Tag: New Orleans

French Quarter’s Westin Hotel completes $30 million makeover

Observatory Eleven at sunset. Courtesy of The Westin New Orleans.

A French Quarter upscale hotel wants you to know that it has a new look.

On Thursday, The Westin New Orleans announced that it completed an expansive, and expensive, revitalization effort that spanned the entire hotel.

The $30 million dollar redesign added a total of 30,000 square feet across 18 rooms on the property.

Hotel developers worked with Canadian firm Moncur Design Associates, which incorporated some of the local aesthetic to include the city’s history, culture, architecture and natural elements like southern oaks with hanging moss.

Three new additions include a new bar restaurant and ballroom.

All three — Observatory Eleven, Bistro at the Bend and Riverbend Ballroom — are all located on the 11th floor of the hotel and overlook the Mississippi River.

Observatory Eleven is a circular bar and includes approximately 2,3000 square feet of space. Dan Levy runs the drinks program at the bar.

Chef Daniel Mills, formerly of The Roosevelt New Orleans hotel, runs Bistro at the Bend. Some of his signature dishes include blue crab beignets, Gulf Coast au gratin, blackened scallops and pimento cheese arancini. The restaurant seats 104 people.

The ballroom is 4,200 square feet and holds 280 people.

The hotel, which rises to 19 floors and includes 462 rooms, is located at 100 Iberville Street near Canal Place.

The Westin is a hotel chain owned by Marriott International, which is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.

Woman convicted in fatal 2017 stabbing on Decatur Street sentenced to weekends in jail, probation

Dannisha Green

A woman was sentenced by a Orleans Parish judge on Wednesday to serve probation and nearly a year’s worth of weekends in jail after pleading guilty to the fatal stabbing of her friend on Decatur Street in 2017, according to court records.

Dannisha Green, 22, pleaded guilty in August to manslaughter and aggravated battery in the killing of Brittany Seymour following an altercation on June 15, 2017.

Green and Seymour were arguing in the 200 block of Decatur Street shortly after 1 a.m. when the fight turned physical and shifted to the 300 block, according to the New Orleans Police Department.

Onlookers eventually separated the two but noticed that Seymour was suffering from a stab would, the NOPD said.

Seymour, who was reportedly out celebrating her 22nd birthday, later died at a local hospital.

Green turned herself in less than a week later, the NOPD said.

The original indictment filed against against Green in 2017 included a second-degree murder charge, but that was dropped by prosecutors on August 26, according to court records.

Green pleaded guilty to her remaining charges on that same day, records show.

Then on Jan. 8, Green appeared before Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Camille Buras to be sentenced.

Before Green’s sentence was handed down, court records show, several victim impact statements were read in open court, including from the victim’s mother, Kimi Seymour.

Buras then ordered Green to serve five years of probation, 200 hours of community service and 49 weekends in the Orleans Parish Justice Center starting on Jan. 24, according to court records.

Additionally, court records show, Green has to submit to one year of drug and alcohol screening, attend anger management counseling and observe a curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

The judge also gave Green a 10-year suspended prison sentence, meaning that she could serve the entire term if she fails to report to jail on the weekend.

Buras accounted for Green’s lack of a criminal record and a video turned over to NOPD that allegedly showed bystanders failing to intervene in the fight, according to nola.com

Police arrest suspect in Jan. 7 Bourbon Street shooting

Dominic Massa. Courtesy of the NOPD.

A man was arrested Tuesday evening for an alleged shooting on Bourbon Street that occurred earlier in the day, according to New Orleans police.

The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) arrested Dominic Massa, 25, on Jan. 7 following an investigation into the shooting in the 100 block of Bourbon Street that left a female victim injured

According to the NOPD, the victim was shot in the elbow at approximately 6:58 a.m. and later transported to a local hospital via ambulance.

During the investigation, the NOPD said, police determined that Massa was the shooter.

Massa was arrested without incident by NOPD Eighth District detectives with assistance of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Massa was booked on suspicion of aggravated battery by shooting, the NOPD said.

Anyone with additional information on this incident is asked to contact NOPD Eighth District Detectives at 504-658-6080.

NOPD investigates shooting on Bourbon Street

Brendan Riley | Flickr CC

New Orleans police are investigating a Tuesday morning shooting that occurred on Bourbon Street.

An initial report tweeted by the New Orleans Police Department shortly after 7:30 a.m. showed that a female victim was shot in the elbow in the 100 block of Bourbon Street.

The victim was transported to the local hospital via ambulance.

No other details were immediately available.

City to French Quarter residents: give us your recycled Christmas trees on Jan. 8 to help restore Louisiana’s coastline

skooksie via Flickr | CC

French Quarter residents on Wednesday are encouraged by city officials to recycle their Christmas trees in an effort to help restore Louisiana’s coastline.

Residents in the French Quarter, who are serviced by Empire Services, must place their trees at the location of their regular garbage collection before 4 a.m. on Jan. 8, said city spokeswoman LaTonya Norton.

Coastal restoration — producing barrier islands, marshes and swamps along the coast — is crucial to reducing incoming storm surge and flooding, according to the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA).

The CPRA estimates that, without mitigating action, the Louisiana coastline could use up to 4,120 square miles in the next 50 years.

The trees help slow erosion, trap sediment and provide a buffer to slow down waves while keeping them out of landfills, according to the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana.

Only natural, unflocked trees that are free of all strands and trimming — including ornaments, tinsel, lights, tree stands, etc. — can be recycled, Norton added. Unflocked trees are those without artificial frosting.

Flocked and artificial trees and trees in bags, or trees with trimming that has not been removed, will be collected with garbage and transported to the landfill, Norton said, adding that trees should not be placed on the neutral grounds because it delays the collection process.

Many New Orleans residents are now in the process of disposing their trees following Twelfth Night, which signifies the end of the Christmas holiday and marking the beginning of the Mardi Gras season.

The effort to restore the coastline with recycled Christmas trees is a collaboration between the city’s Department of Sanitation and its solid waste contractors, the Louisiana National Guard and the city’s Office of Resilience and Sustainability, which funds the project, Norton said.

The agencies will work together to collect, sort and bundle trees, which will be placed in selected coastal zones, Norton said.

In 2019, more than 6,000 Christmas trees were collected in Orleans Parish after the holidays. They were airlifted by the Louisiana National Guard into Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge as part of a program to create new marsh habitat.