Whose idea was it to do the Separate But Equal Blvd scheme?

In this story we find the Toussaints saying they were approached by Jared Brossett about considering it at least. In response, Jared says that's not what he wants. Either way both sides seem to agree they did discuss the idea.

Alison Toussaint said Brossett suggested in April that the stretch of Robert E. Lee in his district could have one name, while the part in neighboring council District A could have another.

Brossett on Friday evening disputed that, saying he called Alison Toussaint to say he did not support the idea of two names for one street.

Allen Toussaint, who died in 2015, lived on Robert E. Lee Boulevard in Gentilly.

Reginald Toussaint said he viewed the idea of a street with two names as one that not only crossed political boundaries, but racial ones as well.

“We're not going to be involved in a street that's split in half by color,” he said.

Joe Giarrusso is also mentioned in the story and he spent some time yesterday on social media also denying that he has proposed splitting the street to the Toussaints. 

We first read about this plan to segregate the name of what we now call Robert E Lee Blvd back in January.  This article seems to say it came either from the Street Renaming Commission itself or from comments or suggestions submitted to it. 

The commission has also received recommendations to divide some of the more prominent streets, picking different names depending on the neighborhood - an idea with significant racial overtones. For example, the commission’s current recommendation is to rename Robert E. Lee Boulevard for musician Allen Toussaint, but an alternative would call it Toussaint in the Black neighborhoods of Gentilly and Hibernia or Lake Boulevard in the majority-white areas of Lakeview.

I scanned the Commission's final report and found only two public comments suggesting a "Hibernia Blvd."  Both of them seem to favor that name for the entire length.  One suggests putting Toussaint's name on nearby Leon C Simon Blvd instead. But I don't see anything about dividing Robert E Lee between its Lakeview and Gentilly sections. Doesn't mean it's not in there. Just means I couldn't find it putting what I thought were good search terms into CTRL-F. 

The suggestion could have come from lots of different places. But the "split the baby" approach does sound like something somebody either working for or talking to a city councilperson would try.  And it isn't hard to believe that Brossett and/or Giarrusso or their staff , once having received such a suggestion, would then mention it to stakeholders in discussion just to feel them out even if, as Jared claims, they do not explicitly endorse the plan.  (Note: Giarrusso maintains that he has not spoken to the family at all about this.)

In any case, since, according to the Toussaints, this is clearly still being talked about by somebody we should probably keep asking who that is.

Why is Jared running?

Most political handicappers would tell you that when a scandal-damaged pol who has just lost a different election  jumps into the season's "marquee" citywide race, it probably is not because he can win.  But there is a reason he's in. What is it? Is this money just burning a hole in his pocket?

The strongest indicator in Brossett’s favor may be his funding, though it remains to be seen whether that will hold up as the race picks up.

Brossett headed into this year with more than $100,000 in his campaign account, a seemingly enviable war chest that dwarfed that of any other incumbent councilmember at the time. But the report also points to a potential vulnerability: less than $10,000 of the haul was raised last year and none of it came in after the crash.

The article goes on to point out that he would probably need to raise closer to half a million dollars in order to win this seat.  But that doesn't appear to be the pace at the moment.  Still, he does have enough money and enough clout to have some kind of effect. What does he intend that effect to be?

The end of the criminal legal reform era

 Just how big an industry is the tax farming business now? 

Across the United States, court debt has ballooned as states have turned to court costs, fines, and fees as revenue streams. A recent report by watchdog group Fines and Fees Justice Center found that court debt in the U.S. now totals at least a staggering $27.6 billion. That figure is a low estimate, the group noted in the report, because it relied on incomplete data collected from only 25 states.

To handle the collection of that debt, states and municipalities — as well as the Internal Revenue Service — are increasingly turning to private firms, which in some states can add up to 40 percent surcharges onto the fees. In aggregate, that can translate into billions of dollars of payouts for the debt collectors.

Those of us old enough to remember the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement following the murder of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri will recall the central role that municipal fines and fees played in the system of predatory racism against which the people there rose up.  And here we are a thousand years, and several cycles of murderous police actions and uprisings later and still very little has fundamentally changed. 

In New Orleans, one could argue there has been some progress. But what's happened has been slow and slight. A 2020 law re-directs court fee  revenues away from control of the judges who impose them but does not abolish them altogether.  The City Council appeared to at least try and defy that law when it resolved to return the fees collected but I don't think we've been updated on how that's worked out.  As of this April, a series of lawsuits have resulted in a system whereby Orleans Criminal Court judges promise a kinder, gentler bail regime. 

A joint order from the judges in February formalized new bail rules that paved the way for the settlement. The agreement comes after drawn out wrangling over how judges in New Orleans can impose bail or fines and fees on thousands of defendants each year, the vast majority of them poor.

Under the new order, defendants must have an attorney when their bail is set. The judges also promise to inquire into defendants' ability to pay, to consider alternatives to cash bail and to explain their reasoning when they do keep defendants behind bars.

We'll see how that goes.  Last week, the City Attorney announced a mass dismissal of some 385,000 cases of municipal violations which should reduce the likelihood you will be ensnared by an attachment from some unpaid traffic fine from 10 years ago. That's all good news. But it's minimal compared to what is needed here and in every city where billions of dollars worth of bounties are still hanging over the heads of highly vulnerable people. 

Meanwhile the time for further progress is running short.  Local media is already daily beating the drums of crime wave panic and the tide is beginning to turn toward reaction. (In fact, here is WDSU specifically blaming lax collection of court fees.) Our newly elected "reformist" DA is already breaking his promise not to try children as adults. Major candidates jumping into the marquee race in this fall's municipal elections are already taking up demagogic "tough on crime" rhetoric in their initial messaging.  All of this is only going to get worse as that election approaches.  Afterwards, this group of politicians will go back to work with a new mandate to "get tough" and new rules that will allow them to do just that.  

Mr. Biden emphasized that state and local officials in areas experiencing surges in gun violence can use $350 billion in Covid-19 relief funding to hire more law-enforcement personnel, even if it raises the total number beyond its pre-pandemic level.

The window of opportunity to make real and lasting change is always so short. And when it shuts it can stay that way for a long time. Business as usual, on the other hand can last... well that's why they call it business as usual.

Bag fine recycling

Earlier this week Cantrell Administration officials appeared before City Council where they all commiserated with one another over the millions of dollars in costs incurred as a result of the Cyberattack and Hard Rock disaster.  So far it looks like the costs of computer boo boos will be (barely) covered by emergency funds and insurance. The Hard Rock costs will likely become a protracted legal and political dispute.

Estimated costs from the the Hard Rock collapse came to $11.7 million by the end of 2019. That includes about $4.8 million in costs and lost revenue for the Regional Transit Authority, which had to reroute its buses around the disaster site.

But Montaño told the council that the city plans to get the bulk of the costs for both incidents reimbursed through their cybersecurity insurance, the Hard Rock developers’ insurance and, if necessary, through litigation with the Hard Rock developers if the insurance payments don’t cover everything.

