The Audubon Commission is considering a plan to give part of Audubon Park to Children's Hospital for development. The project will include at least two additional buildings ranging from 2-6 stories and a parking lot. This would mean that they would take over the portion of Audubon Park which is now the tennis courts on Tchoupitoulas and Avenger Baseball/soccer field and stretch all the way to to the street alongside the Zoo and Exposition Blvd. (East Drive), and will also stretch from Tchoupitoulas all the way to the levee. The tennis courts would then have to be moved to what is now green space on the Fly.

Some of the neighbors' concerns include: loss of public green space in Audubon Park; additional flooding due to replacing greenspace with concrete over such a large area; increased traffic and safety on single lane streets through a residential area; neighborhood parking which is already at a premium; loss of the only tennis courts in Audubon Park; concerns about zoning compliance.

In addition, it is unclear why Children's Hospital is not utilizing its goodwill and standing in the community to instead propose an expansion next door into the deteriorating former site of the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital, recently abandoned by the state, or even onto the under-utilized wharves on the riverside of their current property (see aerial map). Children's Hospital officials claim to have attempted for years to negotiate for use of the state hospital property with LSU Medical School (which supposedly controls the property yet has no plans to use it), but to no avail. However, no explanation is offered as to why LSU medical officials would prefer the NOAH property to continue abandoned and deteriorating rather than be put to use by Children's Hospital.

Due to the proposed loss of part of Audubon Park and the impact to the surrounding neighborhood, we are asking for your help in opposing this expansion.