Danatus King of the NAACP Baty Landis of Silence is Violence Gina Womack of Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children Norris Henderson of VOTE These are community leaders and important stakeholders in efforts to reform our criminal justice system and repair our broken police department. They were all named to Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu’s 21-member […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
IG releases annual report wrapping up tough year
The Office of Inspector General completed 15 of the 22 investigations it opened in 2009, according to an annual report the office submitted to the city Tuesday. “Most of the investigations concerned relatively minor matters. However, The Crime Surveillance Camera inspection revealed multiple evasions of competitive requirements, and generated suspicions of corruption in contract administration,” […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Facebook rhetoric reveals mindset of beleaguered NOPD officers and supporters
The Police Association of New Orleans held a fund-raiser over the weekend supporting Special Operations unit veterans Capt. Jeff Winn and Lt. Dwayne Scheuermann and the police officer union’s rapidly depleting legal defense budget. Winn and Scheuermann are under federal investigation in connection with the death of Henry Glover, whose remains were found in the […]
Posted inLand Use
City has $9 million more for economic development
After doling out nearly $3 million in loans for an expansion of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club headquarters and an entertainment complex on St. Bernard Avenue, the city of New Orleans has about $9 million left in its Urban Development Action Grant fund for revitalization projects in low-income neighborhoods. “We have $12 million […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Landrieu transition team: We're not required to follow state sunshine laws
Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu’s spokesman said late Monday that the transition team “strives to follow” the state open-meetings statues, “though it is not required to do so by law.” Spokesman Todd Ragusa was addressing a point raised earlier Monday by Norman Francis, Xavier University president and one of two leaders of Landrieu’s task force to vet […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Adorable: Mitch Landrieu’s first little transparency flap
Monday, Danatus King of the New Orleans NAACP resigned from Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu’s transition task force on crime citing transparency concerns. He is dissatisfied with Landrieu’s decision to keep from the public the names of all but the handful of finalists for police superintendent. My colleague Steve Beatty was thinking this could prove problematic last […]
Posted inEnvironment
State and city not making weatherization goals
The national shortcomings of the federal stimulus act’s weatherization program were detailed in a Sunday Associated Press story, and a fresh look at local numbers show an equally dismal level of success. The long-running federal weatherization assistance program, financed by the U.S. Department of Energy, pays for low-income households to get home improvements to keep […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Mysterious “recovery board” made key decision on project
For all who were wondering who made up the “recovery board” that decided to pull the plug on a contract to develop a long-awaited linear park in New Orleans, The Lens has obtained an answer. Sort of. According to Mayor Ray Nagin spokesman James Ross, the executive branch board is comprised of “staff members who […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
PANO: Just Desserts
Perhaps you read this lovely article in The Times-Picayune. Over the weekend, the union that represents the NOPD, the Police Association of New Orleans, held a fund-raiser to benefit the legal-defense funds of officers under investigation for violent crimes, conspiracies and cover-ups that occurred in the aftermath of the federal levee failure. The event was […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Police chief search leader: Open-records laws don't apply
Update: The public isn’t entitled to see all the applicants for the next police superintendent, and Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu’s transition team screening the applicants isn’t a public body or subject to public records law, its leader said today. Xavier University president Norman Francis took these positions at a press conference to address the resignation of […]