Accepting a recent $800,000 award from City Hall could further jeopardize Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club’s tax exempt status. That’s because its unusual IRS status requires that it get at least 65 percent of its gross income from membership dues. Its latest tax filing, for 2007, shows that it apparently violated that provision, with […]
Author Archives: Ariella Cohen
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Police station not ‘evicted,’ developer says
See the coverage of this story from our partners at Fox8 News No good deed goes unpunished. That was how real estate developer Pres Kabacoff ended an e-mail sent recently to New Orleans City Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell. The good deed in question was Kabacoff loaning space for a temporary 5th District police headquarters. The punishment, […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Schools
Donation boosts Web site and city staff, not citizen-participation efforts
A $503,700 grant was supposed to encourage citizen involvement in government, but nothing has been done to put people in the chairs of the City Council’s chambers. By Ariella Cohen, staff writer – A year and a half after the city of New Orleans received a half-million-dollar donation to foster citizen involvement in the recovery, […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
HUD: HANO would “halt” if consultants were phased out
The Housing Authority of New Orleans is “overly dependent” on private contractors, resulting in higher costs for taxpayers and a loss of efficiency, said a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report on the local housing agency released Thursday. “If the consultants were to cease providing services, activities within [HANO] departments would essentially come […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Judge approves pact requiring city, School Board improve juvenile hall
A federal judge gave final approval Friday to two agreements for broad reform at the New Orleans juvenile detention center. Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle’s approval of the consent decrees legally obligates the city and Orleans Parish School Board to improve conditions and increase educational resources at the jail-like facility, a holding center for juvenile offenders […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
City running months behind in paying architects
If you build it, they will pay. Or so the architects thought. Government is fondly seen by architects as a source of sizable and reliable, if often unglamorous, work. In a recession, a contract for a public school, library or community center could sustain a small firm for months – or so said industry lore. […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Less than 5% of certain recovery money spent, administration says
More than two years after New Orleans was given permission to begin drawing down federal recovery grants, the city has spent less than 5 percent of the $300 million in grant money appropriated in the city’s operating budget, the city’s chief technology officer Harrison Boyd told the City Council today. The amount totals $11 million, […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Schools
Unused city money dating to the 1980s raises questions, ire.
The Gert Town pool has sat almost untended since Katrina By Ariella Cohen, staff writer – In the Garden District, a decaying Prytania Street church is on the market for $1.8 million after years of neglect by its owner. In eastern New Orleans, Lincoln Beach lies fallow, tides from Lake Pontchartrain washing over its debris-strewn […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Nagin withdraws request on Chevron Building
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has withdrawn his request to use FEMA money to relocate New Orleans City Hall. The move represents a backtrack for the mayor, who in recent months stood up against opposition from the City Council and the public to push for the municipal headquarters to move to an office complex that […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Council looks to hamstring Nagin on Chevron Building
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 […]