Excursion vessel, river barge collide LAND DEAL

FINAL FOUR TIPS OFF TODAY
Staff writer
The Louisiana Legislature
has allowed the public defender
system in Orleans Parish to remain a “legal hell” that has
reached disastrous proportions,
a local judge ruled Friday as he
vowed to no longer allow the
program to represent poor defendants in his court.
Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Arthur
Hunter said that next month he
See DEFENDER, A-7
ELECTION
RECOMMENDATIONS
This newspaper makes the
following recommendations for
today’s ballot.
ORLEANS PARISH
STATE LEGISLATURE, 94TH DIST.
Jeb Bruneau
CIVIL DIST. COURT, DIVISION A
Suzette Peychaud Bagneris
JEFFERSON PARISH
CONSOLIDATED DRAINAGE DIST. 2
To renew a 6-mill property tax for
drainage services
YES
CONSOLIDATED JEFFERSON
RECREATION AND COMMUNITY
CENTER AND PLAYGROUND DISTRICT
To renew a 10-mill tax for
recreation
YES
PARISHWIDE SCHOOL DIST. NO. 1
To renew a 4-mill property tax for
technology, building maintenance
and capital projects
YES
JEAN LAFITTE
MAYOR
Tim Kerner
POLICE CHIEF
Mary Jo Hargis
TOWN COUNCIL (5 POSITIONS)
Christy Creppel
Shirley Guillie
Calvin “Butch” LeBeau
Verna “Teta” Smith
PARISH COUNCIL, 7TH DISTRICT
Al Hamauei
COVINGTON
CITY COUNCIL
AT-LARGE
(2 TO BE ELECTED)
Trey Blackall
Matt Faust
DISTRICT A
Frances Dunn
DISTRICT C
Mark Sacco
DISTRICT D
Martin J. “Marty” Benoit
SUN
BOARD OF ALDERMEN
(3 TO BE ELECTED)
Floyd Mizell
William M. Rivers
June Whitehead
FOLSOM AREA
12TH RECREATION DISTRICT
To renew a 10-mill tax for the
operation of the district
YES
READ THE LATEST
NEWS ONLINE
In alliance with
The Times-Picayune
Real estate writer
A Georgia development
company has been quietly
working to assemble a vast
swath of Mid-City, including
the Lindy Boggs Medical
Center, to create a nearly
contiguous 20-acre site for 1.2
million square feet of retail
space for national chains that
until now have been unable to
find a home inside the city.
The site being assembled
by Victory Real Estate Investments LLC is huge, covering more than half a
square mile from Jefferson
Davis Parkway to Carrollton
Avenue and from Toulouse
to Bienville streets.
A second phase being discussed would involve an additional 9 acres on the lake
side of North Carrollton,
across the street from SavA-Center. Victory owns the
Sav-A-Center and the former Winn-Dixie store that
was converted into a small
Home Depot last year.
The project has been well
below the radar, with few city
officials aware of it aside from
Councilwoman Shelley
Midura. Midura has been
briefed on the project and is
working closely with the MidCity Neighborhood Organization, which has been playing a
behind-the-scenes watchdog
role on the development.
“We don’t want a suburban-style development
plopped in the middle of an
urban area,” association member Janet Ward Pease said.
Several landlords and
business owners said they
were negotiating with Victory for their warehouses.
Most of the properties in the
main retail area, between
Toulouse and Conti streets,
are large 20th-century metal
buildings. Landlords and tenants confirmed talking to Victory but wouldn’t discuss the
project, citing confidentiality
agreements or concerns over
spoiling negotiations.
By Michelle Krupa
Staff writer
With as many as 25,000 residents expected to need help getting out of New Orleans in advance of a hurricane, city officials on Friday rolled out their
most detailed evacuation plan
since Katrina, along with a call
to city employees to sign up for
400 positions required to put the
plan into action.
Under the “City Assisted
Evacuation Plan,” volunteers —
both ordinary residents and city
workers — would begin picking
up elderly residents and those
who lack transportation about
54 hours, or 21/2 days, before
tropical-storm-force winds are
expected to reach the Louisiana
coast. Volunteers would also be
responsible for keeping track of
where evacuees are sent and
helping with pets.
