February 2012
14 posts
Sheriff’s wife earns thousands through no-bid deal...
In an arrangement made possible through personal friendship, Municipal Court’s chief judge gave Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman’s wife a no-bid, exclusive deal to counsel low-level drug offenders, earning her more than $28,000 over the past 10 months for the part-time work.
Renee Gusman
Renee Gusman owns a counseling company called Bright Side LLC, and she has counseled every person who...
Rats, roaches and flies found at some...
By Jessica Williams, The Lens staff writer
Your kid’s public-school cafeteria may not be as clean as you think.
Although the majority of New Orleans’ public-school cafeterias have gotten out of recent health inspections with little noted beyond a few run-down kitchen appliances, 36 of 82 public schools in state files were cited as having critical violations of state health code in 2011 and...
City rails against trimming mental-health care;...
By Tom Gogola, The Lens staff writer |
New Orleans city officials are aggressively pushing back against a “devastating” proposed $15 million cut to inpatient mental health and substance abuse services now being offered at LSU Interim Hospital.
The cuts were included in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s recent budget, and they are part of an effort to close a $251 million state budget shortfall this year....
RSD releases report on equal access
By Jessica Williams, The Lens staff writer
The Recovery School District released its 2012 Equity Report today in an attempt to provide a one-stop-shop for parents looking for data regarding equal access for students.
RSD Superintendent Patrick Dobard said district officials believe the data will better inform parents applying for schools through the new OneApp enrollment process, which...
City to Planning Commish: We’ve got this one
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer |
When a discussion of the Lafitte Greenway arose during today’s City Planning Commission meeting, panel member Lou Volz asked why he had to learn from the news media – not the planning staff – about changes sought by the planned Winn-Dixie grocery store on North Carrollton Avenue.
The Lens reported two weeks ago on the request by Winn-Dixie to cross the...
Demolition request comes from odd source
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer
A plumber with headquarters on Broad Street did his best to follow the rules when he filed an application to demolish a building in a historic area – except that it’s not his property.
The fiancée of the owner was at a recent hearing of the Historic District Landmarks Commission, and she said she’s living there and that neither she nor the owner want...
NORD Commission picks new director; interim chief...
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer
The New Orleans Recreation Development Commission tonight appointed interim director Vic Richard as its new chief executive after a special hearing where the four finalists were interviewed.
All but one member of the commission, Bobby Garron, who abstained, voted for Richard’s appointment. The commission hired a headhunter for $42,500 and took 93...
Sheriff’s deputy indicted after inmate says...
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer
A former Orleans Parish Sheriff’s deputy accused in September of forcing an inmate to perform oral sex after handcuffing him and taking him to a jail closet has been indicted on charges of second-degree kidnapping, sexual battery and malfeasance in office.
Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman fired former Sheriff’s Deputy Dejuan Thomas following the alleged...
Because of Winn-Dixie: City lets grocery add...
By Ariella Cohen and Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writers
Over the objections of Lafitte Greenway advocates, Mayor Mitch Landrieu has granted Winn-Dixie permission to cut a short roadway across the long-planned bike and pedestrian path so the grocery store can connect with a satellite parking lot.
Cars will be able to cross the greenway between North Carrollton Avenue and David Street, to...
The Lens receives $85,000 grant from Ethics and...
We are thrilled to announce that the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation announced Friday that The Lens had been awarded $85,000 to build capacity of reporting, board, staff, social media, fundraising and back-office operations.
Two of our partner organizations under the Investigative News Network also received funding. The Rocky Mountain Investigative News Network received $100,000...
Group stripped of charter introduces McDonogh 42...
By Jessica Williams, The Lens staff writer
Despite a vow by a failed charter operator to fight the state’s revocation of its contract to run McDonogh No. 42, , an attitude of cordiality prevailed at tonight’s open-house to introduce parents to the new charter operator.
Treme Charter School Association officials, who will continue running the school for the next several months, warmly welcomed...
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Anxious Algiers residents seek answers to crime...
By Kelsey Foster, The Lens contributing writer
A day after a good Samaritan was shot and killed while trying to stop a carjacking in Algiers Point, a beefed-up police presence was evident in the usually quiet West Bank neighborhood, as police cars trolled the streets and a helicopter circled above.
But the efforts of the New Orleans Police Department weren’t enough to calm the nerves of...
