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2011. The 1st and 3rd jumped nearly 20 percentage points to 63 and 78 percent, respectively. But in the 5th, satisfaction fell from 55 percent to 47 percent. The survey, however, was conducted Feb. 21-22, before the recent conflicts in that district: the Blue Nile costume market closure Feb. 27, the Krewe of Eris clash March 6, and the eviction of the A.R.K. tenants March 9. And the survey results were released just a day before a scathing report from a U.S. Department of Justice probe of NOPD operations. So why the approval drop? Tulane University criminologist Peter Scharf says there are two factors: a change in demographics (more “dissatisfied” people, for one) and a shift in leadership and “the quality of service.” Others questioned the results of the survey itself. Attorney and community activist Jacques Morial sent a follow-up email to NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas pointing out what he called “fatal flaws in the methodology of the survey”: an equal number of respondents from each district despite population differences, and the number of respondents with college degrees (56 percent) compared to the city average (28 percent). Nevertheless, Serpas says the poll is good
news for New Orleans. “This survey … shows that the old, tarnished reputation of NOPD is on its way out,” Serpas said in a statement. “We know we still have work to do.” DISTRICT C COUNCILWOMAN KRISTIN Gisleson Palmer, whose district includes the Marigny, says she wants to see Plan B return, and soon. Like Mutter and the tenants at 511 Marigny St., Palmer also isn’t clear what permits Plan B needs to “get legal,” despite the group’s established nonprofit status and tax exemption. “We’re trying to get clarity for them,” she says. “I just want to help them as much as I can and get them up and running because they really do provide a valuable service to the community.” But Palmer, who chairs the council’s transportation committee and often supports the city’s biking initiatives, says she’s not familiar with Iron Rail or “who they are or what they do,” and doesn’t know enough about the bookstore to work with it to ensure its legality and future. “I’m willing to work with anybody, if their intent is to be legal and do it the right way,” she says. Some residents and members of Iron Rail and Plan B say the chronology of
events suggests the building’s closure was retaliation following the violent clash between the Krewe of Eris and the NOPD less than 72 hours before the officers visited the building. Mutter, who has lived in the Marigny for 32 years, doesn’t make the connection. “I think some unrulies ruined it for some people,” he says. “(It was) a really good example of how a few people have ruined it for everyone else.” Palmer says the citizen complaint wasn’t sent to her office, which represents District C and includes the Marigny. “We track what calls come in and forward them to the appropriate departments, and I’m sure the council office did the same thing for this one,” she says. “It’s not an issue of targeting; it’s just an issue of you receive a complaint from a constituent and you forward it to the appropriate department.” The Iron Rail held its weekly meeting March 23 to plan its future but was not able to provide a statement to Gambit before the paper went to press. Pizarro says last week Scott Hutcheson, Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s liaison to the cultural community, offered to help Plan B navigate the city’s permitting process. They plan to meet this week.
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name, but the clear implication is that Heebe is “co-conspirator A.” Whether part of a PR offensive or not, the notion that Mouton was routinely on retainer to one of Heebe’s companies long before his appointment to the commission goes to the heart of what will surely be Heebe’s defense if the feds go after the business owner. — Clancy DuBos
Tribal TreaTy
One day after the U.S. Department of Justice released its report limning the New Orleans Police Department’s (NOPD) constitutional abuses of citizens in scathing detail, NOPD had its first big test of the department’s relations with the public. March 19 was St. Joseph’s Night, the traditional evening each year when Mardi Gras Indians take to the streets in their elaborate plumage. NOPD and the Indians have clashed in the past, most notably in 2005, when a skirmish between the two groups led to a City Council hearing at which Big Chief Allison “Tootie” Montana of the Yellow Pocahontas tribe was stricken with a heart attack while at the podium and died in the Council Chamber. This year, though, relations between
Indians and cops Uptown were quite cordial, according to Alison McCrary, an attorney who has worked with the tribes as a legal observer for the past six years. “It was an unprecedented weekend, and we had really been worried,” McCrary says, referring to pre-St. Joseph Night flare-ups between the cops and the Indians. Right before the event, members of Mardi Gras Indian tribes had met with NOPD Chief Ronal Serpas, Deputy Chief Marlon Defillo, 6th District Commander Capt. Robert Bardy and others, including representatives from Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s and Police Monitor Susan Hutson’s offices. “Officers had a notable presence, but they were helping to facilitate the event,” McCrary says. The result? A problem-free St. Joseph’s Night — and the following day’s “Super Sunday” daytime celebration came off without a hitch as well. The following week, the Indians sent a sheet cake to the Uptown police station. On top, inscribed in icing, was the message “Thank You, 6th District, For a Wonderful Weekend.” — Kevin Allman Read more Scuttlebutt at www.bestofneworleans.com
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ish would save roughly $1.6 million over the contract’s 25-year term. The final report, which was released in January by the Baton Rouge accounting firm of Postlethwaite & Netterville, said the parish would save at least $9 million if it continued to use its own dump and not River Birch’s. Parish attorney Deborah Foshee told the T-P that the meeting was not about the numbers at all, but rather an attempt to make sure the assumptions were accurate and valid. The contract appears to play a key role in what many suspect is a wide-ranging federal investigation into Jefferson Parish politics. Meanwhile, a source at River Birch tells Gambit one of Heebe’s other companies, Shadow Lake Management, had former state Wildlife and Fisheries Commissioner Henry Mouton on retainer for years before he joined the commission in 2003. Mouton was indicted on bribery and other charges Feb. 25. The indictment alleges Mouton was bribed while on the commission to lobby against competing landfills after Hurricane Katrina, which struck in August 2005. The indictment doesn’t mention Heebe or any of his other companies by
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