Rising Tide Supports RTA's TIGER III Grant Application

Sent today to Veolia.

Dear Madams and Sirs:

Rising Tide, Inc. is a Louisiana non-profit group of community members who strive to be a mechanism through which citizens concerned about their community inform themselves and each other about issues that affect their lives. As such, our membership and board are made up of individuals who remain informed of infrastructure developments in New Orleans. Because of this, we strongly support the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (“RTA”) TIGER 3 application for the expansion of the streetcar service in New Orleans along the St. Claude Avenue corridor from Elysian Fields Ave to Poland Ave.

The TIGER 1 investment in New Orleans made by the Loyola Streetcar line has resulted economic development in our downtown business and entertainment district. The RTA has committed $75 million in its own bond funds to an extension of this line along the historic French Quarter. The St. Claude Streetcar line proposed in this application for TIGER 3 funds will extend that prosperous streetcar line further into the growing neighborhoods on both sides of St. Claude Avenue downriver. As engaged citizens, we believe the extension of the streetcar will benefit New Orleanians of all economic backgrounds in many of the diverse communities the proposed St. Claude line will serve.

We thank you for listening to the priorities of businesses, residents, and public agencies and supporting this streetcar's development.

Sincerely,

Rising Tide, Inc.


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Thank you

We hope you thoroughly enjoyed Rising Tide 6. Please tell us about your RT experience in the comments. What did you like most (or least)? What should we keep (or change) for next year?

The organizers want to thank everyone who helped make the conference possible: the attendees and online viewers, the moderators and panelists, the vendors and sponsors, the volunteers and donors, the food and beverage providers, the videographers and musicians... Special thanks to keynote speakers Richard Campanella and David Simon, and to our wonderful hosts at Xavier University. 

Brass.

The Brass Bands panel is closing out Rising Tide 6. Tune into the webcast for a performance from TBC Brass Band.

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Ashley Morris Award Presentation

Congratulations, G-Bitch!

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Tech School Afternoon

Right now at tech school, Katy Monnot of the The Louisiana Bloggers Network will be discussing improving the photography on your blog to showcase premium content.

After that at 3:40pm, local attorney Ben Varadi will host a presentation regarding Property Rights and Online Content.


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New Orleans Food Writing

David Simon wraps up and the New Orleans food panel is now up on the main stage.

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David Simon Keynote

Right now at Rising Tide 6. Check the live webcast if you can't be here.

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Kickstarter @ Tech School

Tech School rocks on at Rising Tide 6.

Right now, Justin Sheils is discussing raising money through Kickstarter funding platforms for creative projects.

"Recapping the Well" is still on the main stage and is available on the webcast.

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Define Your Neighborhood

In a synergy that happens at conferences like Rising Tide, Alan Williams at Neighborland was inspired by Rich Campanella's morning keynote and asks: how you define your New Orleans neighborhood.

Click on over and let them know.

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Recapping the Well

Now on the Main Stage. Follow along with the webcast, on Twitter (and here), and with folks liveblogging (First Draft, Levees Not War, Sky Dancing).

Noladishu liveblogged the panel.

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Neighborland @ Tech School

The applause from the next room is audible every time a Tech School panel wraps up. Next on the agenda is Alan Williams presenting Neighborland (& on Twitter), a new tool helping connect people concerning what they want out of their neighborhoods.

You can follow Rising Tide Tech School from LA Blogger's Network.

Main stage is taking a break. Next up is Recapping the Well Panel.

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Hurricane Irene Updates

Even as we talk about New Orleans and Gulf Coast recovery 6 years later, our hearts go out to our family, friends, and fellow Americans in the Carolinas. Looks like they got hit by a massive surge, and loss of life and massive property damage is already being reported. A lot of people are going to be hurting from this.

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FSC Interactive @ Rising Tide Tech School

McKenzie Coco from FCS Interactive now discussing "Using Google+ and Facebook Places. Follow Tech School tweets along with Louisiana Blogger's Network.

Tech School is not being livecast, so you actually have to show up! But you can still catch the live webcast of the Social Media, Social Justice panel from the main stage.

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Tech School & Social Justice, Social Media

Rising Tide's first ever Tech School will begin with Chris Boudy talking about Advanced Wordpress Techniques. You can follow Tech School tweets from Louisiana Blogger's Network

Main room will be Social Media, Social Justice panel. Follow what people are saying about Rising Tide at hashtag #RT6.

Also found out that Mark La Flur is liveblogging at Levees Not War.

Big thanks for Uptown Messenger and Gambit for posting the webcast.


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Richard Campanella Right Now

Dakinikat at Skydancer is liveblogging. So is Athenae at First Draft.

If anyone else is liveblogging, let us know in the comments or on Twitter.

.

