Louisiana Foreclosure Listings

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Overview

How to Find Foreclosure Listings

Foreclosure is the legal process by which a property, which has promised to repay the loan or debt may be sold to help pay back the loan, if it is in default. After it has been decided to continue the process, the property sold by public auction or trustee for the foreclosure sale. Some lien holders may also close to other assets such as debts, unpaid bills, or overdue taxes of employees.

          Many people looking to start a family, seek to live ina place they can call home. Nowadays, with high foreclosure rates, which will take place throughout the nation has created an opportunity for many potential buyers look for bargains. And now, we could have a great time to buy real estate in Louisiana. Investing in a foreclosure, you can create a huge profit. Many properties, which are sold in foreclosure auctions attract hundreds of bidders. But when the first service provider, which has local rules, surveys, and inspecting the property to ensure the loan is taken before the tip can be useful. 

About New Orleans Foreclosure

New Orleans is a major United States port city and historically the largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana.

New Orleans is the Southeastern Louisiana along the Mississippi River, just south of Lake Pontchartrain and the Orleans Parish, with its same. It is named after Philippe II, Duke of Orleans, Regent of France, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. New Orleans is known for its multicultural heritage, as well as its music and cuisine. Considered to be born in jazz.

His status is the world-famous tourist destination is due in part to its architecture and its annual Mardi Gras and other celebrations. This is often referred to as "the most unique city" in America. City several nicknames are illustrative:

* Crescent City refers to the course of the Mississippi River around and through the city
* The Big Easy was possible that the musicians in the early half of 1900 is relatively easy to find work there, but most New Orleanians attribute the term and the city more carefree and slowed down when cities such as New York (Big Apple)
* City that Care Forgot refers to the outside of just going, carefree nature of many of the people.

In 2000 U.S. census put New Orleans population 484000th The Greater New Orleans population is 1.4 million

The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent failures of Oak, which was followed in August 2005 caused the evacuation of the city, many residents did not return yet. In October 2006, Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) to New Orleans population 187525th However, this number has been very challenged by only one officer involved in post-Katrina New Orleans simply because the LRA does not fall on a massive number of those living in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), provided housing. New Orleans approximately 50,000 to 100,000 live in such housing, which would put the number of those living in New Orleans between 237,000 to 287,000, which Mayor C. Ray Nagin and the demographic, I feel are more accurate. In November 2006 I saw the mayor, the budget proposals for 2007, the LRA left its population and the majority of the population along the demographers agree that the population is much higher, because of traffic, and the number of city services that are returned by the different neighborhoods and residents that have been returned.


Beginnings

Nouvelle-Orleans (New Orleans) was founded in 1718, the French Mississippi Company, under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. In 1763, when the French colony was ceded to the Spanish Empire and remained under Spanish control for 40 years. Most of the surviving architecture of the French Quarter dates from this Spanish period. To the control of French Louisiana in 1801, but two years later, Napoleon sold the Louisiana Purchase to the United States of America. Town soon grew, with the influx of Americans, French and Creole French.

During the 1812 war, the British sent a force to conquer the city. British forces led by the United States was Andrew Jackson is the Battle of New Orleans on the 8th January 1815.

As a major port, New Orleans had a leading role in the slave trade, but at the same time, which is the most prosperous community of free colored persons south.

The population of the city doubled in the 1830s, and 1840, New Orleans had become the richest people of the city and was the third most populous.

At the beginning of the U.S. Civil War, New Orleans was covered by the European Union. This action spared the city the destruction suffered by many other American cities in the south.


Twentieth Century

If the 20th the beginning of the century, New Orleans was a progressive major city whose most portentous development was a drainage plan developed by engineer and inventor A. Baldwin Wood. Urban development theretofore was largely limited to higher ground along natural river and bayous removed. Wood's pump system allowed the city to expand the low areas. Already in the 20th century, rapid subsidence, both natural and man-induced, left these new-populated areas several feet below sea level.

New Orleans was vulnerable to water before the age of negative elevation. In the late 20th century, but scientists and New Orleans residents gradually became aware of the increased vulnerability of the city. Hurricane Betsy in 1965 was killed in dozens of residents even though the majority of the city remained dry. Rain-induced flooding in 1995 showed the weakness of the pumping system.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

By the time Hurricane Katrina approached the city at the end of August 2005, the majority of residents were evacuated. Storm surge pushed ashore by the hurricane caused the city to suffer the worst civil engineering disaster in American history. Floodwalls built in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has failed, and 80% of the city flooded. Tens of thousands of remaining residents were rescued by a helicopter or other means to shelters of last resort or convention center is the Super. More than 1,500 people were killed.

Announced in the inhabitants of the city limits at the same time clean-up efforts began. Approach to Hurricane Rita caused repopulation efforts to be postponed, and the Lower Ninth Ward was reflooded by Rita's storm surge. 1. October, part of the city account for about one-third of the population of New Orleans was reopened.

From July 2006 to continue its efforts to clear the debris and rebuild the infrastructure. Although most of the city has reopened to residents, and areas that suffered moderate damage has been substantially continued functioning parts of the city most severely damaged by the utilities and the more irregular the city, as residents return to the devastated areas of the city services are restored in accordance with the Lower Ninth Ward and even the seen in some services back to the city.


