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Renting an Apartment in Metairie
Metairie is a suburb of New Orleans. Although it has a population of 146,136
(census 2000), Metairie is not legally a city as it is unincorporated area and
thus designed as a Census-designated place. Metairie is the largest community in
Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, and is larger than most cities in the entire state.
Namesake
The original spelling, Métairie, is a French language term for a tenant farm
which paid the landlord with a share of the produce (sharecropping), as this was
the main activity of the area in the early 19th century.
Sports and Recreation
Metairie is home to the New Orleans Zephyrs baseball team. The minor league club
has played its home games at Zephyr Field since 1997 and is a member of the
Pacific Coast League.
Jefferson parish has placed many parks in Metairie. Many of these playgrounds
have organized sports leagues such as soccer, baseball, and basketball. Some of
them also have other programs, such as low cost piano lessons. For more
information, please see the Metairie.com recreation page
* Lafreniere Park
* Delta Playground
* Pontiff Playground
* Miley Playground
* Girard Playground
* Cleary Playground
* Johnny Bright Playground
Education
Metairie's public schools are operated by the Jefferson Parish Public School
System. There are four public high schools in Metairie:
* East Jefferson High School
* Grace King High School.
* Riverdale High School
* Bonnabel High School
Catholic, Private, & ISAS Member elementary, middle, and preparatory schools
include:
* St. Ann Elementary School
* St.Philip Neri Elementary School
* St. Catherine of Sienna Elementary School
* St. Edward the Confessor Elementary School
* St. Mary Magdalene Elementary School
* Crescent City Christian School
* St. Louis King of France
* Our Lady of Divine Providence
* St. Christopher Elementary School
* St. Benilde Elementary School
* St. Francis Xavier Elementary School
* St. Clement of Rome Elementary School
* Ridgewood Preparatory School
* St. Martin's Episcopal School
* Metairie Park Country Day School
* Ecole Classique
* Archbishop Rummel High School
* Archbishop Chapelle High School
* Lutheran High School
* Memorial Baptist Elementary School
* Kehoe-France Elementary School
* Victory Christian Academy
History
Metairie was first settled by the French in the late 18th century, along an area
known as Metairie Ridge, a natural levee formed by a bayou. This became
"Metairie Road". An electric streetcar was installed running along Metairie Road
in the late 1910s, opening the area to greater development. Upscale housing
tracts were constructed off the Road in the 1920s; this area is now known as
"Old Metairie." It is today the most prestigious area of Metairie. Most of the
rest of Metairie was not developed until after World War II. Much of this growth
was a result of white flight, as white New Orleans residents left New Orleans
during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and after integration of New
Orleans schools.
"Veterans Boulevard" was laid out alongside a drainage canal, and became a
commercial center of the region. The Central Business District of Metairie is
located on Causeway Blvd near Lake Ponchartrain. Metairie also has one of the
handful of major malls located in the New Orleans metro area. Lakeside Shopping
Center is the highest grossing mall in the New Orleans metropolitan area. In the
1970s and early 1980s an area of bars and nightclubs opened in a section of
Metairie that is known as "Fat City." Metairie has a large Mardi Gras season
that touts itself as a more family-friendly version of the New Orleans Mardi
Gras.
Fort Lauderdale Hurricane
The 1947 Fort Lauderdale Hurricane with winds of 125 mph (195 km/h) directly hit
Metairie. Much of the community was under six feet of water.
Hurricane Betsy
Hurricane Betsy, a category three storm, hit the area in 1965, causing extensive
wind damage and moderate flooding.
Flood of 1995
The May 8th 1995 Louisiana Flood, which dumped upwards of twenty inches of rain
into Metairie in a twelve-hour period, flooded some parts of the region,
especially areas south and west of Metairie, including Kenner, Harahan, and
River Ridge.
Hurricane Katrina
On August 29, 2005, Metairie was hit hard by the devastating effects of
Hurricane Katrina, including widespread wind damage and flooding. There were 29
reported deaths related to Katrina in Metairie. According to satellite images
and flood maps, upwards of 75% of Metairie flooded. Initial insured damages in
Metairie are between 3 and 5 billion US dollars. The death toll and damage were
less in Metairie than in bordering Orleans Parish, largely because the Metairie
side of the 17th Street Canal did not breach.