“This will at some point will be handled by a court,” Montaño said. “The city should not bear those costs and we have no plan to bear those costs.”

Montaño went on to say that he is "confident and secure we do maintain a healthy fund balance" even though he seemed pretty fuzzy on the details of that.  He must not be too too confident, though, because he also told City Council he was "going to be cautious" and delay "major expenditures" until after summertime.

That sounds prudent, I guess.

Anyway, I know this is what you might call a different pot of money, but it does look strange for the Council to then turn around that same week and hand a half million dollars in tax breaks over to a plastic bag factory.

The New Orleans City Council on Thursday approved two five-year Industrial Tax Exemptions for a new factory in eastern New Orleans that will produce plastic packaging. The exempted property is worth $7 million, and the city stands to lose out on $435,634 in tax revenue over the first five years of the exemptions as a result of the vote, according to a presentation by Tracey Jackson, the Industrial Tax Exemption administrator for Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s Office of Community Development.

We should point out one detail the Lens story doesn't mention explicitly, but the T-PAdvocate does.  This is the first ITE approved by the city under its new wage and job requirements. Although, it looks like the plastic company may have gamed the rules a bit.

Still, the Iriapak deal has irked critics of the tax breaks, who argued that one of Iriapak's subsidy applications didn't meet the city's jobs requirements.

Iriapak actually submitted two applications for the tax exemptions. Its first application was for a $5 million investment, which represented its 80% stake in the project. The second application represents $2 million that an affiliated real estate partner is investing in the project. That firm, Iriapak RE, owns a 20% stake.

Together New Orleans, a group that has long criticized ITEP tax exemptions, argued that the investment partner should be required to meet the city's jobs rules for the construction jobs it is financing. For those and other reasons, the group urged a denial.

That argument found supporters in council members Helena Moreno and Jared Brossett. Both voted against the application.

The larger concern, though, is happy to hand out large corporate tax exemptions during a time of fiscal uncertainty. This is going on even while the city continues to nickel and dime ordinary people playing keep away with ill gotten traffic ticket money, for example.

For another example, we read here that the float riders may be fined up to $500 for tossing plastic bags into the crowd this parade season. Maybe they should just forward those citations to Iriapak so the city can recover its funds.

Cops give the worst advice

This is one hundred percent wrong. Please do not do this. You will definitely regret it.

Over the past few months, Eyewitness News has told you about a series of car break-ins in both Orleans and Jefferson Parish. In the last four weeks along, crimemapping.com shows over 500 reports of vehicle break-ins and theft in New Orleans.

It’s the reason why District D Councilmember Jared Brossett has a stack of “Lock it or Lose  It” signs in city hall.  “My office has received a lot of complaints from concerned citizens regarding break-ins throughout the city and throughout my district,” Councilmember Brossett said.  Brossett said he’s partnering with Crimestopper GNO for their “Lock it or Lose it” campaign.

"Most of the car break-ins we've got statistics from Crimestoppers say that 70 percent of them have been from unlocked vehicles," he said.

Locking your car at night is a great idea if your objective is to wake up to a smashed window the next day. I learned that the hard way a couple of times. I don't think I've locked a car door in at least ten years now.  I'd leave the windows rolled down too if a person could ever trust the weather around here.

Sure some mornings I walk out to discover evidence of an overnight visit.  But as long as I remember not to leave anything valuable in there, it's no harm to anyone. It's a strategy these people may like to consider.

Darlene Cusanza with Crimestoppers GNO said the suspects are not just stealing cash. Last year, Cusanza said more than 700 guns were stolen from unlocked vehicles throughout the Greater New Orleans area.

What is even going on out there? I thought gun owners were all about defending their "castle" from invasion.  How does leaving the gun in the car help with that? 

What if, for example, you are lying in bed at a reasonable hour (say 11:30 pm on a Friday night) just reading your book peacefully, and someone just walks into your apartment thinking it is his Airbnb?  Wouldn't you feel silly then?  I certainly did last night when this exact thing happened to me. I don't mean I felt silly not to have a gun. I don't own one. I mean it was awkward for all of us, the guy, his wife, my cat and their chihuahua to stand around with me in my boxers trying to figure out what was going on.  

It turns out what was going on is one of the neighbors is running Airbnb out of her apartment. She gets pretty good reviews. The consensus among her customers is the place is a little bit noisy and "dingy" but the location is super convenient to all of your favorite "NOLA" sights.  I can't argue with any of that.  And I should know I've lived in the building for almost 20 years now.  But I guess actually living in your home isn't what people do here anymore unless you are "fair sharing" your personal space with tourists. 

In this case, though, it was my space that almost got shared. Still not exactly sure how that happened but from what we were able to gather last night the guests just tried the wrong door. And that wouldn't have been too bad except for the fact that the key she had left for them happened to be a master somehow. So this means, not only has the neighbor had a key to my apartment since the day she moved in, she has also been lending it out to random strangers on the internet for the better part of two years now.  Anyway, the "sharing economy" is very good. 

I guess if I had heard about something like this happening to somebody else I'd be upset. But since it's me, it's just another awkward and funny thing to put on the pile.  Or at least it would be that if not for the fact that Menckles lives in my home too. I'm very glad she was sitting out on the back porch at the time so it could be me instead of her who got walked in on. This is the only reason something unfortunate did not happen to the poor confused visitor regardless of whether there was a gun in the house or not. 

It's also the only reason somebody got up extra early this morning to run out and buy a new lock for the front door. In fact she had already installed it by the time I left for work.  If I lived alone I can easily imagine myself letting the situation go on as is for months just to see how many more times something like this might happen. Because she is there, it feels like a violation. If it's just me, it's just a funny bit. 

Either way, at least nobody has to bother the police over something as trivial as whether or not a door is locked.  Sounds like they've got their hands full enough as it is trying to track down all those guns.

The boil order decade

Another one come and gone over the weekend.  

The Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans lifted a boil water advisory Sunday afternoon (Sept. 23) that was issued for Lower 9th Ward residents Saturday afternoon.

The agency sent out a notification around 4:30 p.m. Sunday lifting the precautionary advisory after "bacteriological tests confirmed that water in the area was safe to drink and could be used for personal needs," according to the S&WB

Yawn. Remember when we used to count these? Now they're pretty much just regular neighborhood events. Look at how localized this one is. They lost pressure at the Carrollton plant but only the Ninth Ward needed to worry.  It seems like the many repetitions of this drill have made our boil advisories more precise.  Or maybe we just have a higher amoeba tolerance now.

But, hey, good news! City Council will soon have the benefit of its own panel of experts to help it keep an eye on S&WB for you. Call it the Sewerage and Water Board Board.

“The public justifiably has no confidence in the Sewerage & Water Board,” said Councilman Jared Brossett, who sponsored the move to prepare a request for qualifications from third-party advisers. Those firms would arm the council with technical know-how on a long-term basis as it continues to serve as a watchdog of the floundering agency, he said.

