prytaniawaterline.com Blog

The Louisiana legislature is about to vote to triple their salaries, there seems to be a public outcry against this. A raise is not the problem it is the amount. Thier justification is that their salaries have not kept up with the cost of living, I say whose salary has. Since they will become some of the highest paid legislators in the country the state should move to number one in all categories such as education, infrastructure etc. After all the highest paid legislators ought to be able to bring the status of the state to number one.

I guess my real problem is that when you add this raise to what they steal they are all making well into six figures. I won’t curse them publicly but my regular readers can figure out what I am saying under my breath.

The Times Picayune won’t let the City Hall credit card issue go. Apparently these credit cards are being used for fine dining and party throwing. Whether or not the use of these cards is official or not the problem seems to be that the users of these cards are not providing the proper documentation which seems to be the one requirement for using them.

From T.P.

The 1999 memo is clear on one point: Expenses can be covered by the city only if documentation is supplied.

“Bills, receipts and other documents must be checked for accuracy before payment or acceptance,” it reads in part. “Reimbursement should be requested only for reasonable and necessary official expenses.”

My problem with the whole thing is what makes public servants feel they deserve such perks. Our underachieving local government doesn’t deserve to be eating high on the hog while we have police and fire stations that need to be repaired. Streets that look like they have been bombed, and a urban blight problem that makes the city look like a scene out of a Mad Max movie. I wonder when the reality of the slow pace of progress will sink in with our elected officials. I wonder if they realize how much some people in the city are struggling to keep their heads above water. ( no pun intended.) As far as I am concerned they should take these credit cards away from all who hold them. Let them use their own credit cards for these events and be reimbersed later. That’s the way it is where I work. Even better maybe they need to get a brown bag and make themselves a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. Mr. Cerasoli where are you?

The Mayor’s comments about Kenya Smith being a critical part of building a better city makes me want to puke. I can’t think of very much that has been rebuilt better than it was before the storm. This is the same place it was before only torn up. The New New Orleans is not happening we have the same problems we did before, some of them even worse. I don’t mind living here but I would appreciate it if our elected officials would stop trying to convince people that we are living in a new and improved city. It’s just not true. You don’t know how hard it was for me to post this without using profanity. Ahh shit, what the hell the mayor is a fuckmook.

From WWL

“Kenya has been a critical part of our work to recover and to build an even better city for the future,” said Mayor C. Ray Nagin. “His passion and strategic vision have been invaluable. I thank him for his hard work and wish him every happiness and success in the future.”

Don’t be surprised if Kenya runs for elected office in the future.

The city council has decided to make it’s contracts public by posting them on their web page.

Continuing a drive to make information about city government more accessible to the public, the New Orleans City Council has decided to place all the professional-services contracts it awards on its Web site.

They are also considering passing an ordinance that would require the mayor’s office do the same.

From T.P.

The ordinance, which the council could vote on June 5, would further require that all professional-services contracts awarded by any department “within the control of the mayor” must be placed on the city’s Web site “in a conspicuous manner and an easy-to-use format.”

This is a good thing, the public has a right to know how their money, not the mayors’s money not the council’s money but money that belongs to the citizens of New Orleans i sbeing spent. I am pretty sure that even if the ordinance is passed that the mayor’s minions will delay and obtruct getting the information on the city’s web page. That’s just the way the “cable guy” does business. Why would a mayor who is doing a good job be so afraid of letting the public know what is going on behind the scenes? Could it be that he is not doing such a good job after all.

It’s always nice when you blog about an issue and the next day your suggestion is taken. The New Orleans City council is going to launch a probe to find out what is going on with 311 and the crime cameras that don’t work.

The council voted 6-0 to initiate the investigation. According to Nagin’s city attorney, Penya Moses-Fields, that step had to be taken before issuing a subpoena, which last happened 20 years ago. Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis had stepped away from the chamber before the vote.

Cynthia Willard-Lewis didn’t vote, hmmm… I gues she was out using a city credit card to pick up lunch for the rest of the council.

The city council needs to get to the bottom of the problems with the crime camera and 311 contracts. . These programs are costing a lot of money and are not producing results. Getting information from the Mayor’s obstinate staff is like getting a check from the Road Home Program. This city’s books need to be open, with the reputation for corruption here and our continued pleas for federal money, spending and the effectiveness of the spending needs to be transparent.

I did get get a kick out of something Brenda Hatfield said.

From T.P.

“We monitor all of the council meetings. We may not be in the chamber, but we’re monitoring” by live cable feed, Hatfield said. “We’re multitasking. Whatever they need, we respond.”

She’s a hoot, yeah right, they are multitasking at city hall.

As far as the credit card bills that the mayors staff has run up, I just want to let them know that I am available for lunch at Galatoire’s today.

Okay let’s talk about wasting millions of dollars in a community that is strapped for cash.

First off millions to keep the lights on at the defunct Charity Hospital.

Fom WWL:

Here’s a breakdown of how your taxes are being spent to keep utilities running at Charity’s complex of eight buildings, according to the utility bills:

- More than $1,372,579.74 for electricity

- More than $182,302.30 for water

- More than $2,894,119.21 for air conditioning and heating

That brings the total to $4,449,000.25.

Then there is the story of the council at long last asking for some accountability on the
crime cameras and the 311 deals

All I have to say is that the Nagin administration is a total clusterfuck. The city council now has a responsibility to bring the malfeasence into the open. If City Council doesn’t think that the people of New Orleans have had enough of this shit then they are just as complicit as the Mayor, and just as responsible for the state of this city.

Yesterdays Times Picayune report on the Mayors accoplishments or lack thereof at the mid-term point in his second term. I thought the article was kind of easy on the cable guy. Of course I am extremely biased when I talk about the Mayor, I have never forgiven him for his lack of leadership imediately after the storm. Considering the lack of a workable disaster plan, and the mayor hiding out in the Sheraton after the storm, I lost respect for the man at that point. Since then he has not done anything to change my mind. From his snail like approach to recovery, to the fact that he can’r keep his foot out of his mouth, you wind up with an administration that only seems to care about it’s political image and not the citizens of the City of New Orleans. I continue to hold my nose as he finishes out his term, hoping that in the next election we can elect someone who has the skills and the passion to improve the quality of life of the citizens who have made great sacrifices to return and rebuild. Meanwhile the administration continues to sign contracts that cost New Orleans more than simular contracts across the country. When asked to be accountable the mayor hides behind his staffers who he “delegates” the responsibility of running the city. The recovery of New Orleans continues to be driven by the citizens who have returned, in spite of the roadblocks that City Hall places in their way.