Oh no, the Funky Butt might not be allowed to reopen

[DoYouEverWonder]

Plan to reopen jazz club in N.O. falls on deaf ears
Councilwoman says she opposes proposal

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Long before Hurricane Katrina, proposals to create an entertainment district along North Rampart Street generated passionate support and opposition.

The storm hasn't changed that.

On Monday afternoon, businessman Pat Ritter gathered a dozen supporters at the now-shuttered Funky Butt jazz club at 714 N. Rampart. He unveiled an ambitious plan to remodel and reopen the 9-year-old venue, which closed in August, as an upscale jazz supper club.

Ritter said he called the office of Councilwoman Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson, whose district includes the French Quarter, last week to discuss his plan. A staffer told him Clarkson would not support any nightclub on North Rampart.

The blanket dismissal caught him off guard.

"I was stunned," said Ritter, who lives on North Rampart and was a co-owner of the nearby Voodoo at Congo Square. "Had I been opening in a different location that never had music, I might have anticipated that reaction. Here, it never dawned on me.

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1130219761302410.xml


Aside from having a DUer named after the place, the Funky Butt is one of the best clubs in NO for good local jazz. There's no way they can let this place die just because of some turkey on a local council.

[madeline_con]

1. Google this Clarkson broad....

She's a real piece of work. Here's 2 examples:


Current Issues
More than eighteen months ago, Belle Reve won a competitive Supportive Housing Grant from HUD to renovate its existing property to accommodate four more bedrooms and two more apartments for low-income HIV-positive individuals and families to occupy. Two zoning issues before the City Council have deadlocked, with the Bywater Neighborhood Association protesting the zoning changes and an inconsistency between City and State regulations. Recently, Councilwoman Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson has proposed a one-year ban on all new construction in residentially zoned neighborhoods in her District, to allow the opponents time to change the laws in their favor. Please write the City Council and Ms. Clarkson asking that a ban on new construction not be put into place at this time. Such a ban would delay Belle Reve’s construction plans, and because of the excessive delay, Belle Reve would lose the grant funding for the construction

http://bellsouthpwp.net/B/e/BelleReve/advocacy.htm


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On the Tuesday after my own false arrest in New Orleans' French Quarter last month, I was treated to watching one of our local Councilpeople, Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson, appear on the local news, flanked by police officers, in Jackson Square. She was celebrating the sweep of the French Quarter that had occurred that previous weekend (when I was incidentally arrested for Walking While Black) which had removed scores of "undesirables" from the streets of her council district. She was effectively taking political credit for what had happened. She practically did a jig similar to that done at Versailles some decades ago.

Councilwoman Clarkson has been engaged since the last election here in such initiatives as:

pushing a police crackdown on the homeless and juvenile tap-dancers in the French Quarter;
a proposal to remove park benches from Jackson Square;
passing an initiative to require street performers and tarot readers in Jackson Square to have special permits and requiring that those without said permits be banned from the Square on threat of arrest;
police sweeps of the French Quarter in general in which "certain people" are cited for "crimes" such as public intoxication - in a city in which there is no open container law, "go" cups are ubiquitous in bars, etc; and
encouraging increased vigilance and harassment of bicycle delivery people who work for the local groceries and restaurants who service the communities in the French Quarter, Central Business District and Marigny.


http://www.g21.net/mars354.htm

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. She sounds like a real piece of work

how does someone like this get elected in NO?

[madeline_con]

3. Maybe the same way DUH-bya was "elected" (??)