Louisiana Law needs to require Government Agencies to allow the public to speak on items not on the agenda.

The case history being used is Council Member’s Joseph Giarrusso’s desire to convert West End Lakeshore Park from recreation and wildlife habitat into “a major new attraction and a source of economic activity.”

Recently, the Power Miler Track Club hosted a one-mile run around the park and had to omit the part of the mile as the city and state have refused to repair the lake retention wall and re-open that part of the park along the lake that has been closed since Hurricane Katrina.  The track club did make a 3-1-1 call to request repair dozens of potholes in the road as a risk to runners. The call did result in road crews spending days doing patchwork repairs.

This article is part of a series on Parliamentary Injustice being covered by Hayride.

Part one focused on how the New Orleans City Council handles Public Speakers in opposition to their legislation.

The Park was established by State ACT 209 and 92 in 1906 and 1910 as a “Public Park or Amusement Park.”  In the 1980s the City of New Orleans removed commercial offices along the lake and created Mickey Retif Playspot for recreation. Mickey Retif Playspot adjoined West End Lakeshore Park. Following Hurricane Katrina, Mickey Retif Playspot was reduced in size and for the US Army Corps Pumping Station. Retif Playspot was also cut off from West End Lakeshore Park.  www.RetifPark.org

Council Member Giarrusso, the Municipal Yacht Harbor Management Corporation, Jefferson Parish officials, and Rep. Stephanie Hilferty have been passing legislation to overturn those centuries old State Acts to allow developers to convert state owned West End Lakeshore Park to bars, restaurants, and video poker.

Ninety-four percent of residents responding to a survey want to retain the 29-Heritage Oak Trees and have recreation, such as a linear park and bike path out to the point. The Survey is still available.

However, developers see a chance to obtain the state land and use local, state, and federal funds to commercialize West End Lakeshore Park. Currently the MYHMC is budgeting to use $700,000.00 in Homeowner reserves to hire Stone-Pigman and HR&A Advisors to find and interview potential developers and write an RFQ that will obtain responses. The President of HR&A Advisors is Mitch Landrieu’s former Deputy Mayor, Jeff Hebert.

Related is the recent decision by the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority to approve the Bayou Phoenix master plan which requests approximately $800 million in local, state, and federal grants for redeveloping and expanding Jazzland.  Marina residents see a pattern, as it is lucrative for developers to receive federal development grants for projects that may or may not succeed in the long term: The Plaza Shopping Center, Uptown Village, and The Lazy Jack are examples.

The MYHMC decision to spend Homeowner’s reserves after four previous studies, (mostly done by the Regional Planning Commission), have reported the West End area to be “saturated” with Bars and Restaurants in concerning. Is the MYHMC spending reserves on fifth study or moving forward with HR&A to write an RFQ that meets developers demands?

Residents asked the MYHMC board to seek an opinion from the Attorney General’s office if developing the park for commercial uses to financially benefit Jefferson Parish and other parts of New Orleans would violate Acts 92 and 209. The MYHMC board declined.

The dues of Marina property-owner more than cover the upkeep of West End Lakeshore Park. While the park is open to the public, neither the City of New Orleans nor Jefferson Parish have it in their Parks’ budgets. Council Member Giarrusso has taken a position that 4-acres of West End Lakeshore Park should be commercialized to generate revenue for the city of New Orleans over citizens’ requests for recreation.

Neighboring residents in Lakeview and Bucktown believe the concept of bringing bars and video poker to West End Lakeshore Park will result in bringing more crime to Lakeview and Bucktown. In recent months boat and car thefts have increased, with a shooting of over 70 high powered rounds at Veterans and Fleur de Leis at 4:30am on August 17^th.

The MYHMC board has declined to make public the contract issued to HR&A Advisors. The Board has declined to pursue State and Federal Grants for Environmental and Recreational uses to restore the four acres of West End Lakeshore Park being proposed for development.  For a government agency to route a contract through its attorney to prohibit the public from seeing how the public’s money is being spent is parliamentary injustice.

A unique Louisiana Law going back decades and possibly to the post-Civil War era, only requires government bodies to permit Public Comments for items they are going to vote on. The law does not require a government body to have public comments for items not on the agenda.  While many government bodies in Louisiana do have a place for Public Comments on their agendas, the City of New Orleans and its government agencies do not. The result is citizens can not comment at city council meetings, if the council does agenize the item.

The State Legislature was asked two years ago to address that need. There has been no response.