As details emerge about a multi-track federal investigation into former Mayor Ray Nagin’s personal dealings with city contractors, The Times-Picayune recently reminded us that Nagin was viewed as a “colossal disappointment”…
Category: Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Learning from NY: Cutting mental health carries hidden costs
City officials are right to decry the cuts to mental health services that could result from Gov. Bobby Jindal’s effort to plug a budget deficit.
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Talk about a bit of chutzpah: Asking for overtime after being caught gambling
As I recall, the quintessential example of “chutzpah” is when a kid kills his parents over and over again but keeps expecting different results. This statue shows Einstein on a bench, probably during working hours, imagining the advent of video poker. Photo by maveric2003 via Flickr, under Creative Commons license Now… that’s always seemed like […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Yet again, GOP voters go whole hog for ‘anybody but Romney’
Rick Santorum on the campaign trail: the latest Romney option. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr Creative Commons) Back in December, I advised my vast army of readers to bet on unusual permutations in the 2012 Republican primaries. So imagine this post being typed on an imaginary aircraft carrier, with a banner behind the author declaring “Weirdness Accomplished.” Tuesday […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
To fight violent crime, New Orleans may need to get the lead out
In one of his many fine recent columns on crime, Times-Picayune columnist Jarvis DeBerry wrote (my emphases): [New Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal] Serpas and his predecessor have both struggled to explain why things are particularly bad here. [Former Superintendent] Warren Riley wondered if there isn’t something in the water. Serpas hasn’t said anything so bizarre, […]
Posted inOpinion
Looking past gaffes in 'czar' Blakely's memoir of Katrina recovery
A crowd tags along on one of the bicycle tours of city neighborhoods that were a signature of Blakely’s tenure as recovery czar. (photo: Karen Gadbois) By Jed Horne, The Lens news editor | It’s too bad that Ed Blakely’s book about his two years as New Orleans “recovery czar” is so full of sloppy […]
Posted inOpinion
A tree grows in Orleans — in fact 10,000 new ones since Katrina
In late 2006, volunteers along Elysian Fields Avenue plant the first of 10,000 trees, a post-Katrina effort that culminates with a Bywater planting this week. Photo courtesy of Parkway Partners In December 2006, it was another dreary day for a crestfallen city shrouded in fog, but the honking of horns, the whoops from drivers, the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
Rage over victim’s arrest record should be directed at NOPD
As I concluded some small talk with a friend this morning, he turned to go but then whirled around and said, “Interesting report by The Lens yesterday.” He didn’t have to elaborate. I knew he referred to the article about New Orleans Police Department’s delay in issuing a statement on Mike Ainsworth, the Good Samaritan […]
Posted inOpinion
Failure of climate talks imperils nowhere more than state coast
Volunteers fight to save a Plaquemines Parish wetland using piped-in river water laden with sediment. Photo courtesy of Governors Office of Homeland December’s climate change conference in Durban, South Africa, was, as these conferences usually are, more style than substance. Small steps were taken here and there – the Green Climate Fund, formation of new […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Happy Birthday, Saints-Picayune – and sundry other random thoughts
This grab bag of topics goes out to those who like their internet reading quick and brief.