Active weekend and more

I'm still in New Orleans this morning. It was exciting (and promising) to attend the general meeting of the Gentilly Civic Improvement Association on Saturday, as well as to meet with many of the neighborhood's block captains. The GCIA is conducting a survey of residents and preparing for a "charrette" next week. My understanding is that a charrette is a process of gathering, assembling, and refining community inputs for neighborhood development. I never heard this word when I was in New Orleans a couple months ago. Now, I hear it quite a bit, because charrettes seem to be happening now in different parts of the city.