News Roundup

Access Barred to LSU Hospital Tour

Sandra Stokes, executive vice chairwoman of the Foundation for Historical Louisiana, said she, along with an architect who reviewed the condition of Big Charity and a doctor who is advocating for the reopening of the storm-damaged hospital, were blocked from joining the tour.

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Source: New Orleans CityBusiness

Filed under: Community Input | Healthy Communities | Rebuilding New Orleans

Dec 2 2008

A New Chapter

The origins of independent booksellers’ concerns are obvious. Stores nationally have been hit hard in recent years by diminishing support because of competition from national chains and consumers’ embrace of online shopping.

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Source: New Orleans CityBusiness

Filed under: Community Economics | Sustainable Development

Dec 1 2008

Group Urges LSU, VA to Reconsider Mid-City Site

The National Trust for Historic Preservation strongly urged the VA to work with the incoming Obama Administration to explore the alternative sites that would restore needed health care facilities faster and at less cost, while preserving much more of the historic Mid-City neighborhood. At the same time, the National Trust for Historic Preservation noted that the VA’s decision is based on the desire to co-locate with an LSU medical facility - whose projected $1.2 billion funding is far from assured.

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Source: New Orleans City Business

Filed under: Community Input | Healthy Communities | Housing

Nov 25 2008

Plans for New LSU-VA Hospital Campus Expected to Come this Week

Preservation groups also have raised concerns that demolition could proceed before LSU pulls together funding for its new hospital, which is projected to cost $1.2 billion. The university is expected to make a down payment on the hospital with the money it collected from the federal government for the damage Katrina wreaked on Charity. LSU had banked on $500 million; FEMA has not budged above $23 million.

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Source: The Times-Picayune

Filed under: Community Input | Healthy Communities | Housing

Nov 23 2008

Urban Growers Go High-Tech to Feed City Diners

The numbers have some researchers imagining a future when enough produce to feed entire cities is grown in multistory buildings sandwiched between office towers and other structures.

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Source: MSNBC

Filed under: Healthy Communities | Sustainable Development | Urban Ecology

Nov 21 2008

Worried Sick

Neighbors and preservationists invariably express support for improved health care. But they worry about adverse effects from what LSU calls ‘the largest post-storm urban renewal project in New Orleans.”

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Source: Gambit Weekly

Filed under: Community Input | Housing | Rebuilding New Orleans | Sustainable Development

Nov 20 2008

Hospital Headache: More Questions than Answers Still Plague LSU, VA

Dr. Fred Cerise, LSU’s vice chancellor of health affairs and medical education, echoed Gray’s concerns that increased delays that call into question the state and city’s commitment to the LSU hospital will threaten the VA project as well.

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Source: bnet

Filed under: Community Input | Healthy Communities | Housing | Rebuilding New Orleans

Nov 20 2008

Greener Neighborhoods Better for Kids’ Waistlines

“We had their height and weight measured 2 years apart and linked that data to satellite images of the kids’ neighborhoods and found that the children who lived in greener neighborhoods did better weight-wise than kids who lived in less green neighborhoods,” Bell told Reuters Health.

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Source: Medline Plus

Filed under: Healthy Communities

Nov 11 2008

Democrats Add Suburbs to Their Growing Coalition

To expand their coalition, Lang said, Republicans will need to find ways to talk about issues relevant to metropolitan areas. “You don’t have to have the same policies as the Democrats, but you have to talk about this and not just talk about values in the small towns,” he said.

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Source: The Washington Post

Filed under: Community Economics | Community Input | Culture | Good Governance

Nov 6 2008