New Orleans Institute

New Orleans, Detroit and casual indifference. 

In many way Detroit and New Orleans are unlikely sister cities. So it is odd to see that we share more than a Director of Communications (continued)

Who is watching the watchers? 

“We do understand the concern. There were some officers who were not patrolling in their areas assigned. That has clearly been addressed,” Riley said. (continued)

Tuesday morning links 

Nagin is taking a stand against $9,000 dollar a day cleaning in the French Quarter. Disavowing the budget approved by the Council, he is reinstatating his cancellation of daily street sweeping and pressure-washing. The drama is a perfect absurd illustration of Nagin’s inability to work effectively with other elected officials, and the Council’s inability to effectively take a stand. The fact that they are fighting about getting old beer off the streets, rather than, say, guns only adds insult.Click the link if you want to be annoyed: Speaking of our little gun problem, here is a link to a poignant… (continued)

New report shows perky home sales for NO, a walk around the block shows something grimmer 

Home prices in New Orleans, Metairie and Kenner decreased 0.82 percent in November 2008 compared with November 2007, according to report findings today published today by New Orleans City Business. The drop is small, City Business reports, compared to the 10 percent average drop seen nationwide between Nov. 2008 and Nov. 2007. But while the relative stability of the housing market is certainly a positive indicator, the black lining of the news is that the rock-steady prices reflect a miniscule number of sales. According to the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors, only 123 homes sold in December, down 25… (continued)

One small ride forward 

The Regional Transit Authority is pimping a new ride. Best described as the love child of a budget taxi service and a traditional bus line, the Lil’ Easy is the first fruit of an effort to create a public transit system suited to the city’s shrunken post-Katrina population. Daily runs of the 14-seat van will be determined by reservations logged up to an hour before the desired pickup at one of 24 stops scattered between the Industrial Canal, the Orleans-St. Bernard line, Chartres Street and Florida Avenue. The service will operate from 5:15 am to 10 pm daily. For the… (continued)

The Ask: 30 hours down; 70 left to go. 

President Obama isn’t wasting any time on polities. Within minutes of the swearing-in on the mall, a wholly renovated virtual White House had gone live with promises to do better by New Orleans than the Bush administration. In a short policy position brief on www.whitehouse.gov, President Obama vowed “to keep the broken promises made by President Bush to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.” The statement, however easy to make indicates the administration’s continuing commitment to the region at a time when its disaster threatens to be lost in the quagmire of national recession. The question is how will… (continued)

LSU VA 

Tonight’s meeting about the decision to locate the LSU/VA complex will be the first public meeting about this issue. (continued)

Holy Cross 

I thought heading down to Holy Cross to watch the Inauguration was fitting. The site of the most flagrant breech of confidence in our government and it’s inability to claim responsibility and make right from wrong. (continued)

The Obama factor 

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Pass the "Upscale" Gumbo 

A certain spyboy has sent us an invitation to bid on the contract to cater Mayor Nagin’s Mardi Gras Ball. The fete will be held Feb. 22 at Gallier Hall. Expected to attend are 1,500 and 2,000 of New Orleans’ finest. The bid does not include juicy details like who will share a table with tempestuous sanitation director Veronica White or whether Ed Blakley will be allowed full access to the open bar— Anyone remember last time a big question was asked after he drank alcohol in public? But it does specify that the food “should be upscale.” And what,… (continued)

Never-Never Land on Bourbon 

The City Council and Mayor Nagin are expected to settle today on a plan that will retain, in reduced form, Disney-like street-cleaning services in the French Quarter. The decision, if made, will close the contentious argument Nagin opened when he axed the costly service in his proposed 2009 budget. Hopefully, this compromise will keep the French Quarter vomit-free while maintaining the city’s solvency. I have to say, I am grateful C-Ray opened the can of worms this time. The city last year paid artfully-mussed trash mogul Sidney Torres $280,000 a month —the combined price of one Garden District condo AND… (continued)

Shovels in the dirt; credit crisis averted. 