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Live Webcast Tomorrow

You can still register for Rising Tide 6 until midnight tonight. After that, you'll still be able to pay at the door, but it'll be $5 more. Don't forget to bring a canned good for a good cause.

If you can't make it to town, though, and would still like to plug in, the webcast will be conveniently located, and will inlcude a handy donations button.

See y'all tomorrow!



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Accepting Food Donations

Once again, at the Rising Tide Conference, we will be collecting non-perishable foods for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana.

For one in eight Louisianans, hunger is a reality. Many people believe that the problems associated with hunger are confined to small pockets in a community, certain areas of our state, or even certain neighborhoods, but the reality is much different.
Right now, thousands of men, women and children in south Louisiana are struggling with hunger. We all know and are in contact with people affected by hunger, even though we might not be aware of it.
These are often hard-working adults, children and seniors who simply cannot make ends meet and are forced to go without food for several meals, or even days. Most of us simply have no idea. It’s time to educate ourselves about hunger in south Louisiana and beyond.

In these difficult economic times, more people than ever are relying on the food bank, which has been stretched to beyond its limits. Give to Second Harvest when you attend Rising Tide VI on August 27th.

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Rising Tide 6 Poster and Ts

Once again our own Greg Peters has raised the high bar of his own creation and delivered another brilliant poster for Rising Tide. In the process, he independently authored a theme for this year's conference, Dark Horse Rising, and he's added words to his art this time, a poem on the poster that's also the back of this year's T-shirt.

The posters are signed and numbered and, along with the T-shirts, can be pre-ordered on our EventBrite registration page and picked up at RT6. Shipping is also available for those who can't make it to the conference (just purchase a shipping ticket). If you have questions, please either use the contact the host link in the right gutter or email us at registration@risingtidenola.com.

This year, we've completely restructured our ordering, production and fulfillment procedures so are expecting merchandise delivery to be glitch-free.

We are Horse,
mount and
rider one,
Cheval Noir.
Together our
hooves will
shatter this
long night
into
diamonds
bone
and ash.

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RT6: Ashley Morris Award Nominations

Mominem handled this post last year, so I'll just copy most of what he wrote:

One of the now traditional events at the Annual Rising Tide Conference is the recognition of the winner of the annual Ashley Morris Award. In 2011, we are again pleased to open up the nominations to the entire New Orleans Internet Community. We are asking everyone to submit their nominations for this award by commenting on this post.

Photo by Emily Ardoin

The Ashley Morris Award

The Ashley Morris award was established in 2008 to honor and remember one of the founding members of Rising Tide, Dr. Ashley Morris. It is presented in cooperation with Hana Morris. The award is given annually to someone who embodies Ashley's fierce passionate defense of New Orleans, its people and its culture.

Past recipients are:

2006 Dr. Ashley Morris (retroactively and posthumously). Ashley was a major figure in the New Orleans Internet community and beyond. He carried his love for New Orleans literally on sleeve, or rather under it in the form of a very large fleur-de-lis tattoo. His famously fierce and profane reactions to any attack on New Orleans became legendary in the months and years after the Federal Flood. His larger than life personality still resonates as one of the inspirations for the Treme character Creighton Bernette, played by John Goodman. Bernette has been known to speak words originally written by Ashley. Ashley's blog is still available, check out the greatest hits.

2007 Matt McBride (retroactively). Matt chronicled the construction of the temporary pumps and other features of the flood protection system of New Orleans. Matt's detailed research and on site observations showed that a committed person with the right knowledge can make a difference. Matt continues to cover the work on New Orleans Flood Protection at Fix the Pumps.

2008 Karen Gadbois quoting from Gambit's January 2009 recognition of Karen as A New Orleanian of the year for 2008;

... armed with little more than a laptop and a digital camera, singlehandedly blew the whistle on the New Orleans Affordable Housing scandal, which she documented on her blog, www.squanderedheritage.com. The result? An FBI investigation, admiring writeups of her efforts in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and new respect for the power of the citizen blogger.

Karen later won a Dupont Award for her work with Lee Zurik on a 50 part series exposing problems with NOAH. She also has since founded The Lens, a non-profit investigative news site that works with WDSU Fox8 on joint investigations.

2009 Ashe Dambala a.k.a. The American Zombie. Writing anonymously about the shenanigans in the City Hall IT department publishing rumors and reports from insiders Dambala had the whole Meffert/Nagin scam long before it surfaced in the main stream media. He had the goods and Meffert is now under indictment. Jason Berry has revealed he is Dambala.

2010 Clifton Harris who writes at Cliff's Crib. Cliff consistently offered a personal, poigniant, and self-evaluating insight to culture in New Orleans. His posts are ardent defenses of New Orleans even as they drive stinging criticisms into the very things that strangle this city.

