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...
4 tags
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...
7 tags
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 ...
5 tags
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...
3 tags
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...