After a last-minute skirmish with the volatile gods of Wall Street, the redevelopment of Central City’s C.J. Peete – aka Magnolia- public housing complex moved forward this ayem with a symbolic groundbreaking attended by our own Mayor C. Ray Nagin, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston and the suits from project developer, McCormack Baron Salazar. (continued)

$79 million divided by... 

The city has $79 million to buy the 352 parcels lying in the path of its fave economic development project – the LSU-VA medical center. Is this enough to pay the bill on land clearance? Simple division tells us that the state is looking at an average payout of $224,431 an owner, including reimbursement for relocation costs. But property owner Bobbie Rogers says her house is worth more, especially if you factor in the two years of labor she and her husband gave to it. “We spent two years gutting and renovating full-time our house and other houses in this… (continued)

Aural Feast of the Epiphany! 

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Feast of the Epiphany 

Today I witnessed the Archdiocese celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany Epiphany is a Christian feast celebrating the ’shining forth’ or revelation of God to mankind in human form, in the person of Jesus Christ It was especially odd way to celebrate with the novelist Poppy Z Brite getting hauled away in handcuffs along with other parishioners. After Howard Hunter Jr and Poppy Z Brite were dragged out there was a long period of time while representatives of the Archdiocese attempted to locate Harold Baquet who was somewhere inside the Church. Because the parishioners had a more intimate knowledge of… (continued)

"The Old Man and The Storm" 

For some time I have been photographing the former home of Sister Gertrude Morgan. The owner of the property since Sister Gertrude’s death was Mr. Herbert Gettridge. Over the last few months I have been in contact with June Cross discussing the fate of the the Sister Gertrude house, to hear June speak about her relationship to Mr Gettridge and the reality of how difficult it has been for all New Orleanians to rebuild but especially those with limited resources and the elderly, is to hear the story of New Orleans. (continued)

Gambit Weekly 

Gambit Weekly graciously honored me with The New Orleanian of the Year Award. I appreciate the fact that they recognize the hard work of citizens who have been at the forefront of this recovery. Saturday afternoon I took a ride over to David’s House and got a chance to see this wonderful painting by Karen Ocker It depicts David, holding the sidewalk in front of the house, the sidewalk the City would like to banish. No Tags (continued)

Buyout Begins in Mid-City 

The acquisition process has begun for those 125 or so chosen souls who own land within the 74-acre site of Lower Mid-City looming medical monolith. Bobbi Rogers found a certified letter from the state in her mailbox last night, upon her return from a holiday trip. The letter lays out the state’s intention of demolishing her house to build the $2billion, still-unfunded medical center – and her right to “just compensation” i.e. fair market value as determined by an assessor plus a additional one-time sum to cover relocation expenses. An appraiser will be in touch about an inspection of her… (continued)

Indignant punk activist turns out to be FBI informant 

A co-founder of the Lower Ninth Ward’s Common Ground Collective has been outed as an FBI informant. The 9th Ward activist Brandon Darby came to New Orleans shortly after Katrina and lived here on and off since. No word yet on waves in the local Common Ground scene, though the shakeout in Texas, where he was from, appears considerable. Darby outed himself in an open letter to IndyMedia on Dec.31 In the letter, he admitted to working with the FBI as an informant during the 2008 Republican Convention, saying the decision was in line with his larger mission of working… (continued)

Car Wash on Carrollton 

Today’s demolition hearing included this unremarkable building. What is remarkable about it is the owners want to tear it down to make a car wash. This stretch of Carrollton Avenue has significant problems as it relates to traffic congestion, and crime. The owner hopes the car wash will be a companion business to his Magnolia Gas Station and laundromat. The owners, the Motwani family state that they have just purchased the property and hope to improve the crime situation that exists there in the parking lot. Let’s hope so because we all wished for an improved Carrollton Avenue not another… (continued)

Leadership 

Grace Athas photo I originally wrote this as an e mail to a few friends of Marshall Truehill’s At a time when so many leaders have forgotten how to lead, and people bemoan the lack of leadership I would suggest that we have had among us many great leaders. Marshall was one of them. To me a great leader is someone who does not stand above the community but with the community, this does not diminish his or her stature but allows others to gain the knowledge and experience to create consensus and flourish and widen the circle, and for… (continued)