Talk:New Orleans

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First European residents of New Orleans

John Peter Salley was an explorer from Virginia who, while he was exploring the Mississippi in the early 1740's, was taken prisoner, according to his own testimony, by French allied "Negros and Native Indians" and brought to New Orleans where he was imprisoned for 'two years'. While in custody, he befriends the common New Orlean citizen who on average was suffering under the oppressive administration of the French Governor. Those who had been there longest claimed that the French were not the first to make a town at that location. Here is Salley's words,

"One thing I had almost forgot, Viz. we were told by some of the French who first settled there, that about forty years ago, when the French first discovered the place, and made attempt to settle therein, there were then pretty many English settled on both sides of the River Missisippi, and one Twenty Gun Ship lay in the River, what became of the Ship we did not hear, but we were informed that the English Inhabitants were all destroyed by the Natives by the Instigation of the French."

Demographics

I see this sometimes. Its called complacency. Since when, did Demographics not include the Gender Ratio?! That is the first variable that should be given, and here, despite the hurricane disaster, it is not even mentioned. Can someone please rectify this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.100.215.127 (talk) 11:36, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

2010 Discussion

Battle of New Orleans (War of 1812)

I revised the paragraph talking about the battle to include the strength of the British force attacking New Orleans. I've also removed this section, as whoever wrote it is in serious need of a history book:

"However, it should be noted that the British were unprepared for hostilities and were not themselves trying to attack Jackson's forces, as the war had ended with a peace treaty some weeks earlier. The peace was known to the British, while Jackson claimed not to know the war was already over."

News of the war's end didn't reach either side in the South until February.

"The armies were unaware that the Treaty of Ghent had ended the war on December 24, 1814." - This statement is incorrect as while the treaty was signed in December, it was not ratified until the following February. Until ratified, the treaty was not valid. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.250.224.34 (talk) 19:34, 7 July 2010 (UTC) Battleax86 (talk) 08:15, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

New Orleans Saints and Super Bowl XLIV

Given the positive impact the Saints' Super Bowl XLIV victory will have on the city as it continues it's post-Hurricane Katrina recovery, I propose mentioning the victory under the history section of the article. 17:55, 8 February 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.227.113.17 (talk)

Mitch Landrieu elected mayor

Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu was elected mayor in elections on Feb. 6 with 66 percent of the vote. [1] [2] Viscousmellophone (talk) 04:27, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Edit request

{{editsemiprotected}} the mayor in new orleans is Mitchell Joseph "Mitch" Landrieu

74.240.150.211 (talk) 01:38, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

He is only the mayor-elect. Will be changed on May 3 when he is sworn in.  fetchcomms☛ 01:50, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

Edit request follow-up: Mayor Landrieu has been sworn in as mayor. Springhill40 (talk) 12:44, 8 June 2010 (UTC)

Edit request

{{editsemiprotected}} The caption accompanying the collage photo says that the streetcar is in front of Tulane University, when in fact, it is in front of Loyola, the university neighboring Tulane. Jeremyliem (talk) 18:47, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

This guy is right. That's not Tulane. That's Loyola. Please correct. Oh, and to be very specific that is the Holy Name of Jesus Church on Loyola's campus.

Add bicycle subsection to transportation section?

I think there should be a bicycle subsection. New Orleans ranks as one of the top 10 bike/pedestrian cities in the U.S.. There are plenty of sources talking about the recent additions of bike lanes (like on St. Charles and St. Claude) and expensive bike trails/ways (like McAlister Place, New Orleans and the one in City Park). Also, I saw a book with photos of all the funky bicycles that can be found in NOLA. I think this subsection should definitely have a photo of one of these bikes. Check out some of the crazy NOLA bikes on FLICKR, like double decker bikes, and bikes with very unique New Orleans beads and artwork. Isn't there a built-your-own bike warehouse in the Marigny? 71.161.242.92 (talk) 06:43, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

I tend to disagree. Transportation sections of cities typically include only transport modes that are supported by major infrastructure. There needs to be considerably more notability around NO's bicycles and bicycle culture before it should reach the level of notability necessary to have its own section within the article. For comparison's sake, Denver, Austin and San Francisco article pages don't have subsections on cycling -- and they likely merit such treatment before New Orleans would. Addition of a few bike lanes likely isn't sufficient. For instance, Boulder Colorado does merit such a section because it has far more infrastructure and usage -- hundreds of miles of bike paths, routes, lanes underpasses along with significant biking culture and events. New Orleans would need greater amounts of things involving biking to make it similarly notable. Also, could you sign your Talk entries? WmLawson (talk) 20:25, 9 July 2010 (UTC)

