Unlit communications tower in Navarre neighborhood cause for concern

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — A tall tower in a Mid-City neighborhood is causing concern for residents and getting an answer to make it safe is proving hard to do.

Moving New Orleans Forward anchor LBJ is shining a light on the current concerns.

Communication towers are common throughout Metropolitan areas around the country. Many times, they reside in industrial or rural spaces but this one is in a neighborhood and apparently lacking a critical safety measure, according to a local travel nurse who has to fly over this area.

“By helicopter, sometimes it’s several times a day and we happen to be right here between a major hospital and the Lakefront Airport, where helicopters from around the region go to refuel after dropping off patients.”

The tower in question is a 300-foot structure at 701 Rosedale St. in the Navarre neighborhood near City Park.

It was formerly used by the New Orleans Fire Department before communications was consolidated into our current 911 system.

The problem is that the tower has no working lights or strobes that alert pilots that it’s there. Jonas Owens co-owns Rosedale Restaurant beneath the tower and he has brought it to the attention of the city.

“When the neighbor brought it to my attention, that it was no longer on, we contacted the councilman, which I think he forwarded on to a couple of people that’s been almost six months ago,” said Owens.

The councilman is Joe Giarrusso and his office sent WGNO a statement saying they have alerted the city’s Office of Property Management.

After several follow-ups from our office. Property Management said they were in the process of addressing the issue.

Councilman Joe Giarrusso

Residents that live in the area are also concerned.

“Just seems like a particularly dangerous situation. We hear helicopters go by all the time and we’ve been noticing this tower for quite a while and we said something, emailed, made some notes about it and now with fog season rolling in it seems like they would have addressed already,” said Jason Donovan.

The FAA requires lights and markings for structures over 200 feet above ground level.

WGNO also reached out to property management and got this response

Preparing a new RFP for engineering services and the viability of the tower will be assessed once funding is available

New Orleans Office of Property Management

For the nurse who has to traverse the area by flight, she says things aren’t moving with a sense of urgency.

“I noticed it about a year and a half ago and reported it, and unfortunately haven’t seen anything change with it. That is concerning because that is a year and a half of flights that are going past here.”

We have reached out to the local office of the Federal Aviation Administration and their communications person told us that they would respond to us after the government shutdown.

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