Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Read this post from Schroeder.
Now read this article from two months ago:
So goes another post-Katrina reality: In a world in which so much of life in New Orleans is utterly changed, the City Council's role has dramatically changed as well, moved well off center stage in the city's initial planning for its future.
New Orleans' City Charter gives the city a powerful mayor, balancing that by giving the council the ultimate power of the purse. But since Katrina the city has been running largely on federal emergency relief money beyond the council's power to reallocate.
The rest of the council's power traditionally has come from land-use and zoning decisions. But under the state of emergency since Katrina, the council has temporarily lost control of that area as well. Some proposals of the mayor's commission threaten to strip that power permanently.
Think about it, the mayor has been in a stronger position for the last six months than he ever will be again. Also, I have to ask one more time, what kind of mayor takes a trip to Jamaica when we're under a state of emergency.
Now read this article from two months ago:
So goes another post-Katrina reality: In a world in which so much of life in New Orleans is utterly changed, the City Council's role has dramatically changed as well, moved well off center stage in the city's initial planning for its future.
New Orleans' City Charter gives the city a powerful mayor, balancing that by giving the council the ultimate power of the purse. But since Katrina the city has been running largely on federal emergency relief money beyond the council's power to reallocate.
The rest of the council's power traditionally has come from land-use and zoning decisions. But under the state of emergency since Katrina, the council has temporarily lost control of that area as well. Some proposals of the mayor's commission threaten to strip that power permanently.
Think about it, the mayor has been in a stronger position for the last six months than he ever will be again. Also, I have to ask one more time, what kind of mayor takes a trip to Jamaica when we're under a state of emergency.