Keep in mind we aren't talking about the "technical know-how" necessary to determine when a meeting is not really a meeting.  For that you would need a lawyer. Or, really, just a literate person.

City Council needs more than just that. What they need to do is keep up with the Board in the escalating consultancy arms race. As of last November the Board's advantage in the consultant gap was staggering.

The New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board has paid a Colorado consulting firm $6 million more than what FEMA considers a “reasonable” fee to manage a critical power-plant project – and so far, with little to show for it.

In fact, the agency has allowed the company's fees to balloon over the past six years, to the point where the company now stands to ultimately collect four times more than the “reasonable” rate by the time its contract is through, according to public records obtained by WWL-TV.

Why is this so urgent?  Well, consultants can provide you with valuable information. For example, they can tell councilmembers about how flooding is caused by "inconsistent leadership." They can also tell councilmembers that they definitely need to hire more consultants.

Also at Monday’s meeting, representatives from the ABS Group, a Houston-based consulting firm, presented the findings of its report on the flooding in July and August of 2017. A draft of the report was obtained by The Advocate in August.

The report found that one of the root causes of the flooding was “inconsistent leadership oversight of power and pumping operations.” At Monday’s meeting, ABS representatives recommended that the council keep closer tabs on the Sewerage and Water Board.

The proposal to hire a consultant appears to be a direct response to the report.

The best consultants are good at telling you to hire themselves specifically.  Perhaps the most famous example of this in local lore is the case of former New Orleans "Recovery Czar" Ed Blakely. 

Ed Blakely, an urban affairs professor who led recovery efforts after Oakland's 1988 (sic?) earthquake and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City, said success in those and other massive rebuilding efforts resulted from leaders' swift action, sometimes laying out recovery plans within 24 hours of a disaster, and their willingness to install a single chief to guide a comprehensive plan "so that you're not moving home by home."

"It should not be a local person," said Blakely, who paid his own way from his home in Australia to address the African-American Leadership Project's summit in Central City. "They (should) have no baggage, but they have to have a real human touch to know where people are coming from."

Blakely said such a leader would be less likely to be influenced by historical, cultural and political factors that can sway the decisions of local residents on issues including which geographic areas, if any, should be off limits to rebuilding.

It was not long after this talk that Ray Nagin hired Blakely.  That turned out okay, right?

Congratulations, Jared

You can say this is a story about deciding to run for office. But really it is a story about getting out of politics and into a job where you can just sit around collecting money all day. 

New Orleans Councilman Jared Brossett is officially running to be the next clerk of the Civil District Court.

Brossett has been eyeing the office since shortly after Dale Atkins, the former clerk, won a seat on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal in March. His plans have now been formalized, with a fundraiser for the campaign scheduled for July 10.

I'm not sure about how the timing plays out.  But I expect Brossett will take his new office shortly after the November election. After that, there will have to be another special election to fill his City Council seat.  Which means there will also be a period where District D is represented by an interim appointment.  Typically, the councilmembers are responsible for selecting the interim person. But the last time this came up, things got ugly and the mayor had to step in and name somebody. This council is still in its post-election unity afterglow where they like to talk about working as a team and whatnot so we're unlikely to see that happen this time around. Still, the choice of Brossett's replacement deserves attention. It could have a determining affect on the city's short term rental policy.

Just to catch up quickly on where we are with that, recall that about a month ago the council, at Kristin Palmer's urging, passed an Interim Zoning District measure which imposes a temporary moratorium on the issuance of one specific type of STR license. This would be the "Temporary STR License" that allows whole home rentals for 90 days in certain areas.  The IZD isn't an immediate ban on their operation, though. Currently active Temporary licenses can remain in use until whenever each individual license expires. And even then, the "pause" as it's been described in the press is just a for-now thing until we get the result of a study due sometime in the fall.

Meanwhile the Commercial licenses are still being issued. These allow unlimited use of property as permanent hotels in areas zoned for commercial and mixed-use.  That zoning terminology sounds restrictive, but actually it covers a lot of the city.  So even under the terms of Palmer's IZD, the most intense kind of STR activity continues to go unchecked. Also, the big players in hospitality are starting to get into the business now. 

The need for a different kind of experience is what prompted Marriott International to enter the vacation rental market dominated by Airbnb, CEO Arne Sorenson told CNBC on Monday.

Formulated with groups in mind, Marriott announced a six-month pilot program in April, in partnership with London-based home rental management company Hostmaker, which does still work with other services, including Airbnb and Home Away.

So, even though Palmer got a fair amount of credit in the media for proposing the IZD, it's not clear that's actually a step toward reining in short term rentals.  In fact, it's possible that, by the time all of this has run its course, the "paused" STRs will be back in play without having missed much business. But all of this will depend on what the council decides to do once they get their new report back from the planning commission. 

As I've stated previously, all of this looks suspiciously like a delay tactic. The further in time we get from last year's election cycle, the friendlier the political environment is likely to be for the pro-STR side. When politicians aren't immediately concerned with being held accountable to voters, the more likely they are to listen to friends and donors.

Already if you listen closely enough you can hear them trying to walk back the anti STR sentiment a bit. We already know LaToya likes to talk about "balance" above all else. Recently, I've heard  Giarrusso and Palmer  express similar sentiments regarding their empathy toward landlords and developers as well as their belief that STR revenue can fund affordable housing in other ways. At a recent Mid City Neighborhood Association meeting on the subject, Giarrusso mentioned the money STR license fees pay into the Neighborhood Housing Improvement Fund established by the city to subsidize developers who might build more affordable housing.   However the JPNSI report found that the money collected all of last year by those fees could probably build just one house.

There are other signs that momentum is already fading. Cyndi Nguyen almost voted against Palmer's "pause" because she is worried about some landlords who she thinks are "the little guy." Jarvis Deberry recently wrote about  HousingNOLA's Andreanicia Morris and her seeming fatigue with the STR issue. 

Morris, executive director of the affordable housing advocacy group HousingNOLA, confesses to being exhausted with all the emphasis on Airbnb. "The problem with the short-term rental debate," she said during an interview in Mid City June 7, "is the energy it takes up."  Expensive housing in New Orleans is an old problem, not a new one, Morris says, and there's a problem in talking about the more recent phenomenon of short-term rentals as if without them, things would automatically be good for renters and homebuyers. 

If even the housing advocates are starting to back off now, how can we expect councilmembers to stay after the STR lobby six or nine months from now? Which brings us back to Jared Brossett's decision to retire from politics and get into the business of sitting around collecting money as Clerk of Court. Up to this point, Brossett was the only member of the council with a consistent anti-STR voting record. If he's no longer around by the time the next important vote on the matter comes around, what happens then?  I'm not optimistic that this is going to end well. I don't think it's going especially well now.

