5) New Chapter Opens for New Orleans Soccer
The New Orleans Jesters soccer team makes its home field debut this week. The game begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 16, at the newly renovated Pan American Stadium in City Park where the team takes on the Bradenton (Fla.) Academics. The Jesters replace the New Orleans Shell Shockers, the team that represented the area since 2003. In their first season, the Jesters will compete in a new category called Premier Development League-Pro, an arrangement that allows the team to sign professional players. For team information, go to www.nolajesters.com.
4) Deadline for Input on LSU Hospital Plans
This Wednesday, May 13, marks a deadline for public input on the design of the Louisiana State University Academic Medical Center, one of two new hospitals planned for lower Mid-City. FEMA, which is providing funding for the center, and the Louisiana Office of Facility Planning and Control have hosted meetings to take public feedback on three proposed designs for the campus, and the agencies continue to accept input online until 4 p.m. on Wednesday. A feedback form and proposed design schemes and layouts for the center are available at www.lsuamc.com.
3) City Seeking Theme Park Resolution
New Orleans City Hall has given the Six Flags theme park company until today, May 11, to offer a resolution to the issue of its idled local amusement park. The eastern New Orleans facility was damaged during Hurricane Katrina and never reopened, and City Hall claims the company is in default of its lease. Six Flags says it offered the city a settlement on the property in 2007, which city officials then turned down. Six Flags is in the midst of a financial restructuring and the company has stated it has no intention of reopening the park
2) Hearing on Future of Mental Health Hospital
Members of the City Council, city officials, mental health experts and others are expected to attend a community meeting tomorrow, May 12, to discuss the proposed closure of New Orleans Adolescent Hospital. In March, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration presented a plan to close the hospital, which serves people with mental illness, and transfer its services to a state hospital in Mandeville. The hospital in New Orleans has been serving adults as well as children since the closure of Charity Hospital and its mental health unit after the storm. The proposal is one of the cost-cutting measures in the governor’s 2009-10 budget proposal, which is now under review by the Legislature. The meeting will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Council Chambers.
1) First Post-Katrina College Grads Roll Out
More local college graduations this week will honor the first classes of students to matriculate post-Katrina. For some of these students, freshmen orientation and other welcome activities were cut short by the evacuation for Hurricane Katrina, but despite the tremendous upheaval of the disaster many did return to continue their education and help rebuild New Orleans. The class of 2009 graduates from the University of New Orleans on Friday, May 15, from Tulane University on Saturday, May 16 and from Our Lady of Holy Cross on Sunday, May 17. Loyola, Dillard and Xavier universities and Southern University of New Orleans held commencement ceremonies last weekend.
