La’Shance Perry on St. John Parish’s vote on rezoning for Greenfield. Delaney Dryfoos on Gov. Landry’s Task Force for Sewerage and Water Board. And Katy Reckdahl on union organizing at Tulane University.
Posted inEnvironment
Greenfield wins in St. John, for the moment
After the parish council granted heavy-industrial zoning to Greenfield Louisiana for its grain terminal, Greenfield’s legal counsel thanked supporters for enduring a lengthy legal back-and-forth. But the Banner sisters, founders of The Descendants Project, pledged that the battle would continue.
Posted inEvents
Join us April 18 for a new event: Breaking Bread, Breaking News
New Orleans and South Louisiana have a rich tradition of gathering, and food plays a major part in bringing people together. When people gather and eat, they inevitably talk about the issues of the day. For many people that means what is happening in their own backyards. Local news as it were.
Posted inOpinion
There’s healing to be done in New Orleans, say descendants of Homer Plessy and John H. Ferguson
At the top edge of the Bywater, where Royal Street crosses the railroad tracks, a plaque marks a moment that changed our nation’s history. A shoemaker named Homer Plessy was arrested here in 1892 for sitting in a passenger railcar designated for “whites.” The arrest was planned; Plessy’s friends, the Citizens Committee, called ahead to […]
Posted inEnvironment
St. John the Baptist Council could sanction ‘dangerous formula’
While a judge ruled it was too early to block rezoning for the Greenfield Grain Terminal, neighbors fear that the parish council could sanction what one advocate called a “dangerous formula” used in the rezoning plan. That formula, she said, could expose Wallace, and the entire parish, to encroachment by industrial developers.
Posted inSchools
Let the bargaining begin
In a Tuesday letter to Tulane University president Michael A. Fitts, a group of non-tenured faculty asked him to recognize their new union, Tulane Workers United. An election is likely in early May.
Posted inEnvironment
Flood of suggestions
Recommendations for fixes to the city’s chronically troubled Sewerage & Water Board are now flowing from Gov. Jeff Landry’s task force and from the Water Justice Fund, which issued a report earlier this year. Advocates warn that, without a new revenue structure that includes tax-exempt properties, customers could shoulder the financial burden for citywide problems.
Posted inOpinion
Paintbrush, iPad, or Glock?
Recently, I attended a showcase at the Juvenile Justice Intervention Center, where this city’s arrested youth are held pre-trial. I was invited by artist Journey Allen, who directs youth education for the Young Artists Movement (YAM), the citywide mural initiative that I helped to found eight years ago. To present the showcase, JJIC set up […]
Posted inOpinion
Let’s make plans together about the future of our beloved City Park
We both started working at Grow Dat Youth Farm because we needed jobs. We knew very little about gardening and didn’t know how we’d fit in. We found a crew of people who supported us and helped us to appreciate the natural setting within Grow Dat’s corner of City Park. Now, that magical place is […]
Posted inBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens episode 233: ‘A Black hamlet’
Delaney Dryfoos on St. John the Baptist Parish’s voted to allow heavy industrial uses on the parish’s rural West Bank after years of contentious debate. Nick Chrastil on Gov. Jeff Landry’s seismic changes to the criminal justice system.