LOUISIANA WEEKLY - Page 2 YOUR MULTICULTURAL MEDIUM October 8 - October 14, 2018 Rep
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WWeeeekk ooff OOccttoobbeerr 88 -- OOccttoobbeerr1144,, 22001188 Celebrating 93 years of providing ‘News that matters’ VOL.. XCIIIIII NO.. 4 Since 1925 www.louisianaweekly.com 50 cents NOCPC votes NOPD to release for tighter body-cam restrictions footage of deadly encounter In the midst of a federally mandated con - on short-term sent decree aimed at bringing the agency up to federal standards for constitutional polic - ing that began in August 2013, NOPD offi - rentals cials announced last week that the police By Michael Isaac Stein department would release body-camera The Lens footage of an officer-involved death that occurred Wednesday. The move to release body-camera footage After more than three hours of public comment, the New Orleans City Planning (AP Photo/Janet McConnaughey) so soon after the incident is generally seen as Commission on Wednesday voted to rec - a far cry from an incident just several years ommend tight restrictions on short-term ago during which a female NOPD officer rentals proposed by its staff in a report last turned off her body camera before shooting month. The proposal now goes to the City a suspect in the head. That incident went Council for its consideration. unreported by the NOPD for 24 hours and New Orleans publicly unveils ltimately led to the resignation of then The proposed changes would eliminate the u city’s popular “temporary” rental licenses, NOPD Supt. Ronal Serpas. used for whole-home rentals in residential According to the NOPD, a man died early Wednesday morning, Oct. 3, hours after he neighborhoods. Under current law, tempo - slave market tour app By Janet McConnaaughey rary licenses are available to property own - was detained by police in the Bywater. AP Writer NOPD Supt. Michael Harrison told reporters ers, who do not have to live at the property, and long-term renters. Though the law limits during a Wednesday press conference that the (AP) — The City of New Orleans cause of death was not known, but added that guest stays at temporary rentals to 90 nights has unveiled a smartphone app tour annually — nearly every weekend night per no excessive force was used and officials of sites involved in the slave trade believe it was a “medical incident.” year — the planning staff noted that operators during the 18th and 19th centuries, Around 10 p.m. Tuesday night, police have used the licenses to operate full-time including the pre-Civil War years short-term rental properties were reportedly called to the 800 block of during which the city was the Independence Street after a neighbor Under the proposed rules, operators in nation’s largest slave market. residential neighborhoods would have to reported a man was screaming for help and The project, officially launched on holding a “shiny object.” The man ran away prove their residency in a housing unit on Sept. 27, is affiliated with New the same lot as the rental property. Long- before officers arrived, Harrison said, and Orleans’ tricentennial celebrations. It while they were looking for him police term tenants would prove residency with a comes as cities around the country Louisiana state-issued ID and a secondary Erin Greenwald, who led a project to develop mark - were alerted to a burglary in progress a few are shining an unblinking light on ers for sites involved in the New Orleans slave trade blocks away on Dauphine Street. form of identification. And those operators slavery and racial violence through would have to remain in the residence and a smartphone app to tour such sites, is shown When officers arrived, the man was stand - such projects as a slavery museum demonstrating the app. She and Laura Tennyson, pro - ing in a driveway in the 3400 block of they’re renting while guests are present. outside New Orleans, an Alabama The City Planning Commission had less ducer for the app, are standing near a marker on the Dauphine Street, armed with a knife and memorial to victims of lynchings, main building for the Historic New Orleans bleeding from the lip. Officers ordered the than an hour to ask questions, recommend and the preservation of slave ceme - amendments, and vote to submit a short- Collection, where Greenwald (AwPa Psh octou/Jraanteot Mr cwCohnnilaeu gthheye ) term rental study that took its staff more Continued on Pg. 2 app was being developed. Continued on Pg. 8 than three months to create. The vote had already been deferred once a week earlier, so the commission members raced the clock before they had to clear the room for another public meeting. At 5:06 p.m., as attendees of the next meeting were filing into the council cham - Embattled trumpeter likely to face ber, the commission unanimously voted to approve the recommendations in the study, an overhaul of current short term rental reg - new