Two months after Ida and there are still many street and traffic lights out across the city. Street construction projects that broke ground half a year ago or more sit untouched, blocking roadways and presenting driving hazards. Many in the city are wondering when this backlog of projects will be completed, and one city council member said the answer from the Cantrell Administration has been crickets.
“I’ve asked DPW (Department of Public Works) for a list of, at least for District A, of every street that has been six months or longer under construction, why it has been under construction for that long, what is the delay, and then when is it going to be rectified, and I don’t have that either.” Councilman Joe Giarusso told Ramsey Green with the Mayor’s office during the ongoing 2022 budget hearings. “I just think people want to know when it is going to be fixed and saying, just bare with us is becoming harder and harder to do.”
“When something has been a month, a month, not a week, a month, how much longer should we have to wait for a timeline?” asked Giarusso who noted a string of key traffic lights in his western New Orleans District A that remain out. “When, when am I going to get my light fixed?”
Green couldn’t provide specifics on when Giarusso’s district would see key lights, like the one on State and St. Charles, restored. He did defend the city’s post-Ida recovery process and touted the handling of public works projects under the Cantrell Administration, saying the situation is better now than before the Mayor took office.
“This is complex work, this is a complex city to do it because of the ecological nature of this city and the history of how we built this city over the past 100 years, but we are doing it, and we are doing it in a really good way, and I would really appreciate your patience,” said Green.
The two ended up getting into it after about ten minutes of back and forth, with Green saying the city is juggling a lot of recovery projects right now and doing well considering the challenges they are facing. Giarusso contended that his constituents aren’t happy with the rate of progress.
“We are doing a really good job of getting this work done, and I understand that you are never going to get consistent attaboys Councilman Giarusso, cause I don’t get them, no one ever says thank you for doing what you do,” said Ramsey
Giarusso cut in “I’m not looking for attaboys, I didn’t get into the elected office for attaboys, I’m looking for a timeline,” said Giarusso.
Ramsey mentioned that just this week the city’s contractor took an important step forward in developing a plan to address the traffic light outages in District A.