A petition was filed Friday to recall New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell by a former city employee and former mayoral candidate who cite Newell Normand’s 14 reasons why the mayor should be ousted.
Belden “Noonie Man” Batiste is listed as chairman on the petition and Eileen Carter, who said she used to run social media for the city, is listed as vice chair of the recall campaign. Batiste and Carter will appear on the Newell Normand show Monday.
Both say filing the petition isn’t something they want to do, but rather something they feel like they have to do.
“The city of New Orleans is on fire, while crumbling to pieces. It’s true that there’s not one person, entity, organization that is at fault,” said Carter during a news conference outside city hall Friday. However, “the buck must stop at the top,” she added.
“The mayor she should put the city of New Orleans first,” Batiste told media at a press conference outside City Hall. “She has neglected her duties and there’s a number of issues going on. For instance, look at crime, look at infrastructure. I don’t hate the mayor but at the end, do your job!”
Carter also echoed Normand’s recent commentary on Cantrell when she said the mayor should not be in office for three more years.
“These are the reasons that Newell shared,” she also said, referring to 14 reasons laid out by the WWL host for Cantrell’s recall. They are as follows, according to Normand:
1. Crime – a crisis issue in the city. Even so, Cantrell has attacked a federal judge about the consent decree to lay the blame there, only making matters worse for the New Orleans Police Department.
2. NOPD staffing issues – there has been a total lack of attention till now.
3. Code enforcement and the lack thereof.
4. Revenue department is derelict in collection of taxes and delayed in sending out property tax bills.
5. Water bills are still a problem for many and residents aren't getting their over-payments back.
6. Wisner Trust, which people view as giving away money that belongs to the city?
7. Mishandling of 9-11 software.
8. Mishandling of the Smart Cities contract.
9. Mishandling of waste disposal, with residents paying for twice-a-week pickup but only getting one.
10. A lack of attention regarding blight remediation.
11. Capital Construction projects delays, always blamed on contractors.
12. Mishandling of French Quarter security.
13. Mishandling of the relocation of City Hall.
14. Mishandling of the Target in New Orleans East announcement.
Earlier this week, Normand also raised questions about the mayor’s traveling and court appearances in support of juvenile offenders as well as continued sanitation and public safety issues.
Cantrell defended her decisions in a press conference.
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Batiste and Carter’s petition was endorsed by the Secretary of State Friday. Cantrell’s administration declined to comment on it.
Before the recall could actually happen, a few necessary requirements must be met. These include securing handwritten signatures from around 53,000 people (equal to 20% of the city’s voting population) within 180 days. Once the signatures are collected and rectified, the document will then go to the desk of Governor John Bel Edwards for approval.
At that point, a recall election would be ordered.
“I was relocated due to Hurricane Ida, and I’m back,” Carter said Friday. “And to see the differences, you know, of what other communities have and what we don’t have and there are basic things that we aren’t doing that can absolutely be done. And to go through that election cycle – I don’t believe we had a choice.”
Cantrell, a Democrat, first assumed office in 2018 and won re-election for Mayor of New Orleans in Louisiana last November.
Carter likened the mayor to a hurricane as she called for public support of the recall this week.
“Unfortunately, crisis is one thing that binds the fabric of our community,” she said. “Betsy, Katrina, Ida, the list goes on of the names that have ravaged our homes, and I do not want to add Cantrell.”
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