Residents were given a mandatory evacuation on August 28, 2005, the first time
one has ever been ordered. Residents were not allowed to return until September
4. However, residents were only allowed to quickly visit their homes or business
between 7AM and 6PM. Residents were not allowed to return after that until
September 15, 2005. This period of over two weeks in exile angered many
residents, especially those whose homes flooded because they were unable to
empty the house of water, which led to worse damage.
Metairie was used as a staging area to evacuate people out of New Orleans. The
most organized effort took place where Causeway intersects I-10. There evacuees
gathered, were brought, and wandered to wait for buses.
The flooding in Metairie had three causes:
* Lake Ponchartrain backflow into canals: Jefferson Parish President Aaron
Broussard evacuated all pumping station operators from their posts to spots over
one hundred miles away in Washington Parish in anticipation of the hurricane.
Normally, the machines would be on, not only preventing the Lake from flowing
into the drainage canals, but also pumping the rain waters out. This largely
resulted in the severe flooding of Metairie in most areas north of Interstate
10.
* Rain waters: Because almost all of Metairie is between two and seven feet
below sea level, all rain water was captured in the Metairie "bowl." Unable to
return for nearly two days, the pump operators could not turn the pumps on to
pump out any of the rain water or backflow.
* 17th Street Canal breach: There was no breach on the Metairie side of the
canal, however, water crept into Metairie through Airline Highway. The narrow
high ground of Metairie Road and some elevated railroad tracks partially
contained the area of flooding. This water largely caused the flooding in the
southern part of Old Metairie.
Many Metairie residents are joining a class action lawsuit against Aaron
Broussard because of his removal of pump operators. Other residents have
attempted to recall and remove Broussard as Parish President for what they see
as negligence but failed to get the support and signatures needed.
Geography
Metairie is located in eastern Jefferson Parish and its boundaries include New
Orleans to the east, Kenner to the west, Lake Pontchartrain to the north, and
Airline Highway to the south. South of Airline Highway from Metairie are River
Ridge, Harahan, Elmwood, and Jefferson.
The 17th Street Canal forms the border between Metairie and New Orleans to the
east.
The zip codes that serve the community are 70001-70006.
Metairie is located at [show location on an interactive map] 29°59′52″N,
90°10′39″W (29.997797, -90.177473)GR1 and has an elevation of 3 feet (0.91
m)GR3. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of
60.2 km² (23.3 mi²). 60.1 km² (23.2 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.1 mi²) of
it (0.22%) is water.
Transportation
The most common method of transportation within Metairie is the automobile. Mass
transit is provided by "JeT" (Jefferson Transit), but it does not run on
Sundays, holidays, or late at night, unlike many lines of New Orleans' RTA.
Interstate 10 runs east-west through Metairie.
Major east-west roads (starting from north to south) include West Esplanade
Avenue, Veterans Memorial Boulevard, West Napoleon Avenue, West Metairie Avenue,
Metairie Road, Airline Drive (which is part of U.S. Highway 61) and Jefferson
Highway (which is part of U.S. Highway 90). The Earhart Expressway, running
east-west immediately south of Airline Drive, is the only other freeway entering
New Orleans from the west, but it ends as an expressway soon after crossing the
parish line and well before downtown (in Central City.)
Multi-line, continuous north-south roads (starting from west to east) include
David Drive/Hickory Avenue, Power Boulevard, Transcontinental Drive, Clearview
Parkway, Causeway Boulevard, and Bonnabel Boulevard.
There were 39,073 families residing in Metairie. The population density was
2,431.0/km² (6,296.7/mi²). There were 67,225 housing units, at an average
density of 1,118.3/km² (2,896.6/mi²). There were 63,741 households out of which
25.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.1% were married
couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present,
and 38.7% were non-families. 32.9% of all households were made up of individuals
and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average
household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.93. In Metairie the
population is spread out with 20.6% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24,
29.6% from 25 to 44, 24.9% from 45 to 64, and 16.4% who were 65 years of age or
older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 91.4 males.
For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.1 males. The median income
for a household in Metairie is $41,265, and the median income for a family was
$52,555. Males had a median income of $37,371 versus $27,057 for females. The
per capita income for Metairie is $24,771. About 6.2% of families and 8.9% of
the population were below the poverty line, including 11.2% of those under age
18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over.