Owner: New Orleans Bulletin URL:nobulletin.blogspot.com Join Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 13:43:16 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: Your source for lively discussion about the current governmental and political scene in Louisiana with a focus on the New Orleans area and post-Katrina recovery. Site statistics:Click here
Class War? 2008-01-13 06:10:00 The following does not necessarily represent the position of this blog but I felt it would be interesting to add some diversity to the opinions presented in this space. The following is from the Louisiana Weekly (January 7, 2008), excerpted from a guest column by Robert N. Taylor: Last month's scenes from New Orleans caught on video and posted on the Internet were racially horrifying: Police using electric tasers and tear gas to suppress protesters who were trying to enter a City Council meeting to block a federal plan to demolish thousands of homes in low-income housing projects. There was a SWAT team standing between the protesters and the City Council members who pretended not to notice as people were tasered, gassed, handcuffed and arrested. People were screaming amid the chaos and dis
Murder Capitol? 2008-01-06 05:34:00 From AP via Fox NewsThe bloodiest city in the country in 2006, reeling from crime in its struggle to recover from Hurricane Katrina, got even worse in 2007.New Orleans registered 209 homicides last year, a nearly 30 percent increase from the 161 recorded in 2006.The FBI's rankings for 2007 will not be out until much later in the year, but New Orleans' population is thought to be 295,450, which would mean a rate of about 71 homicides per 100,000 people.Even the most generous population estimate in 2006 put the number of people in the city that year at 255,000. That meant a real homicide rate of 63.5 per 100,000 residents. To compare that number with some other notoriously bloody cities, the rate for Gary, Ind., was 48.3 and Detroit's was 47.1.The killings are drug-related or retaliatory for Read more:Capitol
Of Barracks and Mixed-Income ... 2007-12-30 14:39:00 Cox.net reports that:(New Orleans, LA) -- New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is asking HUD officials to provide assurances over the holidays they will meet the terms of the ordinance passed by the New Orleans City Council last week. Nagin says he wants to make sure the transition is smooth from older barracks style public housing projects to homes for the poor in mixed income neighborhoods. He is specifically asking that "every public housing resident has the right to return to better housing will be upheld and that they indeed will have a "voice" in the redevelopment processes." This comes as the feds prepare to demolish four of the city's big housing projects. Nagin had said he would only issue the demolition permits when he is satisfied everyone who qualifies for public housing will have it as Read more:Mixed
, Income
Attract Entrepreneurs to New Orleans ... 2008-03-16 06:11:00 From CentreDaily.com:Start Up New Orleans
Joins Push to Establish New Orleans
As the City of Choice for Innovators and Entrepreneurs
As the momentum of recovery continues to build in the city of New Orleans, a major force has emerged as a key driver of this recovery: entrepreneurs.Due to the "clean slate" afforded by a city rebuilding itself, this nascent movement is comprised of unconventional, out-of-the-box thinkers who have distinguished themselves in successful careers, and who have sought a city that is cultivating an entrepreneurial culture.To attract more of these types of individuals, Start Up New Orleans has been established by four of the city's young business leaders. A resource for entrepreneurs seeking information and connections to other entrepreneurs, Start Up New Orleans i
Politics and Population ... 2008-03-23 09:58:00 Want to express your opinions and feelings about the candidates in the 2008 Primaries? Take a survey at the following address: a subject closer to home here is Russell McCulley's take for Reuters on the New Orleans population dispute: New Orleans officials said on Thursday they will challenge a U.S. Census Bureau estimate that puts the city's population at 239,000 -- just over half the number before Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.They said other counts have found as many as 300,000 residents in the still-recovering city.Mayor Ray Nagin told a press conference that a lower number would shrink federal aid, discourage Katrina refugees from returning and harm efforts to rebuild the tourism industry."Perception is the first reason our citizens returned and more new people are moving into our Read more:Population
Visiting New Orleans ... 2008-03-30 09:19:00 We are in New Orleans
for our third visit in just over five months. One of the visits was for my mother's 90th birthday. The others were just to visit family and friends, and included trying some of the new restaurants cropping up around town. The current visit got off to a bad start. We waited over an hour to get a rental car --- the PGA golf tournament was in New Orleans this week and local car rental agencies were overwhelmed. Then, on the way to lunch, I got a speeding ticket (31 in a 20 mph zone). Things smoothed out a bit after that.We also spent some time researching the current real estate market in New Orleans and nearby Metairie. Our commitment to Cincinnati remains, but we feel that we should continue to monitor the recovery as it affects the areas in which we might be intereste
