Wanted: Businesses sized to fit current zoning — not more parking lots
The best way to prevent new parking lots is to make sure that we don't zone these historic urban areas for businesses with intensive parking demand.
Category: Land Use
Reporting on how land, space, and development shape the future of New Orleans. This category examines zoning decisions, neighborhood planning, environmental impact, and the balance between growth and preservation—highlighting who benefits, who’s affected, and what’s at stake.
Ripping the fabric of a neighborhood — and, with it, the spirit of democracy
"It’s not that Holy Cross thinks of itself as Williamsburg or what the French Quarter is to purists."
Decline and fall: Emperor Jindal as the ancient Romans might have seen him
Our government serves the interests of corporations over common people, much as the Caesars concentrated power within their bloodline alone.
Auto ‘rapture’ along Magazine Street? CZO parking changes seem to bank on it
The changes to parking regulations in the current draft are a developer’s dream — and a neighborhood nightmare.
City Council needs to redraft the CZO — too important not to get it right
Despite years of citizen input, basic community needs have taken a back seat to tourism in Marigny zoning.
Don’t take the Quarter for granted: Urgent reforms are imperative
Collapse of a Royal Street building shows more than love is needed to save the Vieux Carré.
City cites 13 properties for blight again after The Lens finds trash-strewn lots and dilapidated houses
One of them is a community center near Washington and Broad that has languished for two years.
Call me a sentimental old fool, but I miss my Schwegmann’s — and I got a right to
The more I hear about how terrible the city was before the storm, the more I remember its unterrible charms.
A look back at the roots of The Lens’ Squandered Heritage
Lens founder Karen Gadbois is taking a break from Squandered Heritage to focus on the business side of The Lens.
In parts of New Orleans, eyesores remain on city’s list of fixed-up properties
The city keeps track of each victory in the war against blight, listing each address on its website. But when we randomly checked those properties, we found trash, high weeds and houses that had supposedly been demolished.