Oh by the way, if you want to submit comments to the City Planning Commission in writing for use in their study the deadline is September 4. In the meantime there is a public hearing coming up on July 10 where you can go yell at them in person. I don't know what the going rate is for paid actors right now but we'll try to get that sorted out in time if we can.

Stop and frisk on wheels

This weekend we walked for a few blocks with the Uptown Swingers parade and second line. It was very hot out. Luckily there were some guys in the crowd pulling coolers of water and other beverages for sale. Nobody asked if they had permits to do that. Nobody called the police. Maybe it would have been different if they were on bikes.

.@mayorcantrell Look at this: your city's police giving a Black man a nearly $1000 bicycle ticket for nothing. Gentilly & Elysian Fields at 4am... how is this anything but harassment? pic.twitter.com/YkBzLSnswn

— Jules Bentley 🏴 (@julesbentley) June 24, 2018

That is very nearly a $1,000 ticket just because a cop decided to check and see if the dude had a $3 to $35 tag on his bike. Is that real? Jules is reliable source and all but, geeze, is that real?

It's real.

So, there Louis was in the empty pre-dawn, riding that raggedy bike in a striped bike lane, only now he was pedaling against the ghosts of would-be traffic. That is technically a violation, though one every cyclist in the city can attest to breaking. Louis himself has done it plenty of times before because he feels safer knowing cars aren't coming at his back.

That's when two New Orleans Police Department cars rolled up on him, lights flashing.

"I immediately went to the 'don't shoot' position," Louis said.

An officer ran the driver's license Louis handed over while Louis called his father, and he sat on the curb, thinking it all over.

He did not, Louis reasoned, look like somebody out to commit a crime.

So the local bicycle wars have been a subject of some interest here on the ol' Yellow Blog over the years so I feel obliged to say a few words about the political background to these rather expensive citations.

As bicycling has become more popular over the past decade or so, authorities in city government and law enforcement have sought to exert more control over it for various purposes most of which are bad. The city is interested in new ways to shake down residents for fees and fines . Politicians and real estate people like to cultivate at least the appearance.. often only the appearance.. of "bike friendly infrastructure." And, of course, law enforcement is always looking for new pretexts to do stop and frisk.

Here is a Gambit article from 2010 about a proposal to "reinstate a bicycle registration program that hasn't been enforced since before Hurricane Katrina." The fees it proposed were ridiculous, as you can see in the section below, but the reason the measure ended up getting tabled was because it was clear NOPD couldn't be trusted with it.

Jatres says the MBC's biggest concern is the fee hike — a 500 percent increase for non-commercial registration. As for the "commercial" fee, the ordinance does not make clear who would need the $75 license.

"A lot of people bicycle for economic reasons, that's their form of transportation. Having low income people (pay) a $15 fee can be a significant burden," Jatres says. "The $75 fee for commercial use — it's left fairly vague. Could be couriers, bike rentals, anything. If you use a bicycle as transportation for work, could that be broadly defined as commercial? It left it vague enough where that line between commercial and personal could be blurry."

The ordinance does not spell out how NOPD would enforce registration, which Jatres and other cyclists fear could result in potential harassment. The MBC says it's received complaints from cyclists saying NOPD officers have stopped them and told them to ride on the sidewalk or to wear a helmet, neither of which are laws in Louisiana.

"There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding among at least some officers within the department, which leads to the concern — here's one more tool that can be interpreted or misused, either out of ignorance of the law or intentions to harass cyclists," Jatres says. "That was what hit Councilman Carter, 'OK, we really need to get everyone in a room to talk about this.'"

Every now and then a new NOPD initiative proposes to crack down on existing but dormant regulations.  Last year City Council passed an ordinance presented as "protection" for bicyclists but really it just created new ways to bring them under the enforcement regime.  Jared Brossett's quote tips it.  The primary purpose of this was to crack down on cyclists. 

The new rules, recommended by the city’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee, explicitly prohibit motorists from driving in designated bike lanes or harassing cyclists, clarify that pedestrians have the right of way in crosswalks and require that bikes must be equipped with lights or reflectors plus bells or other devices that can provide an audible signal to those nearby in emergency situations.

“All roadway users have a responsibility to use roads safely,” said Councilman Jared Brossett, who sponsored the ordinances.

At the same time, the city has heralded its placement of bike lanes all over town as a signal of its progressive orientation.  But cycling advocates have complained the painted lanes are more ornamental than useful and often are safety hazards themselves.  This suggests our new bike centered infrastructure, including the recently launched for-profit bike share program, isn't designed to meet transit needs as much as it is to boost real estate values.

Those bike-docking stations, however, also give Fleming pause. He resists using the term "bike share" to describe them. Instead, they are "bike rental kiosks," he said.

His reasoning is economic. He worries that a kiosk in a low-income neighborhood would give landlords with properties nearby license to label that block "up-and-coming" and raise rents.

In other words, he sees a bike-sharing program as a harbinger of gentrification and its unsavory cousin: the displacement of the poor.

Over the weekend, I heard a few stories about bikes tied up near the convention center receiving warning stickers that they had been improperly parked. In recent years, new prohibitions against parking bikes in what one would think are harmless places have sprung up in an ad-hoc fashion all over town. We've documented some of these. It's probably a coincidence that we're being made to feel less free about riding our own bikes in downtown neighborhoods at the same time that the Blue Bikes monopoly is spreading out over the same area. But the lifestyle is becoming more regimented in any case. A thousand dollar ticket for not being "registered" is sure to make anyone more wary.

"That's more than my rent. That's more than a number of different things," Louis said.

"I think the police has a lot of discretion in terms of issuing a citation," Charlie Thomas, Louis' attorney said.

Thomas works with the firm Huber, Thomas and Marcelle. They are statewide attorneys for bike law. He is calling the prices for these citations outrageous and believes there is no use registration ordinance in the city.

"Even though NOPD might have your bicycle information on file, we're unaware of any circumstance where this has led to the recovery of a stolen bike or really any sort of benefit," Thomas said.

The benefit to NOPD doesn't have anything to do with solving bike thefts, though. It's just a tool for city officials to use as they continue to embrace widely discredited "broken windows" policing techniques. LaToya's recently expressed enthusiasm for surveillance "Quality and Neighborhood Safety" cameras indicates that's not going to change any time soon.

On the other hand, that WWLTV story does say that the mayor personally emailed Louis about his ticket this afternoon and is "willing to work with him," whatever that means. So the lesson here for cyclists is, if you get stopped and harassed by a cop, (and manage to avoid getting shot, of course) make sure you get yourself on the news.  This mayor seems to respond if the uptick is big enough. Not sure if that really scales up as a citywide policy but, to be fair, I have not yet fully grasped the #CityOfYes ethos. Maybe it has something to do with being intentional.

"Vocal minority"

Eric Bay is getting real close to saying anti-STR activists are "paid actors" here.

