News article: Upper 9th Ward residents call for new focus on blight
Community leaders from A Community Voice organized a news conference on December 12th to demand that the city adopt a more comprehensive plan for addressing the abandoned and blighted properties dotting the 9th Ward. Residents are asking Mayor Cantrell to support a “sustainable and community-driven approach” to reduce blight and flooding across the neighborhood. Six LSU seniors from Dr. John Pardue’s Environmental Engineering capstone class are collaborating with community members to design bioswales that will hold and retain floodwaters during heavy storms. The bioswales will require removing the non-porous clay layer and other fill and replace it with free and available sources of “biochar” – pecan shells and oyster shells for example. The bioswales will also assist in absorbing pollutants that often become mobilized during flood events.
WDSU New Orleans Channel 6 covered the news conference.