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NORD finalist asks for public discussion
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer |
One of the finalists to run the city’s recreation program asked this week that a discussion of his candidacy be held in public, rather than in a closed-door session of the screening committee, city records show.
Two days after that request, a subcommittee of the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission canceled its private session, where members were...
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Despite recent practices, NOPD silent on arrest...
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer
In what appears to be a departure from the recent New Orleans Police Department practice of releasing criminal records of homicide victims, the department has not released the arrest record of the Good Samaritan killed in an Algiers carjacking Wednesday.
Superintendent Ronal Serpas has been widely criticized for releasing the records of victims, in some...
January 2012
20 posts
5 tags
Mayor, independent NORD commission reach same...
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer
A subcommittee of the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission aiming to recommend a new chief executive insisted this afternoon that it is independent, despite following Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s latest wishes on the issue to the letter.
An assistant city attorney working with the subcommittee also appeared to admit violating the state sunshine laws;...
The Lens & University of Oxford to launch...
Remember back in May of last year, when The Lens reported that the same FEMA trailers that once housed victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita were being resold Alabama as cheap housing for people displaced after tornadoes destroyed residential areas in 2011?
Our investigation found that the trailers, many of which were proven to be releasing toxic levels of formaldehyde from the particle board...
Opinion: 500-year protection for under $2 billion?...
By Mark Moseley, The Lens opinion writer
Thursday, The Times-Picayune ran a front-page story on the state’s newly-released 50-year strategy to confront south Louisiana’s coastal loss crisis. Like many previous plans, Louisiana’s 2012 Coastal Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast makes a compelling case for restoration while not downplaying the complexity of the challenge. The master plan draft...
Opinion: Curfew stripping kids’ access to the...
By C.W. Cannon, The Lens contributing opinion writer |
When I lived in Europe, I used to josh my British friends with a plan for Britain’s economic future (which looked dim at the time). I suggested that they tear down every structure built after the Seventeenth Century and restore the conditions—industrial, social, economic—of that earlier age, so that American tourists could be assured an...
Audit says RSD still can’t track property
By Jessica Williams, The Lens staff writer |
The Recovery School District needs to do a better job of tracking its inventory, according to a recent legislative auditor’s report.
More than $500,000 worth of the district’s property, mostly computers, was recorded as “unlocated” in fiscal 2011. And more than $168,000 in items were recorded as missing or stolen.
This makes the fifth year in a row...
RSD turns over 5 schools to charter groups, closes...
By Jessica Williams, The Lens staff writer
The Recovery School District announced today which charter operators next year will manage five schools that are now directly run by the district.
It also unveiled new career and technical programs to be instituted within the district’s high schools as early as next fall. The charter management groups overseeing the high schools will work with area ...
City unveils new system for public notices; text,...
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer
Looking to address longtime complaints from civically engaged residents, city officials hope their new online calendar will become a one-stop shop for announcing public meetings and other city events.
The new calendar went live Thursday. It offers the options to send people text messages or emails regarding meeting times and places, as well as updating...
Council members criticize Serpas for releasing...
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer
Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas defended his department’s approach to stemming homicide in New Orleans before a meeting of the City Council’s Criminal Justice Committee this afternoon.
The number of homicides rose by 14 percent during Serpas’ first full year in command from 175 in 2010 to 199 in 2011. He also came under fire from Councilwoman Cynthia...
Deputy charged after inmate’s suicide
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer
District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro has charged former Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Deputy William Thompson with malfeasance in office after the deputy allegedly abandoned his post, allowing an inmate on suicide watch to kill himself.
Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman issued a warrant for Thompson’s arrest on Aug. 17. Thompson was assigned to watch inmate...
Tulane quest to rezone ‘peripheral’ properties...
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer
The Planning Commission as well as the general public logged late hours at City Hall Tuesday night. The occasion was an Amendments to the Master Plan meeting, and while it kicked off smartly at 6 p.m., it didn’t break up until 10.
The recently adopted Master Plan has a provision that allows the public to submit amendments and requests annually.
The...
New Orleans native Patrick Dobard named interim...
By Jessica Williams, The Lens staff writer |
Less than two hours after the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education appointed former Recovery School District chief John White to the state superintendent spot, White announced his successor.
White’s pick is RSD Deputy Superintendent for Community and Policy Patrick Dobard, who has long been a silent force in the state education realm....
Nationwide search costing tens of thousands could...
