Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Paulette Irons in New Orleans has effectively upheld a ban on about 75 local tour operators from one of the city’s most popular attractions - the historic St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, owned by the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
The Archdiocese began restricting access to the cemetery from all but immediate family members of those buried at the site and a single tour company - Cemetery Tours NOLA - that does business with the church.
The firm, owned by hotelier and tour bus operator Michael Valentino, was selected by the archdiocese to be its sole tour group after responding to a solicitation for proposals.
The archdiocese has never said why it chose to limit access to one tour company although the speculation is to prevent chaos when multiple tours overwhelm the cemetery site.
Founded in 1789, the cemetery is known for its thousands of elaborate mausoleums, vaults and tombs and is the oldest of New Orleans’ surviving “cities of the dead.”
The attorney for tour operators has asked Irons for a rehearing, which is allowed under state law. In court documents, he argues the archdiocese lied in the hearing earlier this month and mispresented certain facts about the federal case - regarding what constitutes public or private cemeteries.
Online job fair slated Wednesday
Five companies - Premier Health in Baton Rouge, Calls Plus in Lafayette, SchoolMint in Lafayette, The Healthy School Food Collaborative in Slidell and Entergy in Monroe - are teaming up for a Louisiana Economic Development (LED) FastStart online job fair from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 26.
The companies are looking to fill dozens of full-time job openings such as sales executives, Medicaid coordinator, customer care representative, project manager, business financial analyst, payroll coordinator and IT technical support specialist.
The job fair is free and participants can register in advance or throughout the event through Brazen. Companies look to hire dozens at LED job fair | Business News | nola.com
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