By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer | The political ally of former Mayor Ray Nagin whose plan to turn the Municipal Auditorium into a media production facility was slammed as a boondoggle, hasn’t given up on the project. On Saturday night developer Stewart Juneau will host a fundraiser to benefit restoration of the Armstrong […]
Author Archives: Ariella Cohen
Posted inGovernment & Politics
City contracts proving hard to monitor as electronic routing system is overhauled
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer | The long road city contracts travel before being signed is, at least temporarily, even twistier and more dimly lit than it was when Ray Nagin was mayor. For the two years before Mayor Mitch Landrieu took office, city officials and the Inspector General could monitor the progress […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
A year after Nagin, frustration mounts over continuing delays in post-Katrina projects
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer | As Mayor Landrieu marks a first year in office, his capital projects team is still troubleshooting design problems on more than half of the 113 federally funded recovery projects it selected from the much longer list passed on by his predecessor at City Hall. This leaves many […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Land Use
Iberville developer eyes Lafitte Greenway linear park for obligatory off-site housing
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer | The Landrieu administration is considering a request to build affordable housing on a parcel of fallow city-owned land long expected to be part of the Lafitte Greenway in Mid-City. The land in question is the largest contiguous piece of land within the footprint of the linear park, […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Land Use
Prior owner of 1 demolished "Treme" house says city seized double he was trying to fix
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer | Standing in front of a row of abandoned, soon-to-be-razed double shotguns, , gesturing sympathetically to the neighborhood leaders gathered with him, Mayor Mitch Landrieu on Thursday implored New Orleans property owners to end the pattern of neglect that has left tens of thousands blighted buildings across the […]
Posted inLand Use
If city had asked, "Treme" producers would have chipped in on restoration of doubles
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer | Neither the Landrieu administration nor preservationists followed up to save houses featured in ads for the HBO television show “Treme,” series executive producer David Simon wrote in a letter released this afternoon. The five houses that grace the cover of the recently released first-season DVD set were […]
Posted inEnvironment, Government & Politics
One year after BP oil spill, The Lens & WWOZ want to hear your stories
One year after the BP blowout and oil spill, some 80 percent of those who have applied for claims from the federal government have reportedly not presented sufficient documentation to get the relief they hoped for. Meanwhile, the recommendations of a federal oil spill commission have yet to spur any changes in oil industry practices or regulations. […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
A week before hospital groundbreaking, Vitter amps up opposition in letter to HUD
U.S. Sen. David Vitter has long criticized the state’s shaky financing plans to replace Charity Hospital with a new $1.2 billion Louisiana State University-owned teaching hospital. Today the Louisiana Republican made that concern clear in a letter to U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan urging him not to put taxpayers on the hook […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Land Use
City Council hops aboard plan to extend streetcar service to Bywater's far edge
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer | The City Council is throwing its weight behind Bywater residents and businesses calling on the Regional Transit Authority to expand streetcar service to the neighborhood’s Poland Avenue eastern boundary. The council today approved a resolution requesting that the agency extend a planned French Quarter line another mile beyond […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Investigations, Land Use
'Reinventing' New Orleans? Landrieu team steers dwindling recovery dollars to humdrum projects
Despite Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s lofty rhetoric about reinventing the New Orleans, most discretionary federal grant money is going toward rebuilding streets and buildings.