New Orleans Neighborhoods (Commentary) - "I encourage to hear from all sides..."

That's what District C Councilperson Nadine Ramsey stated today on the Garland Robinette show at the 14:33 mark.

http://media.wwl.com/a/108417966/8-19-the-think-tank-1110am-council-person-nadine-ramsey.htm



That's a funny statement considering she not only wouldn't allow any discussion on the CZO in the town hall meetings she held leading up to the May 14, 2015 City Council meeting, she wouldn't even inform the public about what exactly the amendments were before she introduced them.  She simply stated, two days before the meeting, that she would be "introducing some amendments":

Councilperson Nadine Ramsey Town Hall Meeting - West Bank and Bywater - , May 12 & May 13, 2015 from Jason Berry on Vimeo.

She never informed the public about the nature of the amendments before she introduced them...period.  She gives a non-answer to this around the 17:00 mark in the Robinette show.

Ramsey introduced the amendments to the other council members at around 9 p.m. the night before the meeting.  That's legal but it sent the council reeling to try and figure out what they actually meant and what the real world effects would be.

Not only were the other council members confused, Ramsey herself didn't fully understand what was in them as you can see in this CC video when questioned by Councilperson Susan Guidry:

New Orleans City Council meeting, May 14, 2015 - Confusion regarding the Amendments from Jason Berry on Vimeo.

She was in the dark because the guy addressing the Council, Chris Young, lobbyist for the Louisiana Association of Beverage and Alcohol Licensees and brother to Jefferson Parish President and candidate for Lt. Governor, John Young, is most likely the one who authored them.

In one humorous exchange, Councilperson Stacy Head puts the brakes on a vote and notes that since Young had left the room they couldn't get clarification on Ramsey's own amendment, NMR-15:

New Orleans City Council meeting, May 14, 2015 - Head notes that Young isn't available to explain an amendment from Jason Berry on Vimeo.

Noticed she asked Young if he had submitted the amendments to the City Planning Council.  If they were Ramsey's amendments why didn't she submit them herself? She even asked for Young's permission to table (sending it to the City Planning Commission for review) the amendment that would allow package liquor to be sold at all restaurants:

New Orleans City Council meeting, May 14, 2015 - Young agrees to send to CPC from Jason Berry on Vimeo.

In the Robinette show at the 26:45 mark Garland presses her on who wanted the amendments pushed through, she answers that it was the Louisiana Restaurant Association.  The caller on the line then asks her about the "liquor lobbyist" (Chris Young) and she responds "I'm not aware of....the person I worked with being a liquor lobbyist....I don't know who the liquor lobbyist is."

She doesn't know that Young is a liquor lobbyist?  How is that even possible?  It's not possible...she knows exactly who he is.

There's obfuscation and then there's just damn....^^^that.

Speaking of obfuscation, I filed a public records request for Councilperson Ramsey's schedule back in May of this year.  I got the schedule through outside (from CC)  counsel and about 15 to 20% of it had been redacted by Ramsey herself.  Redactions aside, she clearly met with Young numerous times since she took office in 2014. Here is her schedule:

Part 1  
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

I'm not sure why she was allowed to redact the schedule before I received it but I don't have the legal resources to challenge it.  The content of the meetings is not necessarily public record but the fact that the meetings took place is public record.  She shouldn't be able to hide who she met with.

The bulk of these amendments were pulled by Ramsey today after she caught heat from the public and other city officials.

Councilwoman Ramsey to withdraw controversial proposals to loosen rules for liquor, entertainment

There was a poll conducted (District C) shortly after the amendments were first introduced which shows most constituents polled in Ramsey's district opposed the more contentious items.  Granted, they would have affected the entire city, not simply District C.

Putting aside the merit of the amendments, it's become painfully clear Councilperson Ramsey is catering to monied interests at all cost.  The question...what is that cost?  District C neighborhoods are by far the most volatile and threatened in "New New Orleans", it doesn't appear they have a sympathetic ear with their current councilperson who was willing to circumvent public discussion and the democratic process in order to jam power brokers' agendas, like Chris Young's, down our throats.

It's important that we keep a close eye on what our officials are doing right now, these decisions are going to affect the city's future in dramatic fashion. I'll leave you with French Quarter Citizens President Susan Guillot's comments:

New Orleans City Council meeting, May 14, 2015 - FQF President Susan Guilliot's comments from Jason Berry on Vimeo.

New Orleans Neighborhoods - Algiers Point Batture

Seeing as how I live on the Best Bank, I want to kick my "Neighborhood Journey" off with an issue that is one of the most pressing to Algiers denizens at the moment... the re-zoning of the Algiers Point batture from a "green zone" to a designation called "maritime industrial".