New Orleans Revival

Despite the number of houses have been damaged while residents wait for Louisiana Recovery Authority road home money for the recovery of New Orleans. BAYOU The Classic, the traditional game between Southern University vs. Grambling University, the city has made a commitment to New Orleans after the November 2006 to shift the burden of Houston, Texas, in November 2005. The Essence Music Festival has made a commitment to the City of New Orleans in July 2007 after having shifted the Houston, Texas in July 2006, together with other major events such as Mardi Gras and the Jazz Festival which never left. National Football Union is committed to the City of New Orleans with the Saints return to New Orleans for the 2006-2007 season and may even be possible in 2011 or 2012 superbowl. The National Basketball Association is committed to the City of New Orleans with the Hornets return to New Orleans for part-time 2006-2007 (one game per month) and all the time, that the 2007-2008 season, and even the granting of New Orleans in 2008 NBA All Star game, which raises millions of dollars for host cities. Residents are slowly but surely returning to the City of New Orleans and the greater New Orleans area long term, New Orleans looks promising.

Geography and climate



New Orleans is located in 2957'53 "N, 904'14" W (29.964722, -90.070556) GR1 on the banks of the Mississippi River, about 100 miles upriver from the Gulf of Mexico. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has total area of 907 km (350.2 mi). 467.6 km (180.6 MI) of it is land and 439.4 km (169.7 mi) of it is water. The total area is 48.45% water.

Town located in the Mississippi Plain, mostly between the Mississippi River and south of Lake Pontchartrain in the north. The area along the river is characterized by ridges and hollows. Fields atop the ridges along the river is referred to as a "frontlands." Land contour slopes away from the frontlands to the "backlands", which consists of clay and silt.

City of New Orleans is the lowest elevation in the State of Louisiana and the third lowest point in the United States, after Death Valley and the Salton Sea. A large part of the city is one of more than ten feet (0.3 to 3 m) below sea level. Above sea level in the areas adjacent to the Mississippi River. These areas were developed before 1900. Rainwater is pumped to Lake Pontchartrain via a series of canals lined by removed, dams and floodwalls. As a city with high water table in most houses are not basements. If the cemeteries, the crypts are above ground. The city is considering passing a building code, which would require all new residences are built on elevated land is negatively garage and storage at first floor level, in order to protect the people living life in floodwaters.

Cityscape




The Central Business District of New Orleans is located immediately north and west of the Mississippi River and was historically called the "American Quarter." Most streets in this area fan out the central part of the city. Major streets in the area include Canal Street and Poydras Street. To this end, the local language of "downtown" means downstream from Canal Street, while the uptown "means upriver from Canal Street. Downtown neighborhoods include the French quarter treme, 7th Ward, faubourg-Marigny, Bywater (the Upper Ninth Ward) and the Lower Ninth Ward. Uptown neighborhoods include the Garden District, Irish Channel, the University District, Carrollton, Gert Town, Fontainebleau, and Broadmoor.

Other major areas of the city include BAYOU St. John, Mid-City, Gentilly, Lakeview, Lakefront, New Orleans East, and Algiers.

Parishes located adjacent to the city include St. Tammany Parish north, St. Bernard Parish, south and east, Plaquemines Parish, south and south-east and south of Jefferson Parish and the west.

Major Roads

* Claiborne Avenue (U.S. 90, LA 39) The city is considered the most important east-west along the route of Interstate 10th It is known as East Judge Perez Drive of the city limits of Jefferson Highway and west of the city limits.

* Canal Street is one of the most famous streets in the city next to Bourbon Street. Canal St., is a wide street is the world's three automobile lanes in each direction, two streetcar lines the median, which is known to locals as the "Ground-neutral" and one of the bus lane on the median.

* Tulane Avenue (U.S. 61) is considered a major thoroughfare and in the Central Business District and Central City New Orleans.

* General DeGaulle Drive in Algiers is a major thoroughfare, the only part of the city, which is located west of the Mississippi River.

* Broad Street (U.S. 90) is a major thoroughfare in the Mid-City New Orleans. It will continue to expire at the end of the river after the Fontainebleau Drive, Napoleon Avenue.

* Gentilly Boulevard (U.S. 90) is a major thoroughfare is the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans.

* Chef Menteur Highway (U.S. 90) is the second most important road in New Orleans East, after Interstate 10th It is connected to the main part of the city through the Danziger Bridge that includes the Industrial Canal.

* Saint-Charles Avenue is the avenue is the historic Garden District and Central Business District of the city. Most of the Mardi Gras parades in Orleans Parish is a part of eastbank pass along this street. This is also a major tourist attraction is the historical importance of St. Charles Avenue streetcar line passing to the inside of the median. It ends at Canal Street, where it has become a Royal Street.

* Airline Highway (U.S. 61), it is important that the highway begins in Orleans Parish, Jefferson Parish will continue, St. Charles Parish, St. John the Baptist Parish, St. James Parish, Ascension Parish, East Baton Rouge Parish, and ends in West Baton Rouge Parish .

