Today, Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu announced that he had whittled down his choices for next NOPD superintendent to two but did not name them. A source with knowledge of the interview process has told The Lens that the two are current Nashville chief and former NOPD Deputy Ronal Serpas and current East Palo Alto top cop […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Land Use
Committee advances bill to increase budget oversight of state housing largesse
A bill to increase legislative oversight of the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency cleared a committee this week, coming out stronger than when it went in. House Bill 1414, filed by Speaker Jim Tucker, D-Algiers, intially required that a legislative committee simply review the agency’s annual budget. The bill now requires approval of the Joint Legislative […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Confronting the big issues in Baton Rouge (eye roll)
LaBruzzo’s true intentions revealed State Rep. John LaBruzzo’s proposal to randomly drug test welfare recipients passed the House Wednesday evening by a 61-27 margin. It now faces scrutiny in the Senate. LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, stripped his proposal to “prioritize” the testing of pregnant women, which, though problematic for its own reasons, at least allowed LaBruzzo the […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
New AIDS agency propped up with federal allocations
The New Orleans Regional AIDS Planning Council this week approved 2010 funding amounts for various service categories under the federal Ryan White AIDS program, but the mayor’s Office of Health Policy had already determined who would and wouldn’t be providing certain services. N’R Peace Inc., an HIV/AIDS agency located in Algiers, was picked to continue […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Government & Politics
Finally cooking with gas: NOPD Superintendent candidates and an emerging fiscal crisis
Mitch Landrieu officially will be mayor of New Orleans next week. So this week, we’re finally beginning to get an idea of what his actual transition will be like – the one in which he actually takes over the job of leading the city. First, the cops: While the NOPD clearly has been at the […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Arizona’s totalitarian immigration law not that different from proposals here
Last week, Arizona’s governor signed a strict immigration bill into law designed to crack down hard on undocumented immigrants. A firestorm of controversy erupted around the new law because it requires police to ask for documents from anyone they have a “reasonable suspicion” may be in the country illegally. Because the law does not illuminate […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Recovery contractor wants to work more closely with city
The CEO of the company managing most of New Orleans’ 600 recovery projects has recommended to Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu that he speed up rebuilding by breaking down walls between city bureaucrats and contracted project managers particularly in the area of financial planning. Under its contract with MWH Americas, Inc., the city pays hourly rates for […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Landrieu team giving boot to top Nagin administrators
With barely more than a week left before taking office, Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu sent letters Thursday notifying top officials in the administration of Mayor Ray Nagin that their services would no longer be needed come May 3. Transition team spokesman Todd Ragusa would not say who received the pink slips, saying only that the notified […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Speaker Tucker seeks more oversight of budgets
Speaker of the House Rep. Jim Tucker (R-Algiers) has hinted for months that he’d like to have more eyes on the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency budget, with its hundreds of millions of dollars in bond money and federal tax credits – as well as millions more in federal grants with the Louisiana Recovery Authority. Now […]
Posted inLand Use
City’s share of VA hospital revealed: $107.4 million
New Orleans will kick in $107.4 million for the construction of a new Veterans Affairs hospital in Mid-City. “That is the total as far as I am aware,” Deputy City Attorney Brenda Breaux told the City Council Thursday. Members wanted to know how much city money would be going to the $995 million hospital planned […]