By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer |
Two events intended to foster greater community participation in New Orleans government activities will take place this week.
Residents can learn Wednesday about how other cities get the public involved in making…

Citizen engagement got its own line in the 2011 budget brought before the City Council today by Mayor Mitch Landrieu.
Among the items funded within the $126 million proposed budget for the Mayor’s Office is $483,950 for the creation of…

Despite years of work involving dozens of meetings with thousands of residents, a plan to create a formal system for citizen interaction with city government has run into a buzz saw of opposition, with the most objection recent coming from…

One of the city’s better-organized neighborhood associations is opposing a proposed citizen-participation program, saying it is too bureaucratic, too expensive and too restrictive.
The Garden District Association took issue in a letter last week with a draft of the Citizen…

In his final meeting to get public input on next year’s budget priorities, Mayor Mitch Landrieu on Tuesday questioned whether the city should pay for a new program to encourage public input.
David Welch of the Gentilly Civic Improvement Association…

After sitting on most of a half-million-dollar grant for nearly two years, the city of New Orleans has convinced the Rockefeller Foundation to give it another three months to spend the money on getting citizens more involved with government.
Without…

By Ariella Cohen, staff writer – A year and a half after the city of New Orleans received a half-million-dollar donation to foster citizen involvement in the recovery, none of the programs has been fully implemented and neighborhood activists complain…