Some voters in the District B runoff on Saturday said they were impressed with LaToya Cantrell’s record in Broadmoor, while others said they admired Dana Kaplan’s advocacy for juvenile justice. Just as frequently, however, they said they wanted to support Councilwoman Stacy Head’s efforts to provide some balance against Mayor Mitch Landrieu — or that they wanted to show support for Landrieu’s work so far. Continue reading »
In her victory speech, LaToya Cantrell emphasized the hard work that brought her through the runoff for the District B seat and that which is yet to come in the next 15 months.
After congratulating Cantrell in her concession speech, Dana Kaplan emphasized her own campaign’s success in promoting her ideas about the criminal justice system and economic opportunity.
See video of each candidate below: Continue reading »
LaToya Cantrell laughs and claps as she arrives at her victory party at Dijon restaurant on Annunciation Street. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
Dana Kaplan poses for a photo with a supporter at her election-night party at Wolfe’s. (photo by Marta Jewson for UptownMessenger.com)
LaToya Cantrell, the Broadmoor activist whose neighborhood’s recovery became a symbol of New Orleanians’ resilience, pledged to bring her tireless work ethic and open heart to a bigger stage Saturday night after winning a seat on the New Orleans City Council.
Cantrell won nearly 54 percent of the ballots cast Saturday with all precincts and early votes counted, according to the Secretary of State. Her opponent, Dana Kaplan, won just over 46 percent. Continue reading »
Motorists on Freret Street will be unable to cross Napoleon next week as the intersection closes so work can continue on the installation of a new drainage canal under the neutral ground, officials said. Continue reading »
Allan Katz and Danae Columbus
Back in the late 1960s, the late Stewart Brehm, Director of the Sewerage & Water Board, told Allan, then a reporter for the States-Item, that the sewerage and drainage system that was a crucial part of New Orleans infrastructure was falling apart and would have to be replaced at the costs of tens of millions of dollars that the city didn’t have. Brehm said that as politically unthinkable as an S&WB rate increase at that time might be, it would have to be done.
Well, not exactly. Continue reading »
Officer Kevin Wheeler (left) receives a plaque from Second District Commander Paul Noel in July of 2012 after being named officer of the month. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
“Just two weeks ago I was reading reports, and an officer by the name of Wheeler in the Sixth District was riding around in his car, paying very close attention, hears the description of a vehicle wanted for armed robbery and within seconds catches four people who had just committed an armed robbery at Louisiana and Magazine,” Serpas said.
Fourteen days later, the department issued a news release stating that the same officer Wheeler was being dismissed from duty for deploying his Taser on an unarmed subject and for allegedly being untruthful about his report on the incident afterward. Continue reading »
820 General Pershing Street
A request to demolish a General Pershing Street home to build a small parking lot just off Magazine Street was unanimously rejected by a city panel Monday afternoon after sparking a heated protest by nearby neighbors. Continue reading »
Owen Courreges
SCENE: GRAND INQUISITOR’S CHAMBERS, NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION (FICTIONAL)
PLAYERS:
APPLICANT: (Proposing a gas station on an industrial road)
INQUISITOR: (The singular embodiment of the stubborn will of an association)
(Lights rise slowly.)
(The room is dim. A single spotlight shines on the applicant. He stands flustered before the tribunal as sweat drips from his brow.) Continue reading »
Allan Katz and Danae Columbus
Dana Kaplan
The red section represents the area of South Claiborne Avenue already reduced to two lanes for the next two years; the purple area will close Wednesday until spring of next year. (map by Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
Starting Wednesday (Nov. 28), another stretch of Claiborne Avenue in the Carrollton area will be reduced to two lanes until at least March of next year as a new underground drainage canal is built under the neutral ground, officials announced today. Continue reading »
The Sewerage and Water Board told reporter Tania Dall of our partners at WWL that the employee was acting on “misinformation” when he attempted to remove the water meter cover and replace it with an unadorned one, and promised to look into the matter further:
City Council president Stacy Head (right) embraces LaToya Cantrell after endorsing her bid for the District B council seat Tuesday morning. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
(cartoon by Owen Courreges)
The New Orleans Police Department recently announced that it will be dropping the use of pepper spray and using Taser devices exclusively. This reform came pursuant to the consent decree the city has entered into with the U.S. Justice Department, ostensibly over concerns of overuse of pepper spray and its greater potential for physical harm.
Sometimes, however, even good reforms can be a mixed bag. Continue reading »
The Daiquiri Place Cafe (via Google Maps)
The daiquiri shop’s owner blamed the problems in part on a restaurant in the next block and on the unruly crowds of “second liners” themselves, but his arguments did little to sway the the commissioners, who voted unanimously to revoke his liquor license.
“This is intolerable,” said commissioner Robert Jenkins of conditions created by the bar. “This is horrible.” Continue reading »
A proposed change to city law that would allow gas stations on Tchoupitoulas Street in the Lower Garden District failed to find support Monday evening among members of the Coliseum Square Association, but the Sterling Express fresh-food store planned for one intersection there will press forward with its opening whether its fuel pumps are approved by the City Council or not, developers told the group. Continue reading »
The new owner of Jazz Daiquiris — the popular South Claiborne Avenue second-line stop and nightclub where reputed Central City crime lord Telly Hankton killed Darnell Stewart in 2008 and where his lieutenant, Walter Porter, allegedly killed Curtis Matthews, the former owner’s brother, last year — is “suing the city for denying an alcohol permit,” reports The Louisiana Record. Jeffrey Thomas and attorney Ed Washington argue that the alcohol permit should have followed with the sale of the property, the report states.
A drawing of the proposed Sterling Express building on Tchoupitoulas submitted to the City Planning Commission.
A proposal to allow two fueling bays for large trucks at an upcoming Sterling Express location on Tchoupitoulas will be discussed by the Coliseum Square Association tonight (Monday, Nov. 19). Continue reading »
(Cartoon by Owen Courreges for UptownMessenger.com)
Owen Courreges
The Pontchartrain Expressway homeless encampment is no more. This past Friday morning, police swept the remaining homeless people from the encampment in the underpass that separates the Central Business District from Uptown New Orleans. The number of persons removed was 55 persons by the city’s count, but closer to 100 according to the New Orleans Mission, which adjoins the expressway. By either count, it was a significant encampment. Continue reading »
In a sign of the unusual dynamics at play in this year’s District B election, LaToya Cantrell picked up the endorsements of one formal rival, third-place finisher Eric Strachan, while Dana Kaplan was endorsed by the fourth candidate in the race, Marlon “Buck” Horton. Continue reading »