MAYORAL CANDIDATES

In December and early January, a team from French Quarter Citizens (FQC) and Vieux Carré Property Owners, Residents and Associates (VCPORA) interviewed candidates for Mayor and for City Council At-Large and District C seats. Below are summaries of the interviews with mayoral candidates. We began each interview by asking each candidate to list their five major priorities; follow-up questions explored specific issues in more detail, or issues important to residents of the French Quarter that the candidates had not addressed. We did not always ask each candidate the same question, so blank spaces should not be interpreted as “no response.” We frequently needed to paraphrase their statements, but did verify direct quotes from the recordings of the interviews. Please keep in mind that our summaries may not have fully captured all the subtleties of the candidate’s positions; we encourage you to review the candidates’ campaign materials, attend forums and other presentations, and, if possible, talk to the candidates themselves.

Mayoral candidates are presented in alphabetical order:

COUHIG • GEORGES • HENRY • LANDRIEU • PERRY • RAMSEY

ROB COUHIG

Top five priorities:

Every decision in a Couhig administration will be guided by four principle goals:

1.                    Make the city more livable

2.                    MaKe the city more affordable

3.                    Provide economic opportunity for the city

4.                    Ensure fair and equitable treatment for all

Actions planned to make the city more livable:

·                     Restore trust in the Police Dept so that people believe in them and juries believe their testimony.

·                     Recruit a police chief with principal criteria of integrity, accountability, discipline and proven leadership experience in the field.

·                     Bring three finalists to meet with all the stakeholders in the criminal justice system including district attorney, judges, city council and community leaders. Get their input before making a final selection.

·                     Personally take responsibility for high standards and performance. "It is unacceptable that our murder rate is 15 times that of NYC. We can’t afford to get used to that!"

·                     Blight is a livability and crime issue. Blight causes hopelessness in neighborhoods. Every one of the over 50,000 abandoned or derelict properties in the city causes a lack of hope. Advocates expropriating and/or purchasing blighted properties, and making it easier for people in the neighborhoods to purchase.

Action plans to make the City more affordable:

·                     Work to reduce or control taxes. Extend the budget process to begin in June with open and public evaluation line-by-line and department-by-department. Manage according to priorities within our resources. Recognize that we are a smaller city and can only spend accordingly.

·                     Dedicated taxes allow for movement of general funds away from the proposed dedicated area. All city expenditures should be based more on current needs and priorities and less on historic allocations or special funds.

·                     Identify and sell city owned land that has no planned use. Especially sell property that housed schools not slated to re-open. Use funds to pay down debt and reduce interest costs.

·                     Focus on needed reductions in insurance and utility rates.

Action plans to provide economic opportunity:

·                     Education was the lead topic. (Mr. Couhig was the only candidate who cited education as an economic opportunity and the universities as the city’s largest employers.) Need to work with universities, especially UNO to increase their funding and their success.

·                     Also emphasized importance of elementary and secondary education and Mayor’s ability to support.

·                     We need to get going with the $5 billion investment in new hospitals plus the biomedical corridor. There is no sense in re-fighting the argument about the Charity building housing a new hospital. If we invest well, there will be opportunities to adapt the Charity building to a new and probably related use.

·                     Tourism, especially in the French Quarter, should be focused more in higher end clients. "We do not need to attract kids to come and throw up on the street." Apply his four principles to the French Quarter as to all neighborhoods. "Make it livable, make it affordable, provide economic opportunity and be accountable for fair and equitable treatment." If we can’t succeed in the French Quarter, how can we expect to succeed in the rest of the city?

·                     Use the Master Plan and the CZO as an asset to provide predictability for investors.

Action plans to assure fair and equitable treatment:

·                     Eliminate the idea that knowing someone in city hall can buy you favors.

·                     Be public about all proposed contracts, including personal service contracts from their inception and through the bid and award process. Reduce the number and scope of personal service contracts but recognize that the final decision does and should lie with the Mayor.

·                     Use the Inspector General as an asset.

·                     Use the Master Plan and Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance (CZO) as an asset.

On historic preservation:

·                     "The French Quarter is the Heart of the City."