I agree with 71.161.242.92. I don't think that the Denver et al. Wikipedia entries are dispositive here. (I also doubt that people casually bike as much in Denver, Austin, or San Fran, as compared to in New Orleans, in part because those cities are either hilly or too-cold for half the year.) In any event, a brief review of these entries, along with the Boulder entry (which includes a cycling paragraph worth looking at), indicates that every city is organizing its transportation section slightly differently. New Orleans has dedicated sections for transportation modes like "Buses" (not a unique aspect of the city), but does not include a biking section. Meanwhile, NOLA is a top 10 city in terms of bicycle and pedestrian traffic. As an Uptown bicyclist, I can attest to the fact that NOLA probably has the same # of bicycling events and organizations as does Boulder. Also, the artistic New Orleans bicycles are truly unique to this city, as far as I can tell. I have lived in, and traveled to, countless places and have never seen such a prevalence of bicycle decorations; and certainly not with such a local flare. The description of this book is worth checking out, for support of this observation. Granted, the use of bicycles and especially bicycle decorations, does appear concentrated in the Sliver by the River parts of the city (Uptown to the Bywater) -- but this is also where most of the city now lives. 504kid (talk) 21:31, 9 July 2010 (UTC)

proposed addition... to be titled "Bicycling"

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The City's flat landscape, simple street grid, and mild winters, facilitate bicycle ridership, helping to make New Orleans eighth among U.S. cities in its rate of bicycle and pedestrian transportation. Also, the City's bicyclists benefit from being located at the start of the Mississippi River Trail, a 3000-mile bicycle path that stretches from the City's Audubon Park to Minnesota. The first 25 miles of the path, through Destrehan, Louisiana, is paved with a smooth macadam surface. Bicyclists looking to cross the River have free access to the City's ferries. Since the 2005 levee-breach, the City has actively sought to promote bicycling by constructing a $1.5 million bike trail from Mid-City to Lake Pontchartrain, and by adding over 37 miles of bicycle lanes to various streets, including St. Charles Avenue. In 2009, Tulane University contributed to these efforts by converting the main street through its Uptown campus, McAlister Place, into a pedestrian mall opened to bicycle traffic.

New Orleans has also been recognized as a place with an abundance of uniquely decorated and uniquely designed bicycles. It is common for New Orleans bicyclists to decorate their bikes with local flare, such as Mardi Gras beads and fleur-de-lis stickers and fixtures. Additionally, some residents affix other personal memorabilia to their bicycles, or even create unique forms of the bicycle (such as double-decker bicycles), through the help of Plan B, an open-community workshop for bicycle repair and alteration.

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504kid (talk) 01:29, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

I don't see why we need to have a paragraph on how people in New Orleans decorate their bikes. Decorating bikes certainly isn't unique to this city, and I think California cities are far better known in that respect. Not to mention New Orleans people will slap beads and a fleur-de-lis on anything that can't outrun them. It's likely off-topic for a city page, and even in a subsection on bike transportation. But I do like the first paragraph. Mdlawmba (talk) 21:17, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for your feedback! 504kid (talk) 10:07, 11 July 2010 (UTC)

I don't think most New Orleans people would agree that we'd slap beads on anything... Maybe you can get your info from some place other than Fake World New Orleans on MTV. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.217.202.107 (talk) 16:53, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

I just added the Bicycling section and omitted the last few sentences above (about the uniqueness of the bikes). 504kid (talk) 03:20, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Founding of New Orleans

New Orleans was founded in the spring of 1718. No specific date such as May 7th can be assigned because the city only consisted of construction huts for many months thereafter. Jean Baptiste LeMoyne, Sieur de Bienville received orders in February of 1718, naming him Governor (and/or Commandant) of Louisiana, and instructing him to build a new settlement 30 leagues above the mouth of the Mississippi. The orders came from the new "Company of the West", which had just received the monopoly to develop Louisiana colony in 1717. Within a few weeks, he sent a company of fifty or so men to begin clearing the land and laying out the streets. It was not until 1722, that the city actually became the capital of the colony.

Jglaiche (talk) 03:38, 19 July 2010 (UTC)Jglaiche

Fortier, Alcée, A History of Louisiana; in Five Volumes. 2nd Edition (ed. Jo Ann Carrigan, LSU History Dept.) Baton Rouge: Claitor’s Book Store, 1966. First Published, 1903. Volume One: Early Explorers and the Domination of the French.

Gayarré, Charles. History of Louisiana: Volume I. The French Domination. 4th Edition. New Orleans: F.F. Hansell & Bro., Ltd. 1903.

Giraud, Marcel. A History of French Louisiana, 5 Volumes.

