Stewart Juneau, owner of the Baton Rouge-based development company LeTriomphe Property Group, was selected last November by Mayor Ray Nagin’s administration to redevelop the Morris F.X. Jeff Sr. Municipal Auditorium in Armstrong Park. At the time, the proposed professional services agreement drew controversy, due to Juneau’s relationship with Nagin (he had hosted the mayor’s much-mocked “Excellence in Recovery Award” gala back in August 2008), as well as for the fact that LeTriomphe was the sole bidder on the project. In December, New Orleans Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux slammed the deal, urging the New Orleans City Council not to approve it. In January, city attorney Penya Moses-Fields slammed right back, saying the IG’s recommendation was premature and that there was “no existing contract.”

This morning, Juneau announced that LeTriomphe was requesting a “temporary suspension of negotiations” on the Municipal Auditorium deal:

LeTriomphe Property Group, LLC (LTPG) announced today that it has requested a temporary suspension of negotiations on a professional services agreement for the redevelopment of the Morris X. F. [sic] Jeff, Sr. Municipal Auditorium.

LTPG remains confident that providing a landmark home for the cultural arts and creative industry in New Orleans in the damaged and unused auditorium is one of the most important projects that will be undertaken in the city in the near future.

The letter gave no reason for requesting a suspension of negotiations, but concluded on an optimistic note:

We look forward to working closely with all segments of our great community on making the mission of providing a landmark home for the cultural arts in New Orleans a reality.

The City of New Orleans has withdrawn its request to FEMA for funds to move City Hall to the Chevron Building, according to a source in the New Orleans City Council. FEMA officials were scheduled to hold a meeting this Monday to begin reviewing the city’s plan, but it has been cancelled.

In a letter sent to the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness in Nov., Martin Altman, an administration official, requested the state approve the purchase as an “improved project” because the amount of work deemed eligible by FEMA for storm-damage repairs was not enough “to restore City Hall to its former functional status.” The state office has been serving as an intermediary between FEMA and local municipalities for disaster funds.

The city council had voted against Mayor Nagin’s proposed City Hall relocation in July of last year, and the FEMA request was seen by some council members as a way to make the move without council approval. As reported in a Gambit Scuttlebutt last month (“Ray Nagin’s Chevron Building Dream”), an ordinance had been introduced that would have required council consent on the $8.2 million purchase even if FEMA had approved the project.

My first impression of Dave Eggers during our recent interview was how much he cared about the Abdulraham and Kathy Zeitoun and their children, the New Orleans family and subject of Egger’s book, Zeitoun. He had spent a lot of time talking on the phone with Zeitouns, and made numerous trips to New Orleans to learn more about their experience following the levee failures. He said he had learned quite a bit from these visits, and he looked at Abdulraham and Kathy as teachers.

This evening at 8 p.m. at the NOCCA Institute, 2800 Chartres St. (940-2900), Eggers will be discussing the book, and he’ll be joined onstage by the Zeitouns. Just as he did in the book, Eggers says he’ll try to stay in the background and let the Zeitouns tell their story. Call the above number for ticket info.

Below is the full transcript of the interview with Eggers.

You first heard about the Zeitouns through your nonprofit book series Voice of Witness, which chronicles individual stories of human rights abuses. Human rights abuses aren’t what most Americans think about when it comes to Hurricane Katrina, is it?

“It depends on their level of information, and I guess their opinion on the competency of the government — local, state and national — in the wake of the storm. I think also though that slowly but surely information about some of the private contractors that were in town, some of the abuses from the police too and even some of the soldiers, all of these things have been trickling out. What happened to the Zeitouns is one of hundreds of stories that need to be told, and some of them are being told and have been told by your paper and The Times Picayune. For me, Voices From The Storm, our book of oral histories was eye opening because I wasn’t aware of any of these things until these first-person accounts of grandmothers having guns pointed at their heads by unmarked soldiers and people from private contractors. There was such an array of human rights abuses, whether passive or active, and Abdulraham Zeitoun was just one of so many stories.”

