The controversy over New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s decision to misuse nearly $30,000 of taxpayers’ dollars to fly first class to Europe was centered on the mayor’s concern for her safety. Mayor Cantrell said that her decision to fly first class was based on her security as she travels on behalf of the city.
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Cantrell’s excuse was widely debunked since her claim was not backed by any logical or factual evidence.
This week, the story of Mayor Cantrell living rent-free in an apartment owned by the city that has a market value of nearly $3,000 per month broke. Video from several media shows Mayor Cantrell walking into and out of the Upper Pontalba building where the apartment is located. What I find interesting about the surveillance video is that in every scene - whether she is walking dressed in casual street close or returning in exercise attire - Mayor Cantrell is ALONE!
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For a woman who made such a big deal out of her safety on a trip to Europe, why is Mayor Cantrell - now a controversial mayor - walking around the city alone? Cantrell is highly recognized in New Orleans; and yet with all of her security concerns, she is comfortable walking around alone without security. The chances that Mayor Cantrell would be recognized to the point where her security would be threatened while traveling in cities in France and Switzerland are less than minute.
Mayors in New Orleans should have security. I don’t think it’s safe for a mayor - especially a controversial one - to be walking alone in the French Quarter or anywhere in New Orleans. Local security of the mayor is totally justified, but the fact that Cantrell is walking and jogging around a city where she is the most-recognized and faces the greatest threat without security blows her assertion that she needed security traveling to Europe.
The mayor has, again, exposed herself as an arrogant monarch who is all about the show and less about the actions that will help our struggling city. The pomp and circumstance of traveling with security and an entourage seems to fit this mayor’s priorities.