Big Plans ... 2008-04-06 06:14:00 From an article by Adam Nossiter for the New York Times:In March 2007, city officials finally unveiled their plan to redevelop New Orleans and begin to move out of the post-Hurricane Katrina morass. It was billed as the plan to end all plans, with Paris-like streetscape renderings and promises of parks, playgrounds and “cranes on the skyline” within months. But a year after a celebratory City Hall kickoff, there have been no cranes and no Parisian boulevards. A modest paved walking path behind a derelict old market building is held up as a marquee accomplishment of the yet-to-be-realized plan.There has been nothing to signal a transformation in the sea of blight and abandonment that still defines much of the city. Weary and bewildered residents, forced to bring back the hard-hit city o
French Quarter artists cannot sell prints of their work … 2008-04-13 07:01:00 Edited from an article by Bruce Eggler in the Times-Picayune: Printmakers may have lost a round in their struggle for display space on Jackson Square's fence and sidewalks, but the battle is likely to continue, with the outcome very much in doubt. Rejecting the suggestion of U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle, the New Orleans City Council last week refused to change the law that says only original artworks can be sold on the coveted French
Quarter turf, an al fresco gallery strolled by millions of tourists a year. Artist Holly Sarre, who also sells her works on the Internet and at a local art gallery, filed a suit in federal court in March 2005 challenging the ordinance that allows sales only of works that "have been accomplished essentially by hand" and bans "any mechanical or duplicative p Read more:prints
Katrina Victims and Psychological Distress ... 2008-04-20 05:07:00 This could help explain our feeling of displacement and our slightly nutty behavior. Excerpted from the New Orleans Sun:Researchers have found New Orleanians who lost their homes in Hurricane Katrina
were over five times as likely to experience serious psychological distress a year after the disaster than others. Narayan Sastry of the University of Michigan and Mark VanLandingham of Tulane University examined the mental health status of pre-Katrina residents of New Orleans in the fall of 2006, one year after the hurricane hit the city. The researchers analyzed disparities in mental health by race, education and income.Of the 144 persons who participated in the pilot study, many were those who moved away from the area after the disaster and had not returned a year later. Sastry revealed tha Read more:Victims
Louisiana is only 49th … 2008-04-27 13:49:00 At least we finished ahead of West Virginia: Louisiana
’s legal climate is ranked as the second worst in the country, according to Lawsuit Climate 2008: Ranking the States, the annual assessment of state liability systems conducted by Harris Interactive, a leading national market research firm, and released today by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR). Louisiana ranked 49th out of 50 states in the study, down one spot from the previous year. In addition, New Orleans/Orleans Parish was named among the ten least fair and reasonable court systems in the country.Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the state needs to “take a comprehensive look at fixing the broken lawsuit system,” pointing out that Louisiana has languished near the bottom of
Of Louisiana Ethics ... 2008-05-04 04:47:00 An article from AP via the Seattle Times: New ethics rules touted by Gov. Bobby Jindal as a hallmark of his young administration actually make it harder to prove violations, a government watchdog group said Wednesday.Lawmakers approved Jindal's legislation during the first of two special sessions he called soon after taking office in January. Jindal repeatedly decried Louisiana
's corrupt image during his election campaign.The problem, according to the nonpartisan Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, is in the wording of one bill: While existing law requires "reliable and substantial" evidence of wrongdoing in an ethics case, the bill that takes effect Aug. 15 requires a higher, "clear and convincing" standard in ethics cases.The change will require the gathering of more evidence a Read more:Ethics
Of Homestead and Seminars ... 2008-05-11 00:01:00 In response to a Metairie friend’s inquiry as to whether we are returning to the area:“You ask a tough question. We have been discussing this for months without a decision. We lean toward coming back, and have looked at properties on two recent visits. Unfortunately Susan has this visceral fear of hurricanes that sidetracks us each time. We are getting ‘plugged in’ in Cincinnati, and it has its charms. Still we miss our friends back home, at least if N.O./Metairie is still home. Our lease forces us to make a decision by the end of August. We are spending much of August on an Alaskan cruise and I suspect it will be a major topic of discussion on the trip.“On another subject, I have been working on a “Web Site Fundamentals” seminar which SCORE offers periodically. It is a hal Read more:Seminars
Of Bratwursts and Beer ... 2008-05-18 06:40:00 Susan was in New Orleans this past week, at a seminar for a national organization for public opinion research. As part of her visit she spent a little time with our real estate agent, looking at houses in the uptown area. She was not impressed. She went to only one session at the convention, on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, of all things. A lot of her friends were there and a major subject o
Of Taste and Levees ... 2008-05-25 05:47:00 One of the pleasures of living in Cincinnati is being able to get together with Susan’s brother Harley and his wife Jascia. The major discussion topic was politics, lately the source for a lot of laughs. They visited with us last night for a going away party for Matt, who is going back to the University of New Orleans (UNO) for his senior year. Matt has been staying with us for a few months and
