AFTERNOON SPEAKER

Amy Stelly is an artist, designer and planner. She is a native of New Orleans and a proud resident of the Treme-Lafitte neighborhood.  She rose to prominence as a freeway fighter when President Biden cited the city’s Claiborne Expressway as an example of infrastructure that has divided and harmed the Treme and 7th Ward communities. She is also a preservationist and land use expert who has led some of the city’s most powerful advocacy groups.

 

Amy is a co-founder of the Claiborne Avenue Alliance, a coalition of residents, business owners and professionals dedicated to the restoration of the Claiborne Corridor. She is the founder and executive director of the Claiborne Avenue Alliance Design Studio, a nonprofit design studio that was born out of the advocacy work of the Alliance. The studio, founded in 2022, is a New Orleans community-based architectural and urban design firm that is committed to providing access to the languages of design and land use for all. The firm’s scope of work includes building and open space design, historic restoration, downtown and neighborhood revitalization, comprehensive and environmental planning, zoning, the development of incentives, site planning, streetscapes and gardens.  

 

Amy has written about land use and zoning; the value of community engagement; and public accountability.  She edits the community opinions column for The Lens, a New Orleans-based nonprofit, nonpartisan public-interest newsroom. And she is a contributor to the recently published Justice and the Interstates. Amy is an avid swimmer and advocate for water safety and environmental stewardship.