Adjacent Parishes

* Lake Pontchartrain - the North --
* St. Tammany Parish - North --
* St. Bernard Parish - South
* Jefferson Parish - South-West, Western --

Climate

New Orleans climate is humid subtropical, with short generally mild winters and hot humid summers. In January, the morning Lows average of 43F (5c), and daily highs around 62F (17C). Lows in July the average 74F (23C) and a high average of 91F (33c). The lowest recorded temperature was 11F (-11.7C) on December 23, 1989. The highest recorded temperature was 102F (38.9C) is 22 August, 1980. Average precipitation is 64.2 inches (1,630 mm) annually, during the summer months are wettest, while October is the driest month. Precipitation in winter usually accompanied by the passing cold front. The risk of hurricanes in the region and the city is particularly vulnerable because of its low-rise. The recent report on the Weather Channel, the city is one of the most vulnerable in the country when it comes to hurricanes. In addition, the hurricane striking New Orleans is also one of the top scenarios are afraid of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

New Orleans experiences snowfall only on rare occasions. Recently, a small snow fell during the 2004 Christmas 2004 Christmas Eve Snowstorm. December 25, the combination of rain, sleet and snow fell on the city, leaving some bridges icy. Before that, the last white Christmas was in 1954, and was 4.5 inches (110 mm). The last significant snowfall in New Orleans fell on 22 December 1989, when most of the city received 1 or 2 inches of snow.

Demographics

The New Orleans Metropolitan Area, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, which currently includes seven parishes: Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, Plaquemines, St. Tammany, St. Charles, and St. John the Baptist, whose total population of 1.4 million, which is 35. largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in the United States. Metro area population losses due to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. In December 2005, the metro area's population was estimated at 950,000 but August 2006, the metro area's population has rebounded 1.2 million, which is the largest metropolitan area in the state once again.

In 2000 U.S. census put New Orleans' 484,674 population, but in 2005 Hurricane Katrina caused the evacuation of the city. After extensive damage caused by the failures of Oak, many residents have not yet been returned. The current population is estimated at 187,525 in October 2006, although that estimate is disputed by the mayor C. Ray Nagin, demographers and other population in the city since the Louisiana Recovery Authority's count, part of the population does not fall on a massive number of people living in FEMA provided housing (in the range of 50000 to 100000) is a New Orleans area, as well as they do not count the 17,000 migrant workers, who have decided to to make New Orleans their permanent home.

Forecasts for the city's population at the end of the reconstruction is highly speculative. 2000 U.S. Census figures presented here are the last verifiable data on the population of the city. A January 2006 survey related to the population of about 190,000. Population estimates as of June 2006 the fixed population of about 225,000.
City of New Orleans

What is censusGR2 2000 was 484,674 people, 188,251 households and 112,950 families residing in the city. The most recent (2004) estimated the city population is 462,269. The population density was 1,036.4 / km (2,684.3 / mi). 215,091 housing units had an average density of 459.9/km (1,191.3 / mi). The racial makeup of the city was 67.25% African American, 28.05% White, 0.20% Native American, 2.26% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.93% other races, and 1.28% of two or more races. 3.06% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The population of Greater New Orleans in 2000 was 1337726, which is 35 the largest metropolitan area in the United States. These population statistics are based on legal residents of the city. But because of the enormous annual tourist flow, the number of people inside the city at a given time, such as the Mardi Gras season, tends to exceed these numbers sometimes hundreds of thousands.

Was 188,251 households, of which 29.2% were under the age of 18 living with them, 30.8% were married couples living together, 24.5% were female householder with no husband present, 40% were non-families, 33.2% of all were made by individuals, households and 9.7% have someone who is living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.23.

Age distribution of the city's population is 26.7% under the age of 18, 11.4% 18-24, 29.3% 25-44, 20.9% 45 to 64, and 11.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females were 88.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, was 83.3 for men.

The average income for a household in the city was $ 27,133 and the median income for a family was $ 32,338. Males had an average income $ 30,862 versus $ 23,768 for females. If the per capita income for the city was $ 17,258. 27.9% of the population and 23.7% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 40.3% of those under the age of 18 and 19.3% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

The population peaked in 1960 in New Orleans. Since then, such as parishes in suburban Jefferson and St. Tammany have increased in population.

Analysis of Brown University sociologist John R. Logan in January 2006 indicate that as much as 50% of whites and 80% of blacks displaced by Hurricane Katrina and its after May relocate permanently.

Better recent study by the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA), which is completed in October 2006, estimates that the city is currently about 44% of whites and 46% black. The LRA concludes that 187,525 people who live in New Orleans compared with 484,674 pre-Katrina.

Government

New Orleans is a city mayor-council government. City council is composed of five councilmembers who are elected from the county, and two large councilmembers. The Mayor C. Ray Nagin, Jr. was elected in May 2002 and was reelected as Mayor of the election of the 22nd April, 2006.

The New Orleans Police Department provides professional police services, public order and protect life and property. The Orleans Parish Civil Sheriff's Office serves papers involving lawsuits and provides security of the public and the juvenile courts of the District Court. Sheriff's Office, criminal proceedings shall keep the parish prison system, provides the security of the Criminal District Court, and provides backup for various New Orleans police patrols.

City of New Orleans and the Orleans and the parish merged with the city to act as parish government.GR6 New Orleans before the city became a co-extensive with Orleans Parish, Orleans Parish was home to many smaller communities. Some of these communities in Orleans Parish has historically been separate identities from the city of New Orleans, as the Irish BAYOU and Carrollton. The original City of New Orleans was composed of that which is now in 1st to 9 towards. City of Lafayette (including the Garden District) was added in 1852, when the 10th and 11 towards. In 1870, Jefferson City, including the faubourg Bouligny and much of the Audubon and University areas, was annexed to the 12, 13 and 14 towards. Algiers, the West and the Mississippi, was also annexed in 1870, becoming the 15th ward. Four years later, Orleans Parish, which are distinguishable from the city closed the New Orleans, where the city of Carrollton was annexed as the 16th and 17 towards. However, to this day, the USPS still recognizes and accepts messages that are addressed to Carrollton, LA, as legal and give them to the Postal 70118th

