With 150 days left in Mayor LaToya Cantrell's term, what can we expect from the next mayor of New Orleans? The candidate who wins the election to succeed Cantrell will have great expectations placed on him or her, and one analyst says voters have made those expectations crystal clear.
"A lot less travel, a lot more focus on streets, public safety, drainage: that's what the voters want, and that's what the winning candidate is going to have to promise and deliver," political analyst Clancy Dubos said. "I think the next mayor, regardless who wins, is going to promise change."
Dubos says that it will include a change in style, a change in leadership, and a change in the city's direction, including appointing new department heads in the municipal government. According to Dubos, the new mayor will also have to renew and improve relationships with state officials in Baton Rouge.
"Obviously, the new mayor will have to work on having a better relationship with the state, with Governor Landry, and the legislature," Dubos said, pointing to the state-chartered but city-run Sewerage and Water Board as a prime example of why the new mayor must improve relations with state government.
Dubos noted that both voters and the candidates need to be realistic about what change the new mayor will be able to effect.
"One thing I remember Mitch Landrieu saying after he came in after Ray Nagin's disastrous second term was the hardest part of any new mayor's job is managing expectations," Dubos said. "We do have a strong mayor form of government, and, people expect a mayor to sort of magically make everything better. The mayor does have a lot of power, but the council has a role to play, as well, as does the state. So there are a lot of things the mayor cannot control. Sometimes we expect our mayors to be Superman or Superwoman, and that only exists in the cinemas."
