According to attorney Michael Tifft: "It is time for the City of New Orleans to enter this debate. The City Council delegated its authority to the CPIA by ordinance in 1981. It is time for the Council to review that grant of authority and to see to it that the departments of Parkways and Parks and Property Management and the City Planning Commission exercise their Home Rule Charter responsibilities over City Park. At the very least, the Council should hold public hearings on this issue". In addition, "The State Division of Administration has not addressed the applicability of the State’s public bid and public lease laws, which would appear to apply under earlier legal decisions".

We have attached pages from the City of New Orleans' Home Rule Charter that include Sections 2-872 through 2-926, dealing with the lease of public property, and Section 4-1401, dealing with the role of the Department of Property Management in the leasing of immovable property.

Section 2-874: Information regarding property transactions to be furnished to council...

Section 9-925: Conditions of lease.
A lease of city-owned immovable property for a period of more than one year...shall be valid only if the following conditions have been satisfied:
(1) The property has been advertised by the department of property management for sealed bid, in the official journal at least three times in a period of not less than two weeks...
(2) The division of real estate and records, department of property management has established an acceptable rental range, based on fair rental value, and has evaluated all bids received and submitted its evaluation and recommendation as to the highest responsible bidder to the bureau of purchasing, department of finance...
(3) The department of property management has presented its recommendations to the mayor or his designee and has prepared an appropriate ordinance for submission to the city council.
(4) An ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into a lease for the specified city-owned immovable property with the successful bidder, has been introduced and adopted by a majority vote of the city council...

Attachment:   Sections on leased public property in the Home Rule Charter