What's my line?

Yesterday I went to City Council Chambers to hear them grill Eddie Jordan, our ineffective DA, with hard-hitting questions. It reminded me of the old game show, What's My Line, except that the council members weren't blindfolded. But their questions were frequently embarrassing. "Someone called me and said they've applied for a job in your office but never got called for an interview. What could they do to get your attention?" Equally silly answer: "We'll give you a number she can call to contact us." Many of the questions were very much along the lines of "Can you tel us what you do?" And the answers, like a clever contestant, skirted around specifics, or focused on the same recurring card of statistics. Shelly Midura's voice even sounded like Peggy Cass. And Jordan printed up a brand new flyer of his accomplishments, including "Stiff Sentences". That list included ten people, half of whom plead guilty. It was hard to follow the numbers, but it seems like they have about 3,000 cases so far this year, and they've had 177 convictions, of which 25 are for violent crimes.

Later in the day I went to an open house at the Cottage Living Idea House on Camp Street. This is a PRC project: a modular home that was constructed in about two days, but is completely historic in style. It is two stories, with some really amazing design elements, including a pantry with an old metal vault door, and a kitchen wall that doubles as a chalk board for to do lists. Three bedrooms, three baths. Listed at 595,000, and the proceeds go to restore homes in Holy Cross. This is the kind of thing people say can't be done.

And finally, I stopped into the CAC to catch the New Orleans Film Society's screening of Crazy Love, the documentary about Linda Riss and her crazy husband. It was actually quite funny.