During times of emergency like the COVID-19 crisis, information is important. Former TV News anchor and current Jefferson Parish Councilmember, Scott Walker, proves officials can use social media to feed valuable and at times critical information to the public.
“On March 16th, I told my staff that our jobs changed and we're now hardcore information pushers,” Walker explained. “Every day, as much information as we can put out there, we're putting out in as close to real-time as possible.”
“I know from my time in TV that, when a crisis happens, whether it's a hurricane or any major event that what people want is information,” Walker continued. “And they crave information. So we had to pivot and change the way we do our jobs and focus the entirety of our office on putting out information.”
However, it hasn't just been about providing information during the shutdown. There's also plenty of planning going on about how to re-open the economy.
“As time moves on, you're going to see Jefferson Parish follow the Governor's guidelines pretty closely,” Walker said. “We're monitoring what he's going to do on Monday with his announcement. I don't think the parish wants to anything that doesn't follow along with what the Governor does."
Walker says, “We want to be regional and statewide in our approach. It's not just going to be a Jefferson Parish thing. It'll be Jefferson, Orleans, and Louisiana thing. We're going to see what our partners are doing.”
Because the virus is so widespread, health officials and government leaders say they know they need to take a regional approach to recovery. Jefferson Parish Chamber of Commerce, Todd Murphy has criticized Mayor LaToya Cantrell for her decision to extend the stay at home order past governor John Bel Edward’s April 30th deadline, saying it hurts the economic recovery efforts and says the New Orleans mayor was not effectively communicating with regional partners.
Related: JP Chamber of Commerce criticizes N.O. Mayor Cantrell
But, Walker says he believes the cooperation between Jefferson Parish and Orleans parish is where it needs to be for the regional recovery. “I've had several different conversations with New Orleans City Councilmembers, and I know that Cynthia has been in pretty regular contact with LaToya Cantrell.”
