The City Council will vote Thursday on whether to give final approval to a citywide master plan establishing new guidelines for land use and civic participation. The vote is largely symbolic because of an amendment to the City Charter approved by voters in 2008 that legally enshrined the plan even before consultants completed it in […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Fresh-food, investment plan may be in list of 100 projects
The 100 fully funded projects that Mayor Mitch Landrieu plans to unveil Friday, on his 103rd day in office, may include neighborhood-based recovery programs, as well as bricks-and-mortar projects. Designed by the staff of former recovery czar Ed Blakely and financed out of a $411 million pot of federal Disaster Community Development Block Grants given […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Can Who Dats get a Gleek on?
As we celebrate our team’s defense of an NFL championship, honor Rickey Jackson’s career, remember the vision of Dave Dixon, and hype a video game, I want to toss an extra doubloon into the Saints-related festivities. Pop philosopher Katy Perry inspired me. See, in a recent Rolling Stone interview she justified her vapid “California Gurls” […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
The Small Print
We scan the Times-Picayune’s legal ads so you don’t have to. Here’s a list of notable findings from the past week. Board of Regents seeks new chief – The Louisiana Board of Regents is on the hunt for a new Commissioner of Higher Education, or Chief Executive Officer. The top officer will answer directly to […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
The nation’s sacrifice zone, part II
The New York Times article I referred to in my previous post did more than contrast the crisis of wetlands loss to the oil disaster. It also discussed the longtime degradation of the Gulf Coast, and touched on several “radioactive” issues: According to data from the Minerals Management Service compiled and analyzed by Toxics Targeting, a […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Environment, Government & Politics, Schools
Successful post-Katrina programs in jeopardy of losing federal backing
Without a continuation of post-Katrina grants for education, health care and improving the criminal justice system, New Orleans risks losing gains made since the storm, says a report released Wednesday on the state of New Orleans five years after Hurricane Katrina. The New Orleans Index at Five, a project of the Brookings Institution and the […]
Posted inEnvironment
Incoming Spill Claims Czar Will Drop BP’s Contractor
Kenneth Feinberg, the independent paymaster chosen by President Barack Obama to administer damage claims from the Gulf oil spill, will drop the contractor that BP has been using to manage the claims process and hire two new companies to replace it. Feinberg is expected to take over the claims system from BP In mid-August. He […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Eastern New Orleans & the Lower Ninth Ward demand a full accounting of recovery spending. So do we.
Along with grocery stores, functional roads, and less blight, the people of New Orleans’ hardest-hit neighborhoods want a full accounting of recovery spending. This was the clearest takeaway of Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s two public budget meetings this week, with spending priorities taking a back seat to more overarching concerns about transparency and the way budget decisions […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Face to face with Ray Nagin. Register now!
Catching up with former Mayor Ray Nagin on the fifth anniversary of Katrina is now possible if you sign up for this free online speaker series. “From Recovery to Revival, A Conversation with Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and ‘Katrina General’ Russell Honore” will take place Sept. 1, online. An installment of Keppler Speakers‘ “Face to Face […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Everything old is new again, and vice versa
” Man, by his very nature, tends to give himself an explanation of the world into which he is born. And this is what distinguishes him from the other species. Every individual, even the least intelligent, the lowest of outcasts, from childhood on gives himself some explanation of the world. And with it he manages […]