Depending on the storm’s severity, the plan calls for Mayor
Ray Nagin to enact a citywide
mandatory evacuation 30 hours
before winds whip up. That’s far
earlier than Nagin ordered resi-
See EVACUATE, A-9
STAFF PHOTO BY MICHAEL DeMOCKER
LAND DEAL
Lake Pontchartrain
MID-CITY
N. SOLOMON
Bohn Ford
N. CARROLLTON AVE.
Sav-A-Center
Home
Depot
Area involved
in tract deal
OR
LE
AN
SA
VE
.
Other existing
buildings and
businesses
American
Can
Company
SE
ST. TAMMANY PARISH
Volunteers needed
in mass evacuation
By Greg Thomas
OU
SCHOOL DISTRICT PROPOSITION 1
To renew a 42.97-mill tax for the
school system’s general fund for
operations and employee salaries
and benefits
YES
SCHOOL DISTRICT PROPOSITION 2
To renew a 4.9-mill tax for school
maintenance and construction
YES
N.O.
unveils
its new
storm
plans
––––––––––
Lindy
Boggs
Medical
Center
Post
Office
CONTI
ST. CHARLES PARISH
Company seeks
to bring national
chains to area
UL
PORT COMMISSION PROPOSITION
To renew a 5-mill tax for port
operations
YES
––––––––––
TO
GRAND ISLE
Giant retail project
planned in Mid-City
BIENV
ILLE A
VE.
By Gwen Filosa
NEW ORLEANS EDITION
SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 2007
171st year No. 69
Judge
vows to
free 42
suspects
.. .
. ..
t
A/B
50 CENTS
SPORTS
Bayou
St. John
Oregon
group
wants to
help, learn
Victory is trying to buy 20
acres in Mid-City for retail
construction. There has
been no verification on
which properties, except
for the Lindy Boggs
Medical Center, are
under contract. The
group is trying to woo
national chains to open up
shop there.
Governor, mayor,
others are in N.O.
.
JEFF DAVIS PKWY
By Bruce Nolan
Staff writer
STAFF GRAPHIC BY DAN SWENSON
See MID-CITY, A-8
Excursion vessel, river barge collide
––––––––––
160 passengers were
on final day of cruise
––––––––––
By Matt Scallan
Jaquetta White
and Mark Waller
Staff writers
An excursion vessel carrying
160 passengers collided with a
barge on the Mississippi River
at St. Rose, tearing a hole in the
vessel but causing no injuries,
an executive with the company
that owns the vessel said.
The 719-foot River Explorer began taking on water
after the 10:30 a.m. collision
caused a 10-by-20-foot gash.
Classified
Comics
Deaths
E
C-10
B-5
Editorials
Living
Money
Pumps on the vessel allowed it
to stay afloat until it was
moved to the river bank near
the Kenner Bend Anchorage,
Coast Guard spokesman Lt.
Derek Beatty said.
No one was injured, officials said. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
The River Explorer’s bow
collided with a barge loaded
with methanol being towed by
the 130-foot-long tugboat
James E. Nevin, which is
owned by the American Commercial Barge Line Co.
The River Explorer is operated by RiverBarge Excursion
Line, a New Orleans company
that offers multiday trips on
See BARGE, A-6
B-6
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C-12
National
People
Religion
A-12
A-20
C-8
STAFF PHOTO BY JOHN McCUSKER
The port bow of the River Explorer was damaged in a collision
with a barge Friday morning on the Mississippi River at St.
Rose. The barge apparently broke loose from a tugboat’s fivebarge tow before the crash.
Sports
D
Washington A-2
World
A-13
More than 100 public and private civic leaders from Oregon,
including its governor and the
mayor of Portland, arrive today
for four days in the Katrina
flood zone, partly to see whether
Oregon can provide more support on the ground or on Capitol
Hill, the group’s representatives
said.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski, Portland
Mayor Tom Potter and others
also will examine the grassroots aid being provided by
Mercy Corps, an international
relief agency based in Portland,
Kulongoski said.
“When I heard about this
trip, it only took about a second
for me to say yes,” he said. “I
have to see this for myself.”
The trip is a public-private
partnership spearheaded in
large part by Sho Dozono, a
Portland businessman. It extends a tradition begun after the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when
Dozono and a smaller Oregon
See OREGON, A-12
PARTLY SUNNY
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