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Author: Roberta Brandes Gratz

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http://RobertaGratz

Lower Nine faces 13 years of hell if canal project rolls forward

May 10, 2019 Updated November 7, 2019
Stunning indifference to community resistance

Going off the grid: Canal streetcars rumble toward a big mistake

March 17, 2019 Updated November 7, 2019
Plan would drop stops, block intersections.

Jane Jacobs’ victories against Robert Moses saved a city and also empowered women

March 14, 2018 Updated November 7, 2019
The "housewife" who took on the "Master Builder."

Remembering Bill Borah: Killing a French Quarter expressway was only the start

October 10, 2017 Updated November 7, 2019
An urbanist who fought stupidity — and paid a price.

What would Jane Jacobs make of our post-Katrina transition from ‘death’ to ‘life’?

April 9, 2016 Updated November 7, 2019
A look at the post-Katrina city through the eyes of urban planning's most important 20th-century visionary.

What to do with short-term rentals: legalize and police them? Good luck with that!

February 27, 2016 Updated November 7, 2019
The shift to B&Bs — illegal and otherwise — is worsening the city's housing crisis.

Holy Cross condo plan: Are we already abandoning post-Katrina reforms?

May 6, 2014 Updated November 7, 2019
The community senses that its input, including a 74-page argument to uphold currently legal height limits, is losing ground to an overblown development scheme.

So what if Holy Cross towers defy the zoning code — it’s only the Lower Ninth

March 26, 2014 Updated November 7, 2019
Even cut back to 60 feet, the towers would be half again as tall as current zoning allows.

Monumental mistake: Demolishing World Trade Center to build a tourist attraction

June 19, 2013 Updated November 7, 2019
Small and modest projects always exceed expectations while big ones never fulfill theirs.

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Our reporting has more urgency than ever.


For more than a decade, we have reported on issues as well as public policy meant to address the needs of residents. The Lens seeks to focus on the inherent inequality that has created a multi-tiered system. We, at The Lens seek to uncover, illuminate, inform and take part in a forward-looking community. Join us.

 
 

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