The Lens (https://thelensnola.org/author/ariella-cohen/)
Scenes of neglect are ubiquitous in the flood-scarred Lower 9th Ward, but nine buildings in particular have caught the attention of neighbors since the fall because of their connection to a City Councilman.
Despite Superfund status, government and private investors continue to dabble in doomed Desire neighborhood.
The combination of horrible roads and a population that relies on bicycles for basic transportation has created a lethal situation, which city officials hope to address with better planning.
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer |
Some corners in this city tell quintessentially New Orleans stories, and among them is the intersection of South Broad Street and Washington Avenue. There on the trafficky Broadmoor bend, King’s Meat Market and Grocery sells gumbo-ready mixes of seasoned poultry parts named for whichever store employee or customer first divined the recipe’s proportion of legs to necks to pickled tips.
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer |
After more than a year of delay, Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration soon will begin a long-anticipated federally funded study of how to revitalize the North Claiborne Avenue corridor, his planning director Bill Gilchrist said this week. The study, which is expected to take more than a year of work by a city-contracted consultant, will be partially financed by a $2 million grant awarded to the city by President Barack Obama’s administration in October of 2010.
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer |
In a city confronting an ever-rising homicide count and profound infrastructural and economic challenges, one place remains relatively calm: City Hall. With a noticeable absence of strife or dissent, the City Council voted today to unanimously approve a $497 million general operating budget for 2012 that looks remarkably similar in substance and detail to the budget proposed by Mayor Mitch Landrieu in October.
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer |
More than six years after FEMA provided displaced Hurricane Katrina victims with trailers that were later revealed to be toxic, early tests suggest that dangerously high levels of formaldehyde linger in the more than 130,000 units still in use. An air quality test done last month in a FEMA trailer housing Hurricane Katrina victims in Mississippi showed levels of the carcinogen that exceeded levels deemed safe by the federal government.
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer |
Backlit by the insistent neon signage of New Orleans City Hall, the Rev. Jesse Jackson last night told Occupy Nola protesters that they had a right to assemble peacefully in Duncan Plaza, the Loyola Avenue public green where Occupy first set up camp in early October. “This park is our park,” he said, employing the call and response speech structure of Occupy protests nationwide.
This item was first published on The Lens’ Tumblr site, which we use for promoting our events and providing the news behind the news.
By Ariella Cohen and Maggie Calmes, The Lens staff writers |
Gambit published an excellent story yesterday on transparency in Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s City Hall. It’s an issue that’s, let’s just say, familiar to us.
