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Council shares S&WB oversight plan New law gives city more control over utility
BY JONI HESS
Staff writer
The New Orleans City Council plans to nix estimated water billing and have more say over Sewerage & Water Board’s leadership once a new state law takes effect
Saturday. In a draft ordinance released last week, the City Council detailed sweeping changes ahead for the utility that include greater scrutiny over its $467 million operating budget and giving the mayor power to remove members from
the board of directors. Those directors can select or remove the agency’s executive director, a step the council would approve. The changes, subject to the City Council’s approval at a later date, were recommended by the Public Utility Modernization Process Sub-
group that Mayor Helena Moreno established through an executive order last month. The group is comprised of City Council members, members of her administration, S&WB officials and experts. City Council member Aimee McCarron on Monday said the ordinance is a framework for S&WB’s future governance structure. “It offers improved budgetary and operational oversight as we
Restoration dispute Repairs to Madame John’s Legacy, one of the French Quarter’s oldest buildings, causing concern
learn more about the internal functions of the agency,” she said, adding that the changes won’t happen overnight. The council will consider them at a future meeting. The changes mark a pivotal juncture for the quasi-independent, centuries-old agency that has long been criticized for inaccurate meter readings and an unreliable
ä See COUNCIL, page 4A
Cassidy, Kennedy call for war info
La. senators say they support military action BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
expert report on the history of the building to help guide how future work should be done. But that report, technically known as a “historic structures report,” has yet to be commissioned, much less completed. Now, a new fundraising organization formed to support the restoration effort is exploring potential commercial uses for the building, including opening a culinary museum that would host visiting
WASHINGTON — Louisiana’s two U.S. senators support the military action in Iran but say it’s time for the president to explain the purpose, strategy and off-ramp. “What we do need to do, though, is have a national dialogue, where the president comes to the American people, comes to Congress, (and) Congress helps make Cassidy a tough decision,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We all need to do a better job messaging,” Sen. Kennedy John Kennedy, RMadisonville, said ä Mediators Sunday on CBS’s see progress “Face the Na- in efforts to tion,” adding that halt war. President Donald Trump or one of PAGE 5A his top advisers should “either in a speech or in a long press conference, explain what’s going on in Iran. Why we went in. Why we’re still there.” Over the next two weeks, the Senate will be considering legislation to spend more money replacing
ä See DISPUTE, page 4A
ä See IRAN, page 4A
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
Madame John’s Legacy, an 18th-century French Colonial house and National Historic Landmark at 632 Dumaine St., is at the center of a dispute between preservationists for the state and New Orleans. BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer
More than two years after the state and New Orleans preservationists thought they had agreed on how to restore one of the rarest historic structures in the French Quarter, the two sides remain at odds as the state is moving ahead with the project. The dispute centers on Madame John’s Legacy at 632 Dumaine St., one of the oldest buildings in the city and best surviv-
ing examples of French Colonial architecture. Built in 1788, it withstood devastating fires that wiped out most other neighborhood structures from that era. Since 2021, local preservationists have disagreed with the state, which owns the building, accusing its contractors of botching the restoration project by ignoring preservation guidelines and doing unnecessary work, a claim the state denies. In 2023, the two sides nearly went to court over the issue — a crisis that was averted when the state agreed to commission an
Musicians explore roots of zydeco Creole la-la sound influences newer bands
BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer
Long before electrified zydeco bands filled dance halls, Creole musicians gathered for acoustic “la-la” house parties across southwest Louisiana. Two young Lafayette musicians are trying to bring that tradition back. Cajun music leans on Louisiana French folk traditions built around the fiddle, accordion and triangle. Zydeco added rhythm and blues, electric guitars and the rub board, creating a louder, more energetic sound.
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But no matter what kind of band is playing, there’s a beating heart in the music that drives people to gather, dance and make friends out of strangers. It’s possible to hear the unbroken traditions in the sounds, and even see it, when you observe traditional Cajun and Creole artists and zydeco players sit in jams together, or play on each other’s records. Then, it becomes clear that Louisiana roots music has evolved together over the years, producing a modern day sound that wins Grammys and attracts visitors from across the world. Those shared roots are exactly what two young Lafayette musicians hope to highlight through a
new acoustic project. Le Nouveau Zydeco highlights one of southwest Louisiana’s oldest recorded musical traditions — Creole la-la. Considered a precursor to modern zydeco music, “la-la” is the music that would have been played at a rural house party in 19th- and early 20th-century Creole communities — similar to the Acadian folk music played across the countryside, but leading in a new direction. “It’s like a root that fed into the tree of zydeco,” said Joshua Caffery, the director of the Center for Louisiana Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where
PHOTO By ROBIN MAy
Le Nouveau Zydeco, an acoustic band dedicated to preserving and celebrating traditional Louisiana Creole music, particularly ‘la-la’ music, the ä See ROOTS, page 4A precursor to modern zydeco, plays in Lafayette on July 11.
Business ......................6A Commentary ................5B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................4B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
13TH yEAR, NO. 350