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer
A search firm paid $42,000 to find a new city recreation director warned officials today that the longer they take to make a decision, the more likely they are to hire the interim director already in place.
The more time the process takes, the less rival candidates are likely to stay in the race, according to the headhunter and one candidate who dropped...
Council approves earlier Quarter curfew over...
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer
An earlier weekend curfew for youth approved today by the City Council – targeting the French Quarter and Frenchman Street’s entertainment district – sparked two days of contentious hearings in council chambers.
Those opposed to the measure say it will encourage racial profiling of young African Americans, and they encouraged the council to make the ...
Update: Frustrated homeowner resorts to demolition
By Jessica Williams, The Lens staff writer
This is an update on a story published last month.
A family that vainly struggled through more than six years of bureaucracy to get back into their Katrina-damaged home, an effort recently chronicled in The Lens, finally gave up and had the structure torn down.
Homeowner Kisa Holmes said she found out last week that the demolition on her 9th Ward...
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Q&A: Exonerated death row inmate John Thompson...
By Jed Horne, The Lens editor
A Talk with John Thompson
John Thompson knows the streets of New Orleans. He also knows the state’s prisons. He was one of several defendants railroaded to death row during Harry Connick’s 28-year tenure as Orleans Parish district attorney. Thompson ’s conviction was set aside after it was discovered that Connick’s assistants had unconstitutionally suppressed...
Earlier French Quarter curfew for youths gets...
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer |
Some New Orleans City Council members and Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas faced accusations of racism and unequal law enforcement this afternoon over plans to expand a curfew in the French Quarter and on Frenchman Street alone.
Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer faced a rambunctious audience at this afternoon’s meeting of the council’s Criminal...
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Curtain is rung down on TV mansion; other...
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer
Now slated for demolition, the mansion at 2031 Baronne Street appeared in the post-Katrina TV cop series K-Ville. Photo by Anthony Turducken
The Greek Revival mansion appeared in the final episode of “K-ville,” the (mercifully) short-lived post-Katrina television series, but the final curtain was rung down just yesterday when the Neighborhood ...
The story behind the story: reporter Bob Butler on...
The following is a narrative by Bob Butler, a reporter who collaborated with The Lens to produce One homeowner’s travails: Even after more than six years, family can’t move back into “new” house. Butler describes here the process of investigating this story, interviewing Kisa Holmes, and the ethics surrounding housing finance in New Orleans.
In August of 2008 I was working...
One homeowner’s travails: Even after more than six...
By Bob Butler, Fellow, G.W. Williams Center for Independent Journalism, and Jessica Williams, The Lens staff writer
Each day, after wrapping up work as a streetcar operator, Kisa Holmes drives by to check on the house she bought in the Upper 9th Ward just weeks before Hurricane Katrina – a house that now sits empty, gutted and deteriorating because she can’t afford to fix it.
A rusty water...
Cyclists and pedestrians to benefit from new...
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer
Byron Orlando Sandoval Lopez, 42, was cycling home on the St. Claude Avenue Bridge when a minivan hit him from behind, flinging him into the moving traffic that took his life. Kory Schenck, 26, was walking his bicycle across the Seabrook Bridge when a car fatally struck him. William Eddington, 64 was biking across Broad Street on Ursulines Avenue,...
December 2011
14 posts
Though praised by some, new system for enrollment...
By Jessica Williams, The Lens staff writer |
Recovery School District head John White needs to rethink his strategy for helping students get into higher-performing schools, critics of his enrollment plan said Tuesday.
Top education officials and members of the public critiqued White’s new centralized enrollment plan at a rare New Orleans gathering of the state Board of Elementary and...
Opinion: Saluting Occupy NOLA, a movement as...
By Tiffany Marceaux, The Lens contributing opinion writer
Over the past two months, both the numbers and the excitement at Duncan Plaza (symbolically renamed Avery Alexander Plaza, in honor of the late civil rights leader and state legislator) have ebbed and flowed. Seasoned activists and first-timers have come and gone; an influx of homeless people proved challenging, and disorganization...
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Sheriff: Jail will have more inmates in 2012
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer
Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman expects to increase the number of inmates in his jail from 3,100 to 3,400 next year, he said during a public hearing Friday.
Gusman confirmed the expected increase even as an advisory group assembled by Mayor Mitch Landrieu is working to set the final size of Gusman’s new jail, and relations between the two offices...