Eric Bay, president of the Alliance for Neighborhood Prosperity, a local group short-term rental supporters, said in an interview Wednesday that he's concerned the council is acting at the behest of a small group of New Orleans residents opposed to short-term rentals. He estimates that as many as 1,000 permits renewals will be denied when they expire between May and August.

"To have this knee-jerk reaction without properly studying real-time, independent data and statistics is simply bad policy, and a blatant attempt to appease a vocal minority," Bay said. He also said he's concerned the city hasn't properly warned short-term rental operators, saying, "the city is not informing license-holders that actions are being taken against their right and privilege."

Don't worry, I'm sure he'll get there eventually.

Anyway, we're coming off a municipal election where voters consistently said affordable housing was at or near the top of their list of concerns. A majority of the new council believes, at least for now, that the impetus to tighten STR regulations was part of the mandate that won them their seats. But maybe if ANP continues to hammer at this "vocal minority" characterization all summer, eventually some of these elected people will start to buy it.

Also, Jared Brossett has been a reliable anti-STR vote in the past.  Seems like his addition would cement the "veto-proof majority" brought up here.  Where is he on this motion?

According to a City Council agenda released ahead of their Thursday (May 24) meeting, Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer has already convinced three of her fellow council members to co-author the proposal, indicating their support. Those four council members -- Palmer, Jason Williams, Joe Giarrusso and Jay Banks -- constitute the majority needed for approval of the ordinance.

One additional vote will make a veto-proof majority, though Mayor LaToya Cantrell hasn't weighed in on the matter.

Coffee klatch Avengers assemble

You can still do this sort of thing in Orleans Parish.  In Jefferson, you are likely to be filmed by a P.I. and/or Sheriff's deputy.

For the past three months, a CC’s Coffee House on Esplanade Avenue has served as a sort of satellite City Hall office for an hour or so every Tuesday morning.

It started out as a way for newly elected members of the New Orleans City Council to get to know one another and to swap advice as they built up their staffs and prepared to take office.

As the weeks passed, the coffee klatch evolved into a series of sessions to develop policies and sketch out strategies.

Maybe the JP approach is better. Looks like a lot of business got done at these meetings. Should there be a public record? 

They’ve even divvied up areas of emphasis, based on the special needs of their districts or their areas of expertise.

Moreno, who is taking over the at-large seat long held by Councilwoman Stacy Head, is taking the lead on criminal justice initiatives, along with issues related to the budget and ensuring that City Hall departments and revenue collection are run efficiently.

Nguyen, whose District E includes large swaths of undeveloped and underdeveloped land in New Orleans East and the Lower 9th Ward, will focus on economic development.

Banks, who will represent Central City and the Central Business, Warehouse and Lower Garden districts as the District B member, will spearhead efforts on community development.

Giarrusso, whose District A includes Lakeview, Carrollton and some Mid-City neighborhoods hit hard by last year’s flooding, will be the point man on public works, including the Sewerage & Water Board.

Palmer, the District C member who represents Algiers, the French Quarter, Treme and Marigny as she returns to the council after four years away, will focus on transportation issues.

Each character has his or her own special abilities. Just like in the comics. Or maybe Jason Williams had the better analogy.

Councilman Jason Williams: I truly feel honored to work with this group. I think it’s an A team.

— Jessica Williams (@jwilliamsNOLA) May 7, 2018

Well, okay, maybe not THE A Team but they do sound like a team.  But don't let that fool you. We're not going in for that One City One Voice business anymore.  This time it's more like two voices at the most. 

Though the two councils that served alongside Mayor Mitch Landrieu had their own initiatives and successes, they tended to follow the administration’s lead on many issues.

By contrast, the incoming council members said they expect to be, as Banks put it, “an equal participant in governance” with new Mayor LaToya Cantrell.

“We obviously want the administration to be successful,” Giarrusso said. “But at the same time, we realize we are a co-equal branch of government, and we are going to operate that way.”

Banks added: “I think we will have the kind of council where the lines in the sand won’t be about individual (personalities), they’ll be issue-oriented. We will not be adversarial, but it will also not be a rubber stamp. I think this council is going to take its responsibility very seriously as one of the three branches of government.”

That's all well and good until Mayor Thanos collects all the stones. Then maybe we won't feel so good.  Until then, though, say hi to the new team. Action figures are still being manufactured. They're trying to get Joe Giarrusso's socks just right.

sock game pic.twitter.com/TjayNksGha

— skooks (@skooks) May 7, 2018

"Kick me"

No idea what your councilmembers are actually squabbling about here. The action in question was already approved by citywide referendum in November.  It looks like they're just arguing over whose name goes on the ordinance. Or, I guess, over who gets "kicked" in the process.

All four of the council members who voted with Brossett said they came to the council meeting prepared to vote on the ordinances. Both Head and Guidry said they were led to believe the ordinances would go through committee. At one point, Head accused Brossett of using Thursday's meeting to "kick" Guidry and called him "horrifically unprofessional."

"There's still some subtle reason I haven't figured out that we're not going through" the normal process, Head said. "Let's assume it's a perfect ordinance. Why is it not going through committee when there are concerns articulated by your colleagues?"

Not sure why Guidry would even care all that much about credit since she's retiring anyway. As for Head, I think it's interesting that she cares so much about eh "normal process" here given that she ran ahead with her plan to gut city pensions before the legal review process was complete there. But that's a whole other can of worms. 

Filling slots, getting the titles in order

It's the traditional time in the municipal elections process where we sort out the "Who-Is-Blacks" and the "Who-Is-Whites" and figure out which of those runs for what.

It's been an unwritten political rule in New Orleans for decades that each of the two seats goes to one black and one white candidate. The trend has been bucked only twice since the mid-1970s, and both times at special elections that were held after Hurricane Katrina.

If it holds in this election, Williams, who is black, one could take one seat, while Moreno, who is white and Hispanic, could take the other. Moreno, for her part, said Thursday that she would make up her mind on that point as soon as next week.

Of course, no law would prevent black candidates like District D Councilman Jared Brossett from also seeking the seat, as he is considering doing. All at-large candidates now run for a designated seat, rather than in a single field, as was long the case.

One thing to consider is that, if things are starting to line up this neatly this early, it's a sign that the regular process of deciding everything behind the scenes is going forth undisrupted this year. That's probably a bad thing. 

Look at what you can get the "platforms" to do

That super-innovative first of its kind package of STR regulations New Orleans just passed are already behind the times.

Airbnb told Portland officials Tuesday that it would block local users from listing multiple properties in violation of city rules.

The website, which allows homeowners to rent their private residence to vacationers, said its new "one host, one home" policy would help protect Portland's housing stock from being converted into vacation rentals and adding to the squeeze on renters in the city.

The company previously introduced the policy in New York and San Francisco.

Susan Guidry and Jared Brossett proposed a similar policy for councilmembers to consider in October and December. Their amendments would have limited STRs to one per homestead exemption in Orleans Parish.  It failed, though, in large part because the mayor's staff insisted "buy-in" from Airbnb was more important than protecting affordable housing.  Unfortunately, a majority of the council acquiesced to the mayor's position.

