Tom Arnold

Kristin Gisleson Palmer

Q. What are your five initial priorities as District C Council member?

Q. What are your five initial priorities as District C Council member?

A. His first priority is to meet with the other Council persons and the Mayor to end fighting and build cooperation. Differences can be worked out executive session and the back room. It’s tougher to get the Council people to work together than deal with the actual crises. 

A. Create an accountable, efficient and well-trained staff accountable for constituent services

B. Create committees focusing on blight, crime, infrastructure, and economic development

C. Promote business activity

D. Lobby to create a Council committee on blight

E. Focus on crime across the board

 
Public Safety/Crime

 
Public Safety/Crime

Priority lies in choosing a police chief; he advocates a nationwide search but would accept a qualified local appointee. Stresses the police chief’s symbolic role; visibility is important for morale. There should be more police on the street, not riding around in cars. Says that dealing with crime has to focus on neighborhoods, from knowing your district police major to schools, which should also be neighborhood-based. 

Criminal justice should focus on serious crimes, not on minor offenses, and find ways to rehabilitate juveniles, not treat first-time marijuana use as criminal.  

Advocates eliminating specialized courts, such as juvenile, civil and criminal courts, arguing that hearing all kinds of cases would improve justice.  

Some problems stem from perceptions, crime is over-reported locally. Detroit and Atlanta have the same crime rate but they don’t splash it in the papers. Also, a major problem is that people don’t think their public safety money is used wisely.

Advocates a committee of criminal justice and civic representatives to select a police chief; searching nationally as well as locally. 

Supports using the budget process to advocate for public safety resources and promote transparency and data tracking. Would request the police chief to provide regular statistics and report to the Council monthly. Would facilitate coordination between the various public safety elements, as now done by the District Attorney. Streamline sentencing and focus on violent offenders. 

Supports quality of life courts to address blight, graffiti, loitering, and other relatively minor issues and to help relieve the burden on other courts  

Advocates re-structuring youth services and the New Orleans Recreation Department (NORD) to provide alternatives for children.

 
Budget and Government Services

 
Budget and Government Services

Notes past support for reducing the tax burden by increasing the Homestead Exemption. We don’t need taxes, but we need more tax payers. Budget review has to be done department by department by an independent auditor.  

Identifies the civil service as a major roadblock to effective government. Examples include the over-staffed and incompetent city Revenue Department. Lengthy bureaucratic processes, such as at Safety and Permits and the City Planning Commission, also impede service delivery and addressing blighted properties. Some independent agencies, such as the Sewerage and Water Board, should be consolidated with the city and fat cut. The City Attorney’s office should be independent, representing the city, not the mayor. Advocates moving toward a city manager form of government.  

Master Plan. Believes in a Master Plan, but some current plan elements are general and vague. Would commit to serious review of changes that would better fit a community.

Budget should reflect citizen priorities and be open and transparent. Preparations should begin at least six months in advance, and Council should have regular performance updates.  

Contracts spend public money and should be open to public scrutiny; all sub-contractors should be disclosed. 

Advocates studying experience and best practices in other cities, and establishing peer benchmarks for city services. Would rely on background in community building, not harassment, to improve city services. Essential services are police and fire protection. Another focus would be entities, such as the VCC, associated with New Orleans rebuilding process. Because lack of enforcement can impede recovery, increase the number of inspectors and promote cross-training to protect New Orleans’s character and heritage. 

Master Plan. Supports current Master Plan with a component for citizen input but plan must be subject to annual review and modification.

 
Economic Development

 
Economic Development

Cites personal history with heart problems that sent him to Houston; we need to find ways to provide the best possible medical staff and facilities in New Orleans. 

Suggests relocating City Hall to New Orleans East; the vacant shopping center has lots of parking and is easily accessible via the interstate. Relocation would build up the area. The existing city hall site could be redeveloped.

Points to her experience as Director of Rebuilding Together New Orleans that raised millions of dollars for rebuilding New Orleans and creating relationships with major businesses all over the country. Grew three staffers and $800,000 budget to 17 paid staff and 37 AmeriCorps staff with a budget of $6 million, not including donations in kind or volunteers.  

Advocates focusing on neighborhoods; stresses housing is economic development. Other priorities include the port, which brings good jobs; the biomedical corridor, although not in District C needs sensitive development; the airport, which represents us as a city and region; and the arts. Movies, art, music, and culture are a source of excellent jobs and encourage home-grown businesses.

