This news brief appeared in the February issue of PRC’s Preservation in Print magazine. Interested in getting more preservation stories like this delivered to your door nine times a year? Become a member of the PRC for a subscription!
The New Orleans Department of Public Works has received the “initial draft of the Lincoln Beach Site Assessment,” and is working with Digital Engineering and Imaging, LLC, on the final report. The Mayor’s Office also is assembling a Lincoln Beach Community Advisory Committee, whose first meeting “will be scheduled before Mardi Gras 2021,” according to a city news release.
Last spring, Mayor LaToya Cantrell launched an assessment of Lincoln Beach, a public beach for African-American families that operated during the oppression of Jim Crow. The assessment will “determine the kind of mitigation activities that would be necessary to clean the beach up and return it to public use,” according to a statement on the city’s website.
City officials conducted environmental, structural, topographic and bathymetric (underwater) surveys of the site, examining multiple issues, including:
- the condition of Lincoln Beach’s shelters, tunnels, swimming pool, concrete pads, parking lots and other historic structures
- the current pedestrian, bicycle, vehicular and public transit access possibilities
- the existing drainage, sewerage, water, gas and electrical systems
- the depth of the water off the beach and “the location of underwater debris” that could pose challenges for swimming
- the “suitability of the existing beach for recreational use.”
To sign up for Lincoln Beach status updates from the city, visit nola.gov/lincolnbeach.
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