City officials will hold a public hearing tonight on how to spend $28.8 million in federal anti-poverty and homelessness grants. The federal money, computed using formulas that take into account local poverty rates, is a key source for emergency shelter, affordable housing and social-service programs for low-income, homeless or HIV-positive Louisiana residents. In 2009, an […]
Author Archives: Ariella Cohen
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Land Use
Landrieu says a redeveloped Iberville could be “one of the greatest neighborhoods”
A day before the first public meeting on a proposed redevelopment of the Iberville public housing complex, Mayor Mitch Landrieu endorsed the concept of a sweeping transformation of the Treme neighborhood. He told an audience at an affordable-housing conference today that Iberville’s proximity to streetcar lines, the French Quarter and the city’s medical district make […]
Posted inEnvironment
Council wants city to get rid of remaining FEMA trailers
More than five years after Hurricane Katrina forced thousands of New Orleanians to take up temporary residence in FEMA trailers, City Council members say it’s time for Mayor Mitch Landrieu to enforce pre-Katrina laws barring mobile homes and remove the last remaining trailers from the city. “People don’t like having these trailers right next to […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Land Use
Consultants at first questioned “urgent” tag of new hospital
Consultants who helped former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin secure $75 million in federal Katrina recovery grants for the construction of a new Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Lower Mid-City initially questioned the legality of using federal disaster recovery grants for a project that would not be complete until seven to 10 years after the […]
Posted inLand Use
HANO closes applications to redevelop Iberville complex
The first round of a competition for the redevelopment rights of the city’s last major pre-Katrina public housing complex – the Iberville development – closed today. Interested developers had until 2 p.m. to present their qualifications to work with the Housing Authority of New Orleans. About 40 developers attended a pre-submission conference held Aug. 25 […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Iberville redevelopment quietly gets underway
With little fanfare or public conversation, the Housing Authority of New Orleans has begun the redevelopment process of the city’s last major pre-Katrina public housing complex — the Iberville development. Sitting on the fringe of the French Quarter, Iberville has long attracted interest from developers. Earlier this month, the housing authority issued a request to […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Investigations, Land Use
At K+5, recovery plan becoming clearer; Lens maps mayor-backed projects
Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s list of 100 sure-fire projects as welcome news. But there’s a long list of projects to which Landrieu hasn’t committed.
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 […]