By Karen Gadbois – Staff writer – Three years after getting a piece of taxpayer-owned property for free, a New Orleans non-profit has yet to make improvements to the blighted site or fulfill promises made when it took the donation – and it apparently tried to sell the six-unit apartment house for $230,000 in pure [...]

In January, The Lens reported on taxpayer money collected by DKM Acquisitions and Properties for economic development.
At the time, nothing visible had been done to renovate the gutted and unkempt Lake Terrace Shopping Center at Robert E. Lee Boulevard and Paris Avenue. City officials said that the $162,500 given to the company had been used [...]

Click here to read the city’s request for applications, which resulted in Mayor Ray Nagin presenting Zulu with a giant check for $800,000 on Lundi Gras.

The past few weeks have been a distillation of what New Orleans is, and what we do best. Throwing off the yoke of the past few years and celebrating in the streets with ad-hoc parades as well as those that have been more carefully orchestrated, we all felt a renewed pride in our recovering Crescent [...]

Despite the usual grumbles about orange cones, plus concern over the well-being of the city’s historic oak trees, drivers and residents generally welcomed the news that nearly all 2.5 miles of South Carrollton Avenue is being repaved and the sidewalks repaired.
The Times-Picayune quoted a city official who said it may be the first time the [...]

Mayoral candidate John Georges says he knows what it’s like to run an operation such as New Orleans City Hall. After all, he reasoned recently, many of his 1,000 employees at Imperial Trading and his other companies are single mothers making about $10 an hour – plus benefits!
“We have what I believe the culture of [...]

Plagiarize — intransitive verb : to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source
A candidate forum for Council District C was held Wednesday night at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, sponsored by The Vieux Carre Property Owners, Residents and Associates, along with a number [...]

Tuesday, we posted the FBI affidavit detailing why four suspects were arrested “for the purpose of interfering with the phone system” at U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu’s office.

The details of their outfits caught my attention.
“Flanagan and Basel entered the Hale Boggs Federal Building, each dressed in blue denim pants, a blue work shirt, a light [...]

Martin Wine Cellar is asking the city for permission to demolish its old Uptown location on Baronne Street, along with five nearby structures.
The Neighborhood Conservation District Committee will consider the demolition applications at its Feb. 1 meeting and  make a recommendation to the city’s Safety and Permits Department.
The request includes, four corner properties, one of [...]

By Karen Gadbois, staff writer –
A taxpayer-financed program to stimulate economic development in New Orleans continues to back dubious business ventures, throwing into question the city’s stewardship of some $2.5 million in annual grants, an investigation by The Lens and Fox 8 News has found.
Since December 2008, more than $200,000 has been funneled to the [...]