    Vol. II. Years of Transition, 1715-1717. Presses Universitaires de France, 1958. Tr. Brian Pearce. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 1993.

Shepherd Jr., Samuel C. The Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Series in Louisiana History. 19 Volumes. Lafayette, LA: Center for Louisiana Studies, Univ. of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2005. Herein cited as LPBS.

Vol. XIV. New Orleans and Urban Louisiana, Part A, Settlement to 1860.

Edit Request

Under the section "Beginnings through the 19th Century" the statement "All of the surviving 18th century architecture of the Vieux Carré (French Quarter) dates from this Spanish period." is not quite true. At least two buildings (the old Ursuline Convent and Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop) predate the Spanish period and I suggest that the wording in this article be changed from "All of the surviving..." to "Most of the surviving..." to improve accuracy. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.128.103.249 (talk) 16:04, 20 July 2010 (UTC)

Tourism

I've added the fact that New Orleans was voted first runner up in being gay-friendly, which was a result in the already mentioned cnn poll. I think it is an important thing in this article, for that was, for me at least, the reason to visit this article. Never been in the South before, and the last thing I want is being part of some hostile atmosphere or something like that. This I knew I saw it mentioned in an article about NO somewhere, but I just couldn't figure out whether it was on wikipedia or wikitravel. Anyhow, I think it is just a tiny line that is worth mentioning in this article. :) Robster1983 (talk) 17:09, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Sister Cities

Among the sister cities, Isola Liri, Italy should be added. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Syd00 (talk • contribs) 10:28, 2 August 2010 (UTC)

I have heard on tv that a lot of New Orleans residents want Brisbane to be made a sister city in response to the Queensland floods. Does anyone know if this has become official or is it just resident good wishes? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.148.43.180 (talk) 21:03, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from Arielfarrar, 7 September 2010

{{editsemiprotected}} I think that http://nolavietnamese.wordpress.com/ should be added to the external links section. It is a webportal about Vietnamese culture in New Orleans.

Arielfarrar (talk) 21:09, 7 September 2010 (UTC)

Not done: Unless it is actually being used asa a reference, it can't be added because Wikipedia is not a collection of links. Thanks, Stickee (talk) 02:02, 8 September 2010 (UTC)

Edit request from Treehuggress, 7 November 2010

{{edit semi-protected}} "Errol Morris" should read "Errol Williams" source: http://www.errollgwilliams.com/web/ Treehuggress (talk) 08:52, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

Done Spitfire19 ^T/_C 05:36, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Edit Request from RogBeGone, 8 November 2010

According to the Times-Picayune, New Orleans' population was estimated at 354,850 by July 2009. Editing the chart to reflect that would be nice. —Preceding unsigned comment added by RogBeGone (talk • contribs) 21:27, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

Local pronunciations

I'm a yankee, so take this with a grain of salt, but the prevailing dialect of English spoken in Nawlins is a non-rhotic dialect of English; representing the pronunciation with turned-r in the syllable coda seems totally wrong to me. Excalibre (talk) 04:10, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Change of City Website

Since the Landrieu administration has taken office, the primary URL of the city website has changed. Cityofno.com now redirects to nola.gov. It's a little more professional than that train wreck URL (City of No... really?!) the Nagin administration saddled our fair burg with. Could someone please update at least the visible addresses in the article? Thanks! 98.164.114.43 (talk) 16:40, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

Hurricane Katrina change

I have changed the first sentence from: "New Orleans was catastrophically impacted by the failure of the Federal levee system during Hurricane Katrina in 2005" to: "New Orleans was catastrophically impacted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, in which the levee system that protects New Orleans from flooding, failed, allowing Katrina to more fully affect the city." The city was catastrophically impacted by the floodwaters of Katrina, and Katrina was the whole reason behind this. And there is no such thing called the "Federal levee system", and the source doesn't mention that either. Here's what the source DOES say: "No city, not even New Orleans, has ever sustained as much damage from a single hurricane as Galveston, Texas, did on September 8, 1900." The source does mention the levees, which are important, but the most important factor was the hurricane. If a cop dies, the shooter is named first, and then the maker of the faulty bullet-proof vest. Shicoco (talk) 06:37, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

Also, there are many people who are very angry at the levees' failure, and it seems that they edited Wikipedia and made it a bit on the non-neutral side. In the previous version, Wikipedia was blaming the federal government by mentioning the "Federal levee system" (no such thing with this title exists). This does not appear neutral, and as this is a big controversy, with many people blaming many different people, from the Feds, to the mayor of New Orleans, to termites in the levees, etc etc, this article needs to stay on a neutral note. The logical thing to give the main blame to is the hurricane, and is also the neutral thing to do. The proper blame cycle goes Katrina>breaks weak levees>let in Katrina's floodwaters>flood city. The fact that Mother Nature can't be held responsible in a court of law doesn't matter. Shicoco (talk) 06:54, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

