals involved in the riverfront renaissance, and will conclude with a bus ride back to the Convention Center.

Green Job Training in the Bayou: NIEHS Job Training Programs at Work (FREE)

10:15 am–12:15 pm

The Center for Construction Research and Training has an apprenticeship program with the Carpenters & Millwright Union at 1215 Japonica Street in New Orleans’ 9th ward, near both the Global Green and Make It Right (sponsored by actor Brad Pitt) green building sites. In addition to the traditional environmental and construction training, this program offers students introductory training in green building and weatherization, preparing them to enter the green construction industry. Dillard University's Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DU/DSCEJ) conducts worker training from a facility near the university’s Gentilly campus. DU's campus has two LEED certified buildings under construction and there is a green building site nearby on which DU trainees have worked. This tour features a stop at both training facilities and an opportunity to learn about effective community outreach that led to local residents training for jobs to help rebuild the city of New Orleans. A brief stop to tour one of Make It Right homes may also be included.

Journey across the River: Brownfield Encouragement and Inspiration on the West Bank ($20)

1:00–4:00 pm

Join us as we travel across the Mississippi River to the Malter International Bulk Chemical site in Gretna and Progressive Church’s Future Family Life Center site in Marrero. At the Malter site, learn about how it transitioned from an illegal dump draining the city’s coffers to a clean site. The site will now be used to expand an adjacent facility, keeping the business in Gretna. From there we’ll travel to Progressive Church’s future Family Life Center Site, and hear the site’s story from Pastor Sterling Mealancon. A former junkyard with asbestos in soil contamination, this 18-acre site traveled through the Brownfield process from Phase I ESA all the way to cleanup using both a Brownfield’s loan and an EPA Cleanup Grant. Both sites were enrolled in the Louisiana Department’s of Environmental Quality’s (LDEQ’s) Voluntary Remediation Program will feature speakers from LDEQ. If you need some brownfields inspiration and encouragement to tackle challenging sites, don’t miss this mobile workshop!