A full-page ad in today’s Times-Picayune urging the public to call elected city officials to protest jail-expansion plans had generated just 33 calls by 3 p.m. The ad, which cost $12,000, was paid for by a group of like-minded criminal justice reform advocates unhappy about a plan by Sheriff Marlin Gusman to expand the Orleans […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Iberville redevelopment quietly gets underway
With little fanfare or public conversation, the Housing Authority of New Orleans has begun the redevelopment process of the city’s last major pre-Katrina public housing complex — the Iberville development. Sitting on the fringe of the French Quarter, Iberville has long attracted interest from developers. Earlier this month, the housing authority issued a request to […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Time to strike while the Bullock and wetlands are hot
In addition to The Times-Picayune’s story on FEMA’s massive lump sum compensation to battered New Orleans Schools, Bayou Buzz shared this good news: New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu will join Oscar-winning actress, Sandra Bullock, to announce the opening of the Warren Easton High School health clinic on Sunday, August 29. … The Warren Easton school-based health […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Investigations, Land Use
At K+5, recovery plan becoming clearer; Lens maps mayor-backed projects
Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s list of 100 sure-fire projects as welcome news. But there’s a long list of projects to which Landrieu hasn’t committed.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Landrieu cool to money for Citizen Participation Project
In his final meeting to get public input on next year’s budget priorities, Mayor Mitch Landrieu on Tuesday questioned whether the city should pay for a new program to encourage public input. David Welch of the Gentilly Civic Improvement Association asked the mayor to fund the Citizen Participation Project, an effort included in the city’s […]
Posted inEnvironment, Land Use
City posts contracts for Joe Brown, riverfront park work
Less than a week after announcing his administration’s plans for more than 100 projects, Mayor Mitch Landrieu on Monday signed a contract for another recreation effort. The $1.7 million contract to renovate the Joe Brown Park was posted to the city’s website today. Also posted was the $23 million contract for a new riverfront park […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Forget wars, oil and economy; we’ve got a mosque alert!
The Park51 Muslim community center and mosque complex should not be built near Ground Zero because I heard it will contain a birthing pool for terrorist babies. Seriously, can this manufactured story twist further into the absurd? It’s an election year, and we’re dealing with two wars, a lingering recession, and an environmental catastrophe in […]
Posted inLand Use, Opinion
Katrina shorthand fatigue
It’s a shame Ray Lang stopped blogging at On Levee Failures & A Weather Event. Ray’s posts were a recurring reminder to defend against “Katrina Shorthand” – the tendency to describe 8/29 as a hurricane, and obscure the fact that poorly designed levee walls flooded most of New Orleans. For us, “Katrina” was a devastating […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Don’t waste a good disaster: Spill could help The Hoff
Saints fans carefully appraised my suggestion to play “Glee” songs on game days, and they decided the idea had less merit than an unflushed toilet. After such a blogging debacle, you’d think I’d be disinclined to use my platform at The Lens to make additional pop culture proposals. But when I get into a hole, […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
City begins new era with approval of master plan
In a long-anticipated final step for a winding process that began shortly after Hurricane Katrina, the City Council unanimously approved a new citywide master plan Thursday City officials hope the new plan will reduce conflict over development in neighborhoods and help attract new investment by setting clear and consistent rules for building. “It tells investors […]