Approximate footprint of the land in question... per Google Earth

The land is currently owned by the Port of New Orleans (and other landowners please see update below) who along with District C Councilperson, Nadine Ramsey, claim the land was "mis-zoned" in the new City Zoning Ordinance (CZO).  Ramsey says it was an oversight and should be corrected to qualify it as a "maritime industrial" space.  They cite that the tract of land on the river side of the levee was designated as "maritime industrial" in the city's master plan and should therefore be labeled as such in the CZO.

It has the the appearance of a shell game and it's set off a sharp protest by Point residents due to the fact that it could allow developers to come in and build towering condos (110 feet) or any number of commercial/residential developments that would change the vista of the river and block access to an area that has traditionally been used by all "wankers" as a park...of sorts.

Advocate reporter Chad Calder has a good synopsis of the issue including some protests vocalized by Algiers citizens last night at the Mayor's, District C, 2016 city budget meeting:

Algiers Point residents: 'Outrageous' to rezone riverfront land we want to kept as green space

It appears the first time Councilperson Ramsey brought the issue up to the public was in a town hall meeting she hosted at the Algiers  Public Library on June 29.  There she allowed City Planning Commission Executive Director Robert D. Rivers to introduce the issue:

Councilperson Nadine Ramsey Town Hall Meeting - Algiers Public Library from Jason Berry on Vimeo.

What is confusing to me is that Ramsey says the batture was "mislabeled" as green space in the CZO map and that it has always been "maritime industrial".

Curiously, in the video above, Robert Rivers clearly states that "maritime industrial" is a new zoning classification.  How could it have always been "maritime industrial" if it's a new classification?  I have sent an email to Mr. Rivers for a clarification and I will post his response as soon as I get it.

There were a lot of questions with few answers in that meeting.

By the time the District C city budget meeting hosted by Mayor Landrieu kicked off last Tuesday night, Algiers folks had put the pieces of the puzzle together and realized there could be mischief afoot:

2016 City Budget Meeting - District C - Algiers Point citizens voice their opposition to rezoning of batture from Jason Berry on Vimeo.

Here is the response to the citizen's concerns by Councilperson Ramsey and the Mayor:

2016 City Budget Meeting - District C - Councilperson Ramsey and Mayor Landrieu on Algiers Point Batture from Jason Berry on Vimeo.

Ramsey stated that she is open to opinion from her District C constituents and I sincerely hope that's true.

That certainly wasn't the case for her own district's citizens in the town hall meetings she held previous to the CZO vote. In every one of those gatherings she refused to take any questions about the CZO, especially regarding the last minute amendments she had yet to introduce which dramatically affect not only District C but the whole city (more coming on that):

Councilperson Nadine Ramsey Town Hall Meeting - West Bank and Bywater from Jason Berry on Vimeo.

I'm curious how she expected public input on amendments she had yet to introduce.  Why didn't she explain those amendments in these town hall meetings and allow public input?

What was really fascinating, in respect to  the city budget meeting, was the Mayor's response to the batture zoning issue.

Landrieu informed the Algiers residents that New Orleans is the hottest real estate market in the country and that waterfront property in every city is considered prime real estate.  As for height restrictions he says you can either have long, skinny buildings along the river where "no one can see anything" or you can have tall buildings (I suppose suggesting that these tall, skinny buildings are somehow less of a hindrance to viewing the river).

He then went on to break the bad news to the Pointers (Algiers) about "what's not going to happen".  The residents of the Point were not going to be able to say "I gots mine and nobody else can have theirs"...essentially confirming their worst fears about what probably "is going to happen" regarding development plans for the batture.

Interesting he would frame it that way.  Right now the batture is green space that everyone can share. The Mayor's logic seems to be that the residents of Algiers Point are being selfish for wanting to keep sharing it that way.  

We'll see how this plays out but the fact that he addressed District C with that diatribe leads me to believe that the beans are already boiling in the pot.

I'll do my best to keep you posted.

UPDATE:  A commenter pointed out to me that the Port was not the only land owner of the parcels that comprise the section of batture in play .  He/she is correct.  Some parcels are owned by The City of New Orleans and other parcels are owned by Crescent Towing & Salvage Company.  Other parcels had no information as to the land owner.  I have created a map from the property tax database:

UPDATE 2 - Comment Bump:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "New Orleans Neighborhoods - Algiers Point Batture": 

Great piece! Also know that the Chairman of The Port of New Orleans is also President of Crescent Towing and Executive Vice President of the parent company Cooper T Smith/The Cooper Group of Companies. The Crescent Towing land is currently zoned as HI (High Industrial). The proposed change to MI (Marine Industrial) allows for many more uses then HI as you stated. I believe it also allows for terminal access for a something like a cruise ship (would have to verify). If you go to the Cooper T. Smith website you will find that they have branched out into Restaurants and wishes to pursue more in the hospitality industry....here it is directly from their website:

Cooper Restaurants

In 1997, Cooper/T.Smith acquired the Ruth’s Chris Steak House franchise in Mobile, Alabama and subsequently went on to open Felix’s Fish Camp Grill and Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Ridgeland, Mississippi, near Jackson. In 2010, the BLUEGILL Restaurant, a Mobile Bay Causeway tradition since 1958, was acquired and re-opened to rave reviews. The success of this division has prompted us to pursue future expansion in the hospitality industry. 

