Community Input

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We want to hear your vision for the future of City Park

Community engagement is at the center of the City Park Plan process, which was launched in July 2023. Throughout the process, we will offer various opportunities for you to provide input to inform design.

Three public meetings have been held to date, in addition to an online survey, where we received tremendous feedback from the community. Due to the response that we received on two design ideas, The Wooded Island and Park Promenade, we postponed Public Meeting #4 in order to deepen our commitment to user group and community input in the planning process and give us more time to listen.

The framework for public engagement and planning over the next year will be iterative and built on community feedback, research, and planning work completed since the current planning process began in July 2023. The collaborative work to date has revealed two layers of planning that structure the City Park Plan design process: Foundational Planning and Placemaking Planning.

This deepened community engagement approach will include multiple opportunities for community members to participate, including:

• A Community Fellows program that invites residents who represent the broad spectrum of New Orleanians to serve as project ambassadors on the planning team
• Ideas Youth Committee meetings for youth aged 15-25
• Pop-up engagement events held in all five councilmember districts
• Iterative community engagement meetings at City Park
• Virtual engagement via distributed surveys and activities

The following months of engagement and planning intends to build on these two layers, grounded in a process-based metaphor that all New Orleans residents know and love —Making Gumbo:

• Making Groceries: Continue to bring unheard voices (including youth and marginalized communities) up to speed, inviting them to review and add to the input already received — the “list of ingredients and seasoning” that will inform the City Park Plan
• Stirring the Roux: Together, using previous community input, review and confirm the base created from shared intentions that will hold the City Park planning process together. This is Foundational Planning.
  • Community Engagement Meeting – December 11, 2024 @ Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral (1200 Allen Toussaint Boulevard, New Orleans 70122)
• Prepping the Ingredients: With the base made, imagine ways to preserve and enhance spaces that people are passionate about, identifying potential opportunities that will diversify visitor experiences. This is Placemaking Planning.
  • Community Engagement Meeting – January 29, 2025 @ Pavilion of the Two Sisters in City Park (3 Victory Ave, New Orleans, LA 70124)
• Mixing the Gumbo: Add the ingredients in, while bringing Foundational and Placemaking Planning concepts together to visualize how new opportunities can be realized within the City Park Plan.
  • Community Engagement Meeting – April 9, 2025 @ Pavilion of the Two Sisters in City Park (3 Victory Ave, New Orleans, LA 70124)
    Session 1: Doors at 11:30am; Presentation + Activity at 12pm
    Session 2: Doors at 6pm; Presentation + Activity at 6:30pm
• Taste-Testing the Gumbo: Review the proposed City Park Plan to confirm it represents everyone’s interests and ensures the best outcome for City Park’s future. Further feedback will be incorporated in the following phases of design.
  • Community Engagement Meeting – June 25, 2025 @ Pavilion of the Two Sisters in City Park (3 Victory Ave, New Orleans, LA 70124)
  • Session 1: Doors at 11:30am; Presentation + Activity at 12pm
    Session 2: Doors at 6pm; Presentation + Activity at 6:30pm

Click here to view and download the Engagement Pathway Overview. Community members may send feedback and input via email at any time to [email protected].

Below you will find a recap of the first three public meetings:

The first public meeting was held on September 27 at City Park. During this meeting, the design team introduced themselves and some of their previous work, presented results from the online survey to date, and shared initial insights for City Park. Public questions and design team answers can be found here.

The second public meeting was held on December 6 at Warren Easton High School. At this meeting, the results from the first survey were shared and the Project Team garnered input from the public on potential improvements to how visitors get to City Park (Access) and how they move through the Park safely (Circulation), as well as introduced the concept of The Wooded Island, enabling multiple opportunities for discussion and feedback. Materials presented at the meeting may be found here, along with key findings here.

The third public meeting was held on March 21 at Dillard University.  At this meeting, the focus was on understanding existing conditions and identifying necessary interventions to improve the Park’s lagoons, lakes, and water systems. Essential to the history of New Orleans City Park, these areas contribute to the experience and richness of the landscape’s diverse ecosystem. Materials and key findings will be posted here soon.