The New Orleans City Council on Thursday is set to consider an ordinance to prevent Mayor Ray Nagin from buying the Chevron Building and renovating it into a new City Hall. Introduced Jan. 7, the ordinance is the latest move in a game of political Stratego that has visibly pitted the administration against members of […]
Posted inEnvironment
Toxic-soil cleanup slowed by dense bureaucracy
Even before Hurricane Katrina, scientists had established that the soil across New Orleans was laced with an alarming amount of lead, which can cause a range of health problems, particularly in children. The 2005 failure of the federal levee system then sloshed a nasty stew across the city leaving behind a new layer of danger […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Let’s hope the second time is a charm
New Orleans officials again are taking bids to oversee and manage a long-awaited grant program for grocers serving low-income communities. Known as the Fresh Food Retail Initiative, the $7 million federally funded program was stalled last month when U.S. Housing and Urban Development officials, who are providing the money, balked at the city’s bidding process. […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Let’s hope the second time is a charm
New Orleans officials again are taking bids to oversee and manage a long-awaited grant program for grocers serving low-income communities. Known as the Fresh Food Retail Initiative, the $7 million federally funded program was stalled last month when U.S. Housing and Urban Development officials, who are providing the money, balked at the city’s bidding process. […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
I have evidence, I'm told
Politician X is the worst human being imaginable, but if it turns out he or she is not, so be it. We need a name for this. Monday, City Council attorney Steven Lane denied the existence of any e-mail containing a racist slur, refuting Police Superintendent Warren Riley’s assertion that Councilwoman Stacy Head used the […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
John Georges: "I am you"
Mayoral candidate John Georges says he knows what it’s like to run an operation such as New Orleans City Hall. After all, he reasoned recently, many of his 1,000 employees at Imperial Trading and his other companies are single mothers making about $10 an hour – plus benefits! “We have what I believe the culture […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Shadow Government capitulates in the face of me?
Reader WB took this photo on O.C. Haley Monday afternoon: Wow, if I knew they’d start disclosing their meetings, I’d have written this blog post months ago!
Posted inGovernment & Politics
A delay in finding out about the recovery delays
No one can say the last two weeks in New Orleans have been uneventful. The Saints broke the team’s Super Bowl drought and their fans beat the NFL in a battle over who owns “Who Dat.” Watergate Junior made national headlines out of the security, or lack thereof, at Hale Boggs Federal Building and Krewe […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Will Gressett upset it?
Updated below — In the comments section of this post Richard notes: Interesting in that Andrew Gressett played the hidden doctor in the Dwight McKenna commercial against Minyard. Yup the same Andrew Gressett that Mauberret threw in the race to try and take votes away from Lemle. Indeed, I hadn’t realized it the few dozen […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Most consequential race flying under radar
While the mayoral campaign grabs most of the headlines, the result of the first election for the new unified tax assessor’s office could be just as consequential. For more than a century, the city had seven assessors, and each became something of a kingmaker. Without computerized records, assessors had free rein to suppress the assessed […]