LAKEVIEW COMMUNITY WILL MARK KATRINA ANNIVERSARY WITH A CELEBRATION OF PROGRESS

 New Orleans, August 26, 2008

Lakeview Civic Improvement Association (“LCIA”) will host a brief news conference at Gulf Coast Bank at 848 Harrison Avenue (second floor) at 10 a.m. on Friday, August 29^th during which the association will mark the three-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with an update on the rebuilding progress in Lakeview. Neighborhood leaders, Lakeview business owners and Councilwoman Shelley Midura will provide highlights of the recovery.  The public is welcome.

In just three short years, the Lakeview community has progressed from complete devastation from the flooding following Katrina to a burgeoning example of a recovery in full swing. "More than 50% of our neighborhood's pre-storm total of 7,000 homes are either re-occupied or under construction and expected to be completed during 2008", noted Lakeview Civic Improvement Association's President, Al Petrie. "We believe this to be outstanding progress and indicative of more good things to come", he said. In addition to the residential building boom, Lakeview, as the commercial center of the Lake Area communities, has seen more than 100 businesses open in the past two years. The variety and quality of businesses returning to Lakeview has allowed the neighborhood to once again become a thriving, self-sufficient place to live.

In a recent meeting of the Women Council of Realtors held in Lakeview, a local real estate agent, GiGi Burk of Burk Brokerage commented, “More than 80% of the homes sold in 2008 have been renovated, ready to move in properties. This is a significant improvement from 2007 when 80% of the homes sold were flood-damaged properties in need of repair.”  Also during the meeting, Glenn Stoudt, an LCIA Board member commented, "We like to refer to our community as one of the fastest growing urban subdivisions in America."

For further information please contact Al Petrie at 504-799-1953 or by email, apetrie@lakeviewcivic.org.