Concrete lawn gets grass, but illegal driveway remains

One step forward, another step back.

Back in September, The Lens wrote about the unpermitted paving at this house on Burdette Street in Carrollton after reader Kurt Buchert submitted a photo.

It appears the owner has mitigated the sea of concrete in the front yard by replacing some of it with grass, as shown by another photo sent in by Buchert.

But the photo also shows two curb cuts where there once was just one, as visible in this Google Maps photo.


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According to Kambium Buckner, communications manager for the city of New Orleans, the Department of Public Works “has no record of a curb cut permit.” He said the city would send the property owner an illegal driveway letter.

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Karen Gadbois

Karen Gadbois co-founded The Lens. She now covers New Orleans government issues and writes about land use. With television reporter Lee Zurik she exposed widespread misuse of city recovery funds and led to guilty pleas in federal court. Her work attracted some of journalism's highest honors, including a Peabody Award, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award and a gold medal from Investigative Reporters and Editors. She can be reached at (504) 606-6013.