After sitting on most of a half-million-dollar grant for nearly two years, the city of New Orleans has convinced the Rockefeller Foundation to give it another three months to spend the money on getting citizens more involved with government. Without the extension past Monday’s expiration, the city would have had to return the unspent balance, […]
Tag: recovery
Posted inLand Use
Rosy view of blight meets Central City's bleak reality
Hoffman Triangle Reginika Tasso snorted at news that the number of vacant houses in New Orleans dropped over the past year by nearly 9,000 to a new post-Katrina low of 50,100. “Really…” the Central City-raised Harvey resident intoned. Did they count the house where I used to stay, asked Tasso, giving an incredulous eye to […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Recovery contractor wants to work more closely with city
The CEO of the company managing most of New Orleans’ 600 recovery projects has recommended to Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu that he speed up rebuilding by breaking down walls between city bureaucrats and contracted project managers particularly in the area of financial planning. Under its contract with MWH Americas, Inc., the city pays hourly rates for […]
Posted inLand Use
City’s share of VA hospital revealed: $107.4 million
To build the new Veterans Affairs hopsital, the city can take take money from a recovery loan program that’s no higher than the value of the old VA hopsital (above) – but that appraisal hasn’t been released publicly. New Orleans will kick in $107.4 million for the construction of a new Veterans Affairs hospital in […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
City is $8 million behind in payments to contractor MWH
The city is seven months — and $8 million dollars — behind on payments to the company managing most of its recovery projects, according to a letter sent Wednesday by the company to New Orleans Inspector General Edouard Quatrevaux. The letter was part of the city’s official response to criticisms of the company’s billing practices […]
Posted inLand Use
City Council suprised to learn of revolver money used for proposed medical district
A new financial commitment for the proposed medical district in Mid-City will leave a $25 million hole in a revolving loan fund given to the city from the state to jump start recovery. The appropriation was described by one of Mayor Ray Nagin’s top lieutenants, Chief Technology Officer Harrison Boyd, during a City Council budget […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Mysterious “recovery board” made key decision on project
For all who were wondering who made up the “recovery board” that decided to pull the plug on a contract to develop a long-awaited linear park in New Orleans, The Lens has obtained an answer. Sort of. According to Mayor Ray Nagin spokesman James Ross, the executive branch board is comprised of “staff members who […]
Posted inLand Use
When a greenway becomes a roller coaster
After unexpectedly throwing out a hard-won contract for the development of a grand linear park through the heart of New Orleans, the city has reopened bidding. But this time, the urban planners who won the first contract say the question is not how to win the contract with City Hall, but whether they want to. […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
That old-mayor odor
I saw this quote from Mayor C. Ray Nagin’s interview with CNN: We have this kind of idealism that at some point people are going to understand what we’ve been doing. It’s almost like an underground movement. We’ve been working underground to make sure that this city can fully recover with the hope that at […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
The Lens interviews Spike Lee
The Lens recently visited the Rampart Street studio and office space of Spike Lee, who’s been in the city the past month filming a sequel to his HBO documentary “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.” He’d just gotten back from Houston, where he was interviewing people displaced by the federal levee disasters, […]