Two new reports in the last week suggest terribly incompetent management of different programs by the city of New Orleans. The current administration is a disaster zone. Next year’s mayoral election still seems oh-so-far away, but city leaders and voters need to start planning now to get it right.
One report confirms what is obvious to anybody who drives on New Orleans streets: The city’s contracting system and management for infrastructure projects is a hot mess. The state’s Legislative Auditor reports multiple flaws in the system for paying vendors, which “can result in fewer vendors that choose to conduct business with the City and bid on City projects, potentially affecting the quality, timeliness, and price of goods and services.”
The second report adds one more fractal to the picture of a criminal justice system that just doesn’t work well enough. Nearly two full years after receiving federal funding of $4.5 million for a formal ankle monitoring program for juvenile offenders, the city hasn’t spent a dime of it yet. When ankle systems don’t work or aren’t monitored, miscreants wearing the monitors often commit more crimes.
Quin Hillyer
Mayor LaToya Cantrell says that implementing a good ankle monitoring system “takes time,” but, seriously, how hard can it be? Two months might be reasonable, but two years? With today’s advanced technology? That’s an insult to the intelligence of every New Orleanian.
These two new reports, atop a federal probe of the mayor, atop a massive crime wave that led the governor to send in state troopers, atop other embarrassments too numerous to recount, would look from a distance like a bad skit from the old Monty Python comedy troupe — but, alas, for those who live in New Orleans, it isn’t remotely funny.
In essence, New Orleans is in crisis. Everybody in Louisiana should worry when the city that drives the state’s economy is so pathetically managed. And everybody in Louisiana with any sway should be talking to each other to find the right candidate, perhaps an outside-the-political-box candidate, for mayor.
For what it’s worth, there is reason to hold in reasonably high regard one or more of the elected officials (past and present) who clearly are considering mayoral candidacies. One of them may prove to be the perfect fit. Still, others not usually in the political world should consider an attempt. Race shouldn’t matter. Political ideology should matter only at the margins. What should matter are competence, moxie, applicable experience (to management, not just politics) and leadership.
In Mobile, Alabama, in 2013, businessman Sandy Stimpson, long the sort of civic do-gooder that chairs boards and founds educational enterprises, ran for mayor, his first-ever bid for any office at age 61. Despite Alabama’s reputation, race didn’t matter much. In the two previous mayoral elections, while the city still was majority White, a widely respected longtime Black county commissioner won handily. By 2013 the city was majority Black, but the White Stimpson won — and then won reelection two more times by increasing margins, even as the percentage of Black population grew. Mobile’s economy and infrastructure is improving rapidly, and cheerful goodwill reigns.
Where is the civic leader who can be the Crescent City’s version of Stimpson? Black, White, Hispanic or whatever, surely someone can bridge the city’s divides. And surely a majority of New Orleans voters can leave tribal (race, faith, neighborhood) considerations behind and unite behind such a leader.
To repeat, the city needs to think creatively about its next mayor. Longtime politicians shouldn’t be ruled out, but nor should they comprise the entire universe of candidates. For illustrative purposes, could a way be found for retired quarterback Drew Brees to meet legal residency requirements and run? Remember how Sports Illustrated reported that he personally convened monthly meetings of business leaders to help New Orleans recover from Hurricane Katrina?
The point isn’t necessarily to recruit Brees for the race, but to encourage that kind of novel political thinking. New Orleanians are so famously resilient and innovative in other areas that there’s no reason they can’t find a good mayor. Off the top of my head, I can think of several people who could fill the prescription.
The two reports last week add even more evidence of the city’s precarious situation. Doomsday scenarios often are overwrought, but if voters get it wrong next year, recovery may be at least highly improbable.