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Palace Café closes
Legal dispute prompts abrupt decision after 34 years on Canal Street
$2.00X
Cantrell vetoes Charity deal
$20M agreement with Tulane would provide renovations to long-vacant hospital BY JAMES FINN Staff writer
The Palace Café has been a fixture on Canal Street for 34 years. BY IAN McNULTY Staff writer
A major restaurant that once signaled a new generation for New Orleans Creole cuisine has closed after 34 years amid a legal dispute. Palace Café, the first restaurant from the Dickie Brennan & Co. restaurant group, served its last meal on Sunday, at least for the foreseeable future. It’s an abrupt closure for a restaurant that has been a prominent presence on Canal Street and within the New Orleans restaurant scene since 1991. The restaurant, at 605 Canal St., covers three floors in the historic
“There’s a sense of loss, but things do happen for a reason, and we’re challenged to make the best of the situation we’re in.” STEVE PETTUS, managing partner of Dickie Brennan & Co. former Werlein’s music store with dining rooms and banquet rooms done in the style of a classic brasserie. Restaurant staff learned the news Monday. About half of the restaurants’ 60-person staff are being offered positions at other restaurants
in the group, which includes numerous large properties; others are being offered severance terms, according to the company. The move comes as Palace Café nears the end of a 35-year lease. A purchase agreement was included in that lease, and the restaurant’s operators were working toward a deal to purchase the property from its owner, Philip Werlein, Ltd., a company with members of the Werlein family. A dispute on the fair market value brought both sides into Civil District Court. It centered on the value of improvements made to the property by the restaurant group, and whether
Mayor LaToya Cantrell on Monday vetoed $20 million New Orleans had promised for renovations to Charity Hospital, deepening a feud over the city’s right to proceeds from a donated swath of oil-rich Louisiana coastline. The city’s $20 million pledge to Tulane University, which plans to turn the long-vacant Depressionera hospital into a new research center, emerged from negotiations over who should receive proceeds from the 38,000-acre plot around Port Fourchon, which Cantrell is owned by the Wisner Trust. Tulane is one of several legacy ä Cantrell recipients of proceeds from that says she land. faced Late philanthropist Edward Wisner donated the land to New ‘crucifixion’ during Orleans in 1914. But for years, Cantrell resisted second attempts by the City Council to term. PAGE 1B solidify city control over around $9 million the plot generates each year. She has sided with Wisner’s descendants, fighting to maintain a system that gave the mayor and a private panel broad authority to divvy up the proceeds among a list of long-standing recipients, including the heirs, the city, Tulane, LSU and the Salvation Army. The council’s $20 million pledge followed a judge’s order in late May identifying the city as
ä See PALACE, page 4A
ä See CANTRELL, page 4A
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
Death toll in Texas flooding tops 100
Changes made to La. ethics laws Supporters tout protection for public officials; critics worry about safeguards being eroded
search for flood vicOfficials vow the tims said they will wait to address questions about to address weather warnings and why weather warnings some summer camps did
BY ALYSE PFEIL
BY JIM VERTUNO, NADIA LATHAN and JOHN SEEWER
Staff writer
Gov. Jeff Landry and the Legislature have changed how the Louisiana Board of Ethics operates, adding new rules to how it investigates allegations of conflicts of interest, nepotism and other forms of corruption. Supporters say they are protecting public servants against frivolous investigations over dubious allegations of ethical misconduct and ensuring those who face investigation are afforded basic due process. But critics worry the new laws chip away at safeguards Louisiana put in place in response to the state’s long history of government corruption.
ä See ETHICS, page 4A
WEATHER HIGH 92 LOW 76 PAGE 8A
Associated Press
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ELI HARTMAN
First responders carry out search and rescue operations near the Guadalupe River on Monday in Ingram, Texas.
KERRVILLE, Texas — The death toll from catastrophic flooding in Texas over the July Fourth weekend surpassed 100 on Monday as search and rescue teams continued to wade into swollen rivers and use heavy equipment to untangle trees as part of the massive search for missing people. Authorities overseeing
Business ......................6A Commentary ................5B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................4B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
not evacuate ahead of ä Flooding the flooding from Tropical that killed Storm at least 104. Chantal The officials spoke forces only hours dozens to a f t e r t h e flee N.C. o p e r a t o r s homes. o f C a m p PAGE 2A Mystic, a centuryold all-girls Christian summer camp in the Texas Hill Country, announced that
ä See FLOODING, page 7A
12TH yEAR, NO. 330