A con-profit reckoning?

Looks like someone is digging up some old con-profit corpses and bringing them back from the dead:

Auditors:  Nonprofits with ties to current and former JP councilmen misused hundreds of thousands of dollars

Our old buddy former Jefferson Parish councilman and C-note Richmond wingman, Byron Lee, looks like he may have finally been snagged in the con-profit epic along with current JP councilman, Mark Spears.

AZ has covered some of Byron's con-profit meanderings ever since he came across my radar after I uncovered the NOCAP/NOCE con-profit scam perpetrated by Congressman Cedric Richmond and uber-political operative, Ike Spears.

Oh...that reminds me...in case you aren't keeping up, Nadine Ramsey announced her candidacy for City Council District C a couple of weeks ago.  I'm curious how she was going to justify residing over the Wisner hearing as an ad hoc judge in District D, offer ruling on that matter, then turn right around and announce her candidacy for city council.  I think I may have done her a favor by calling out the conflict when I did.  Also funny how no one seemed to care that the LA Supreme Court produced two separate, unstamped, documents on the same day for Justice Johnson's court order that had named Ramsey as a CDC ad hoc judge.   Both documents were requested approximately one month after the original order was supposedly created...one order was signed by the Clerk of Court, the order I received was unsigned.  Why were there two separate documents for the same court order?

Regardless,  Slabbed has been all over Byron , much more so than I considering it's a JP matter...waters I don't normally sail.  In fact, I think Doug originally broke this story.

I wonder if C-note will call in a favor to his new buddy in the local U.S. Attorneys Office to get some slack cut for Byron.  We'll soon know if this whole thing seems to magically go up in smoke like the elusive internal report on the commenting scandal that was supposedly being conducted by the DOJ.

Our old buddy and Apostle of the almighty, Leonard Lucas, probably won't be so lucky:

LOWER 9TH WARD ORG'S RECOVERY MONEY RAISES IRE OF STATE AUDITOR 

Thanks for the HT, Mr. Defender.

As readers know Lucas, the original Prophet of the Con-profit, is a long time target of AZ and I  reported back in June of 2012 that I had uncovered the motherlode of con-profit mining schemes when I started researching Lucas and his associate Audrey Walker.  Lucas had a whopping seven non-profits domiciled in a gutted building on 6030 St. Claude Avenue and between Walker and the Apostle I found 23 registered 501c3's back in 2010....earning them the infamous title of being the "Con-profit King and Queen of New Orleans".  I challenged anyone to outdo the Apostle and Walker and so far no one has even attempted to challeng the royal court.

That is until this report by the LA Legislative Auditor.

So it looks like the con-profit epic in New Orleans may be taking a turn for the worse...at least for some of those on the lower rungs of the ladder.  I'm sure you'll never see C-Note or Ike in that number...and should I even mention Bajoie?  Nah...no sense in bringing that zombie back to life, eh?

A non-non sequitur (you figure it out):

As I was writing this post it reminded me of the late night perusing I've been doing of the Michael Sherman email threads on Wisner and how in this city there seems to be only one degree of separation between just about everyone.

Retraction:  In this original post I posted an email from Michael Sherman's email chain and suggested a "Nadine" named in the email may have been Nadine Ramsey.  It was not Nadine Ramsey and I have deleted the email from this post.  Mea Culpa.

It seems like Sherman was a thread that weaved his way through all kinds of deals:

I'll do my best to avoid pointing out the sycophantic babbling to C-note (oops, I guess I just did) and just point out that Sherman seemed to be actively lobbying for Laney Chouest's NOLA Mortorsports park venture on multiple avenues.  That's curious considering Sherman claimed he had never met Mr. Chouest in a Wisner Trust Advisory Committee meeting.

It's also interesting because it's apparent from Sherman's emails that he had a significant interest in the JEDCO/JP Fairfield development which encompasses Chouest's NOLA Motorsports Park and is adjacent to Wisner property.  In fact, it appears as if Sherman may have even played a role in Chouest's purchase of the land from Joseph Marcello, who owns a massive portion of the property slated for development in the Fairfield footprint.  What's most important is that it appears he was conducting much of this business while holding a position as a City Attorney and serving as the appointee to the Wisner Trust Advisory Committee for Mayor Landrieu.