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All-but-certain loans and grants aimed at reviving...
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer
Some corners in this city tell quintessentially New Orleans stories, and among them is the intersection of South Broad Street and Washington Avenue. There on the trafficky Broadmoor bend, King’s Meat Market and Grocery sells gumbo-ready mixes of seasoned poultry parts named for whichever store employee or customer first divined the recipe’s ...
Chasing Paper, or how reporters struggle to obtain...
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer
This is a post about how persistent one has to be to discover what may be happening when public agencies destroy computerized versions of records.
Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman is reviewing all of his office’s paid detail policies and expects to have new rules and regulations in place after the first of the year. The review comes after a joint...
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Sojourner Truth charter gets one-two punch;...
By Jessica Williams, The Lens staff writer
Citing discontent with the current administration, at least five teachers or staffers at a doomed charter school have already resigned or have plans to not return after the Christmas holidays, The Lens has learned.
Parents and students at Sojourner Truth Academy were told last month that the governing board is surrendering its charter and that the ...
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In New Orleans, sheriff's deputies make more money...
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer
The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office runs a lucrative program hiring out deputies for private security work frequently at far higher pay than their commissioned duties – but it’s not just the deputies who are bringing in a tidy sum. The program provides Sheriff Marlin Gusman with a regular supply of discretionary money.
For every hour Gusman’s deputies...
Want to have a say in how government works? Two...
Two events intended to foster greater community participation in New Orleans government activities will take place this week.
Residents can learn Wednesday about how other cities get the public involved in making budget decisions. On Thursday, people can offer suggestions on a city plan to create a system that informs the community about zoning changes and other land-use issues.
The second...
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Sheriff’s Office special taxing district to hold...
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer
A little-scrutinized but powerful government body run by Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman is holding a public hearing on its budget on Friday, though scant information on the budget has been made available.
The organization is the taxpayer financed Orleans Parish Law Enforcement District.
By law, the district’s budget must be available 10 days in...
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Park regulations that got Occupiers evicted are...
By Benjamin Leger, The Lens contributing writer |
Every morning in New Orleans before the sun comes up, runners wind their way through the city’s public parks, getting in their miles before heading to work. Most of them probably don’t know they are breaking city law.
The city’s parks and public spaces are closed from 10:30 p.m. to 6 a.m., as protesters with Occupy New Orleans found out this...
Road warriors: City officials score $52 million...
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer
Good news for your undercarriage – Mayor Mitch Landrieu has secured more FEMA money for street repairs in Broadmoor, the Lakeview area and St. Claude. The combined total of $52 million divided between the neighborhoods came as a result of Landrieu-initiated damage assessments done on neighborhood streets.
The cash infusion brings the total of new FEMA...
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City considers demolishing elevated I-10 over...
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer
After more than a year of delay, Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration soon will begin a long-anticipated federally funded study of how to revitalize the North Claiborne Avenue corridor, his planning director Bill Gilchrist said this week.
The study, which is expected to take more than a year of work by a city-contracted consultant, will be partially...
No more drama at City Hall today as City Council...
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer |
In a city confronting an ever-rising homicide count and profound infrastructural and economic challenges, one place remains relatively calm: City Hall.
With a noticeable absence of strife or dissent, the City Council voted today to unanimously approve a $497 million general operating budget for 2012 that looks remarkably similar in substance and...
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Parking lots? An aquarium? Enviro groups question...
By Benjamin Leger, The Lens contributing writer
The $1 billion fund set up by BP is supposed to pay for restoration of natural resources damaged by last year’s Deepwater Horizon blowout and oil spill, the worst environmental disaster in the nation’s history. But a coalition has come forward with a report concerned that without greater transparency and public input, the money will be...
November 2011
10 posts
8 tags
What are your experiences with FEMA trailers?
In the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, almost 120,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailers were deployed to displaced Gulf Coast residents. Trailer inhabitants reported health problems and suspected the high formaldehyde content of the trailers’ particleboard walls as the cause. Eventually, lawyers began to file class-action lawsuits against trailer manufacturers and...
Fresh testing shows persistent formaldehyde...
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer
More than six years after FEMA provided displaced Hurricane Katrina victims with trailers that were later revealed to be toxic, early tests suggest that dangerously high levels of formaldehyde linger in the more than 130,000 units still in use.
An air quality test done last month in a FEMA trailer housing Hurricane Katrina victims in Mississippi...