By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer | Two months after President Barack Obama and Congress averted a government shutdown by eliminating $38 billion in federal spending for 2011, New Orleans is feeling the pinch. The $2.8 billion cut to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development budget has crimped the city’s Office of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Government & Politics
Many courts making financial decisions in private, despite state law that demands openness and public hearings
A continuing tradition of financial secrecy by some elected judges defies a decades-old state transparency law and creates a virtual black robe around judicial budgets in New Orleans.
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Tea Partyers lick chops as GOP moderate enters presidential fray
Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman announced for president this morning, which may well mean it’s downhill from here. That’s right, national Huntsmania may never get more intense than it is right now, so let’s all savor this political apex. I suspect it will be fleeting. Huntsman is a Republican who served as U.S. ambassador to […]
Posted inOpinion
Arts funding cuts carry a hidden economic risk
By Nathan C. Martin, The Lens contributing opinion writer | Culture is to Louisianans what water is to fish. Our public spaces and private lives are utterly infused with forms of expression that make the state unique—our food, architecture, music, costumes, art, and public celebrations, to name a few. They create a cultural environment that […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Elephants and clowns can be found at both ends of Poydras
Before the 2011 Republican Leadership Conference opening event Thursday, a delegate began chatting with me about the conference. She explained that she was a “Mitt Romney girl.” She pointed to the photo of the former Massachusetts governor on the cover of the Liberty Today newspaper. Presidential candidate, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., also graced the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Government & Politics
Sheriff's Office buys gas guzzlers while taxpayers in city pick up the fuel costs
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer | Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman bought 46 vehicles for his office since 2008 with an average city gas consumption of just 13.6 miles per gallon, records show. Gusman has little incentive to buy fuel-efficient vehicles because the City of New Orleans, not Gusman’s office, pays for his […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Wilhelm Schnitzel Fallacy (?) cited by tea shop proprietor seeking 'opportunity to fail'
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer | Many, varied – and sometimes imaginative — are the arguments raised on behalf of zoning variances sought from the City Planning Commission. There’s the economic development argument: i.e. Let me put 200 tax-paying self-storage units in my front yard or New Orleans will never again be able […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
500 eastern New Orleans residents seek answers on bringing back their area
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer | Since coming into office last year, eastern New Orleans City Councilman Jon Johnson has repeatedly stressed the difficulties he faces trying to explain to his constituents why, nearly six years after Hurricane Katrina, their neighborhoods still lack basic amenities. “What do you tell people when they ask […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
Flooding? – who cares! We must stamp out looting before it starts!
Surely we all can agree that the first priority in the aftermath of a devastating mega-disaster is very clear: looting must be severely punished, even if the heavens fall. That’s why we should celebrate the upcoming fifth anniversary of the 15 year prison sentence Judge Hans Liljeberg bestowed upon two looters who lifted warm beer […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Top NORA aide headed back east
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer | The young real-estate lawyer who helped to lead an ambitious post-Katrina overhaul of the beleaguered New Orleans Redevelopment Authority will be leaving the city this summer. NORA Director of Real Estate Ommeed Sathe will now direct social investments for the Prudential financial company, and he will return […]