Of “Jersey Boys” and Hurricanes ... 2008-06-01 05:16:00 Today we are going to the Aronoff Center to see “Jersey
Boys.” This is the last play of our “Broadway across America” series, and for the most part it has been very enjoyable. It started off schmaltzy, with “My Fair Lady” and “Camelot,” and picked up some steam with “Wicked” and “The Color Purple.” “The Drowsy Chaperone” was a dud, and “Sweeney Todd” was disappointi Read more:Hurricanes
Busy, Busy ... 2008-06-08 00:01:00 I use to say that I was unsuccessfully retired, but I have changed my tune. My retirement is now stimulating, largely because I am busy. It's amazing how much one's services are in demand when you give them away for free. I now have three agencies for which I volunteer. In SCORE I do free business counseling (we are the counseling arm of the SBA). I also write and revise short business reports (ca
Jindal is blackmailed ... 2008-06-15 00:01:00 I thought Bobby Jindal
, Governor of Louisiana would be different. Here are some comments on the mammoth pay raise that the legislature is giving itself, and Jindal's failure to put a stop to it:From the Louisiana Action Council: "We are extremely disappointed that the Louisiana House of Representatives chose to pass a pay increase that resisted the ultimate will of the people. Despite the fact th
Of “Do Downtown” and Trailer Parks … 2008-06-29 00:01:00 We continue to try to take advantage of all the activities that Cincinnati has to offer.A couple of weeks ago we went to “Homearama,” an annual showing of new upscale homes, generally in suburbia. The homes are obscene, approaching 10,000 square feet and fitted out to the max. Apparently, people who can afford $1M+ homes also like basements that approximate a sports bar. All had outdoor dining Read more:Trailer
, Downtown
, Parks
There she goes again ... 2008-06-22 00:01:00 This is extracted from an article I wrote about the race for the House of Representatives in Ohio District 2. I hope you don't mind this double dip:Being from Louisiana, I know about political incompetence, bad judgment, and corruption. Our congressional delegation includes two stars of the genre, "Dollar Bill" Jefferson and David "caught with his pants down" Vitter.Disclosure: I volunteered and v
"Dollar Bill" Jefferson ... 2008-07-13 00:01:00 Since being listed in the Congresspedia blogroll, we intend to report more often on the fall congressional campaign in Louisiana, primarily the 2nd district. Following is a profile of the incumbent, adapted from Wikipedia:William Jennings Jefferson
(pictured), born March 14, 1947, represents Louisiana's 2nd congressional district, which includes much of the greater New Orleans area. A Democrat, Je Read more:Dollar
Jindal does the right thing ... 2008-07-06 00:01:00 We are in New Orleans this week, so we’ll simply report some news and tell you about the visit next time. Pictured is the New Orleans symbol, the fleur de lis, wrapped in the hope ribbon.AP, via The New Orleans Examiner, reports that:Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal
has vetoed a bill that would have doubled salaries for the state's lawmakers.The Republican had previously said he would not veto the bi
Family Emergency … 2008-08-03 00:01:00 There has been a slight change in plans. On Sunday we received word that my mother had suffered a heart attack. That kind of news is always disturbing, but in the case of my 90-year-old Mom, age really exacerbates the problem. My brother called us in Cincinnati at about 7am, and the report was that there were several doctors standing around Mom, and that at one point she had stopped breathing. Thi Read more:Family
, Emergency
If I Were President, Part 1 … 2008-07-27 00:01:00 Vote for me, based on the following plank in my platform:Energy PolicyLike it or not, despite all the projections of how much alternative energy we will be using over various time periods, our need for oil will be here for decades. There are those who say that today’s projects will not produce a drop of oil for 7-10 years. Well, if we had undertaken these projects 7-10 years ago we would be sell Read more:President
Jindal steps up again ... 2008-07-20 00:01:00 The TP reports that "Jindal
hacks budget earmarks," in a story by Jan Moller:BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Bobby Jindal (pictured) used his line-item veto authority to cut more than $16 million in proposed state spending Monday, killing hundreds of earmarks added by legislators for projects in their districts and signaling a new aggressiveness in dealing with the state budget.The 258 vetoes in House Bill 1, Read more:steps
North to Alaska ... 2008-08-17 00:01:00 We are on an Alaska
n cruise. Frommer shares his view of Alaska (slightly edited): (Nothing compares to) when you see a chunk of ice the size of a building fall from a glacier and send up a huge splash and a wave surging outward, or when you feel a wave lift your sea kayak from the fall of a breaching humpback whale. Or when you hike to stand on top of a mountain, and from there see more mountainto Read more:North
If I Were President, Part 2 … 2008-08-10 00:01:00 Vote for me, based on the following plank in my platform:Foreign AffairsFor more then a half-century the U.S. has been the greatest power, military and economic, in the world. This has made the U.S. the source of a great deal of largesse, from sending aid and sending troops, for various reasons, to many of the world’s trouble sites.It is time that we recognize that times have changed. Why should Read more:President
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