LaToya Cantrell’s forlorn attempt to establish a state of emergency over the French Quarter Sanitation contract is 100% emblematic of her time in office. Essentially, she pulled the fire alarm on herself. She declared to the entire city that her leadership, her decisions, are an emergency. I couldn’t agree more.
It’s an absurd but predictable situation. Cantrell manufactured her own emergency just to arm herself with the ability to declare a formal state of emergency, just so she could serve up her friend, Troy Henry, the sanitation contract.
Lucky for us, the council voted 5-1 to nullify her declaration.
It’s no less disheartening, though; that's where we’re at in this city. An administration that can’t pay lifeguards an hourly wage on time but wastes time and resources performing all sorts of political acrobatics to award friends and associates with 73-million-dollar contracts.
The sorry state of things makes me wonder: Maybe we ought to declare our own state of emergency? Maybe we ought to declare that we don’t have a mayor who gives half-a-damn about the people she was elected to lead and refuses to address her backward decisions. She still hasn’t answered the questions of why she can’t just let the French Quarter trash contract play out in court. She never commented on why she refused to let IV Waste carry out the remainder of their contract.
Thankfully, changes to state laws allow the French Quarter Management District the power to select its own sanitation service. But at the same time, it's sad that it took state intervention to remedy this crisis.
However, although Cantrell’s most recent gambit failed, believe me when I say this: There’s no way this is over. Mayor Cantrell has resorted to playing dirty, and it’s clear that this trash contract issue is a matter of pride, and she’s going to do everything in her power to get her way before she leaves office.
Part of me believes she wants to screw this up so bad that it’ll take the next mayor three years just to sort out the problems she created.
And remember, this is just one of this week’s dumpster fires. Because it’s not just the French Quarter Trashpocalypse. It’s the Wisner Trust, Charity Hospital, the freezing of OPSO’s quarterly allocation.
I wonder how much more pain she plans to inflict before she leaves office? How many times will the council have to step in and say, “Sorry, mayor, you just can’t do that.”
Related
