Craig Giesecke: The restaurant staffing merry-go-round

 Posted by at 9:28 am  business, food and drink, opinion
Apr 052013
 

Craig Giesecke

One of the things we’re still working out in the new shop is staffing – how many people to bring in at what times of the day and how long they’ll be there. It’s a difficult balance, since you want professional, experienced folks – and those kinds of employees want and deserve a reasonable wage. But when some parts of the day are stronger than others, some have to be sent home and that makes no one happy. If good staffers don’t get enough hours, they go elsewhere in a hurry. Continue reading »

West Carrollton neighbors mourn death of AmeriCorps volunteer

 Posted by at 9:22 am  crime, public safety
Apr 052013
 

“In reality, it wasn’t his fight,” the Rev. C. L. Franklin, who lives across the street from the place where 18-year-old AmeriCorps volunteer Joseph Massenburg was killed, told Paul Murphy of our partners at WWL-TV. “The volunteers come in and help us. It’s our fight. It’s our struggle. … This is the stigma that hangs over us, that people could come in to help us and this could happen to them.”

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Lycee committee chooses six members for new school board

 Posted by at 5:42 pm  Featured, schools
Apr 042013
 

Lycee Francais nominating committee chair Jeff Teague writes his choices for the school’s governing board, surrounded by many of the same names suggested by other committee members. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)

After a high-intensity week of more than a dozen interviews and lengthy deliberations Thursday night, a group of volunteers settled on six people — three attorneys and three people involved in education — to recommend as the new governing board of Lycée Français de la Nouvelle Orléans.

The six chosen — attorneys Ben Castoriano, Tim Gray and Alysson Mills, and Erin Greenwald of the Historic New Orleans Collection, Mary Jacob Jones of The New Teacher Project, and Southeastern Louisiana University education-technology professor Elizabeth Rhodes — will be presented as one slate for approval by an up-or-down vote of the current board next week. All six could be added immediately, bringing the current board to 11 people as they seek out a new CEO for the school.

State charter-school regulations, however, require a minimum of seven board members, and the committee’s goal was to replace all the current board members by July 1. Thus, the committee decided to resume its search immediately, focusing in its second round on seeking members with specific skills — such as an accountant — not currently represented among the initial six chosen. Continue reading »

No Lusher board meeting Saturday

 Posted by at 12:48 pm  schools
Apr 042013
 

The meeting of Lusher Charter School’s board of directors scheduled for Saturday has been canceled, school officials announced. No make-up date has been set.

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“Bring Back Jimmy’s” concerts this weekend to raise money for legal fight

 Posted by at 11:05 am  arts, books and music, business, city government, food and drink, neighborhood groups
Apr 042013
 

Jimmy Anselmo (center) and supporters after replacing the former Frat House sign with a banner reading, “Bring Back Jimmy’s Music Club.” (photo courtesy of Jimmy Anselmo)

Jimmy’s Music Club will return for three nights of music performances starting today (Thursday) to raise money for its legal battle against the city’s alcohol laws. Continue reading »

Allan Katz and Danae Columbus: Is rising star Jared Brossett next for the City Council?

 Posted by at 10:25 am  city government, elections, opinion, politics, state government
Apr 042013
 

Allan Katz and Danae Columbus

Back in olden times, Allan covered the Louisiana Legislature for The Times-Picayune and Danae lobbied the Legislature for the Dock Board. So we both have a sense of what it takes to be a good legislator and like to keep track of those who we think have bright futures in politics. Continue reading »

Stacy Head makes silver-screen debut at Prytania in film about race and politics in New Orleans

 Posted by at 11:37 am  city government, elections, Featured, film and television, politics
Apr 032013
 

Stacy Head, right, beams at her aide, Barbara-Lacen Keller, in a scene from “Getting Back to Abnormal.” (courtesy of The Center for New American Media)

“Getting Back to Abnormal” — the documentary screening three times as part of the upcoming filmOrama festival at the Prytania Theatre — was never intended to focus on City Councilwoman Stacy Head. But Head’s controversial role in the post-Katrina political landscape of New Orleans combined with her unusual on-screen candor made her and staffer Barbara Lacen-Keller natural subjects for it, the filmmakers said.