 
The Council

 
The Council

Accessibility to the Council member is very important; notes having returned every phone call as assessor. One constituent outreach model is the former Algiers monthly town meeting attended by the Council member, neighborhood representatives and, as necessary, executive branch officers to focus on solving problems. 

Underlines that the Council member can’t see everything and that residents of the French Quarter can be monitors with a special role of bringing issues to the attention of the Council member.

Promotes more cohesion among the council and emphasizes working with the administration. Her vision includes a Council that celebrates the city’s victories and highlights what isn’t working, and provides a voice for the volunteers and non-profit, civic, and other groups that assist and promote the creative energy of the people helping rebuild.  

Is committed to creating an office that will give priority to constituent services.

The French Quarter

The French Quarter

The Vieux Carré is the face of New Orleans, Bourbon and Royal Streets are the charm of the city. But we need to get rid of the negative press and make sure the French Quarter is clean and respectable, sleaze ball free. Opposes cheap touristy T-shirt-type shops, hustlers, and street people. Jackson Square’s artists are enjoyable, palm readers are okay, but mimes belong in San Francisco. People should see what they expect to see: clubs on Bourbon and antiques on Royal, but dirt and slime-balls need to be cleaned up and monitored. 

Stresses that French Quarter residents have the same rights as other homeowners, and must be respected. Nevertheless, he observes that residents on Bourbon Street, for instance, know what they are getting into.

Underlines that the French Quarter is one of the city’s main economic engines and is always under siege. Preservation also means economic development; the Quarter needs to be protected, fostered, and maintained for tourists and residents. She notes her belief that what is good for the residential quality of life is good for the businesses. Her goal is to get groups together to resolve quality of life issues before they hit the public realm.  

She emphasizes the need to deal with long-term issues, including parking and buses, looking at the experience of other cities. The French Quarter’s need for every day trash pickup to support tourism can’t be left to political wiles. Crime is always an issue.

 
French Quarter Challenges

 
French Quarter Challenges

Re-inventing the Crescent Downriver Park. Not informed about park issues. 

Royal Cosmopolitan Condo-Tel (100 block of Royal). Not in favor of changing the face of the heart of the city, or changing rules to make un-economic projects economic. (FQC/VCPORA Note: Concerned that they lacked votes, the developers recently withdrew their application for Council approval.)  

New Orleans Cold Storage. We don’t need that here. 

Streetcars. Supports streetcars on North Rampart; they are feasible and tourist-driven.

Re-inventing the Crescent/downriver park. Everybody supports access to the river, but she recognizes community concerns about impact, access points, and maintenance. The City Planning Commission should have been involved; turning the project over to a developer with substantial holdings in the city will always create distrust. 

Streetcars. She is a strong advocate of North Rampart and St. Claude streetcar extension but opposes the Convention Center Boulevard line. Excited by the potential to strengthen economic development along St. Claude Street, which will affect North Rampart and Saint Roch as well.  

Armstrong Park. Supports park renovation but $80 million is too much because of the need to renovate other neighborhoods. 

French Quarter-Marigny Historic Area Management District. Not familiar with the issues but supports linking the French Quarter and the Marigny. 

North Rampart Main Street program. Cites role as lobbyist for New Orleans’s first urban main street project in New Orleans; familiarity with the Main Street program precepts, which build on the city’s neighborhoods and corridors; and would advocate for resources.

 
Personal Statement

 
Personal Statement

Stressed relevance of his Algiers experience, helping to protect historic properties including the Algiers Courthouse and Holy Name of Mary Church.  

He loved his work as assessor, and supported and implemented many technological and other changes that improved the system, providing overlays that helped the police and fire departments do their jobs better. His assessor rolls were never turned down by the Board of Review or the Tax Commission, and he was commended for having the best records in the state.  

Running for the one assessor position would involve a long learning process, and, after consideration, he believes he can do more for his city as a Council member. He understands the Councilman’s job can be tough, but maintains it doesn’t have to be.

Points to personal preservationist involvement in promoting re-use and re-cycling of historic materials, and record in becoming a recipient of FEMA and reconstruction materials and making them available for rebuilding.  

Points also to her track record in managing and fund raising; her creativity in finding resources that made her successful leading Rebuilding Together New Orleans. Maintaining open books, proper audits, and transparency contributes to her track record of using public monies wisely.  

These experiences, she believes, can be brought to the City Council level