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”…
Tag: Ed Blakely
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 inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
The Macedonian candidate … and other tales of guile and folly
1. It’s unfortunate my recent Superman column puzzled so many readers, because I don’t know how to make my warnings any clearer or more dire. Perhaps reading this recent news story might help others comprehend the problem. Apparently, former New Orleanian Bo McCalebb is playing basketball for the national team of … Macedonia. That’s right, […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Land Use
Grocer forging ahead with plans to resurrect Seventh Ward's iconic Circle Food Store
Seventh Ward Neighborhood Center director J. Samuel Cook delights in the revived interest in the curved-front shopping center at Claiborne and St. Bernard avenues. Photo by Ariella Cohen. By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer It was the place to go if you wanted to put food on the table, a uniform on your child […]
Posted inLand Use
Interview: St. Roch art impresario holds forth from Tasmania on the wreckage left behind
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer | Kirsha Kaechele now lives in Tasmania. In the years after Hurricane Katrina, Kirsha Kaechele made a name for herself as a kind of art world impresario. The city’s cultural elite flocked to soirees where they consumed fine food and edgy, disaster-inspired art — all this in St. […]
Posted inEnvironment, Government & Politics
Landrieu ditches Nagin plan
Call it the off-target plan. Mayor Mitch Landrieu is moving away from predecessor Ray Nagin’s recovery strategy of pushing projects in 17 “target zones” across the city. “Frankly, it was a previous administration’s plan,” mayoral spokesman Ryan Berni said. Berni acknowledged today that Landrieu has yet to finish his own recovery plan. His administration is […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Let’s hope the second time is a charm
New Orleans officials again are taking bids to oversee and manage a long-awaited grant program for grocers serving low-income communities. Known as the Fresh Food Retail Initiative, the $7 million federally funded program was stalled last month when U.S. Housing and Urban Development officials, who are providing the money, balked at the city’s bidding process. […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Let’s hope the second time is a charm
New Orleans officials again are taking bids to oversee and manage a long-awaited grant program for grocers serving low-income communities. Known as the Fresh Food Retail Initiative, the $7 million federally funded program was stalled last month when U.S. Housing and Urban Development officials, who are providing the money, balked at the city’s bidding process. […]