New Orleans City Councilwoman urges hospital hearings

New Orleans City Councilwoman Stacy Head, whose district includes the city's footprint for proposed state and federal hospitals, is calling on the City Planning Commission to hold public hearings on the combined $2 billion development. The state and federal government generally are not subject to municipal planning requirements. But opponents of the hospital projects have called for more direct involvement by the city. In a letter to Planning Commission Chairman Edward Robinson, Head said she thinks the Louisiana State University System and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs control site selection for their respective hospitals.