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 […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Master plan moving forward with no clear source of funding for citizen participation element
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 […]