New Orleans' government is now largely centralized in the City Council and Mayor's Office, but it remains a number of relics of earlier systems, where different parts of the city was a lot of their things separately. For example, New Orleans has seven elected tax assessors, each with its own staff, who represented different districts of the city, rather than one central location. On 7 November 2006, a constitutional amendment passed both Statewide and Orleans Parish, which brings together one of 7 assessors for 2010


Economic


New Orleans is one of the most visited cities in the United States, and tourism is the main staple area of the economy. Approximately 14 million people each year visit to New Orleans. City colorful Carnival celebrations (leading up to Mardi Gras or "Fat Tuesday" celebration and the day before "Ash Wednesday") during the pre-lenten season draw particularly large in the nation. Other major tourist events and attractions in the city include the Sugar Bowl, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (known to locals as a popular "Jazz Fest"), Voodoo Music Experience, Southern Decadence (one of Europe's largest annual Gay / Lesbian celebrations in the world), and Essence Festival, not to mention sporting events including Super Bowls and NCAA final trousers.

New Orleans is also the industrial and distribution center, and the busiest port system in the world gross tonnage. The Port of New Orleans is the largest U.S. port for several major commodities including rubber, cement, and coffee. [Authorization needed] The Port of South Louisiana, New Orleans is based on the field, is the world's busiest in the tonnage of bulk and if it is combined with Port of NO, represents the 4th the largest port in the system volume.

As in Houston, Texas, New Orleans is located in the vicinity of the Gulf of Mexico and the many oil rigs lying just offshore. Louisiana ranks 5th oil and 8 reserves. Louisiana also home to two of the four Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) storage facilities: West HACKBERRY BAYOU in Cameron Parish and the Choctaw in Iberville Parish, Louisiana. Other infrastructure includes 17 Petroleum Refineries combined crude oil distillation capacity of nearly 2.8 million barrels a days, the second highest in nation after Texas. Louisiana is the number of ports, including the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (loop), which is capable of very large oil tankers. Natural gas and electricity dominate the home heating market for similar market shares totaling approximately 47 percent each. Distribute the product of all, Louisiana is home to many major pipelines supplying the nation: Crude oil - Chevron, BP, Texaco, Shell, Exxon, Scurloch-Permian, Mid-Valley, Calumet, Conoco, Koch, Unocal, Dept. of energy, Locap. Product - TEPPCO, Colonial, Chevron, Shell, Plantation, Explorer, Texaco, Collins, BP. Liquefied petroleum gas - Dixie, TEPPCO, Black Lake, Koch, Chevron, Dynegy, Kinder, Dow, Bridgend, FMP, Tejas, TEXACO, UTP. [7] There is a wide range of energy, which is the regional headquarters in the city, including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell Oil Company. The city is home and the world headquarters of two Fortune 500 companies: Entergy Corporation, the energy and infrastructure, which provides, and Freeport-McMoRan copper and gold exploration company.

The federal government has a significant presence in the region. The NASA Michoud Assembly Facility is located in eastern part of Orleans Parish. The facility is operated by Lockheed Martin and is a large manufacturing facility where external fuel tanks are produced in the space shuttles. The Michoud Assembly Facility also houses the National Finance Center operated by the USDA.

In recent years, seeking to diversify its economy, New Orleans is known as "Hollywood South". Many high-budget and critically acclaimed feature films have been made in and around New Orleans over the past few years, as Ray, runaway Jury, The Pelican Brief, The Skeleton Key, Glory Road, All the King's Men, DJ Vu, Last Holiday Failure to Launch, and countless other full-length films and documentaries.

Other companies, which have a significant presence or base in New Orleans include the world headquarters of Entergy Corporation and its subsidiaries, BellSouth, IBM, Navtech, Harrah's (downtown casino), Popeye's Fried Chicken, Zatarain's, Whitney Bank (Corp. HQ), Capital One (banking HQ), Southern Comfort, tidal (Corp HQ), McMoRan Exploration (global company headquarters), and Energy Partners (corp.HQ).

Most large companies that had offices or headquarters in New Orleans is back after Katrina. Also, over 95% of companies with annual revenues of over $ 20,000,000 have been back.

Crime and Police

New Orleans has a high violent crime rates. Its homicide rate is consistently high rankings of the first five with the city since the 1980s, Detroit, New Orleans and Atlanta. In 1994, 421 people died (85.8 per 100,000 people), which is the killing rate, which does not conform with the date of any major U.S. city. But Detroit came very close to 416 killings a year. The homicide rate rose and fell year-on-year throughout the late 1990s, but the overall trend from 1994 to 1999 was a continuous decline in homicides.

Between 1999 and 2004, the homicide rate again increased. New Orleans had the highest murder rate of any major American city in 2002 (53.3 per 100,000 people), and still retains the highest murder rate in 2003, with 275 murders in this report.

Violent crime is a serious problem for New Orleans residents, especially African American, but much less of a problem for tourists. Reports indicate that nearly 90% of Whites live in the city to feel safe within their surroundings, while only about 25% of black people to feel safe surroundings. As in other U.S. cities of comparable size, the incidence of homicide and other violent crimes is highly concentrated in certain city neighborhoods, such as housing projects, which are areas in open air drug trade. Most of the murder victims have criminal records. In 2003, the majority of the victims killed in New Orleans three months after his last arrest. Statistics suggest that only about 9% of murder victims in 2004, the European or Asian descent. The crime is mostly drug-related black-black. Link homicide rate of New Orleans metropolitan statistical area, which covers the suburbs, was 24.4 per 100,000 in 2002.

