Land Use
As New Orleans comes back, some neighborhoods boom, others stay blighted | Marketplace.org – Conundrums of gentrification.
About a year ago, Greg Thyssen and Shakti Belway bought an 1800’s double shotgun in the Treme neighborhood.
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One thing they worry about, though, is more people like them moving in.
“I recognize that, on one hand, I am gentrification,” Thyssen said, “but on the other hand, I’m against gentrification because I don’t want this neighborhood to lose its magic.”
Brennan’s Inc., former owner of the landmark restaurant, is bankrupt | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune – The family-owned company that operated the Creole dining landmark is in bankruptcy court, where assets may be liquidated to pay creditors. As for the future identity of the restaurant— that’s a big question mark.
A REGION REDEFINED PART V: The ‘sliver by the river’ | The Advocate –
“As in any gentrifying neighborhood, rising property tax bills have put pressure on longtime residents, some of whom remember when values were so low that they paid no property taxes at all. “It’s almost impossible for them to pay,” [Rev. Cornelius] Tilton said. “Their incomes have not increased.”
An upbeat former real estate broker with a Bluetooth device dangling from one ear, Tilton has also noticed other, more subtle changes that have become familiar in the neighborhoods that hug the Mississippi River.
There are fewer children, more single people and childless couples, more whites and more folks from out of town, including a whole crop of newcomers on Tilton’s own block of Constance Street who seemed to have appeared all of a sudden from Chicago.”
Criminal Justice
Inspector general details flaws in police warning system | Home | The New Orleans Advocate – New Orleans Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux found numerous flaws in the police department’s early warning system that is supposed to alert management to officers who receive inordinate numbers of complaints.
[Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas] agreed with many of the IG’s criticisms, particularly concerning the need to develop more detailed policies.
And he said those recommendations will be incorporated into a multimillion-dollar overhaul of the early warning system that is already under way as part of a federal consent decree…
Badon considering race for Orleans Parish sheriff after poll released | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune – State Rep. Austin Badon has not announced whether he intends to run for Orleans Parish sheriff, however a poll shows he is within striking distance of former former sheriff Charles Foti Jr., and incumbent Sheriff Marlin Gusman.
Environment
Senior Corps of Engineers official says there is ‘no silver bullet’ for coastal restoration | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune – Brig. Gen. Duke DeLuca, commander of the regional Mississippi Valley Division of the Army Corps of Engineers, stressed that the state’s Master Plan to restore the coast relies on complicated, untested strategies that should be vetted by scientists.
The Mississippi Delta Is Disappearing Faster Than Any Other Land on Earth | Next City – A promising approach to wetlands renewal involves the use of wastewater to help grow newly-planted cypress forests.
Government & Politics
Nelson Mandela lived an exceptional life: Editorial | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune – The remembrance includes details of human rights leader Nelson Mandela’s visit to New Orleans in 2000, a decade after he was released from prison and led the effort to replace South Africa’s apartheid system with democracy.
Stephanie Grace: Vitter’s trial balloon causing a stir | The New Orleans Advocate – If Sen. David Vitter decides to run for governor, that will drastically narrow the number of other candidates who opt to enter the race.
Schools
What does a Common Core curriculum mean to students at risk of being shot? | Hechinger Report – Andre Perry, founding dean of urban education at Davenport University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, challenges the “notion that schools should teach a liberal-arts curriculum as if in a private New England boarding school.”
Shouldn’t urban schools equip students with skills to deal with an antagonistic criminal justice system, gang violence and rabid unemployment—in addition to equipping them with knowledge that will get them into college?
Replacement chosen for Amato at International High School | The Lens – Nancy Ryan, who served as assistant head of school, chosen as interim replacement while search goes on.