Tomorrow there will be a public hearing in New Orleans City Council chambers to discuss the City’s response to the Hard Rock Hotel collapse, the timeline for demolition, the fate of two adjoining historic buildings and more. To help shed light on what may come from that meeting and why Mayor Cantrell said last week she would oppose such a meeting, Newell hosted City Councilmembers Joe Giarrusso and Jason Williams, as well as City Council President Helena Moreno.“There’s been a concern as to whether or not there’s been a level of cooperation between the Mayor’s office and the Council,” Newell began. “The Council has legitimate questions.. there’s things that happened on that site last week that Councilmembers say they learned about on social media. Not really the level of cooperation we’re used to seeing between the executive and legislative branches here. What is it that you hope to accomplish with this meeting tomorrow?”“We feel it’s important, and it's our role as City Council, to make sure there’s an information process, and we set up a means for all matters related to Hard Rock to be talked about and discussed in a manner where the public can be engaged,” Moreno answered. “What we will do tomorrow during this hearing is set up a process that will create a special committee. Whether its taking a look at new types of policies or ordinances that could prevent something like this from happening again, or it’s looking at the response - all that can be discussed. Tomorrow is just the beginning, what we’re trying to do tomorrow is about engaging the public. We understand there are all types of investigations happening right now and we don’t want to get in the way, but it’s our duty to be accountable to the people of this city and be transparent. The more information we put out, the less misinformation will be created.”“I’m a little taken back when the Mayor refers to the ‘legitimate’ investigative body - it doesn’t seem like this is an overreach on your part, how do you react to that?” Newell asked.
“It’s very clear in the Charter that the Council does have investigatory powers,” Moreno said. “That’s our role. Our involvement is incredibly relevant. But beyond that, take the investigative part out of it - we are the body where the public comes to receive information and be involved in that dialogue. I’m a little bit confused as to why there would be opposition to having that type of dialogue and access. At the same time, we must work hand in hand with the Mayor, and I’m committed to doing that.”
“I would be concerned if the development team came forward as they did and said ‘we want to set the record straight,” Newell said. “That implies there’s an avenue of wrong information or misinformation. How do you we remediate that?”“There’s press conferences, information is out there,” Giarrusso said. “The problem is, if the public doesn’t feel like they’re getting that information, there has to be a place for that. A good example - we heard the attorney from 1031 Canal Development LLC say yesterday that the building had been laser-scanned. We didn’t know that! That’s a good piece of information!”