After Hurricane Katrina, media attention focused on the reduced rate of violent crime after the departure of many new Orleanians. This trend will reverse itself more African-Americans to return to the city, although calculating the homicide rate remains difficult given that no authoritative source can result in a total population. Independently, the statistics show that violent crime has begun to return to the city. City finished the month July 2006, 22 murders, which was the same as before Katrina, the average city since 2002, when the population was much higher. The number of murders this year, 80 by the end of July, put the pace of the city is 58.36 for the murder of 100,000 citizens and a number of murders has continued to increase every month.

Education

Schools

New Orleans Public Schools, the city school district, was one of the region's largest school districts before Hurricane Katrina. It was widely recognized as the smallest school in the region performs Louisiana. According to researchers Carl L. Bankston and Stephen J. Caldas 12 103 but the school zones in New Orleans showed a relatively good results at the beginning of the twenty-first century. After Hurricane Katrina, the state of Louisiana took over most of the school system (all schools, which declined by some "the worst-performing" metric) of about 20 new charter schools have also started, since the storm, educating about 15,000 students.

Greater New Orleans area has approximately 200 parochial schools. The prevalence of parochial schools is both cause and consequence of the riots in the public schools. Because so many middle class students have been enrolled in private schools, middle class support for public education has been relatively weak. At the same time, it is evident, the low quality of public schools in New Orleans has encouraged middle class families to educate their children in private or parochial schools.

Colleges and Universities

A number of universities in a city, including the University of New Orleans, Tulane University, Loyola University New Orleans, Dillard University, Southern University of New Orleans, Xavier University of Louisiana, Louisiana State University Medical School, and our Lady Holy Cross College. Other schools include the Delgado Community College, University of Phoenix, Culinary Institute of New Orleans, Herzing College, Commonwealth University, Notre Dame seminar, and the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Libraries

There are many academic and public libraries and archives in New Orleans, including Monroe Library at Loyola University, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library at Tulane University Law Library of Louisiana, and Earl K. Long Library at the University of New Orleans.

The New Orleans Public Library includes 13 locations, most of which were damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The main library includes a Louisiana Division housing city archives and collections.

Other research archives are located in Historic New Orleans Collection and the Old U.S. Mint.

Culture


Dialect


New Orleans is usually pronounced by locals as the "Well-AW-lyenz", "New Or-Linz" or "New Or-Lenz." The tendency among people around the world to say "New Or-LEENZ" due to the use of that pronunciation is the singers and songwriter, who think it is easy to rhyme, and accepted English name other cities Orleans, in the English speaking world. However, the pronunciation is generally disdained by the residents of New Orleans. Pronunciation "NAW-Linz" is also not generally used nor liked by the local, but it is popularized by the tourist trade.

The distinctive local accent is unlike either Cajun or the stereotypical Southern accent so often misportrayed of the film and television actors. He will, as before, the South Englishes, feature frequent deletion of the vocalic "r". This is similar to New York "Brooklynese" people familiar with the accent. There are several theories about how the accent was, but is likely to result in New Orleans' geographic isolation of the water, and the fact that New Orleans was a major port of entry into the United States throughout the 19th century. Many immigrant groups who reside in Brooklyn also reside in New Orleans, Ireland, Italy, and Germany is one of the major groups.

Prestige is associated with from New Orleans, many residents are likely to factor in the linguistic assimilation are ethnically different from the population. This distinctive accent is the generation of extinction by generation in the city (but it is still very strong, the surrounding parishes). As with many sociolinguistic artifacts, it is usually attested much more strongly by older members of the population. One subtype of the New Orleans accent is sometimes identified as Yat (from "Where y'at). This word is not used as a generalized term for the New Orleans accent, and is generally reserved for the strongest varieties. Also notable are Lexica items specific to the city, such as "lagniappe" (pronounced LAN-Yap) meaning "a little something extra," "Makin 'groceries" (from the French' Making l '-picerie' to make / do shopping) for grocery shopping, or "neutral ground" for a street median (derived from a traditional area between New American neighborhoods and native French, Spanish and Creole neighborhoods or 'faubourg' where it was acceptable for all to meet).

Some other words and names are pronounced differently in the New Orleans vocabulary, while the spelling remains consistent with standard English, or the word's original language. Burgundy for example is pronounced buh-GUN-Dee when referring to the New Orleans street, though other usages of the word (as in the color or the wine) are pronounced as the standard BUR-gun-Dee.

Tribute "City"

The culture of the city has had a profound impact on many people, one of which was Walt Disney, who built a replica of the French Quarter called New Orleans Square in Disneyland park in his 1966, with buildings and Landscaping fitting that of 19th Century New Orleans set upon the park's Rivers of America port. When it opened, Walt Disney had then New Orleans mayor, Victor H. Schirò be made Honorary Mayor of New Orleans Square, and Schirò, in turn, Disney made an Honorary Citizen of the real New Orleans.

Events


Greater New Orleans is home to numerous celebrations, including Mardi Gras and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. New Orleans' most popular celebration is her Carnival, officially beginning on the Feast of the Epiphany; which locals sometimes refer to as "Twelfth Night." The Carnival season is often known (especially by out-of-towners) by the name of its last day, Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday"), held the Tuesday before before the beginning of the Catholic liturgical season of Lent, which by its commencement on Ash Wednesday ends the Carnival season.

