city government

Owen Courreges: Welcome to New Orleans — just don’t drink the water

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There was a time that I got a mild chuckle out of reading the old bumper sticker – New Orleans: Third World and Proud of It. The idea, of course, is that New Orleans is a poor city with inefficient, corrupt government, hence more akin to a developing nation than a prominent American city. Self-deprecating humor and all that. However, it’s started to hit a bit too close to home lately. Last week we endured yet another “boil water” advisory for the east bank of Orleans Parish in the wake of a brief, 20-minute failure of the plant’s power generation capacity.

city government

Owen Courreges: Mayor Landrieu’s top-secret admirer

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It’s so cute. Mayor Landrieu has a secret admirer! This past week, Chief Deputy Mayor Andy Kopplin wrote to the city council announcing that the city had estimated the cost of removing three monuments to Confederate leaders (Lee, Beauregard, and Davis) plus the notorious Liberty Place Monument, which Mayor Landrieu believes are divisive symbols that make black people feel bad. The total price tag? $144,000.

city government

Owen Courreges: No house arrest for Hizzoner

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I think, by this point, I’ve managed to establish myself as a critic of the current mayoral administration. If Mayor Landrieu has an official fan club, I am not a member. I find his usual gaggle of sycophants and hangers-on downright nauseating. That being said, one would think that I am clapping my hands with glee with the recent announcement that Judge Kern Reese held Landrieu in contempt and sentenced him to house arrest in the decades-old lawsuit regarding firefighters’ longevity raises. However, I am not.

opinion

Owen Courreges: The one simple trick to really enjoy Labor Day

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Today is Labor Day. Of course, with it being Labor Day, I started out writing this column with a single question boring into the recesses of my mind. “Do I really need to write a column for Labor Day?”

The answer, of course, is no. That would be work, and today celebrates the backbone of the American system, the American worker. As all of us toil away our lives, squandering our precious dreams on jobs we probably don’t enjoy, we need a moment to celebrate both our shared sacrifices and creeping miseries.

city government

Owen Courreges: Stop saying New Orleans is ‘better’ after the disasters of Hurricane Katrina

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We’re coming up on the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, in case you’ve been locked in a closet for the past few weeks and have thus been spared the maudlin, self-indulgent navel-gazing of every commentator that comes down the pike. For some, Katrina was an opportunity seized. The guiding narrative is that of a city in decline that took advantage of adversity and emerged stronger. It’s a characterization of Katrina that’s equal parts appalling and inaccurate. We are not in a better position as entire swaths of neighborhoods lay in ruin and our population is greatly reduced.

city government

Owen Courreges: The gradual demise of free public parking in New Orleans

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The City of New Orleans is sending a message, loud and clear: Free public parking lots? You’ve had a good run, but your days are over. I worked in the CBD a few years back, and initially I opted to utilize the free parking underneath the U.S. 90/Pontchartrain Expessway overpass. Although homeless people tended to congregate in the area nearest to the New Orleans Mission, the area further down by St. Charles Avenue tended to be wide open.

crime

Owen Courreges: The far-reaching net of federal gun-free zones

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“Trust me, I’m a federal prosecutor.” You can almost hear the words come from his mouth. Sure enough, with his latest initiative, U.S. Attorney Louisiana Kenneth Polite is asking us for a great deal of trust. Polite recently announced a bold plan for reducing gun violence in New Orleans. He proposed a joint effort between his office, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the New Orleans Police Department, Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, and Crimestoppers, to investigate and prosecute federal gun crimes. At first blush, this sounds like exactly what gun-rights advocates have been crowing for.

city government

Owen Courreges: The Top 10 traffic laws New Orleans loves to break

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New Orleanians have long suspected that our drivers (like our government) are completely ignorant of the law. There’s some basis in fact for this view. A 2013 study found that Louisiana had the worst drivers in the country. “In the case of Louisiana they still rank 48th worst for the Careless Driving category (pedestrians/pedacyclists fatality rate), while also ranking 41st worst in Fatalities Rate per 100 Million Vehicle Miles Traveled,” wrote Jeffrey Crews, vice president of CarInsuranceComparison.com. “[W]hile Louisiana’s #1 overall ranking may be partially attributed to stringent enforcement of the law they still score high in almost every category we looked at.”

city government

Owen Courreges: Before you tear down a statue, shouldn’t you know who it depicts?

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Former New Orleans mayor and textbook narcissist Marc Morial has come out in favor of Mayor Landrieu’s plan to remove four Civil War memorials located throughout the city. The erstwhile mayor, now head of the Urban League, proceeded to immediately put his foot in his mouth. “Those symbols represent division,” Morial explained. “I don’t think Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and P.G.T. Beauregard really had ties to the city.”

Apparently Morial’s grasp of Civil War history, even as it directly concerns the city he led for two terms as mayor, is just as lacking as his humility. While Lee had no major ties to New Orleans in particular, Jefferson Davis died in New Orleans and was originally buried here.

arts, books and music

Owen Courreges: Better live-music laws were too little, too late for Mimi’s

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They finally won. Live entertainment at Mimi’s in the Marginy is no more. After fighting for three years, first with the city and then with its neighbors, Mimi’s finally threw in the towel this past Wednesday. The iconic live music venue had seen the writing on the wall and gradually moved away from live performances, converting the upstairs into what the Times-Picayune described as “more of a restaurant than a live music venue.”

Ultimately, this led Mimi’s to settle a lawsuit brought against it by neighbors by agreeing to turn over its mayoralty permit. Under the terms of the consent judgment, Mimi’s may only host live entertainment nine times per year, and when doing so, it must secure special events permits.