The city has until Friday to reach a deal with Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman over security at the Criminal District Courthouse, or Gusman could still cause closure
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Jindal to beef up berms
Standing on the second floor of the Acme Oyster House alongside BP America President Lamar McKay, Gov. Bobby Jindal today announced that the state will use $140 million from BP to transform sand berms into barrier islands to protect the coast.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Nagin-era records continue to muddy city loan account
Five months after The Lens first reported on nearly $17 million missing from the city’s largest economic-development fund, Mayor Mitch Landrieu still can’t account for the missing taxpayer dollars.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Animal control may go to the dogs without more money
Fresh off a financing fight that still leaves the city without the full services to round up stray animals and address related problems, Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s budget calls for further cuts to the contract that puts private dogcatchers on the street.
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Investigations, Land Use
Non-profit unable to honor commitment turning blight into low-income housing
Galilee Housing Initiative and Community Development Corporation has failed to renovate even one of the more than 70 properties given to it by the city.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Council and Landrieu spar over city’s role in luring business
City Council leaders gave a cool reception Wednesday to Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s plan to finance an economic development office within City Hall as well as the new Nola Business Alliance, a separate nonprofit entity funded with a mix of public and private dollars to generate jobs and investment in New Orleans.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Homework for Election Day
The Nov. 2 features some marquee races, but it also has plenty of down-ballot items. Find out what awaits you in the voting booth by using the state’s handy ballot generator. And if you need help decoding those 10 Constitutional amendments, download this guide from the non-partisan Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana. It even […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Jindal’s political future is stickier than his sand berms
A month ago I griped about Gov. Bobby Jindal’s preternatural luck. Louisiana’s “part time governor,” as I called him, had radically scaled down his dubious sand-berm idea without any negative political fallout. All summer Jindal had touted the berms as being key to winning the “war” against oil in the Gulf. Then he retreated, scaling down the plan, and neither the media nor the public turned on him.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Levee District joins mayor in considering a tax increase
The folks at city hall may not be the only ones inching up your tax bill in 2011.
The Orleans Levee District is also considering raising its own taxing rate, at the same time as the City Council considers a proposed budget from Mayor Mitch Landrieu that calls for raising the rate that determines how much property owners pay in taxes.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Courthouse security deal made
The judges in Criminal District Court have met this morning and voted to shut down the courthouse if Sheriff Marlin Gusman pulls his security at noon, as they are expecting, a spokeswoman said.