The largest of the city's many musical festivals is the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Commonly referred to simply as "Jazz Fest," it is one of the largest music festivals in the nation; and features crowds coming from all over the world to experience music, food, arts and crafts. Despite the name, it features not only jazz but a large variety of music, including both native Louisiana music and nationally-known popular music artists.

Music

New Orleans has always been a significant center for music with its intertwined European, Latin American, and African-American cultures. New Orleans' unique musical heritage was born in its pre-American and early American days with a unique blending of European instruments with African rhythms. As the only North American city to allow slaves to gather in public and play their native music (largely in "Congo Square", now "Armstrong Park"), likely due to the more relaxed attitudes of French and Creole slave owners as compared to their Anglo-American neighbors, New Orleans was blessed to give birth to the nation's only indigenous music, jazz. With New Orleans' large, educated and influential Creole, Haitian and free black population, these African beats intertwined with trained musicians and the city's now famous brass bands gained wide popularity (and they remain just as popular today). Decades later it was home to a distinctive brand of rhythm and blues that contributed greatly to the growth of rock and roll. A great example of the New Orleans sound in the 60s is the #1 US hit "Chapel Of Love" by The Dixie Cups, a song which had the distinction of knocking the Beatles out of the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100. New Orleans became a hotbed for funk music in the 60s and 70s. By the late 1980s it had developed its own localized variant of hip hop called bounce music which, while never commercially successful outside of the Deep South, remained immensely popular in the poor African-American neighborhoods of the city through the 1990s. A cousin of Bounce, New Orleans Rap has seen commercial success locally and internationally. Throughout the 1990s many sludge/doom metal bands have started in the New Orleans area. Notable bands include: Acid Bath, Crowbar, Goatwhore, Soilent Green, Eyehategod, and Down (whose first album was entitled "NOLA"). In addition, the nearby countryside is the home of Cajun music, Zydeco music, and Delta blues.

The city also created its own spin on the old tradition of military brass band funerals; traditional New Orleans funerals with music feature sad music (mostly dirges and hymns) on the way to the cemetery and happy music (hot jazz) on the way back. Such traditional musical funerals still take place when a local musician, a member of a club, krewe, or benevolent society, or a noted dignitary has passed. Until the 1990s most locals preferred to call these "funerals with music," but out of town visitors have long dubbed them "jazz funerals." Younger bands, especially those based in the Treme neighborhood, have embraced the term and now have funerals featuring only jazz music.

Media

The major daily newspaper is the New Orleans Times-Picayune, publishing since 1837. Weekly publications include The Louisiana Weekly and Gambit Weekly. Also in wide circulation is the Clarion Herald, the biweeky newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.


An additional note about WWOZ and WTUL: WWOZ not only plays modern and traditional New Orleans jazz, but also blues, New Orleans R&B, Cajun, zydeco, gospel, Latin, Brazilian, Caribbean, Americana, and more. (It is fondly referred to by many New Orleanians as the "best radio station in the world".) WTUL, the Tulane University station, plays mostly alternative "college circuit" rock on week days; on nights and weekends it has DJs that play Americana, alternative country/bluegrass, jazz, classical, punk/ska, reggae, world beat, and many of the finest local bands and songwriters.

Two very famous pop music stations in New Orleans, quite influential in playing and promoting New Orleans-based bands and singers, were 50,000-watt WNOE-1060 and 10,000-watt WTIX-690. These two stations competed head-to-head for most of the period from the late 50's to the late 70's, and are considered by many in the Gulf Coast region as legendary top 40 radio stations.

Sites of interest


Greater New Orleans has many major attractions, from the world-renowned Bourbon Street and the French Quarter's notorious nightlife, St. Charles Avenue (home of Tulane and Loyola Universities), and many stately 19th century mansions.

Favorite tourist scenes in New Orleans include the French Quarter (known locally as "the Quarter"), which dates from the French and Spanish eras and is bounded by the Mississippi River and Rampart Street, Canal Street and Esplanade Ave. The French Quarter contains many popular hotels, bars, and nightclubs, most notably around Bourbon Street. Other notable tourist attractions in the quarter include Jackson Square, New Orleans Cathedral, the French Market (including Caf du Monde, famous for caf au lait and beignets), and jazz at Preservation Hall.

Also located near the French Quarter is the old New Orleans Mint, formerly a branch of the United States Mint, now operates as a museum. The National D-Day Museum (renamed as the National WWII Museum) is a relatively new museum (opened on June 6, 2000) dedicated to providing information and materials related to the allied invasion of Normandy, France. The Natchez is an authentic steamboat with a calliope which tours the Mississippi twice daily.

Art museums in the city include the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) in City Park and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Audubon Park, the Audubon Zoo, and the Aquarium of the Americas are also located in the city of New Orleans. New Orleans is also noted for its many beautiful cemeteries. Some notable cemeteries in the city include Saint Louis Cemetery and Metairie Cemetery.

Significant gardens include Longue Vue House and Gardens and the New Orleans Botanical Garden. Gardens are also found in places like City Park and Audubon Park. City Park still has one of the largest if not the largest stands of oak trees in the world.

