After doling out nearly $3 million in loans for an expansion of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club headquarters and an entertainment complex on St. Bernard Avenue, the city of New Orleans has about $9 million left in its Urban Development Action Grant fund for revitalization projects in low-income neighborhoods. “We have $12 million [...]
Update: The Thursday City Council meeting where these loans were to be considered has been postponed. The matters likely will be taken up by the council Tuesday at 10 a.m. The oversized check Mayor Ray Nagin handed Zulu on Lundi Gras may have sparked noisy debate, but a far less sensational loan from the same [...]
It’s been a rough few weeks for the vice president of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club. First, Naaman Stewart was the public face of the group as it struggled to explain how and why it got an award of $800,000 in taxpayer money from the city. Now the sheriff is auctioning off his [...]
Accepting a recent $800,000 award from City Hall could further jeopardize Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club’s tax exempt status. That’s because its unusual IRS status requires that it get at least 65 percent of its gross income from membership dues. Its latest tax filing, for 2007, shows that it apparently violated that provision, with [...]
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.