The Brain Gain...Young Professionals Are Flocking To Post-Katrina New Orleans

The phenomena is prevolent all over America, and in spite of Katrina, New Orleans is no exception...in fact, young professionals are flocking to the Big Easy and are setting up shop in one of the world's most eccentric cities....

THE BRAIN GAIN
Young professionals moving in to help rebuild
Saturday, March 03, 2007
By Molly Reid
They're here, and they're helping to rebuild New Orleans.

Some are fresh out of college; others are further into their professional lives. Some hail from Louisiana, but many are from out of state. Some arrived with shiny new jobs and apartments already secured. Others came to volunteer for a couple of weeks and never left.

They are YURPs -- Young Urban Rebuilding Professionals -- and they're becoming a demographic force in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Initially lured by the chance to help fix a major American city, whether through education, urban planning, legal aid or work with any of the other city systems suffering from Hurricane Katrina's destruction, many have come under the Crescent City's spell and are putting down roots. It's a trend that runs counter to the outflow of Katrina survivors who came back to the area, only to later leave permanently.

Where are these young people settling? Geographer Richard Campanella, associate director of Tulane University's Center for Bioenvironmental Research, says young professionals across the country are attracted to neighborhoods with historical value, thriving night life and cachet.

In New Orleans, the traditionally hip and affordable areas have been the Faubourg Marigny, Bywater, Lower Garden District and Irish Channel. However, climbing rental prices and crime have thrown those patterns for a loop, he says.

"I think recent events have worked against any sort of population gain evenly in those areas," Campanella said, estimating that 2,000 to 3,000 new professionals -- whom he dubs part of the post-Katrina "brain gain" -- have come to the metro area.

In addition to the tried-and-true trendy neighborhoods, many YURPs seem to be settling in other areas with access to amenities and entertainment, but with newer cultural appeal, such as Treme, the 7th Ward and St. Roch.

The New Orleans chapter of the American Institute of Architects recently hosted a mixer to welcome YURPs, recognizing them as an important asset.

"We were really hoping to bring in all the different newcomers to the design and rebuilding fields," says Melissa Urcan, executive director of AIA New Orleans.

Here's a look inside the homes and neighborhoods of a few of these new New Orleanians.

NAME: Hampton Barclay

AGE: 24

OCCUPATION: Government relations representative, Home Builders Association of Greater New Orleans

NEIGHBORHOOD: Treme-7th Ward

HOMETOWN: Washington, D.C., and St. Louis

N.O. RESIDENT SINCE: May 2006

As soon as Hurricane Katrina made national headlines as one of the worst disasters to befall an American city, Hampton Barclay felt his professional calling. A recent graduate in political science and a lover of cities, Barclay says he was drawn to the suffering metropolis with a tremendous sense of purpose.

"I felt like if I didn't come down here and get involved, I'd be missing maybe the biggest opportunity of my life," Barclay recalled. "As far as I'm concerned, this is my purpose on this earth right now, to be in New Orleans helping in the rebuilding of the city and shaping the policies that will affect it for years to come."

Barclay moved to New Orleans with only a few whispers of job opportunities. For the first several weeks, he lived out of his car and in youth hostels; eventually he found a Marigny cottage to rehabilitate in lieu of rent.

By August, Barclay had landed a full-time job as government relations representative for the Home Builders Association of Greater New Orleans and was ready to find more permanent digs.

He settled into a two-bedroom apartment in an Esplanade Avenue mansion blocks from the French Quarter. Colleagues, family members and friends gasped at his move to a neighborhood they feared was unsafe, but Barclay says he was excited to find a balcony apartment near the French Quarter.

"I walked in, and it was so much better than anything else I'd seen. I just said, 'Yes, yes, I'll take it right now,' " he said.

Knowing he had found his home in New Orleans, Barclay set about tidying up the place and scouring for deals on furniture.

His apartment is outfitted with a cherry four-post bed, a wheeled stainless-steel coffee table, a breakfast table with wicker chairs and a number of other pieces.

"Craigslist has been very, very good to me," he said, smiling with the satisfaction of a true bargain hunter.

Bringing a bit of St. Louis flavor to his abode, the walls display a map of that city from the 1960s, as well as a reprint of the Alphonse Mucha poster from St. Louis' 1904 world's fair.

Hanging above the living room mantle is a Kenyan urungu, a wooden club that serves as a symbol of manhood. Barclay obtained the item on a family trip.

"If I come home and feel like something's fishy, I swear, the first thing I'll do is grab it off the wall and go through every single room," he said with a laugh.

Barclay has never had to put the urungu to real use, but it took him a while to convince a few worried friends and his very worried mother that he wasn't endangering himself by living in New Orleans. When Barclay's mother visited to help him move into the apartment, her words of parental warning were ultimately silenced in true New Orleans fashion.

"My mom was saying, 'What the hell are you doing living here? This city is so gross and dangerous,' " Barclay recalled. "And all of a sudden, we heard the Treme Brass Band playing. We ran down outside, and we joined in the second-line. After that, I think she understood a little better why I'm here.' "

NAMES: John Renne and Kara Mattini Renne

AGES: 30 and 28 respectively

OCCUPATIONS: John is an assistant professor in planning and urban studies at the University of New Orleans; Kara is an urban planner for the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission and program coordinator for the Algiers Main Street Program

NEIGHBORHOOD: Lower Garden District

HOMETOWNS: Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Omaha, Neb.

