The Audubon Tennis Courts To Get a Makeover

The Audubon Nature Institute and Tulane University will team up to renovate the Audubon Tennis Courts after coming up with a plan for close to two years. Another part of the deal is for Green Wave tennis teams to train and host their tournaments at the renovated courts. The Tulane tennis players will also move to the courts that are closer to the campus than City Park where they currently practice.

Tulane will pay for the renovations while Audubon will still operate and own the courts. There will be 12 new courts which include six hard courts and six clay courts. NCAA only allows college tournaments to be played on hard courts. There will also be new directional lights for night practices or matches, new restrooms, and new locker rooms.

“Partnering with Tulane would be beneficial for our avid tennis players as well as for Tulane tennis,” said Audubon Institute Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Kyle Burks. “We believe this type of agreement can serve as a model of how communities and universities can work together.”

“Our primary focus has always been to operate the Audubon tennis facility as a top-notch public amenity and the potential partnership with Tulane was developed with that as our top priority,” Burks said. “We believe this type of agreement can serve as a model of how communities and universities can work together.”

There are those that oppose the project. “This will reduce public access to clay courts,” said Sandy Rosenthal, a community activist, who plays on the Audubon courts five times a week. “It’s a loss to the community.”

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Beauty, Resilience and Environmentally-Friendly Changes at City Park

At 170 years old, City Park in the heart of New Orleans includes 1,300 acres of green space, water features, walking trails, woodlands (including the world’s largest conglomeration of live oaks), and historic and newly-built structures, which make it a popular attraction to both residents and visitors alike. These structures and spaces include museums, a sculpture garden, golf courses, tennis courts, 2 stadiums, an amusement park, Storyland, and event venues.

In 2022, the City Park Conservancy, a non-profit organization, was put in charge of the day-to-day management of City Park. This new organization is spearheading a new, 100-year master plan renovation, which is estimated to take 18 months at a cost of $200 million. The City Park Conservancy chose a landscape architectural firm – Michael Van Valkenburg Associates, Inc. (MVVA), out of New York to create and ultimately do the project.

Over the next 18 months, MVVA will hold public forums to get feedback from the community as the plan comes together. The new master plan renovation will address acreage above I-610, which includes two golf courses and the Wisner Tract. Adding more public restrooms and upgrading the existing ones, enhancing the walking trails for ease of use, and increasing public safety are also goals of the renovation.

Working a natural plan into the existing land is also one of the results that city leaders would like to see to make City Park an asset to the overall flood control plan of the city of New Orleans.

“Parks are meant to be resilient. They are meant to be a green sponge,” said City Park CEO, Cara Lambright. “We have never had a look at what City Park could do for us in that regard. We need to talk to our community about how we can create something beautiful that is also resilient.”

This is a process which is being addressed by MVVA to involve an arborist to create a tree plan, which includes creating an inventory and assessing the usage of the undeveloped parts of the park.

This part, called the Wisner Tract, is enjoyed by residents and visitors alike with a tree swing and 90 acres dedicated as a “Passive Recreation” area.

Previous renovations and additions in the last 20 years included the new Louisiana Children’s Museum, a newly-enclosed courtyard at the New Orleans Museum of Art, and improvement of the maintenace of the green spaces and woodlands.

Before Hurricane Katrina, City Park underwent a massive, master plan renovation focusing on projects, such as the miniature golf course, tennis courts and Great Lawn.

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A New Home For Brown Butter Restaurant

A local favorite is the pimento cheeseburgers, smoked brisket, and crab mac and cheese at the well-known Brown Butter Southern Kitchen + Bar.  The restaurant which is currently located in Mid-City will close its doors temporarily. They hope to reopen in a new location as their current location will become a medical facility according to the restaurant’s landlord.
“Needless to say, our hearts were broken, and we weren’t left with enough time to facilitate a smooth transition to another location,” he wrote.
Brown Butter opened its doors in 2015 and savors local Southern flavors with a Louisiana twist.  In fact, owner Simon Beck and chef Dayne Womax called it the “Bible Belt cuisine.”  The full-service bard and cocktail establishment was always busy, especially for brunch.
“This definitely isn’t a goodbye, we’ll see y’all down the line somewhere,” wrote co-owner Simon Beck in a message to customers.

Home Builders Associations’ Southshore Parade of Homes

The Southshore of New Orleans will once again be open to the public for 2 weekends in a row for the Home Builders Association of Greater New Orleans’ Parade of Homes. This year, from June 17th to June 25th, you can visit new homes for sale – newly completed new construction homes – Saturday and Sunday from 1pm – 5pm.

The Parade of Homes features 22 homes to tour. The homes are located on more than just the New Orleans, Metairie, and West Bank metro areas – there are homes that are newly built in Destrehan as well. 14 builders participated in this year’s Parade. This offers new home buyers the unique opportunity to tour so many homes and view new builder features and upgraded amenities and technology in these new homes for sale.

“We have a great variety of homes this year at all price points, from $249,000 up to $2 million,” said Patrice Kononchek, chair of this year’s event. “It also covers a wide geographic area, from Lake Vista to Destrehan to Kenner and more. There are a lot of options for people to take in.”

After the Parade of Homes, there will be a virtual Parade of Homes online at www.hbagno.org/paradeofhomes, which starts on June 26th. This gives home buyers wanting to view the homes for sale in the comfort of their home, on mobile and desktop devices.

Many of the new homes being built focus on potential home buyers who will be living and working from home. The included amenities in these new homes for sale feature outdoor kitchens, home offices, workout rooms, and home theaters.

The Parks of Plaquemines has 3 custom homes in the Parade of Homes. Visit our community to speak to our exclusive, premiere builders in the Greater New Orleans area!

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Come to the Plaquemines Parish Seafood

The annual seafood and heritage festival is one of Plaquemines Parish’s biggest events. The festival was held this year from April 28 – 30, 2023 at the festival grounds in Belle Chasse.

Patrons enjoyed seafood and culture through restaurants and organizations’ food and history. Everyone enjoyed Croatian American Society’s chargrilled oysters. All the cuisine served at the festival will be prepared b local restaurants.

The event had live music by Groovy 7, Electric Ramble, R&R Smokin’ Foundation, Supercharger, BC Boyz, Faith Becnel and Rockin’ Doopsie Jr. There were also carnival rides, crafts and an oyster drop raffle.

“We are excited to celebrate Plaquemines Parish’s seafood and unique culture at the nineteenth annual Plaquemines Parish Seafood Festival. This year we have added carnival rides to the festival. Enjoy an amazing weekend of music, food, carnival rides and fun for the entire family,” said Dondra Kientz, Plaquemines Parish Seafood Festival Event spokesperson.

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