Linear park meetings set

New Orleans — A final round of public meetings to discuss the proposed Lafitte Corridor Connection, a proposed 3-mile linear park that will stretch from the edge of the French Quarter to Lakeview, will be held Tuesday and Thursday.

The meetings will let residents review the latest plans before the city prepares construction documents to be presented to the City Planning Commission and City Council.

Tuesday’s meeting will be take place at Sojourner Truth Neighborhood Center, 2200 Lafitte St. Thursday’s meeting will be held at First Grace United Methodist Church, 3401 Canal St. Both meetings begin at 6 p.m. and end at 8 p.m. An open house will be held before each meeting from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The Lafitte Corridor Connection will transform a swath of former railroad tracks into a 3-mile long park that begins on Basin Street near Armstrong Park and ends near Canal Boulevard and City Park Avenue.

The project is budgeted at $7.6 million in community development block grant funds with about $5.5 million set aside for construction, said C. Hayne Rainey, a City Hall spokesman.

The project has been in the planning stages for years, with several stops and starts during that time. One of the largest setbacks happened shortly before former Mayor Ray Nagin left office in 2010.

Nagin terminated the contract signed with Design Workshop, the firm hired to design the project, when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development began to examine all city projects using CDBG money.

Nagin then asked companies to submit new proposals but did not award a new contract before leaving office. Mayor Mitch Landrieu once again awarded the design contract to Design Workshop in August 2010.

The corridor was previously part of the Carondelet Canal, a colonial waterway dug in the late 1700s to move goods to the French Quarter. The turning basin at its terminus gave Basin Street its name.