"We've got a deal with Airbnb and there are other ones out there and more coming. ... So a deal with Airbnb is not the answer," said Sandra Stokes, a member of the Louisiana Landmarks Society. "The homestead exemption is essential to make this work. You've got to have some housing left for the residents of this city."

Councilman Jason Williams said that a vote against the ordinance is a vote in favor of allowing short-term rentals to proliferate.

"We are creating an effective enforcement mechanism that not a single other city in this world" has adopted, Williams said. "Councilman's Brossett's amendments were good, but it would've broken the deal and sent us back to where we were last year with absolutely no enforcement."

Looks like other cities have gotten better "deals" than the one Williams voted to protect. Williams also talked a lot about the possibility of going back to "tweak" things later on.  Maybe it's time to start tweaking.

Call to service

I knew a lot of big money people were gonna be at Morrell's fundraiser. They met at sanitation contractor, Jimmie Woods' house, after all.  I didn't realize the Governor was going too.

With a disastrous election for national Democrats barely a week in the rear-view mirror and speculation about the upcoming New Orleans mayoral race already intensifying, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and other top local Democrats rallied Thursday night in support of state Sen. J.P. Morrell.

Edwards’ first 10 months in office have not been short on challenges, he noted — from the budget crisis left by former Gov. Bobby Jindal, the controversial police shooting of Alton Sterling and subsequent killing of three police officers in Baton Rouge, and the unexpected rainwater flooding that inundated the state in August. Edwards, however, said he remains optimistic about the state’s future — particularly because of leadership like Morrell’s.

Morrell played coy about whether or not he's definitely getting into the mayor's race, although it's difficult to imagine why he's holding this kind of a fundraiser if he isn't seriously considering it. He did have some pointed things to say about the responsiveness of local government, though. 

Locally, Morrell said, the short-term rental debate before the City Council showed a similar tendency. Residents across the city feared the effect of allowing whole-home rentals on neighborhood cohesion and housing prices, but city government largely barreled forward regardless without listening — exacerbating the sense that the recovery in New Orleans benefits only the wealthiest, at the expense of the long-term residents.

“In the short-term rental piece, for example, you had a room full of people with concerns, and rather than address them, they just ignored them,” Morrell said. “The city is kind of breaking down. We all identify with our neighborhoods and our individual smaller communities, but they’re becoming increasingly isolated. … Part of being a leader is, you’ve got to engage everybody. You got to make people who don’t want to talk to each other, talk to each other.”

That's quite a ding at our current city councilpersons some of whom may be thinking about running for mayor themselves. As a matter of fact, perhaps prompted by this event, one of them fired off a sort of pre-announcement announcement in an email over the weekend.

City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell is formally dipping her toe into the 2017 New Orleans mayor’s race.

In an email to supporters Friday, Cantrell announced she is “considering” getting into the race. She said she hears “the call to serve and lead this wonderful city that is our home.”

The announcement came as little surprise. Cantrell has long been mentioned when speculation about the next mayor comes up.

In her email, Cantrell specifically tied the message to Donald Trump’s election as president this month, first mentioning that “we all feel burned out by the long and divisive presidential campaign."

“But for me, Tuesday’s results confirm that we need to build together from the grassroots without delay,” she wrote. “We need leadership — here and across the country — committed to the inclusive values on which our nation was founded.”

Cantrell, who was a community activist in Broadmoor before being elected to the council, stressed that she’s working on a grassroots campaign and asked her supporters to host meetings to aid her in a goal of meeting with people in every neighborhood.

One could argue a lot of that "grassroots" talk appears kind of hollow in light of Morrell's description of what went on during the STR meetings.  He suggests that even though LaToya hears a "call to serve" maybe she doesn't listen so well to renters being squeezed out of their neighborhoods by tourism profiteers. 

She does have another chance to change that perception.  City Council meets on December 1 to consider final passage of the STR regulations. One thing they could do at that meeting would be to reintroduce Susan Guidry's amendment limiting short term rental permits to one per homestead exemption.  This would have effectively prevented large companies from buying up several houses and operating them all as hotels. Last time, the amendment failed 3-4. Cantrell, to her credit, voted for it. But it's hard to understand why any councilmember voted to approve the regulations as they were after that. Jared Brossett was the only no vote at that point.

In any case, they have one more shot at adding something like this if they choose to do so.  They should know, other cities are starting to see some success when they take a harder line on this stuff. Now might be a good time to try.. depending of course on whether that "call to serve" is coming from developers or from residents.

They choose not to

Jared Brossett is on a roll lately. A few weeks ago he was the only councilperson to speak passionately and vote against Mitch Landrieu's short term rental giveaway. During this week's city budget hearings, Brossett also called out the administration for its foot-dragging over a living wage ordinance he shepherded through council last year. 

The council passed the living wage ordinance, which Brossett authored, last year, and it went into effect Jan. 1. It says that all new contracts and extensions of existing agreements must require that employees be paid the specified minimum wage and also receive a week's paid time off each year.

The administration has argued that state law prevents it from unilaterally changing the terms of a contract that is up for renewal, even as it has granted such extensions rather than rebid some expiring contracts.

Brossett said that circumvents the intention of the rules, possibly opening the city up to lawsuits from employees of firms that are paying them less than $10.55 an hour.

"It's my position that the living wage should apply to renewals. If it does end up in court, I don't want (the administration) representing the legislative branch," Brossett said.

It remains unclear how many workers on city contracts are in fact being paid less than the amount specified in the living wage ordinance.

Administration officials told the City Council that new city contracts do include the wage requirement and that they're reviewing more than 1,000 existing contracts to make determinations about which ones should be rebid to add the higher minimum.

"It wouldn't be practical and would result in poor service probably if we tried to rebid every contract the city has at one time," City Attorney Rebecca Dietz said.

"You all make it sound like it's too cumbersome and you choose not to do it, basically," Brossett said.

That's about right.  If it were something someone who mattered to them wanted, they'd be more willing to stick their necks out.  This isn't exactly a timid administration.

Probably just could skip this step altogether

If you want to legalize marijuana, maybe let's just go ahead and do it rather than sit in this odd limbo where discriminatory abuses are practically inevitable.

Under the revised ordinance, the first time someone is convicted of possessing marijuana they would be fined $40, the second time would yield a $60 fine and the third an $80 fine. Fourth and subsequent convictions would be punished with a $100.

Those penalties would reset if someone went two or more years without a conviction.

Because nothing the city does can override state law, police officers would be able to use either the city ordinance or state law if they come on someone in possession of marijuana.

Councilman Jared Brossett said he had concerns about that policy, since it could allow officers to discriminate against minorities by slapping them with the stiffer state penalties.

Guidry has said that the city’s experience with it’s current pot possession ordinance, which allows officers to issue a summons rather than taking a suspect to jail, has shown that the New Orleans Police Department is not using that discretion in a discriminatory way.

