The owner of the gas station next door originally planned to tear down the building to build a convenience store.
Author Archives: Karen Gadbois
Karen Gadbois co-founded The Lens. She now covers New Orleans government issues and writes about land use. With television reporter Lee Zurik she exposed widespread misuse of city recovery funds and led to guilty pleas in federal court. Her work attracted some of journalism's highest honors, including a Peabody Award, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award and a gold medal from Investigative Reporters and Editors. She can be reached at (504) 606-6013.
Posted inLand Use, Squandered Heritage
City code enforcement hearing to deal with unpermitted house, barking from dog spa
The owner got a permit to build a garage, but the city says it’s a second dwelling, which isn’t allowed.
Posted inLand Use
Neighbors succeed in bringing temporary halt to plans for a concrete batching plant off Earhart
Residents of the Zion City neighborhood have seen a steady encroachment of commercial enterprises in what had been a residential area. The neighborhood is zoned for “light industrial,” but Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell had the city create a special zoning district after construction started on the site without a permit.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
New Orleans City Council budget hearings end not with a bang, but a whimper
Friday afternoon’s session focused on Safety and Permits and one of its divisions, the Taxicab Bureau.
Posted inLand Use
Crackdown on Quarter T-shirt shops yields some compliance, some delays
Inspectors looked at 53 sites, found 17 not in line with city ordinance.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Landmarks budget down, SPCA up as City Council haggles over 2014 spending
Contending the city’s incarceration rate is too high, Councilmember Gray has begun quantifying budget requests in terms of the annual cost of housing an inmate: $18,000.
Posted inLand Use
New Orleans looks to auction off 2,100 city-owned properties
The city could bring in $10 million by selling them.
Posted inLand Use, Squandered Heritage
Treme house demolished illegally by nonprofit that scored federal dollars to renovate it
Providence Community Housing lacked a demolition permit as it reduced a vintage house to a stack of timbers, saying the structure was too far gone.
Posted inSquandered Heritage
Uptown property comes into compliance with zoning code after years of defiance
A front yard illegally paved to make a parking pad was remedied as the property owner eyed the real estate market.
Posted inInvestigations, Land Use
Poor communication between state, city preceded demolition of house during repair
A state employee told the city that Kim James hadn’t gotten one grant, but didn’t note that she had gotten another.