How long have you been a resident of New Orleans East?
I moved into Villa Sites in 1972 fresh out of college, newly married, and planning to have a family. We bought a house at 7310 Weaver Avenue.
What do you love about your neighborhood?
I love living in a house that has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms as opposed to the single shot gun with only one bedroom and a kitchen in the back. My house in Villa Sites, for the first time in my life, allowed me to have some spacious living.
What success have you had with your neighborhood association?
When I first moved to Villa Sites, there was this vacant lot next to me that had high grass and weeds. I mean, like 6 foot corn roves. The chairwoman of Villa Sites was Barbara Woodford at the time. She taught me how to go down to City Hall and find out who the owner is, and continue to follow through until I could live more comfortably without rodents coming from my shared property. Now the owner comes to cut the grass every two weeks.
Let me tell you how I became president of Villa Sites after Barbara finished training me: I had a house next door to me on the other side that had been gutted after Katrina. I moved to the next address in 1981. Fast forward to 2005, I am doing fine and love my neighbors. There had been a house that been gutted but no one came back for 5 or 10; there was grass and trees that were so tall that cats were sleeping on the roof. Every evening I was looking at cats on the roof from my bedroom upstairs. I then had to go back to City Hall and use what Barbara had taught me. We finally got the owner to sell the property and now I have a neighbor who is very friendly and very neat; I love it.
Shortly after becoming president of Villa Sites, I attended the Mayor’s Civic Leadership Academy. It was an eight week class at City Hall where they had various department heads come in and share their purpose and describe the various ways they connected and worked with us. That eight week class gave me confidence that I had partners to help us improve our quality of life. There were five other commissioners from ENONAC there as well, and I can now see them in various meetings. I can see the positive effect of that leadership class and I see it continuing.
So do you have any upcoming projects?
We are excited to be celebrating the New Orleans Tricentennial. I was encouraged by NEO to apply for a Tricentennial neighborhood grant. Our focus was on cleaning up the neighborhood, and we ended up receiving $1000. I got neighbors to help clean our streets. We made a sign that said “Villa Sites: Proud and Litter Free. All of our neighborhood association members have a sign in their yard! If you have the sign it means that you have committed every week to make sure all the litter on your street was picked up. Secondly, we had three events where we informed all of our neighbors as well as ENONAC commissioners about different events that were going on. We also participated in the Mayor’s kickoff at the Sanger Theatre. My neighbors and I love celebrating our City.