Not so sure about that, Susan. I mean it definitely sounds like these guys have ideas about how the law should be applied that are borderline at best. 

Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand and Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro issued stern warnings Tuesday (Feb. 23) to New Orleans city leaders pushing local police agencies to ease up on enforcement of the state's marijuana possession laws.

"This drug-legalization issue is absolutely incredible," Normand said at the Metropolitan Crime Commission's annual awards luncheon. "You want us out of the drug business? We're out. But I guarantee you this: More policemen will live and more of you will die. Bank on it."

Cannizzaro agreed, saying drug demand in New Orleans would "skyrocket" if enforcement is relaxed. 

The general momentum out there suggests that legalization is coming sooner or later either way.  So, unless you want to to put up with more aggressive stupidity from the Normands and Cannizzaros of the world, let's just get it over with now. 

Crime quotes of the week

City Council summoned Police Chief Michael Harrison to a hearing today pretty much so that everyone could make a big public show of how concerned they are. They are concerned for our "soul."

The exchange brought little new information to light about the recent holdups. And council members struck a mostly supportive tone with Police Superintendent Michael Harrison. But it underscored the extent of public concern about an overall uptick in armed robbery.

“Crime at this point in our city’s history is threatening the soul of the city,” Council President Jason Williams said. “Safety and security are fundamental building blocks that are holding our city together and we thank you for the work you’ve done so far in that effort.”

"The exchange brought little new information to light," as it says in the above quote.  But I'm a little disappointed that some of the more fun quotes were left out of the Advocate's write up. For that you have to scroll through the live updates at Uptown Messenger where we find councilmembers asking about programs they seem not to know are already in place.

Councilman Brossett wants to know what incentives are in place to attract police officers. What about home ownership incentives? Brossett asks.

Banks offer low-interest loans to officers to buy homes in the city -- even approaching new recruits to pitch those programs, Harrison says. 

Then there's this exchange where it looks like LaToya Cantrell really really wants a helicopter. 

Cantrell asks if NOPD has a helicopter.

No, Harrison says.

How much would it cost? she asks.

Millions, Harrison says.

It can't cost that much, she says.

It's not just the cost of buying it -- the maintenance and pilot are also very expensive, Harrison says.

But police do have access to a helicopter when they need it, Harrison says.

Wouldn't it help with foot pursuits? Cantrell asks.

"Other police departments have and use one," Cantrell says.

Police cars are usually faster, because the helicopter has to come from a helipad, Harrison says.

Cantrell also thought maybe it would be a good idea to see if we could fight crime with bribery. 

What about other incentives? Cantrell asks. Could officers eat at restaurants for free, or get free massages at day spas?

She's just looking for ways to show them more "love," Cantrell says.

Unfortunately, those kinds of perks would be considered gifts that would run afoul of police ethics -- not necessarily against the law, Harrison says. 

But the best line probably has to go to Harrison who.. despite the lack of helicopters... is actually quite pleased with NOPD tech. 

The advanced technology, such as body cameras and other items, are also an incentive for prospective officers, he says.

"We're the James Bond of policing in America," Harrison says.

Well, okay.  It was a ridiculous day all around. Notably the best statement about crime in New Orleans actually came the day before outside of City Hall as council considered a new local hiring requirement for city contractors.  

Finalized or no, the move delighted dozens of activists who arrived to clamor for the ordinance’s passage, bearing bold-lettered #BlackWorkersMatter signs and shouting on City Hall’s steps before the council vote.

“Bringing in the FBI will not solve the crime in New Orleans. Hiring more workers will solve the crime in New Orleans,” protester Divonite Almestica said.

Congratulations on not really solving anything

It's a feel good moment.

Anyone working for a company that gets significant contracts or subsidies from city government in New Orleans will have to be paid at least $10.55 an hour starting next year.

City Council members unanimously approved a “living wage” ordinance for those workers on Thursday, couching the measure as a blow against inequality and a moral duty for the city to pay its residents a decent salary and to put employees performing public functions through private companies on a more equal footing with their government counterparts.

Hey some folks got a raise.  Not a lot of folks. Only people working for companies who have contracts with the city worth $25,000 or more. Also, while this will mean a raise for some folks and that's good news for them, it's not, you know, great news.

More importantly, for the majority of these workers, $10.55 is definitely not a "living wage."  Here is MIT's Living Wage Calculator. This is what it does.

The living wage is defined as the wage needed to cover basic family expenses (basic needs budget) plus all relevant taxes. The living wage calculation does not include publicly provided income or housing assistance. Values are reported in 2014 dollars. To convert values from annual to hourly, a work-year of 2,080 hours (52, 40 hour work weeks) is assumed. The basic needs budget is calculated as follows:

Basic needs budget = Food cost + child care cost + (insurance premiums + health care costs) + housing cost + transportation cost + other necessities cost
 
The tax values are applied to the basic needs budget to calculate a living wage as follows:
Living wage = Basic needs budget + (basic needs budget * (taxes))

According to the calculator, in Orleans Parish, $10.55 is below "living wage" for most people's family situations.  In fact, the type of only household for which this wage qualifies is livable is one with two childless adults.

The reason this is important is because, even after the mayor signs this ordinance and it goes into effect, the minimum wage for city contractors will still be substandard. And this says nothing at all of the greater number of minimum wage workers not employed by city contractors still making the even less liveable $7.25 (not liveable for any household type, btw.)

This means there's a lot more work to do in the interest of promoting a truly liveable wage in the city of New Orleans.  Only now when organizers come back to petition their councilpersons the momentum will be blunted by the fact of this recently passed this ordinance. "We did that already," they'll say just as they get back to figuring out how to legalize Airbnb and force the cost of living even higher. 

Of course, if we can celebrate 10 years of gentrification and disaster capitalism as some sort of uplifting "recovery," then it follows that we'll pat ourselves on the back over a raise from poverty into poverty.  It's all the same to the politicos, though. They passed something with the words "living wage" in it. Congratulations.

The feudal sharing economy

At least they're starting to admit who they are.

The "vision" of Mr Brian Chesky, the celebrated CEO of the other billionaire new kid on the block of the sharing economy: AirBnb, comes very close to this new feudalism. That's what he said in an interview reported by Venture Beat: "In essence, Brian Chesky wants a world more like the villages of old: highly trusting and filled with micro-entrepreneurs who shared their assets to make a living. Cities used to be generally villages, and everyone was essentially kind of like an entrepreneur,” he told a packed room at the Atlantic Aspen Ideas Festival. “You were either a farmer, or you worked in the city as a blacksmith, or you had some kind of trade. And then the Industrial Revolution happened". Just put the word "serf" where he uses "entrepreneur", and you've got the whole picture. He likes this world so much, this is our bright future in his vision, with the multitude being those micro serfs depending on the moods of the Lord of the Village, Brian Chesky himself of course

Today the front pages of your local newspapers are trumpeting the city council's recent licensing of UberX to operate in Orleans Parish.  Everyone is very gung-ho.

