What type of a neighborhood is Merigny? (New Orleans, Ama: real estate, loan)

[NYC_grad_student]

What type of a neighborhood is Merigny?

It appears that the area is being fixed-up and is becoming (or has become) an artist-friendly, hip place. Is this correct?

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

It's Marigny but I can't help you w/today's conditions.

[mnr3]

this might come off wrong, and I'm not saying anything in a mean spirit, but I think you're going to need to add a little scientific rigor into your study of New Orleans neighborhoods and trends, and the place to do that is certainly not a (non-academic) internet forum. I guess the information you could glean here might be able to orient your research, but really, there are a number of much more credible (and by that, I mean sth. you could actually cite as research) places you could be using. I know one title off the top of my head, _Geographies of New Orleans; Urban Fabrics Before the Storm_, by Richard Campanella, 2006. Even it is more populist than academic, but it's more comprehensive and historical than anything you can get asking local and displaced denizens. it has lots of info, nice pics and maps, and you should be able to get it through interlibrary loan. Then, what you really need is somehow to do some actual field research in NOLA--see if there's any money to support such a proposal. Otherwise, since I gather you're a graduate student and this is your area of research, you need to do a little more old fashioned research. good luck

Sorry, I'm an academic and had to say it.

[Xzibit_A]

Originally Posted by NYC_grad_student

What type of a neighborhood is Merigny?

It appears that the area is being fixed-up and is becoming (or has become) an artist-friendly, hip place. Is this correct?

Start out on Frenchmen St. on a Sat. night..At maybe the Snug Harbor or the Dream Place...I grew up in the Fauburg Marigny and I would not live any place else in Newalins! Not a hood for Academics.

[jacq63]

Marigny is definitely a place for musicians and locals. They get some bigger names playing on Frenchmen but make sure you support the up and coming guys too. I also hope to live in Farbourg Marigny when I eventually move to N.O. I think saying its not for academics is maybe generalizing a little, even academics need to get outta their ivory tower once in a while. It's a very stimulating 'hood no matter what your field is.

[mnr3]

marigny is definitely an area for academics, most of whom don't live in ivory towers--they can't afford to..... y'all completely missed my point.
The OP has posted in or started a number of threads dealing with NO neighborhoods, and not about where s/he wants to live or visit; in the very first one stated that s/he was writing a thesis "about various districts in New Orleans." In that light, and assuming that this thread was somehow related to said thesis, I was suggesting that this thread on "Merigny" (sic) was just an odd way to advance his cause. I mean, there's more info on the Marigny on wikipedia than a vague answer about whether it's hip and artist-friendly from a bunch of forumites, who, even if they did have first-hand knowledge and expertise, hardly qualify as source for research, when there is in fact a body of research out there. And if (s)he really wants to draw on the expertise of contributors here, the question(s) need to be a bit more focused, beyond generalizations like

It appears that the area is being fixed-up and is becoming (or has become) an artist-friendly, hip place. Is this correct?

and again, I didn't make this an attack on the thread or poster, just some advice and a title about what appears to be the area of interest.
ok? sheez.

[NYC_grad_student]

mnr3,

Thanks for the suggested reading from Richard Campanella. I'll check with our library to see if they have a copy or purchase one from Amazon (going price is less than $40... cheap). From reviews of the content, it's likely to be a helpful source.

In regards to my research approach, I am simply using the City-Data forum as one of many tools to help fill some holes, a task which isn't always best-achieved through conventional research methods. The problem with researching New Orleans is that most publicly available statistical data is either of the obsolete, pre-Katrina variety or is buried in various government databases. Contrast this with the highly accurate, up-to-the-minute statistical data collection performed by many institutions (NYU's Furman Center, the city government, various real estate service providers, etc) for New York City. Unfortunately, these same types of central databases aren't as readily available for New Orleans.

New Orleans is still in such transition that most recently published facts and figures are inaccurate before the ink is dry. Maybe this type of data will be more reliable in another few years when population and economic growth figures aren't skewed by the disaster-recovery process. Does anyone really think that the 2010 census figures for New Orleans will continue to be relevant to the city for the entirety of the following decade? Some reports suggest that New Orleans' population will finally reach pre-Katrina levels sometime around 2016. To get there from here will require a pretty interesting growth rate, and the continued population inflow and its effects on the city's neighborhoods will be difficult to accurately capture using traditional data gathering methods. I would imagine that just because the population may return to pre-Katrina levels, the city's neighborhoods will not likely mirror their pre-Katrina selves.

The City-Data forum seems to attract lots of real estate agents and other folks who have their fingers on the pulse of what drives people into and away from the various neighborhoods in New Orleans. If I need to know what areas of town are preferred as off-campus housing for Tulane students, I'd imagine that its best to directly ask them or the agents who help them find that housing. If I'm looking for public opinion on a certain area of town (Marigny, for example), then I'm going to ask the public. My major is in Real Estate Development & Finance, a subject which places a high value on opinions coming directly from an area's populace. While I can't cite these sources in a paper, the responses are still very much relevant in helping to explain some of the hard data, pairing the qualitative with the quantitative.

Xzibit_A and jacq63, thanks for your responses as well.

[Drouzin]

Sigh, I want a place in the Marigny or Bywater, we've been looking at the houses every now and then and the prices are going up and up. I want the cute old house where I'm having to fix something every ten min., no corner is 90 degrees, and the windows rattle when a thunderstorm comes by. Yeah, people have told me I'm nuts for wanting an old home. Then there is the whole parking issue. I remember the days where the neighbors in Mid City would argue with me over parking my car 2in. past the house.

It's just that it's such a great neighborhood. There are little shops and wonderful restaurants all within walking distance. No, it's not the safest place to be trapsing about late at night, but during the day and evening everyone is out and about and very plesant. The neighborhood is filled with a variety of people, from old yats to new hippies and everything inbetween. All say hello as you walk about. Sigh, I'm locked in the parish for quite a while, but one day...