New Orleans ever-evolving restoration initiative saw a new ribbon cut today in Treme at the Community Center on N. Villere.  The building suffered extreme damage in Katrina, and with the investment of Mayor Mitch’s office, city officials and partnerships, the Treme neighborhood and its children have re-established an area for them to learn, play and swim.

During the April 18 regular City Council meeting, Vice-President Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson fought a bitter battle to add her amendments and get her say into Council President Stacy Head's revised Food Truck legislation—or to at least get her opposition stance on the record.

The lengthy and often brutal battle over a rewrite of the regulations governing food trucks in the city saw a victory for the mobilized on Thursday. The New Orleans City Council passed a reform measure that allows more food trucks to take the streets, and gives them more room to roam.

The New Orleans City Council signed off on a group of newly-reenacted employment rules that require any new city worker or officer to reside in Orleans Parish within 180 days of getting hired. But, as ever, grandpa had to have his say first.

by William Dilella

Councilmember Cynthia Hedge-Morrell (District D) convened an emergency meeting of the utility committee on Friday, February 8, to investigate Sunday's Super Bowl power outage at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. While the Council was in full soundbite mode, Entergy took away some of their zap by specifying the cause of the blackout.

Updated 1:45 p.m.

Roger Goodell and Twitter already weighed in on the Superdome blackout, but it's locals' turn to shed some light the end of the week. On Friday, the New Orleans City Council will have their say on the Super Bowl's 34-minute epoch of darkness. City Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell called an emergency meeting of the Council's Utility Committee, and she plans to call Entergy on the carpet.

by M.D. Dupuy

The people behind the largest single post-Katrina housing development are at it again, and their project has nothing to do with Brad Pitt or the Ninth Ward. Gentilly was one of the areas hit hardest by the Federal Flood, and Barnes and Noble Founder Leonard Riggio and his wife Louise came all the way from New York to create “Project Home Again.” The pair is at it again, with 100 new homes slated for completion in the next 12-18 months.   

District D residents get their belated chance to sound off on the City budget tonight. A few weeks ago, Mayor Mitch, City Council members and other City Hall brass held meetings in each Council district to allow citizens a chance to voice their budget priorities, but Isaac forced the area including Gentilly and parts of the Upper 9th Ward to be shelved for another time. Tonight, da mayor and Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell will hold the meeting at Gentilly Baptist Church (5141 Gentilly Blvd.). The meeting begins at 6 p.m. City officials will be at the meeting 30 minutes before the start for face-to-face meetings about residents' concerns.

Two of New Orleans' most talked about institutions are on the agenda at Thursday's City Council meeting. Issues that arose from second lines and Entergy will fill up some of the City Hall session's space, as the legislative body considers two measures that cut to the core of recent controversies. According to Uptown Messenger, the Council is set to consider a measure authored mostly by Mayor Mitch's office that would require guys who carry coolers and bring their smokers to second lines to obtain permits.

CBD -- The New Orleans City Council is back up to seven people. By a vote of 4-2, the Council chose Freddie Charbonnet to temporarily fill the seat vacated upon felony conviction last week by Jon Johnson. Charbonnet is a lawyer from eastern New Orleans who formerly worked with the City. Charbonnet will sit on the Council until a permanent replacement is elected this fall. He beat out Michael Darnell, a former state Senate candidate who served as interim councilmember after Oliver Thomas resigned amid bribery charges.