“The fact that they let us film them was really good,” said Louis Alvarez, one of the four producer/directors. “A lot of politicians wouldn’t allow that.”

The film’s opening thesis is that in 2010, as Head approached her first re-election campaign, she had become “a lightning rod for all things racial,” and it does not shy away from many of her most controversial moments. Yet, in a phone interview Wednesday morning, Head said she has seen the film and was pleased with its outcome.

“I thought it showed the good, the bad and the ugly about New Orleans and politics and who I am,” Head said. “I don’t take myself too seriously, so I liked it.” Continue reading »

Jean-Paul Villere: The face of blight

 Posted by at 10:55 am  blight and demolition, city government, opinion, politics
Apr 032013
 

3527 South Liberty (photo by Jean-Paul Villere)

Jean-Paul Villere

Once upon a time the ivy-covered, faded green house with broken glass panes and missing siding at 3527 South Liberty in Uptown New Orleans probably was a family home, a quaint if not classically styled shotgun with sidehall elements, wrought iron fencing and floor to ceiling windows facing the street.  Today it sits beaten to hell but still seemingly structurally intact, an eyesore of eyesores, and consumed by litter including household discards, dozens upon dozens of old tires, and yes, even hypodermic needles.  Additionally according to nolaassessor.com/ there is a code-enforcement lien, and the city’s new Blight Status site shows a hearing next week on 11 violations found in January 2013.  

This kind of scenario represents the face of blight in the Crescent City today. Continue reading »

Abramson bill would require adolescent mental health at NOAH property; Moreno bill would remove requirement from Children’s Hospital lease

 Posted by at 10:39 am  health, state government
Apr 032013
 

“State Rep. Neil Abramson wants whoever operates NOAH to be required to bring back previous mental-health services,” and would give Ochsner a shot at the 99-year lease on the property, “while state Rep. Helena Moreno said she wants to see Children’s be allowed to take control of the property so it can expand its services,” according to an article by Danny Monteverde of The Advocate.

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Teen killed in west Carrollton gunfire Monday was AmeriCorps member

 Posted by at 9:19 am  crime, public safety
Apr 032013
 

The 18-year-old gunned down on Eagle Street in west Carrollton on Monday night was Joseph Massenburg of Matteson, Ill., who had moved to New Orleans three weeks earlier as an AmeriCorps member working with the energy-efficiency nonprofit Green Light New Orleans, according to a report by Helen Freund of The Times-Picayune. The 1500 block of Eagle, where Matteson was fatally shot, is about three blocks behind Oak Street.

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Another Westbank krewe may move to Uptown route

 Posted by at 9:11 am  events
Apr 032013
 

The all-female Krewe of Cleopatra moved its parade from the Westbank to the Uptown route in 2013, and the all-male Krewe of Alla may follow suit. (UptownMessenger.com file photo by Robert Morris)

The Krewe of Alla — which this year paraded 24 floats through Gretna but takes its name from an abbreviation of Algiers, La. — needs 200 paid riders by June 1 or it will seek to move to the Uptown route, according to a report by our partners at WWL-TV. The all-male krewe was founded in 1932 and “traditionally presents the largest parade on the West Bank,” according to Arthur Hardy’s Mardi Gras Guide.

jewel bush: An open letter to armchair “activists”

 Posted by at 10:55 am  opinion, politics
Apr 022013
 

jewel bush

Dear armchair activist,

The root of the word activism is “act.”

If you are not doing something in a tangible, meaningful way, to impact social, political, economic or cultural change, then you are not an activist. Advocate, perhaps. Activist, you are not.

If the extent of your “activism” is regurgitating factoids, trolling online discussion forums, retweeting commentary by intellectuals on Twitter or reposting, sharing and liking stories on Facebook, then you are not an activist. Agitator, maybe. Activist, you are not.
Continue reading »

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