While he may not display the in-your-face emotion of the late Dr. Morris, Cliff has consistently written with equal parts humor, heartbreak, and defiant resiliency on a host of topics that include, but are not limited to, sports, politics, education, popular culture, and the African-American community. His writing has also been featured A Howling in the Wires.


2011 - ? That's where you come in, gentle reader, as the nominations are open. Robust explanations of why your nominee should recieve this award are helpful, but, like a lot of things connected with Rising Tide the qualifications are flexible and subject to subjective interpretation. Non-eligible individuals include Rising Tide organizers and previous Award recipients. Nominations will close at 5pm Central on Wednesday, August 17th, and the Rising Tide organizers will meet to decide which of the nominees will recieve the glass block.

The Award will be announced at Rising Tide 6, August 27.

Rising Tide NOLA INC, reserves final responsibility for all decisions.



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RT6: Brass Bands Panel

“Have you ever been called home by the clear ringing of silver trumpets?” - Boromir

Brass. New Orleans. Music.

You don’t need to hear me say a lot more than that, because anyone on planet Earth who’s ever heard of New Orleans has probably heard a wailing of horns to accompany those words. Your auditory memory is probably calling up some clarion introduction right now. Half of you reading this are likely tapping your feet right now to keep time.

I don’t need to say a whole lot else, but there is a lot left to be said. Where does this culture come from? How does it regenerate and reinvent itself with every generation of New Orleans youth? Who are these people who dare to raise a sound like that?

Rising Tide is happy to introduce you to a few of them. Come hear their stories.

The Brass Bands Panel will feature Lawrence Rawlins, band director of Roots of Music; Alejandro de los Rios, producer of the Brass Roots documentary; members of the TBC Brass Band Edward “Juicy” Jackson, Joe Maize and Sean Michael Roberts; moderated by writer Deborah Cotton and followed by a performance by the TBC Brass Band.

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RT6: Social Media, Social Justice Panel

More and more people around the world use blogs and social network services. Their power to connect people and publish diverse voices raises questions about the possibility of using new media as organizing tools for social change. For example, blogs played a crucial role in organizing protests in Jena, Louisiana, in 2007. This panel will examine the intersection and interaction of social media with the struggle for a more just and humane society. Can tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, blogs, YouTube, et cetera, facilitate such work, and if so how? We’ve all heard about how social media fueled the revolution in Egypt, but what’s going on locally? Conversely, might social media actually impede the struggle for justice? Are we just “amusing ourselves to death”? Does new media present new opportunities, or do we face the same issues as ever?

Moderator: Bart Everson from Xavier University’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching.

Jordan Flaherty - Flaherty was the first journalist with a national audience to write about the case of the Jena Six, and his award-winning reporting from the Gulf Coast has been featured in a range of outlets from the New York Times to Al Jazeera to Argentina's Clarin newspaper. He has reported on protest movements in the Middle East and met with Egyptian bloggers after the revolution there. He is the author of Floodlines: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena Six and has blogged at justiceroars.org.

Cherri Foytlin - Foytlin is an oil worker's wife, mother of six, Louisiana resident and journalist whose family has been deeply impacted by the BP Oil Disaster and consequential moratorium on deep water drilling. She co-founded Gulf Change, blogs forwww.BridgeTheGulfProject.org, and walked to Washington D.C. from New Orleans (1,243 miles) to call for action to stop the BP oil disaster. She has been a constant voice, speaking out to the Obama Administration's Gulf Oil Spill Commission, and in countless forms of media. Cherri will continue her fight for the industries, people, culture and wildlife of south Louisiana and the Gulf Coast "until we are made whole again."

Jimmy Huck, Jr. - Huck is a professor at Tulane University in the Stone Center for Latin American Studies and functions as the Center’s Graduate Advisor. He sits on the Executive Committee of Tulane University’s Center for Public Service and is currently a Board member of Puentes New Orleans. His blog is “The Huck Upchuck” and he has been blogging since August of 2002. He has been involved in monitoring anti-illegal immigrant legislation in the Louisiana Legislature over the past three years and has traveled up to Baton Rouge on occasion to testify against such legislation. He has used his blog as well as other social media such as Facebook to mobilize grass-roots action regarding such legislation, and in the general promotion of social justice. His professional and intellectual interests include re-invigorating the idea of the academy as a proper vehicle for cultivating civic identity, educating for democracy, and transforming knowledge into social action.

Stephen Ostertag - Ostertag is a sociologist at Tulane University. His research and teaching are in the areas of news media, democracy and citizenship; and crime, incarceration and inequalities. He is currently researching the growing social organization of bloggers and its implications for the production, dissemination, and consumption of news and information. He also recently started a blog named PublicSphereNOLA. Stephen is originally from Connecticut, where he was a volunteer with the Hartford Independent Media Center.

Register for Rising Tide 6 at Eventbrite.

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