The areas in red on the interactive map represent assumed encroachments into Audubon Park. The areas in blue are the properties associated with these encroachments. Click the marker on each property to get more information about the encroachment (see disclaimer). You will also find blue circles on the map, click these circles to see a photo taken from the location on the map intended to fairly depict the situation or provide additional context.
During my walks in Audubon Park I have noticed what appears to be a concerning trend of private landscapers planting plants (bamboo, cast irons, etc) which seem intended to preventing reasonable access to parts of Audubon Park in a way that benefits private land owners. A little googlefoo showed that this issue has come up before (see below) and was addressed in a way that was considered adequate at the time. On that note I believe the situation has changed since this issue was addressed in the early 2000s.
This project is not an attempt to point the finger at homeowners as it remains the responsibility of the people, we pay to manage Audubon park to insure that it remains a public space accessible to anyone. Public property is only public if we can all access it and no one can buy it. If you set a precedent to allow the rental of public space, then it’s hard to blame people for wanting to do so.
To make this happen I have combined publicly available data sources with photos from my phone and tracking data from my Garmen watch (GPS + Galileo).
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Total encroached area = 41803 sqft
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Mean Encroached Area = 1306 sqft
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Median Ecnroache Area = 1099 sqft
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200 Block Encroached Area 15323 sqft ( 36.7%)
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300 Block Encroached Area 9566 sqft ( 22.9%)
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400 Block Encroached Area 16915 sqft ( 40.5%)
- Parcel Map: https://data.nola.gov/dataset/Parcels/v9q5-fz7t
This is not an official land survey. In most cases the actual line of encroachment could be debated by reasonable people. Also, it is not possible for me to know that a particular property owner is responsible for an encroachment just because that encroachment happens behind their house. It is also no possible for me to know how for plants like cast irons and bamboo have moved from their original location. And it is not possible (though curious) for me to know why Audubon Park doesn’t include these spaces in its lawn services, in fact it is even possible that the private lawn contractors were hired by Audubon Park to do this work. I would greatly appreciate anyone who can provide additional context to the situation. This is a citizen science project aimed at doing 2 things.
- Showing off a skillset
- Calling attention to what I see as the obvious conflict in allowing the ongoing rental of some of the most valuable public lands in New Orleans to people who don't seem to need it.