Nola.com recently published an editorial expressing regret for the stand it took more than 64 years ago on the issue of school desegregation. The media outlet detailed how it, along with the White business community, pushed against the integration of public schools in New Orleans, editorializing that the 1954 Supreme...
What We’re Saying: Diverting Tax Dollars to Focus Infrastructure Is a Good Move for the City
It is a really good thing that summers are a historically slow period for tourism in New Orleans. That probably means there weren’t a whole lot of visitors traversing our wonderful city on July 22, 2017, when a lingering storm dumped nearly 5 inches of rain, flooding city streets. If...
What We’re Saying: Press Pause…Now Let’s Play Fair
We are glad to see that the City Planning Commission has held off on making a decision regarding the future of short term rentals in New Orleans. Taking time to think more, talk more, and field more suggestions before making its recommendation to the City Council is a good idea....
What We’re Saying: Yeah, Ya’ Right, Mayor Cantrell!
We Have TOO LITTLE to LOSE! Plans to build a hotel in the footprint of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center Development District received a pretty tough blow in recent days with a clear and resounding voice of dissent from Mayor LaToya Cantrell. It’s not the she doesn’t think the...
What We’re Saying: It Don’t Mean A Thing
So, at its Thursday (Aug. 9) meeting, the City Council approved a motion directing the city planning commission to incorporate recommendations and initiatives contained in the Smart Housing Mix Ordinance Study into comprehensive zoning ordinance amendments that would establish a mandatory inclusionary zoning overlay district, create a new mandatory inclusionary base zoning district, and create...
What We’re Saying: Three Facts the New Orleans City Council Must Consider as it Revisits the Short-Term Rental Ordinance
There is a reason visitors choose short-term rentals. Short-term rental attend functions at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. They go to the French Quarter and downtown. They come to New Orleans for business, pleasure and conventions. They patronize bars, restaurants and attractions across the city. Yet, they choose to...
WHAT WE’RE SAYING: EVERY NOW AND THEN, THEY GET IT RIGHT!
Every now and then, our state leaders get something right! That now and then most recently occurred on May 18 when the Louisiana Legislature did not grant Harrah’s a 30-year contract extension to operate the state’s only land-based private casino with table games. With only six-years left on its current deal,...
WHAT WE’RE SAYING: A CALL TO ACTION #WHILEBLACK
If you have not been in tune to recent news, the new hashtag #WhileBlack refers to multiple incidents of Blacks having the police called on them while going about their everyday lives. So far #WhileBlack it has been deemed criminal (the police were called) to sit in Starbucks, try on...
WHAT WE’RE SAYING: Senate Committee Tanks Bill To Spare Students with Outstanding Lunch School Lunch Bills Embarrassment
Last week, the state Senate Education Committee voted 4-2 to reject a bill that would have prevented schools from punishing and embarrassing students with outstanding lunch debts. The bill would have prohibited the public identification of such students and relieved them of extra chores or exclusion from any school privileges for unpaid...
What We’re Saying: It’s time for Louisiana to Get Rid of Non-Unanimous Verdicts
One of only two states in the nation that actually allows juries to render verdicts in felony criminal trials without all 12 jurors agreeing, Louisiana is long overdue in changing its jury system. First, the system is steeped in racism—a remnant of Jim Crow, the post-emancipation de facto and de...