charges after state audit findings ulations that could significantly curtail the Irvin Mayfield, the beloved New a report by a state agency. of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra by number of rental units in the city. Orleans trumpeter and cultural ambas - The Associated Press reported last the Louisiana Legislative Auditor The Planning Commission kept the pro - sador who fell from grace after it was week that the NOCCA graduate and adds details to earlier allegations posals in the study largely intact, though learned that he and New Orleans Jazz his longtime business and musical against Irvin Mayfield and pianist commissioners added an amendment that Orchestra co-founder used funds ear - partner spent nearly $180,000 on trips Ronald Markham, who face federal would raise a nightly fee — used for the marked for the New Orleans Public and entertainment over seven years, trial in April on charges alleging they city’s affordable housing fund — on short- Library to allegedly bankroll what has and may have broken state laws by diverted $1.4 million raised for the term rentals in commercial districts to $10 been described as lavish lifestyles, using public money on themselves. from the $8 recommended by the staff. The may face additional charges based on News outlets reported that the audit Continued on Pg. 8 MAYFIELD current fee, for all types of short-term rentals, is $1 per night. It was a step forward in the City Council’s pursuit of changing the city’s current short- term rental law, which critics say has exac - erbated New Orleans’ already challenging housing market, accelerated gentrification, Blacks still lagging in voter registration as and changed the character of many of the city’s neighborhoods. But as the commission members’ clos - activists make urgent registration appeal ing statements illustrated, the debate is By Hazel Trice Edney and anti-poverty measures – are at stake. court press – a state of emergency – for voter reg - far from over. Contributing Writer Yet, an estimated nearly eight million istration before the deadlines from state to state. “After seven or eight hours of public comment, African-Americans across the U.S., this year, “Our lives are on the ballot this year so it is (TriceEdneyWire.com) — Three African were not registered to vote, according to a absolutely crucial that African Americans as a Continued on Pg. 8 Americans are running for governor; Democrats report distributed by Donna Brazile, former whole participate in these midterm elections at are in a dogged race to win majority of the U.S. chair of the Democratic National Committee. rates that reflect our true voting power,” said House and Senate in the Nov. 6 mid-term elec - That’s 14 percent of the total 51 million NAACP President/CEO Derrick Johnson. tions; and crucial legislation affecting African Americans who are not registered to vote. “We’re urging everyone to use their power to Americans – including the Voting Rights Act, This is the reason that major civil rights and police reforms, gun control, mass incarceration voter education organizations are engaged in a full Continued on Pg. 2 THE LOUISIANA WEEKLY - Page 2 YOUR MULTICULTURAL MEDIUM October 8 - October 14, 2018 Rep. Jim Clyburn eyes Midterm wins, Pelosi’s chair By Stacy M. Brown 37 districts across the country unnamed individual said he kind of reaction Johnson had to of the United States denigrate the Contributing Writer they believe can be won by could win the Black vote by run - Lincoln and I remember sitting office in this way? The president Democrats this year, which ning on an anti-Trump platform. alone once in the Oval Office with asked an important question (NNPA Newswire) — While would wrest control of the “Wait one second,” Clyburn Obama and I told him this would when he was running, ‘What do there’s at least a perceived grow - House from Republicans. said he told the individual. “We be the kind of reaction he could we have to lose?’ We have lost ing number of Democrats who “We feel with the right kind of can’t just go around being expect,” Clyburn said. dignity and the respect of the say they want to replace Nancy effort, we can win,” Clyburn said. Republican-lite, we have to be Johnson, who was impeached by presidency because of his coarse - Pelosi as speaker, Rep. Jim The congressman listed three out there and putting forth an House, had a vision of America as ness in the office. When you lose Clyburn has emerged as a keys to success this November. alternative message for our base a White man’s government, respect, you’ve lost about every - favorite among his peers to The first, he said, is not to take and we have to reach out to according to historians. thing there is to lose.” become the first African the African-American vote for Black voters and let them know His idea was that the South had While he still supports Pelosi, American to hold that role.