The City of New Orleans has delayed the reopening of Lincoln Beach, pushing the long-awaited project back to 2026 and leaving residents and advocates feeling frustrated.
During a city council meeting last month, the city said delays in construction bids, the need for additional funding and the time needed to finalize the master plan have caused the project to take longer than expected.
The project is being handled by the Mayor’s Office and the Office of Resilience and Sustainability, which had planned a partial reopening of the historically Black beach in New Orleans East this summer. One side of the beach would open, while the other side underwent construction, but project manager Cheryn Robles told city council the “quick open” will take another year.
Tricia “Blyss” Wallace is the head of the mayor’s community advisory committee for the beach. She said she would like to see the funding directed at reopening, instead of consulting and planning.
”They should have completed the quick open process, so that we could then see what was needed for the master plan and plan with the future monies,” she said.
Though Lincoln Beach has been officially closed since 1964, residents were still using it. That is until the city implemented 24/7 security last year as it moved forward with plans to revitalize the beach.
Wallace, Sage Michael Pellet and Reggie Ford have been advocating for the beach and working with the city on the project. They started cleaning up the beach in 2020, and added walking trails and drained standing water. But Pellet said it’s been difficult to get the city to communicate with them effectively.
“We don't have transparency. We don't have public confidence or public buy-in and there's no communication from the project manager, even the engineering, to make sure the community and stakeholders are kept abreast of the situation,” he said.
The Mayor’s Office denied the Coastal Desk’s request for an interview, saying it would share more information to the public once it becomes available.
The Master Plan
Robles told the city council the master plan process was 80% finished.
Over the past year, the city has been gathering feedback from the community and working with the firm, Sasaki Associates, to design the beach and present concepts.
The latest concept, presented to the community last November, includes a welcome center, a history museum, a playground and more, which will likely cost more than the $24.6 million allocated for the project.
When a person at that meeting asked how the city would afford all these features, Sasaki said it was focusing on residents’ requests first, and then it would figure out how to make those fit into the $24 million bucket.
“We didn't come here for all the things that were presented to us that were not in our community vision report. They added a lot of stuff,” said Wallace. “And we all knew the whole time we didn't have money for all of that.”
The final concept will be presented at the fourth public milestone meeting which was postponed from March to May.
“I think people will be really happy. It’s definitely a place that I think everyone will want to go to,” Robles told the city council.
But Wallace said the city still needs to present a timeline for the beach’s reopening.
“You can not meet with the community and expect us to want to celebrate (a master plan) and you're not telling us when the beach will open,” she said.
Request for additional funding
At the council meeting in February, the Office of Resilience & Sustainability asked for another $729,000, for the city's contract with Digital Engineering & Imaging, Inc., bringing the total value of the contract to a little over $2.1 million.
The amendment to the contract includes more time for this company to finalize the design to improve the tunnel to the beach and the design for a small initial parking lot as well as structural repairs and demolitions to accommodate the features in the master plan.
Robles said the amendment will allow them “to construct and get the beach open quicker which is what everyone has been asking for.”
Some residents, including Pellet and Ford, spoke against the additional money, saying that Digital Engineering & Imaging Inc. has not shown that it is delivering on the existing contract.
“Don’t spend another dime until the public is able to get all the information in our hands so that we can see,” said Ed Parker, a New Orleans East resident and a member of the New Orleans United Front. “Investigate all the contracts at Lincoln Beach.”
The city council denied the request for additional funding, saying it needs to see evidence that the work is on track.
The council meeting prompted advocates to demand that the city focus time, money and effort on the quick open of the beach, instead of the master plan. Because of rollbacks on federal funding by the Trump administration, they worry if the city spends too much on consultants and planning, it won’t have enough money to open the beach at all.
“Of course, a master plan is a process. You have to plan for the future, but we came here to get the beach open,” Wallace told the Coastal Desk. “We've been saying this, and I think they're finally starting to listen. At least that's the feedback I'm getting, is that they're scaling back on the master plan.”
‘Pushed out’
Councilmember J.P. Morell also acknowledged residents’ concerns that Wallace, Pellet and Ford are not being included in the process.
“It is very troubling to me to hear this much money is being spent. We said last time you were here Ms. Robles that we were very concerned that Sage was not involved in the project,” said Morell. “Now this money is going out the door to do Lincoln Beach, but the people that started Lincoln Beach are being pushed out.”
Robles said they are communicating with the trio through various advisory committees, but Morell said it was not enough.
Pellet said that for years, he’s been asking the city to make him an official consultant on the project, especially since he is still taking care of the beach even while it is closed.
“ I'm fighting for New Orleans East,” he said. “And there are too many people that don't live in New Orleans East making decisions for New Orleans East residents.”
Wallace is still hopeful that the beach could open soon. She wants residents to continue to stay informed and speak up, which they can do in writing by submitting comments online.
“That way it can be in writing and it's public record. They cannot ignore it if you send all your questions there,” she said.
Pellet, on the other hand, believes that if money isn’t immediately directed to reopening the beach, the project will fail.
“ My ultimatum is take the money you have, open up a Lincoln Beach park as one construction project, so we can have accessibility to the site. That’s it.”
