>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > MORE SCUTTLEBUTT CLANCY DUBOS < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < < KNOWLEDGE < < < < < < < < < < <IS < <POWER <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 12 15 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
scuttle Butt
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Changing Halloween weekend would remove an agonizing choice from our citizens.” — A small group of local moms calling themselves the “Treat Dats,” urging the citizenry to move trick-or-treating to Oct. 30 in order to avoid any agonizing conflict with the Saints-Steelers matchup on the night of Oct. 31.
Pet Peeves THE CITY AND THE LA/ SPCA SQUARE OFF, AGAIN, OVER A CITYWIDE ANIMAL CONTROL CONTRACT.
R.I.P. CRIME CAMERAS
In his budget address to the City Council on Oct. 14, Mayor Mitch Landrieu highlighted changes his administration brought to City Hall in his first 165 days. In particular, the mayor cited deep cuts he had to make to cover a projected $80 million deficit in the current year — thanks to egregious overspending by former Mayor Ray Nagin. Tucked into Landrieu’s laundry list of cuts: the once-vaunted Nagin crime cameras, which cost the city millions, led to several federal public corruption indictments, and actually solved few, if any, crimes. “We had to make hard cuts, like no longer funding the crime camera program,” Landrieu told the council. “For the millions the city has sunk into this program, crime cameras have yielded little results. Both Chief [Ronal] Serpas and I agree that with the limited resources we have, our money needs to be better spent in a targeted way on other public safety priorities.” In addition to eliminating the crime camera program, other cuts in the public safety arena include funding only one new class of police cadets this year, which will reduce the total number of commissioned police officers by 60. “But this will not impact the number of cops on the beat as Chief Serpas
BY ALE X WOODWARD
N
The New Orleans Police Department now is in charge of answering calls about stray, abandoned or dangerous animals. view of the 2011 municipal budget, Mayor Mitch Landrieu briefly addressed the SPCA deal, saying the city was “in negotiations with the SPCA now.” He added, “They were only budgeted through Oct. 15, which I understand is a common occurrence [in the budgets of former Mayor Ray Nagin]. But the bigger point is ... we shouldn’t be stopping in October to fight about what should have been in last year’s budget.” Presumably negotiations will continue through October. The 2011 budget should be finalized by November, after the City Council makes approv-
PAGE 12
c'est what? WHOM DO YOU SUPPORT IN THE NOV. 2 LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR’S ELECTION?
39% Jay Dardenne
William Goldring,
15%
not sure yet
Vote on “c’est what?” on bestofneworleans.com THIS WEEK’S QUESTION
PAGE 11
BoUQuets
46%
Caroline Fayard
Do you support Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s budget proposal to raise the monthly sanitation fee from $12 to $20?
THIS WEEK’S HEROES AND ZEROES
CEO of Republic Beverage Co., will be honored by the Tocqueville Society of United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area at its gala in November. Goldring also is president of the Goldring Family Foundation and the Woldenberg Foundation, which have given millions to New Orleans philanthropic causes. Kim Sport, chairman of the Tocqueville Society, said in a statement that Goldring was chosen “because of the scope of his philanthropic leadership and his many years of selfless service.”
Alfred Music Publishing
donated $250,000 worth of sheet music, band arrangements and instructional DVDs to the Tipitina’s Foundation, which is teaming with the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation to distribute the materials to New Orleans music faculty. It’s the largest in-kind donation ever to the Tip’s Foundation, which has provided more than 5,000 musical instruments to schools and musicians since Hurricane Katrina.
Allene Thaller,
a 10-year cancer survivor, will be the 2010 Honorary Survivor of this year’s New Orleans Susan G. Komen Race For the Cure. Thaller, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in October 2000, underwent aggressive cancer therapy and eventually became a volunteer for Susan G. Komen For the Cure. This year’s race will begin at the Roosevelt Mall in New Orleans City Park on Oct. 23 and follow a 5-kilometer course.
David Vitter,
Louisiana’s embattled junior senator, who is up for re-election on Nov. 2, has agreed to just one debate this campaign season, continuing his tack of ducking media, voters and his opponents since his prostitution scandal broke in 2007. Vitter agreed to four debates when he first ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004, but this year he is refusing to participate in five of the six major debates that have been proffered by TV stations and good government groups.
Gambit > bestofneworleans.com > OCTOBER 19 > 2010
ear the end of September, the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) warned the city its services were coming to an end — the same warning it delivered in November 2009 and the year before that. Without a contract with the city and the associated funding stream, the organization is forced to cease many of its operations, from hurricane and storm shelters to animal control — a service that has been handed off to the New Orleans Police Department’s (NOPD) K-9 unit. SPCA chief executive officer Ana Zorrilla wants to know why New Orleans, unlike other cities in Louisiana, depends on a contract with a nonprofit rather than operating a municipal, city-owned animal-control unit. She also questions why the city doesn’t offer its animal-control contractor a multiyear contract, or at least fund a full year at a time. Last year’s money ran out in November. This year’s stopped in October. Zorrilla says she has had little discussion with the mayor’s office about the SPCA’s future and its inclusion in the 2011 budget. “We were hoping to hear something about it prior to it going before (City) Council, but at this point we don’t know where we stand,” she says. At an Oct. 14 news conference following his pre-
09