Recommendations for the December 11, 2021 election
6th December 2021 · 0 Comments
The primary saw some of the lowest percentage turnout numbers in an Orleans Parish municipal election in decades. Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s stunning majority of 65 percent came in large part because the overall turnout had decreased, so she won with just over 48,000 votes this time, down from her narrow victory of slightly more than 55,000 votes four years ago. In other words, a small change in voter participation swings elections. With two competitive citywide and four tightly contested district council races on the ballot, just a few votes could decide the literal direction of which New Orleans government takes in the next four years. As we said in the primary, with rising crime, collapsing streets, broken pipes, and on the heels of the worst electrical blackout in the history of the Crescent City after Hurricane Ida, whom we choose to represent us on Orleans’ main governmental and regulatory body has never have been more important. This election matters.
It would be easy to get distracted with Christmas shopping next Saturday. Please take the time, though, to cast you ballot. The Editorial Board of The Louisiana Weekly offers these endorsements to help you make you decision.
Sheriff: Marlin Gusman
When the former Councilman ran for Orleans Criminal Sheriff, he was taking on a troubled agency that had been reduced to using abandoned motor hotels on Tulane Avenue for jail space.
Now, he can boast of a state-of-the-art penal facility, one that actually does NOT look like a jail from the interstate. Gusman also has built quality mental health facilities for his inmates, just as he has reduced the overall prisoner population by hundreds. He did all of this while under the scrutiny of a Federal Consent decree. Gusman has become a model Sheriff, and deserves another term.
Clerk — Criminal District Court: Austin Badon
Currently the Clerk of First City Court, Badon runs with a wealth of experience in judicial management, but unlike his opponent, bears none of the past responsibility for the dysfunctional caricature that criminal clerk’s office has become. Badon has remodeled the First City Clerkship on best practices used around the state and the nation and has never been too proud to ask for help from other parish clerks. This willingness—to solicit expertise and apply outside models to the often-anachronistic management styles of Louisiana court systems—makes him perfect figure to bring rationality and efficiency to the Orleans Criminal Clerk’s Office.
Councilmember — District B: Lesli Harris
Perhaps no other NOLA City Council district has undergone the degree of gentrification and change equal to this Irish Channel to Central City, Uptown to Lower Garden District seat. Its next Councilperson needs to bring a fresh perspective to this changing area. She needs to equally balance economic development and new business inculcation with a spirited defense of the traditional African-American homeowners dealing with the transformations in their historic neighborhoods. We believe she is qualified to represent this challenging Council seat.
Councilmember — District C: Stephanie Bridges
It’s a testament to the quality of one’s candidacy when your opponents endorse you in the runoff. Ms. Bridges won the support of every other primary challenger in her bid to defeat Freddy King. In part, this is due to her sensitivity to the neighborhood needs in this cross-river district. This seat, which stretches from the Treme through the Marigny and the French Quarter to Algiers, is remarkably difficult to represent. Its City Councilman must be responsive to the needs of neighborhoods from suburban to deeply historic. He or she must be both a preservationist and an advocate of sustainable growth via affordable housing. Bridges bridges those extremes. She is a thoughtful outsider with an insider’s expertise. She is independent, but possesses the knowledge to take action on day one.
Councilmember — District D: Troy Glover
Taking on a well-known name in New Orleans politics, Troy Glover initially appeared as the proverbial underdog. That ended in his strong finish in the primary, and the subsequent endorsement of all of his other rivals in the runoff. They have gone a step further, knocking doors for Glover.
There positive view of Glover is not an accident. His personal story demonstrates achievement over adversity. From the Calliope Housing Projects and juvenile delinquency, Glover transformed himself into the youngest neighborhood association president in the City (in St. Roch) and a mentor to other troubled youth. He has spent his life giving back, and has an intense knowledge of both neighborhood issues, and the difficulties that those existing on the fringes experience in attempting to make a fresh start in life.
Councilmember — District E: Oliver M. Thomas
What is astonishing is that the former Councilman At-Large has not downplayed his legal troubles, nor tried to employ some lame justification. Instead, when meeting with our editors, he addressed the reality of it, and then began to outline in voluminous detail all of the opportunities which the New Orleans City Council has missed in the last few years.
Oliver Thomas is a walking encyclopedia of Councilmanic policy initiatives. He can sit down and rattle off economic development studies, zoning overlays, and potential development districts in a way no sitting elected official in city government can currently match. We firmly believe that his experience, expertise, and perceptiveness are desperately needed at this difficult, post-Hurricane Ida juncture.
PW Prop. (Public Library) – 4 Mills – CC – 20 Yrs.: Vote YES
The Library System has transformed itself since Hurricane Katrina. With the investment of this millage, new branches have opened, programs have expanded, and perhaps as important as the proliferation of books has been the easy access to computers and online training—to narrow the digital divide in our poor city. Without libraries, civilization ceases to exist. Without this millage, our local libraries will cease to exist.
Moreover, system administrations have come up with a detailed plan of how to invest the money, with every element thoroughly vetted through public forums and council meetings. They include expansion of access to library facilities and hours–and vastly more abilities to access the Internet for those without digital means. All government departments should be as accountable as the library system. They deserve this property tax renewal. Please vote YES.
PW Prop. (Neighborhood Housing) – 0.91 Mills – CC – 20 Yrs.: Vote NO
The Editors of The Louisiana Weekly stand as strong supporters of affordable housing. However, we are stronger supporters of government accountability, and this millage proposal provides almost none.
This article originally published in the December 6, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
