That lemony-fresh smell will persist in the French Quarter for the forseeable future.
This is the result of the New Orleans City Council overrode Mayor LaToya Cantrell's emergency declaration granting a downtown sanitation contract to Henry Consulting. The councilman who represents the French Quarter says it's about giving the residents and businesses there what they want.
"I just see the need to continue the French Quarter with the best sanitation service that it can get . . . and right now, based off what I'm being told and based off what I see and what I smell, that's IV Waste," Councilman Freddie King said on Friday.
King says he introduced the measure to override Mayor Cantrell's emergency declaration because she created the emergency she's trying to solve. King told WWL's Tommy Tucker that Cantrell decided to cancel the contract with IV Waste in an attempt to give Henry Consulting the contract. Henry won the low-bid process to obtain the contract in 2024, but the council granted an emergency contract to IV Waste following Henry Consulting's announcement that it was changing subcontractors--an announcement that came shortly after the company won the bid.
"The council said none of this smells right," King said. "This is a bit fishy."
King says he and the council are standing firm with French Quarter residents and businesses who want IV Waste to continue to provide sanitation services there.
"We have a proven commodity in IV Waste, so we want to continue to have IV Waste play out this contract for the year and we move forward from there," King said. "I don't understand what's the big rush (or) what's the sense of urgency to grant the contract to someone else when you have everyone saying, 'Let's stay the course. Let's stay with IV Waste. We like what we see.' There's no one complaining. I don't understand the knee-jerk reactions or the sense of urgency to change course."
In April, Mayor Cantrell announced she was canceling the IV Waste contract effective July 30. The council's action did not nullify that decision. Under a new state law, the French Quarter Management District will be able to choose its own garbage collector, but it's unclear who will service the Central Business District and Warehouse District.
Related