Chalmette Battlefield, located just below the city, is the site of the Battle of New Orleans in which General Andrew Jackson repelled between 11,000 and 14,500 seasoned British troops. General Jackson banded together local New Orleans citizens, Choctaw Indians, local Barataria pirates (the infamous Jean Lafitte), and the first all free black militia in order to route the British. The final battle of the war of 1812 took place in January of 1815 (officially after the war had ended). It is speculated that had the British taken New Orleans the Treaty of Ghent would have been discarded and hostilities would have continued[10]. Andrew Jackson gained enough fame from the battle of New Orleans to be elected Americas President in 1828. Tours of the battlefield are available and an annual reenactment is held every year.

Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, bus tours of the damaged areas became popular and are still available.

Food

New Orleans is world-famous for its food. Like its Jazz, New Orleans is blessed with the only truly indigenous local cuisine in the nation. From the infiltration of hearty cajun country fare over the centuries to the local creole, haute creole and New Orleans French cuisines, New Orleans food is perhaps its most cherished possession. Local ingredients, African, French, Spanish and Cajun traditions combine to produce a truly unique and easily recognizable New Orleans flavor.

Unique specialties include beignets, square-shaped fried pastries that are sometimes called French doughnuts (served with coffee and chicory "au lait"); Po'boy and Italian Muffalettas; Gulf oysters on the half-shell, boiled crawfish, and other seafood; touff e, jambalaya, gumbo, and other Creole dishes; and the Monday evening favorite of red beans and rice. (Louis Armstrong often signed his letters, "red beans and ricely yours.") New Orleans residents enjoy some of the best restaurants in the United States that cater specifically to locals, and visitors are encouraged to try the local establishments recommended by their hosts.

Sport

New Orleans is the home of four professional sports teams, the New Orleans Saints of the NFL, the New Orleans Hornets of the NBA, the New Orleans VooDoo of the AFL, and the New Orleans Zephyrs, a PCL baseball team affiliated with the New York Mets. New Orleans is also home to the New Orleans Blaze, a women's football team in the National Women's Football Association. New Orleans also has college teams from Tulane, Loyola, UNO, Xavier, and Dillard. The city hosts two college football bowl games annually: the New Orleans Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. The city also holds the Bayou Classic, which is an annual college football game between Grambling State University and Southern University. Nine Super Bowls have been held in New Orleans.

Historically, many teams have been formerly located in the city, including the New Orleans Pelicans baseball team (1887–1959; 1977), the New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League, the New Orleans Night of the Arena Football League (1991–1992), and the New Orleans Brass ice hockey team (1997–2003). Former basketball teams were the New Orleans Buccaneers (c. 1967–1970), and the New Orleans Jazz (1974–1980) which became the Utah Jazz. The New Orleans Halfmoons, a women's rugby team and member of USA Rugby, was disbanded after it's members were scattered by Hurricane Katrina. The Halfmoons, one of the oldest women's teams in the United States, hosted the annual "Throw Me Something Rugger" tournament held the weekend before Fat Tuesday.

New Orleans is also home to the New Orleans Yacht Club and Southern Yacht Club, both of which are located at West End on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Southern Yacht Club was established in 1849, it is the second oldest yacht club in the United States. The building was severely damaged, first by storm surge and then by fire, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

In 1991, 1992, and 1995, New Orleans was also home to the Grand Prix du Mardi Gras. The sports car races took place on 2 different street circuits downtown. The circuit used in 1991 used streets near the riverfront, but was regarded as being too narrow. A course that ran around the Superdome was used the other years. Low attendance, dates that resulted in hot or rainy weather, and complaints from business owners contributed to the event's demise.

The Big Easy Rollergirls have the distinction of being the only flat-track derby team in the nation that had to start up twice - Katrina scattered many of its members to other cities. As of September 2006, The Big Easy Rollergirls has about 60 active members and will begin their first public bout season this month.


Infrastructure


Notable buildings


New Orleans' tallest building is the 51-story One Shell Square. The approved 67-story Trump International Hotel & Tower would be the tallest building in the city and state if built at the proposed height of 700 feet (213 m). New Orleans is now entering what could become a large downtown residential building boom, with multiple high-rise towers already planned for the city.


Transportation


Streetcars


There are three active streetcar lines moved by electric motors powered by DC wires overhead. The St. Charles line (green cars, formerly connecting New Orleans with the then independent suburb of Carrollton) is the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in New Orleans and a historic landmark. The Riverfront line (also known as the Ladies in Red since the cars are painted red) runs parallel to the river from Canal Street through the French Quarter to the Convention Center above Julia Street in the Arts District. The Canal Street line uses the Riverfront line tracks from Esplanade Street to Canal Street, then branches off down Canal Street and ends at the cemeteries at City Park Avenue with a spur running from the intersection of Canal and Carrollton Avenue to the entrance of City Park at Esplanade near the entrance to the New Orleans Museum of Art.

The city's streetcars were also featured in the Tennessee Williams play, A Streetcar Named Desire. The streetcar line to Desire Street became a bus line in 1948. There are proposals to revive a Desire light rail streetcar line.

As of April 2006, the St. Charles streetcar line is still not operational due to overhead wire damage from Hurricane Katrina. The Canal line is functioning, but the red cars were flooded by the hurricane, so the green cars are currently running on the Canal line.

Buses

Public transportation in the city is operated by New Orleans Regional Transit Authority ("RTA"). There are many bus routes connecting the city and suburban areas. The Jefferson Parish Department of Transit Administration operates Jefferson Transit which provides service between the city and its suburbs.

Proposed Light Rail

Recently, many have proposed extending New Orleans's public transit system by adding light rail routes from downtown along Airline Highway through the airport to Baton Rouge and from downtown to Slidell and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Proponents of this idea claim that these new routes would boost the region's economy, which has been badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina, and serve as an evacuation option for hospital patients out of the city.

