As the Saints open season, Mayor Landrieu throws support behind sports district
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer | At a final budget town hall meeting Wednesday in the French Quarter, Mayor Mitch Landrieu threw his support behind a new special taxing district in downtown New Orleans. “We are trying to conceptualize what the district should look like and who the major players are,” Landrieu told […]
Refusing to let the 9/11 anniversary be owned solely by horror
By Billy Sothern, The Lens contributing opinion writer | On September 10, 2009, my wife Nikki was at her midwife’s office hoping to get some indication that our baby – four days past due – would come soon, ending her mounting pain and discomfort. It wasn’t until Nikki got back from her appointment that I saw […]
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Robinette’s silence on River Birch must also have been golden
For the past six years, talk radio host Garland Robinette lectured local public figures about the importance of perception. Many would appear on Robinette’s “Think Tank” program after a news report linked them to controversy, in order to “clear the air” and tell “their side of the story.” They’d use the forum to convince Robinette’s […]
Smooth roads not cheap: City says it spends $1 million to rebuild each one-block stretch
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer | It costs $1 million to reconstruct a one-block stretch of city street in New Orleans. You read that right. That covers work from asphalt down to the muddy subterranean, and from sidewalk to sidewalk, including stormwater catch basins and curbs, Deputy Mayor Cedric Grant told the City […]
Initiative aims to bring 'Creole Canal Street' back to full vigor
By Samuel Cook III, The Lens contributing opinion writer Saint Bernard Avenue runs through the 7th Ward, a central vein of this historic community. And the iconic Circle Food Store once served as its pulsing heart, a locus of cultural, social and economic activity. In a single outing , shoppers could make groceries, catch a […]
VAYLA study reveals student concerns about quality of education at six city high schools
By Jessica Williams, The Lens staff writer | Those with the greatest stake in the city’s educational system – its students – came together today with criticisms and recommendations for reform. In what it’s calling the most extensive student-led evaluation of the New Orleans public school landscape since Hurricane Katrina, members of the Vietnamese American Young […]
Yet another anniversary — and still no substitute for Charity Hospital
By Sandra Stokes, The Lens contributing opinion writer | The sixth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina reminds us, as a community, how resilient we are, how we can work together to find solutions to the challenges we face. It coincides with another anniversary. Three years ago the Foundation for Historical Louisiana released its study on the […]