My name is Erica Amrine and I’m an original co-founder of Clouet Gardens. Please read to the end for the full story and learn how you can help. Big thank you to Stella for harnessing that fire horse energy and getting our community support ball rolling!!

"Clouet Gardens offers a peaceful retreat for the community. There are plenty of tables and chairs, shade from trees, beautiful landscaping, space for dogs to run and play, a little free library, recycling bins, and a plethora of neighborhood events, with a focus on events for children. All of these amenities have been implemented by neighbors, at the expense of the neighbors, because as a community, we are willing to invest in the space. 

To say that Clouet Gardens is a magical and necessary space for the community is an understatement. It has become an important fixture in the neighborhood, and we are not asking, but demanding that the space not only remain a public green space, but that it will be made a PERMANENT park/green space forever.”

Let me boil down nearly twenty years of boring, nuanced bureaucracy into a couple of paragraphs ; ) Clouet Gardens is a “vacant” scatter site owned by the Housing Authority of New Orleans. After Katrina, it became a dangerous nuisance, so the neighbors began caring for it. In 2011, we were graciously granted a ten-year lease, and although we did not have permission to add any infrastructure, we were able to create a safe, thriving community space. When the lease expired in 2021, HANO continued to be supportive owners by extending the lease to us on an annual basis. While this arrangement obviously leads to uncertainty for the future of the park, the biggest problem was that HANO is beholden to the federal offices of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. We do not fit into their mission of affordable housing. HUD became aware of us during an audit in 2023, and HANO is no longer legally able to rent the property to us.

While there has been talk of developing Clouet Gardens in the past (specifically during the ITEX negotiations for the property at Mazant and Royal), this is not currently on the table. Earlier this year, I met with representatives of HANO, Council Member Freddie King, invested neighbors, and a handful of lawyers to discuss the status of the park. I can earnestly tell you that everyone is on board for keeping it a community green space, but it is going to take a lot of work. That is where you come in! My first task is to gather overwhelming proof of community support to show to HUD. It is possible we can convince them to allow the property to be leased to us again, transferred to another city department such as Parks and Parkways, or sold to our group.

Share your stories and love for Clouet Gardens in the comments!

VOLUNTEER: Aside from the online petition, I would love to have help gathering actual signatures from community members. Also, if you have any non-profit, business organization, and/or grant writing skills you’d be willing to donate, I know I will need your help in the future. We will be starting an entirely new thing from scratch, and it will be exciting! Please email clouetgardens@gmail.com to get involved. You can also email any personal thoughts, ideas and testimonies my way. Thanks in advance for your help. Together, we can do this!!

DISCLAIMER: For the record, HANO is VERY much friend, not foe. We have the utmost gratitude for their support over the years. We are also NOT anti-affordable housing. If an appropriate plan for the property had ever presented itself, I’m not sure I would have fought it. But as the neighborhood stands these days, and with multiple affordable housing projects in the works, I feel certain this property serves much more purpose as a green space for all than it would as a ten unit, supposedly affordable apartment complex. We could say the park fits into the mission of affordable housing in that those in subsidized housing often do not have yards of their own, and everyone needs a little green space in their lives.