Roads

Roads in the city are arranged in a radial grid pattern, emanating out to various parts of town from a central point north of the Central Business District. I-10 loops east-west through the city, and traverses the northern edge of the Central Business District, taking traffic west towards Baton Rouge, Louisiana and east-northeast to Slidell, Louisiana. The "Highrise" carries I-10 across the Industrial Canal.

Farther east, the I-10 connects New Orleans East with Slidell, bridging an arm of Lake Pontchartrain. This crossing, a dual causeway known as the "Twin Spans," was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina. By October 2005 single lanes in each direction had been reopened on the eastbound span. The westbound span was reopened in early January 2006. The Twin Spans is to be replaced with a new six-lane bridge, expected to be completed in 2009. As I-10 heads south from Metairie towards the Central Business District, it is called the Pontchartrain Expressway.

I-610 provides a direct shortcut across Lakeview and Gentilly, allowing through traffic to bypass I-10's L-shaped route which traverses the more congested areas.

US 90 leaves the Central Business District and goes west through the city's Uptown neighborhood via South Claiborne Avenue, crossing the Missisisppi River at the Huey P. Long Bridge near the unincorporated suburb of Jefferson on the East Bank and Bridge City on the West Bank. I-10 is also connected to I-12, north of Lake Pontchartrain, via the tolled Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, consisting of two parallel bridges, which are also the longest in the world.

The interstate highways serving New Orleans were laid out in the middle of the 20th century, a time when a larger proportion of Gulf of Mexico freight traffic passed through New Orleans. I-10 goes west to Houston and beyond and east to Mobile and Florida, with I-59 and I-55 heading northward to Birmingham and Jackson, respectively. Later, I-12 created a shortcut that avoided crossing Lake Pontchartrain. In Slidell, I-59 and I-12 both end at an interchange with I-10, which turns southward toward New Orleans while I-12 continues straight to rejoin I-10 in Baton Rouge. There are also plans to extend I-49 from Lafayette to New Orleans. The route would follow U.S. Highway 90 and the Westbank Expressway, placing the southern terminus at I-10 behind the Superdome. The southern termini of US Highways 11 and 61 are in New Orleans, and US 51 terminates just west of the city, in LaPlace.

The Pontchartrain Expressway (U.S. Highway 90's business route), becomes the Westbank Expressway south of the Mississippi River. Along its route west then northwest from the Crescent City Connection bridge to its terminus at I-10 near the Superdome, the Pontchartrain Expressway follows the path of the former New Basin Canal, dug in the 19th century by thousands of immigrant (mostly Irish) laborers, and filled in in 1947. Some of the older warehouse structures still standing along the Pontchartrain Expressway can trace their roots to their days along the banks of the canal.

Roads along the Mississippi River were the first to carry overland traffic into New Orleans. US 51 (the "Old Hammond Highway"), US 90, and US 11 followed old Indian routes along slight ridges to become the first automotive highways. Louisiana governor Huey P. Long championed Airline Highway (US 61) to bypass the circuitous river road between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The route of today's US 90 east of New Orleans once included a ferry crossing at Fort Pike. Governor Long built public draw bridges at the Rigolets as political retaliation against the operators of a then-private toll bridge across Lake Pontchartrain. Long achieved his objective: the toll bridge failed commercially and is now owned by the State, and is now a part of US 11. US 11 was the escape route for Ignatius J. Reilly at the end of John Kennedy Toole's novel, A Confederacy of Dunces.

West of New Orleans, the Ruddock exit at milepost 6 of I-55 is the only trace left of a thriving community that was literally washed away by the hurricane of September 1915. Frenier Beach Hurricane Storm Surge Revisited In the 1960s, a controversial "Dixie Freeway" that would have been designated I-410 would have created an "outer loop" encompassing St. Bernard Parish, the westbank areas of New Orleans and Jefferson, and back across the river in St. Charles Parish where I-310 now runs. Environmental concern for the wetlands south of New Orleans and economic considerations derailed those plans.

Airports

The metropolitan area is served by Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, located approximately nine miles west of the city in the suburb of Kenner. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, it served millions of passengers on approximately 300 nonstop flights per day to or from destinations throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The airport also handled a significant amount of charter operations to/from Europe, with which it's had a significant degree of success in retrieving. As of September 2006, Armstrong International is projected to return to 67% of its pre-Katrina total traffic, by seat-count; and 75% of the number of pre-stormed destinations served.

Within the city itself is Lakefront Airport, a small, general aviation airport, as well as the New Orleans Downtown Heliport, located on the roof of the Louisiana Superdome's parking garage. There are also several regional airports located throughout the metropolitan area. These include the military base in Belle Chase Louisiana, and "Southern Seaplane" also located in Belle Chase Louisiana. Southern Seaplane has a 3200 foot runway for wheeled planes and a 5000 foot water runway for seaplanes.

Railroad

The city is also served by rail via Amtrak. The New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal is the central rail depot, and it is served by three trains: the Crescent to New York City, the City of New Orleans to Chicago, and the Sunset Limited from Orlando to Los Angeles.

In addition, the city is served by six of North America's seven Class I freight railroads. Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway approach the city from the west, Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX enter from the east, and the Canadian National Railway and Kansas City Southern Railway from the north. The New Orleans Public Belt, a branch of the New Orleans city government, provides interchange services between the railroads.