Public Library serves Lakeview. The Robert E. Smith Branch Library is in a $4.6-million facility paid with bonds and recovery funds that opened in March 2012. The Smith Branch was the third of four libraries that reopened in a two-month period. It has of space. Its ribbon-cutting ceremony was on March 22 of that year. The branch is named after a person who donated money to the library. The grandson of the namesake, Robert Smith Lupo, financed additional features of the new 2012 library with a $5,000 donation given to the organization Friends of the Library. it has 17 computers and about 40,000 volumes of books. In the post-Hurricane Katrina period the library system operated the Lakeview Branch, housed in a by modular building. The Gulf Coast Libraries Project of the Gates Foundation funded the branch. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was to pay for the costs of demolition of the previous library and construction of the new library since the previous facility had been, according to FEMA's estimation, over 50% damaged by Katrina. The features and amenities present in the new facility that were not in the previous facility were financed by other sources, including New Orleans municipal bond sales and funds from the Louisiana Recovery Authority. The "design-build" process, one specially allowed only in parishes affected by Hurricane Katrina under Louisiana law, was used to rebuild this library and four others. Lee Ledbetter & Associates of New Orleans served as the architectural firm, and Gibbs Construction served as the construction company. Lee Ledbetter & Associates worked with Kansas City, Missouri firm Gould Evans & Associates to design this library and four others. Lee Ledbetter of Lee Ledbetter & Associates stated that the libraries his company designed were made to have better access to public transportation and have reduced utility usage, including having electricity and water-saving features, in order to be more cost effective. Religion The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans operates Roman Catholic churches. Dedicated on October 21, 1912 was Ave Maria Church, the first church in the neighborhood. A September 29, 1915 weather event demolished the building. See also Neighborhoods in New Orleans Effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans References External links Lakeview Civic Improvement Association Lakeview/Hurricane Katrina Blog Hynes Elementary School Neighborhoods in New Orleans