Disagree. Multiple studies in the years since the disaster have increasingly confirmed and clarified that the overwhelming majority of the flooding was due to an engineering failure rather than a weather disaster; specifically the role of the MRGO and the improper engineering of the levees which failed to compensate for the increased vulnerability due to the canals. Detailed discussion IMO would be better on the relevent disaster article rather than this general NOLA article, but the summary here should show the consensus of the research of the 5+ years since the disaster. -- Infrogmation (talk) 21:36, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

Rosh Ha'Ayin as a sister city

New Orleans has Rosh Ha'Ayin of Israel as a sister city. It should be added to the list.

Edit request from Moncole, 2 April 2011

The following text appears in the "Climate" section.

Indeed, portions of Greater New Orleans have been flooded by: Grand Isle Hurricane of 1909 ,[57] New Orleans Hurricane of 1915 ,[57] 1947 Fort Lauderdale Hurricane ,[57] Hurricane Flossy[58] in 1956, Hurricane Betsy in 1965, Hurricane Georges in 1998, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Hurricane Rita in 2005, and Hurricane Ike in 2008, with the flooding in Betsy being significant and in a few neighborhoods severe, and that in Katrina being disastrous in the majority of the city.[59][60][61]

The reference to Hurricane Ike is incorrect as this hurricane primarily impacted the Texas Gulf Coast and not Louisiana. Instead, it was Hurricane Gustav that flooded New Orleans during the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season.

Moncole (talk) 03:56, 2 April 2011 (UTC)moncole, April 2, 2011

Done My reading of the articles on the two hurricanes supports your position, so I made the change. Monty₈₄₅ 08:15, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from Leighladneche, 22 August 2011

Please Add NewOrleans.Com "The Official New Orleans Travel Site" TM http://www.neworleans.com to the external links -- Leighladneche (talk) 17:11, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

Not done: It's a spam site, you have no chance - see WP:ELNO. --Biker Biker (talk) 17:17, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

Nyew Orleans

Hey, registered users. You need to change the very first "phonetic symbols" in the article. They suggest that the city's name is pronounced "nju" orleans, which is not the case. Few people in New Orleans or elsewhere in the USA pronounce the word "new" as [nju]. Rather, the word is pronounced [nu]. Please correct this. Thanks! Signed, an American. 85.77.32.76 (talk) 20:19, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Land Areas

I see that the city measures 180.6 square miles in area in terms of land. I've always wondered, however, if the city has any information on how much of that is developed? I'd imagine that there are wide swaths of the city to the northeast of the urban part that are either lightly developed, or incapable of being developed. It seems this would be an interesting fact to add if we can find it out, as it would kind of distort the official population density for the city. There are only a few other major cities with large swaths of undeveloped land (i.e. mountains, swamps, etc...) --Criticalthinker (talk) 07:16, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

Yes, Eastern New Orleans includes some minimally developed land, and the wild wetlands of the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge -- within the city limits. -- Infrogmation (talk) 22:08, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

Yes, I understand that, but does the city have an official stat on how much of New Orlean's 180.6 square miles if developed? --Criticalthinker (talk) 02:35, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

Good question. If there is an "official stat", I'm not familiar with it. If such were being compiled at present, another issue is the areas which have been de-facto "de-developed" -- former urbanized areas ruined and demolished after the Katrina levee failure disaster. There are areas, especially in the Lower 9th Ward but to a lesser extent in other parts of the city, where for block after block everything was demolished and nothing new built in the years since. No doubt what to do about these areas will have to be addressed in the future (parks, community gardens, redevelopment?), but a present the city's street grid contains many blocks of fields of weeds. -- Infrogmation (talk) 18:23, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

Well, I wasn't talking about developed areas destroyed by weather or general decline -- heck, a third of the land in my hometown of Detroit is either filled with abanonded homes or vacant of any property, but still zoned for development -- but how much of the city's land is zoned for natural usage like the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge. I thank you for bringing at up, though, because apparently, it's about 36 square miles all by itself and I believe totally within Orleans Parish. So, that brings the total usuable land area down to about 145 square miles. Is there any there significantly sized area in the northeast part of the city like that? --Criticalthinker (talk) 01:14, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

Errant photo caption

Photo captioned, "Skyline of New Orleans Central Business District as viewed from Uptown (1991)" actually looks like it's taken closer to Gertown than Uptown. If the Superdome is left of the Shell building, then you're not in Uptown. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.96.106.106 (talk) 16:55, 8 February 2012 (UTC)