N.O. RESIDENTS SINCE: August 2005

When John Renne and his wife, Kara Mattini Renne, moved to New Orleans on Aug. 10, 2005, most of their furniture and books were still in boxes en route to America from Australia. The newlyweds had just finished a year in Sydney, where John worked as an urban planning research assistant while Kara performed graduate work in urban studies.

They chose New Orleans because, in addition to John's job offer from the University of New Orleans, they believed in the cultural value and unique urban fabric of the city.

"We liked that it's walkable and mixed-use, as opposed to living in a car-based suburb," John said.

The couple had barely settled into their second-story, 1,200-square-foot townhouse on St. Charles Avenue when Hurricane Katrina sent them on a months-long evacuation road trip. Describing the experience as more inconvenient than damaging, the Rennes had no doubts that they still wanted to live in New Orleans.

"It was a huge opportunity from a professional perspective," John said. "Being a planner in New Orleans right now, it's the center of the planning community."

Amid frustration over the pace of recovery and public debate over whether the citywide planning efforts are "too little, too late," the Rennes say they find fulfillment in their individual, specialized efforts to improve New Orleans.

John is focusing his research on emergency evacuation strategies, both through a UNO transportation planning project and a four-year grant from the Federal Transit Authority. Kara, in addition to her work with the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission, is helping Algiers improve its historic commercial district by directing the Algiers Main Street Program.

"I think sometimes it's easy to see the shortcomings, but it's never too late to make changes," John said. "For me, (my research) is something that I personally can do and contribute."

The Rennes chose to live in the Lower Garden District for its central location between downtown and Carrollton/Riverbend, its easy access to public transportation, diversity of backgrounds in its residents and lively street activity. With a 24-hour neighborhood bar keeping eyes on the street at all hours, Kara says she feels safe there.

"There's a real small-town kind of feel," she said. "I feel like the neighbors watch out for each other."

Australia is the main influence in the Rennes' home décor, with a jarra wood table in the kitchen and a didgeridoo -- an aboriginal musical instrument that John enjoys playing -- in the bedroom. The green paper chandelier in the front room came from Australia, a purchase that celebrated their first wedding anniversary.

Of course, with a balcony apartment on St. Charles Avenue, the couple's main decoration in the past few weeks has been the mounds of Mardi Gras beads that accumulated there and crept into the house.

"We've got so many of them, I keep saying John and I are going to rent a table at the French Market to sell them to tourists," Kara joked.

NAMES: Brigid Boyle and Jacob Brancasi

AGES: 23 and 22, respectively

OCCUPATIONS: Brigid is a crew chief for ACORN; Jacob is a copy editor at Peter Mayer Advertising

NEIGHBORHOOD: Bywater

HOMETOWNS: Philadelphia and Schenectady, N.Y.

N.O. RESIDENTS SINCE: January 2007, August 2006

Roommates Jacob Brancasi and Brigid Boyle came to New Orleans separately but took similar roads, both led by a mutual friend. Both were unsure of what to do after college, and both chose to indulge their wanderlust rather than settle immediately into office jobs.

"I was very disinterested in all the jobs I was applying for," recalled Brancasi, an urban studies graduate from Vassar University.

He and friend Jessica Garz, also a recent graduate, embarked on a road trip in July that brought them to New Orleans. Initially, they volunteered in St. Bernard Parish, making meals for workers and residents. With a few additional gigs behind them, Brancasi landed a job at Peter Mayer Advertising just as Garz signed on with H3 Studio, a planning company hired to work in several districts under the Unified New Orleans Plan.

"We came down here and never left. That's what happened," Brancasi said. "It was exciting. There was such a sense of possibility."

Several months later, under Garz's enticement, Boyle visited New Orleans and volunteered for the community organization ACORN. Staying for most of October 2006, Boyle left New Orleans wanting more, and returned for good at the start of the new year.

"I bought a pickup truck in Philly, filled it with all my stuff, and was here in 36 hours," said Boyle, now a crew chief for ACORN.

From their tidy Bywater cottage, each roommate finds something to love. For Boyle, it's the diversity of characters and personalities in the neighborhood; for Brancasi, it's Bywater's sunny, small-town conceit, which is reminiscent of his upstate New York hometown.

"This home is amazing," said Boyle, who spends most of her afternoons reading on the front stoop. "I love this neighborhood. I've met everybody who lives here and their dogs. It's a nice community."

A classically trained violinist, Brancasi adopted the front room as his mini-studio. Music books and a metal stand rest near a big wooden work table. He found several pieces of furniture at a nearby thrift store.

Boyle, who attended art school, peppered the walls with her drawings and paintings, and proudly displays an impressive collection of Philadelphia-inspired, "obnoxiously large" hoop earrings.

Boyle also reserved one corner of her room for her New Orleans-flavored trinkets, T-shirts and posters. As the display attests, Boyle has adopted a strong loyalty to her new home, and is carrying the YURP torch to her friends back north.

"I'm trying to recruit everybody to come here," she said.

. . . . . . .

Contributing writer Molly Reid can be reached at MollyReid@gmail.com.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Rebuilding Blocks is devoted to issues of planning and reconstruction. Members of the American Institute of Architecture-New Orleans chapter are contributing advice and expertise.

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