EvacuSpots
NOTE: This is only a rendering and not what markers will actually look like. On October 17th, 2011 the Arts Council released a Call To Artists. Click here for more information and a project timeline.
Read our letters of financial and political support:
$100,000 Commitment, Arts Council of New Orleans
$30,273.28, 500 donors via the Magic Bucket
Letter of Support for Evacuteer Public Art, Councilmember Kristin G. Palmer
Letter of Support for Evacuteer Public Art, Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Sneed
Letter of Commitment, Designmatters
Contribute to this project:
For gifts over $1,000 or inquiries into naming rights please email Robert X. Fogarty: robert@evacuteer.org or call 504.344.9833.
Overview
One of the major improvements in the recovery and preparedness in New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina is the free, public evacuation called the City Assisted Evacuation Plan. The plan is inclusive, it's City-wide and can accommodate over 30,000 residents who don't have the ability to evacuation on their own in advance of a Category 3 or higher hurricane.
Seventeen neighborhood pick-up points are a critical component of the plan. The 17 pickup points span all City Council Districts and both sides of the Mississippi River. At present, the signs that mark where exactly to report evacuation pick-up are about the size of the City of New Orleans "two hour parking signs."
New Orleans is a City of things uncommon and its unique and comprehensive evacuation plan is a bright spot in terms of emergency preparedness post Hurricane Katrina.
Evacuteer.org, a non-profit that aids and enhances the CAEP, proposes a collaborative effort between the Arts Council of New Orleans, American Institute of Architects and the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness to commission 17 public art pieces to not only beautify the neighborhoods that house the pick-up points, but to serve as visually-striking and memorable cultural landmarks that also serve as the neighborhood pick-up point meeting place in the case of an evacuation of New Orleans.
The start of the 2011 Hurricane Season begins June 1.
Overview of the City Assisted Evacuation Plan
The City Assisted Evacuation Plan is designed to move 25,000-30,000 New Orleanians without their own transportation out of the City in the case of a mandatory evacuation in advance of a Category three or higher storm. The vast majority of these individuals will begin their evacuation journey at one of these 17 pick-up points throughout the City.
The purpose of the City Assisted Evacuation Plan (CAEP) is to help citizens who want to evacuate during an emergency, but lack the capability to self-evacuate. The CAEP is not intended to replace the individual’s personal responsibility in preparing their own evacuation. It is meant to be an evacuation method of last resort and only for those citizens who have no other means or, have physical limitations that prohibit self evacuation.
In 2008, in advance of Hurricane Gustav, the City of New Orleans activated the CAEP for the first time and successfully evacuated 18,000 New Orleanians.
Overview of the Public Art component
The cultural, community, and preparedness value of 17 public art + evacuation pick-up point markers is significant. With adult literacy rates at an estimated 44 percent throughout Orleans parish, traditional outreach mechanisms (web, print, brochures) can only reach a certain segment of the population. The CAEP is designed for New Orleans' most vulnerable population and informing and educating these residents on preparedness and evacuation options needs to happen with diversified media. It's also safe to assume that the average CAEP evacuee either doesn't have a car of their own or relies heavily on alternative transportation in their daily routines (bike, bus, friends, foot).
Public art at each of the 17 pick-up points will likely achieve these outcomes:
Non-emergency: During calm days either during hurricane season or out of hurricane season, beautiful and visually striking public art pieces will be seen by many of the targeted demographic because we already can assume that the residents who are will use the CAEP have high rates of foot, bike and bus activity. The goals of a public art piece along with and clearly defined explanation of what it is and why its there will be to become a neighborhood landmark. Eventually, the neighborhood and community members will begin to equate the art with the CAEP. Ideally, "That's where you report to if you need to evacuate" or similar interactions will follow conversations about the public art at each of the 17 pick-up points.
Emergency: During an emergency these pick-up point locations and the public art signifying them will be used to make the decision to use the City Assisted Evacuation Plan as easy as possible. The hardest part of anything is starting, and we need to implement a strategy that makes evacuating as easy as possible for residents. Knowing exactly where to report during an evacuation is the first step. It is estimated the over 30,000 residents will begin their evacuation journey at one of these pick-up points.
During a mandatory evacuation, these are the places where residents who need a ride are to report:
General Pick-up Point Locations
* Smith Library Bus Stop (Lakeview)
* Palmer Park (West Carrollton)
* McMain High School (Broadmoor)
* Lyons Community
Center (Irish Channel)
* Dryades YMCA (Central City)
* Warren Easton High School
(Mid-City)
* Municipal Auditorium (Treme)
* O. Perry Walker High School (Algiers)
* Stallings Community Center (Bywater)
* Sanchez Center (Lower 9th Ward)
* Gentilly Mall Parking Lot (Gentilly)
* Walgreen’s: Lake Forest & Read Blvd
(New Orleans East)
* Mary Queen of Vietnam Church (New Orleans East)
Special Needs Pickup Locations
* Arthur Monday Senior Center (Algiers)
* Central City Senior Center (Central City)
* Mater Dolorosa (Carrollton)
* Kingsley House (Central City)