City officials have said they would be able to start processing applications from ride-hailing services as soon as the regulations become law.

“We are stepping out of our comfort zone and leading on a cutting-edge issue,” Councilman Jared Brossett, who drafted the regulations along with Councilwoman Susan Guidry, said in a statement. “This law strikes the right balance. It serves the needs of our citizens and visitors in adding a new high-tech model to complement our traditional for-hire industry. The bottom line is that this will lead to a strengthened transportation environment for all.”

But the so-called Sharing Economy is, by its very nature, not built to "serve the needs of our citizens."  Unless, you limit your concept of "our citizens" to the very wealthy which Susan Guidry and Jared Brossett very well might. 

Covering the latest app has become commonplace because it’s the latest thing, and therefore it must be cool and life-changing. While it’s “cool” to most of the world, it’s only “life-changing” to those who can shell out the cash for the lifestyle—which is a lot of the journalists writing about them.

Matter’s Lauren Smiley, who lives in the building in which her story is set, referred to these apps’ users as members of the “Shut-In Economy.” The piece describes them as aware of their #whitepeopleproblems, but unapologetically so. “Basically, people a lot like herself,” Smiley wrote, referring to a woman who epitomized this new economy: the class of men and women who are late 20s to early 30s, have a high income and use on-demand services without batting an eye. “That’s the common wisdom: The apps are created by the urban young for the needs of urban young.” Last week, New York Magazine’s Annie Lowrey took it a step further and lived with only these modern conveniences for two weeks. Her piece was slapped with a painfully tone-deaf headline: “Will the New Concierge Economy Mean the End of the Errand?"

Of course not. For the vast majority of us, the inconvenience of running errands doesn’t outweigh the financial costs of doing it ourselves.

High income 20 and 30 somethings. Those are the only people who have any representation in city government these days. Even if those aren't the people who actually live here, they do comprise the population New Orleans's political class aspires to represent.  We've only been slightly more successful than Baton Rouge at affecting this demographic change.  But just look at how sad it makes them.

The parish's birth rate and international migration basically carried the area's population growth. And according to Louisiana demographer Elliott, Stonecipher, that's not good.

International migration, it's safe to assume, is mostly derived from Latin America, he said -- mainly from Mexico. These newcomers mostly work in low-wage jobs, and in many cases are not in the country legally. Therefore, they pay little or no taxes.

"That's why you hear politicians (talk of attracting) quality in-migrants," Stonecipher said. "It's not a value judgment."

Leaders of most metropolitans, and especially in Baton Rouge, actively seek to attract young, educated professionals who are currently busting at the seams in places like Austin, Texas, to grow and maintain their tax base.

While population data for Baton Rouge might appear to reflect younger, quality migrants, Stonecipher said it's not likely the case. Hispanic migrants tend to be younger and of childbearing age, so international migration growth can be easily confused to suggest growth of quality, domestic migrants.

You really have to feel for these "metropolitan leaders." They're trying to select a better quality of people to serve but keep ending up with all these dang Mexicans.  This is literally the complaint they are making. Seems like democracy was supposed to work the other way around. But who knows anymore.

In any case, they're probably too quick to dismiss their competitive advantage since "concierge apps" are only possible when you have a ready supply of cheap and desperate labor to feed them.

There are still only twenty-four hours in a day. When “downtime” is turned into work time, and that work time is unpredictable and low-paid, what happens to personal relationships? Family? One’s own health?

Other proponents of on-demand work point to studies, such as one recently commissioned by Uber, showing Uber’s on-demand workers to be “happy.”

But how many of them would be happier with a good-paying job offering regular hours?

An opportunity to make some extra bucks can seem mighty attractive in an economy whose median wage has been stagnant for thirty years and almost all of whose economic gains have been going to the top.

That doesn’t make the opportunity a great deal. It only shows how bad a deal most working people have otherwise been getting.

And maybe this is the future of regionalism in South Louisiana.  Nobody actually lives in Orleans Parish but it's a swell place to vacation (or own property if you can afford it.)  So get yourself to NOLA, luxury citizen! While you're there you can call on a vast army of chauffeurs and errand do-ers to keep you comfortable simply by punching some buttons on your phone. They live just outside the city or just up I-10 a bit.

Of course, when you do get here,  you'll need a place to stay and/or rent out at too damn high prices.  The city council is working on that for you too.

BTW Public schools still failing

Maybe it seems like a small thing, but you really should appreciate the occasions when the big city papers admit this.

Nearly 10 years after Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans’ infrastructure, the city still faces myriad problems, including a failing school system, broken-down streets and federal consent decrees mandated for the city’s jail and Police Department. But topping the list, according to New Orleans City Council members, are two issues: an income inequality that continues to crush the city’s poorest residents and violent crime.

It's taken a while for them to notice but the school system, even after all the "reform" and privatization, is still failing. That's progress.

Here's a recent article by Kristen Buras.  She wrote a book about the charterization movement in New Orleans. (You don't need to buy it. $125, yikes!) The new system still fails to serve its students.  But, in another way, it can be considered a success.

The CEO of Future Is Now, a charter operator in New Orleans, was paid a salary of $250,000 when John McDonogh High School, seized by Future Is Now despite community resistance, posted a performance score of 9.3 on a scale of 150. Call me crazy, but I don’t think that taxpayers received their money’s worth.

In 2012, students from various historic high schools in New Orleans that had been taken over and chartered issued a list of demands to the Recovery School District.

“A lot of money has come to New Orleans for education reform,” they protested, “but none of it benefits the children.”

Buras is speaking Monday evening at Tulane if you're interested.  

Anyway, thanks again to the Advocate for noting that the system is still failing even as an aside to a story about something else. 

That something else, by the way, was a public forum on crime and inequality held by three city councilmembers.  I don't know if they invited the others or not but Jason Williams, Nadine Ramsey, and Jared Brossett are the most vocal councilors regarding inequality.  It's probably just a coincidence that they are the three shortest tenured on the council.... right?

“Affordability is a big issue in this city,” Brossett said, citing rising property taxes and rents, which worsen the burden created by low wages paid in several industries in the city. Together, these issues make the cost of living in Orleans Parish the highest of any parish in the state, he said.

“Income inequality — I don’t need to tell y’all this. It’s vast. I mean, we were compared to Zambia, as far as income inequality,” he said. “That is ridiculous, as we are part of one of the richest and strongest nations on this planet.”

The impetus behind Brossett’s proposal, added Councilwoman Nadine Ramsey,was a disparity between white and African-American workers in New Orleans that seemed to be getting worse over time.

“It’s always interesting to me to read in magazines and news articles and in press releases about all the wonderful things that are going on in our city,” Ramsey said. “But we all know that this economic boom is not being shared across the board in all of our communities.”

This is going to be an important year with regard to these sorts of issues. It will be interesting to see if anything comes out of talks like this one.