By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer | City Council members appear to be falling in line in a move toward more transparent and timely budgeting – but not all of them. Last week’s joint meeting of the Criminal Justice and Budget committees was a first of its kind. For as long as anyone can […]
Category: Environment
Posted inEnvironment, Government & Politics, Investigations
Organizer who specialized in catastrophe conferences admits to financial disasters
A self-described “philanthropist-entrepreneur” specializes in disaster conferences, drawing high-powered speakers but leaving behind-the-scenes contractors looking for a paycheck.
Posted inEnvironment
OPSB updates plan to rid Audubon Charter soils of sky-high lead contamination
In response to parents’ concerns about lead levels as much as 15 times the legal limit, the Orleans Parish School Board has released an updated plan to remediate a temporary site for Audubon Charter School. Dubbed the Eastbank Swing Space, the tract of land between Richard, Orange, Constance and Annunciation streets in the Lower Garden […]
Posted inEnvironment, Government & Politics, Investigations
Despite health fears, trailers are housing disaster victims
FEMA trailers that sheltered New Orleanians after Katrina after back in service on the resale market, despite health warnings and a government ban on their use as housing.
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Tales of a river gone mad and a would-be suicide’s cork leg
Historian and local mensch John Barry has written some recent articles comparing the current Mississippi River flood conditions to the Great Flood of 1927, about which he authored the definitive account. These prompted me to look up other Mississippi flood years, and through the power of the Internet I learned about the flood of 1882. […]
Posted inEnvironment
The glass is half empty for recycling: New city program will not take bottles or jars
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer | As you clean up from the first weekend of Jazz Fest, you may be tempted to toss the empty glass bottles into the recycling bin, along with the newspapers and plastics. You need to fight that temptation. Glass is not accepted in the city’s recycling program that […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Berm blather distracts us from the real issue: slapdash drilling
The Gulf Coast Leadership Summit was convened last week at the Hilton to remember and discuss the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and the oil gusher that followed. The first day of the Summit included a forum with former Oil Spill Commission members as well as forums with political leaders from affected coastal regions. Much of […]
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 inEnvironment, Government & Politics
Council ponders whether recycling carts are too big; French Quarter may get service
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer | Is the city’s new recycling program putting the cart before the trash man’s horse? With 50,000 carts for recycled trash already on order, City Council members on Thursday debated whether the 64-gallon size soon to be delivered is too big. Also still up in the air: whether […]
Posted inEnvironment, Government & Politics
Recycling carts, service and costs top agenda for City Council committee meeting
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer | Anyone excited, frustrated or just plain interested in the city’s latest effort to reinstate curbside recycling by May will have plenty to listen to at tomorrow’s meeting of the City Council’s Sanitation Committee. Most of the agenda is dedicated to the matter, from next week’s expected bid […]