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By Matt Robinson

After a two-week trial in federal court in New Orleans, the first manufacturer sued over formaldehyde in FEMA trailers was absolved of responsibility Thursday. An eight-member jury found Gulf Stream Coach, an Indiana company that made 50,000 trailers for FEMA’s emergency housing program after Hurricane Katrina, did not construct an unreasonably dangerous product, and Fluor, the FEMA contractor responsible for hauling and installing the unit, was not negligent in setting up the trailer that housed New Orleanians Alana Alexander and her two children.

After the verdict was read, Alexander and her son Christopher Cooper declined to comment on the proceedings and quietly left the courtroom alone.

Alexander and Cooper claimed the temporary housing unit FEMA provided them in 2006 was contaminated with formaldehyde that worsened Cooper’s asthma. The trailer, one of the ubiquitous Cavalier units built by Gulf Stream, was installed by Fluor in May 2006, and the family lived in the unit until December 2007. During that time, the suit alleged, the family suffered health consequences from the toxic exposure, particularly Cooper, who was 9 years old when they moved into the trailer. Christopher had been diagnosed with asthma at age 3; the suit alleges his condition got worse as a result of living in the trailer for 19 months.

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Over 1,000 people paraded Monday for the resurrection of their beloved Charity Hospital. Although someone did lean over at one point and say to me, “those second liners will follow the brass bands off the plank of a ship!” HA! And you know it’s true! But it’s also true that New Orleanians love them some Charity Hospital.

Organizer’s of the Save Charity Campaign say that rebuilding Charity would take less time, less money and is less destructive than leveling Lower Midcity to build a parking lot for LSU’s midlife-crisis Hummer of a hospital complex. And I believe them. Times are hard and they wanna spend tax dollars like it grows on trees when there’s a perfectly good building right there on Tulane and Perdido that can be restored. Phft. We’ll see what happens with that arbitration over the extra 300 mil LSU wants FEMA to pay to cover their documented post-storm neglect of the Charity building. I predict judgment coming down on the side of HELL NAW!

Now if you didn’t make Monday’s rally, you can get a taste of what you missed by checking out these vids. I’ll also throw in the City Council form letter the organizers passed out so you can get in on the action.

New Orleans City Council,

I want you to:

____ Order an Independent Cost-benefit Analysis of the two plans for new hospitals

____ Hold Public hearings

____ Include the hospitals in the city’s Master Plan

Name ________________________________

Address ______________________________

Oh yeah – and I VOTE _____

It’s $35, but Amazon has a used copy for $26.99.

After a week of bipartisan criticism from the White House, some fellow GOP senators, and withering editorials in several national newspapers, Sen. David Vitter has formally dropped his hold on the nomination of Craig Fugate as the new director of FEMA. As The Washington Post reports:

“Louisianans have gotten way too many easy spoken assurances from FEMA over the last four years that didn’t mean anything,” Vitter said in a statement this morning. “Now that I’ve secured a specific written commitment from them on the V-Zone issue, we can move forward.” He said he is “very confident” the issue will be resolved soon.

Last week the White House and Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) called on Vitter to lift his objections to Fugate — especially since the 2009 hurricane season begins June 1 — suggesting his delay tactics were inspired more by politics than home state concerns. The criticism grew last week when the senator sent an e-mail to supporters explaining that his continued opposition “isn’t about politics.” Opponents noted however that a link in the e-mail led to a financial donation page on Vitter’s 2010 reelection campaign Web site. In response, Senate Democrats yesterday released a Web-only video slamming Vitter’s continued opposition.

The New York Times, in a Sunday editorial, had opined “But we suspect that Senator Vitter is more preoccupied with the approach of re-election season than any weather events. He is clearly relishing doing battle with the administration, issuing broadsides styling himself as a populist standing up to “strong arm” tactics of the White House.” Gambit’s own commentary this week concluded: “Sen. Vitter needs to stop posturing and do what’s right for his constituents, the Gulf Coast and the country. Craig Fugate’s record of accomplishment is beyond reproach, and he has support from leaders across the political spectrum. Hurricane season is less than one month away. Louisiana needs a FEMA director in place, and we need one now.”