Central City residents are looking for changes in their neighborhoods

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO)— Blight, trash, noise, and crime, are issues that most neighborhoods in the city are dealing with. Residents on 7th street in Central City got a chance to meet with their councilwoman in hopes of making their neighborhood better

Carolina Gallop, a Central City resident said she loves her community, but wants to change some things about it.

“This is a great community. I think that the people here care about their community, they care about where they live, but we get a lot of outsiders coming here that just don’t care. There’s trash, there’s dumping, there’s noise.”

Carolina Gallop and her Central City neighbors are facing many of the same issues as other neighborhoods in the city, and recently they got a chance to have their voices heard on a number of issues affecting their quality of life.

Lesli Harris, District B Councilwoman said they are doing their best.

“All of the tires you see over there, the trash that’s over there, so we’re doing our best to report it up to sanitation and DPW.”

District B Councilwoman Lesli Harris’s district has its share of woes from lengthy roadwork projects to crime, however, she says some shortages in city government are compounding the blight problems in the neighborhood.

“Safety and Permits only has 2 people working so we need to staff up that office so that they can do their job promptly and efficiently, and we can solve some of these problems,” said Lesli Harris, District B Councilwoman.

The NOPD was also on hand to hear about the amount of evening loitering on the corner of Daneel and 7th, a location where shootings have occurred.

The small gathering of residents is hoping to get help making positive changes in their neighborhood.

A city spokesperson responded to questions about staffing and they said that while there are more than 2 employees at code enforcement, they certainly have their challenges and they’re several initiatives in the works to address the shortages. District B is having a community clean-up day on May 21.