Louisiana law now requires that notices of public meetings be sent in advance to anyone who asks. It’s a victory for active community members who deal with public entities that neglect to give or try to evade public notice, including some New Orleans charter school parents.
Thousands more will likely lose benefits starting this fall, due to a new Louisiana law that bars state officials from doing what they’ve done for over 25 years – asking for waivers of federal work requirements in parishes with high unemployment.
An online survey by the authors — local and national network of certified planners, architects, urban designers, and landscape architects — seems to indicate that outreach for City Park’s new Master Plan never happened, certainly not in any comprehensive manner.
Unless the city provides readily accessible translation and interpretation, true civic participation is impossible for New Orleanians who speak little or no English, the writers say.
A menos que la ciudad proporcione traducción e interpretación realmente accesibles, la participación cívica plena es imposible para los habitantes que hablan poco o nada de inglés en Nueva Orleans, dicen los autores.
In Louisiana, one of the nation’s most impoverished states, recipients could easily lose food stamps through the work-requirement red tape, advocates say. The sponsoring legislator says that “work provides lasting value we can give back to our families, our community, and God.”
