Recent events have only confirmed the fears I expressed in my first “Waiting for Superman” post. I warned about the dangers of linking educational reform efforts to the so-called “Superman” character, but nobody listened. No one seems to care that Superman is, at root, a phony. His real name is Kal-El, and he’s an illegal […]
Posted inInvestigations, Land Use
Transplanted medplex houses in need of life support
A $3.2 million effort to preserve houses that once stood at the site of the planned Veterans Affairs hospital has left them open to the elements and shorn of the detail that made them worth saving.
Posted inEnvironment, Land Use
Despite 8 deaths in abandoned warehouse, city has done little new to fight vagrancy
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer | Six weeks after eight young people were killed by a fire in the fallow 9th Ward warehouse where they were living, the city has not taken new substantive action to reduce vagrancy or shut down unsafe squats. “We just don’t have the manpower,” the city’s newly appointed […]
Posted inLand Use, Schools
Ghost schools haunt New Orleans neighborhoods
Five years after the Orleans Parish School Board shut down dozens of hurricane-damaged public schools, New Orleans residents continue to live alongside the wreckage.
Posted inOpinion
KIPPsters vs. Hipsters: Why so little choice in Downtown schools?
By C.W. Cannon, The Lens contributing opinion writer| The post-Katrina era in New Orleans has been marked by an oddly familiar mix of promise and disappointment, of rising above historic obstacles and of continuing an almost masochistic submission to them. The terms of the dialectic are continuity and change, and its fabric is skin color. […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Schools
Consultants give early glimpse of report on UNO-SUNO merger, stress differences
Jessica Williams, The Lens staff writer | State higher education officials heard an initial report today from the consultant studying the possible merger of Southern University at New Orleans into the University of New Orleans, who took pains to point out the vast differences in the two institutions. “When you think about SUNO and UNO, […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Student takes role of David to creationist’s legislative Goliath
Zachary Kopplin undertook an unusual “science project” for his senior year at Baton Rouge Magnet High School. He’s defending science itself, by advocating for the repeal of the Louisiana Science Education Act. Kopplin rightly views the legislation as costumed creationism – ridiculous Trojan horse legislation that lets instructors teach scientific “controversies” where none exist. He […]
Posted inOpinion
Interested in a program for energy efficiency? Tell city with this survey
By Beth Galante, The Lens contributing opinion writer | New Orleans is working to reduce the energy consumption of our city’s households, and city officials want your help to determine how interested homeowners are in a loan program to improve energy and water efficiency. The Office of Environmental Affairs has received a $220,000 Recovery Act […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Because "prestidigitation" was too long
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer Which of these is the newest street name in the 70112 ZIP code? Alost StreetBreedlove StreetProtection StreetMadame Tranchepain StreetMagic StreetVoltaire Street Magic Street was chosen during a 2006 weeklong planning charrette held in October 2006. The charrette was part of the planning process for rebuilding the Lafitte public […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Government & Politics
New jail building approved by City Council; sheriff must close others when it's built
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer | The New Orleans City Council voted unanimously this afternoon in support of an ordinance granting permission for Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman to build a 1,438-bed jail. Gusman will have to demolish most of his other jail facilities as soon as possible once the new facility is […]