NEW ORLEANS – Mayor Mitch Landrieu and the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Engagement announced neighborhood catch basin cleaning days in an effort to raise awareness and educate residents on proper catch basin cleaning.
Partnering with various neighborhood associations across New Orleans, volunteers will work together to clear vegetation and debris from around catch basins in their respective neighborhoods.
“Since 2010, we have worked to link our neighborhood leaders to government to engage them in a meaningful way around key municipal priorities,” said Mayor Mitch Landrieu. “As a 300-year-old city that deals with infrastructure challenges, it is important for the entire community to come together to address some of our toughest issues. I am grateful for this group of neighborhood and community leaders for stepping up and helping us to clean our catch basins.”
Last year, Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Engagement worked with neighborhood leaders to clear drains. They cleaned catch basins across New Orleans including the Treme', Bunny Friend and St. Roch neighborhoods.
The city's Department of Public Works is spending a total of $22 million on catch basin cleanings and repairs and is expected to clean 15,000 drains in 120 days. While the city will unclog and repair drains, it is important for residents to keep catch basins clear of trash and debris to prevent further issues, city reps said.
Department of Public Works interim director Dani Galloway said, "Catch basin cleaning is a city-wide effort and requires partnership between residents and government to be successful. We are excited to work with various neighborhood associations across New Orleans on this effort to keep our city's drains clear."
On Saturday, Sept. 30, the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Engagement will host a training for all volunteers interested in participating. At this training, volunteers will learn how to correctly clean catch basins and report damaged or broken catch basins.
Working with neighborhood associations, the catch basin cleaning days will take place from 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. in a different council district each weekend every Saturday in October:
District C – Oct. 7
Bocage Civic Association
Aurora Gardens Neighborhood Association
Faubourg St. Roch Improvement Association
District B – Oct. 14
Hoffman Triangle Neighborhood Association
Broadmoor Improvement Association
District E – Oct. 21
Faubourg East
Lake Bullard Neighborhood Improvement Association
District D – Oct. 28
Friends of Filmore Gardens
District A – Oct. 28
Hollygrove-Dixon Neighborhood Association
Residents interested in participating can sign up here
Fauberg East president Claudia Celestand said, “This is a good start for the city to engage neighborhoods. I am looking forward to being instrumental in this process for us.”
Faubourg St. Roch Improvement Association president Troy Glover said, "I look forward to working with the City and St. Roch residents as we work to keep our catch basins clean and streets from flooding. Especially in St. Roch, as we look to protect our elderly population and kids."
Other City agencies working with the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Engagement on this project include the departments of Code Enforcement, Sanitation, Public Works, Parks and Parkways, and Resilience.
The Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Engagement is the city’s permanent mechanism for public participation in government decision-making, and creates opportunities for dialogue, information sharing, partnership, and action between city government and neighborhood residents and leaders, city reps said.