·                     His emphasis is not on "this house" but on "this area." Every building casts a shadow and affects the character of a neighborhood. He is less concerned about single buildings in isolation than about those in a historic neighborhood.

On the Inspector General:

·                     Unequivocal support of the IG as an ally in making better management decisions and providing fairness and equitable treatment for all.

On the Master Plan:

·                     Unequivocal support for the Master Plan and CZO with the force of law.

·                     Has a sense of urgency to implement no later than this summer recognizing that is contains a mechanism to change over time.

·                     Sees it as a key to both economic development and fairness.

On the city budget process:

·                     See city affordability above.

On the Riverfront:

·                     "I like the idea of opening up the riverfront."

·                     "I am so disappointed in the New Orleans Building Corporation (NOBC)" [that is the agency in charge of the "Reinventing the Crescent" project]

·                     NOBC seems to be operating as a dictatorship without listening to input from others both on the World Trade Center and the Riverfront.

On Public Transportation:

·                     Focus needs to help people to get to work and to shopping.

·                     Great importance to getting people downtown to make downtown more viable.

·                     Committed to support Rampart-St. Claude streetcar line assuming it does not create new tax or debt for citizens.

On communication and organization of the administration:

·                     The three most important appointees are Chief of Police, City Attorney, and Chief Administrative Officer.

·                     Chief Administrative Officer will work like a city manager.

·                     Reach out to the City Council; walk up the stairs at City Hall and walk down the hall to engage with the Council.

·                     Use social networking to give citizens a way to communicate directly. Listen and be responsive.

·                     Reach out to and meet with community organizations and listen.

·                     Referred to his recent radio talk show experience as teaching the importance of listening.

·                     Views his role as mayor to be hands on, face to face, in town, leader of new capable organization he puts in place,

Philosophical position:

·                     "Let’s not depend on the kindness of strangers."

·                     Realizes that we are the masters of our own fate.

JOHN GEORGES

Top five priorities:

1.                    Crime

2.                    Health Care

3.                    Economic Development

4.                    Blight and code enforcement

5.                    Education

Actions planned to control crime:

·                     Hire as Police Chief a successful leader with 20+ years experience in a similar environment. "I would like him to be young and energetic in mid career…. I am not looking for a rock star."

·                     Conduct a local, regional and national search using experts including local criminal justice officials to locate and evaluate candidates.

·                     The new chief will know how to use technology and how to get grants to support it.

·                     "The solution is not more police, it is better trained and better managed police."

·                     Would focus on violent crime, quality of arrests, not quantity. Supports broken window approach to code enforcement but not for crime at this time.

·                     Supports bar owners hiring police details to put more police in the French Quarter and tighter standards regulating details.

·                     Supports intervention with juveniles to prevent crime. Strongly supports community policing including things such as police adopting literacy or explorer programs.

·                     Need tight relationship and teamwork between mayor, police chief and district attorney.

·                     Would have DA take over civil prosecutions from the city attorney. It would be more efficient and give the DA a larger budget.

·                     Believes the Mayor and DA together can weigh in on judicial elections and improve the judiciary.

·                     Proposes training for prisoners to prepare them for jobs after release.

·                     "Go after illegal immigration… We need to be a city that our citizens rebuild"

Action planned for health care

·                     Priority on bioscience corridor, including specialized hospitals for treatment and research for cancer, cardiac and vascular disease and diabetes.

·                     Rebuild Methodist Hospital and use Charity building for the LSU Hospital. The money will not be there for the huge new hospital.

Action planned for economic development:

·                     Re-brand New Orleans and market it as "America’s Historic City"

·                     Re-brand from frivolous entertainment to attract visitors to see history, museums, music and art.

·                     Cleaning up the garbage was just a start. We need code enforcement, noise enforcement and an environment friendly to cultural tourists.

·                     Cabs need to be re-branded. All painted the same.

·                     We need to preserve and promote all our historic neighborhoods, not just the French Quarter.

·                     Restore New Orleans’ position as gateway to Central and South America.

·                     Seek airline (Frontier was mentioned as probable) to establish a hub in New Orleans especially for travel south. Could grow to over 200 flights per day and 4500 jobs.

·                     Support neighborhood shops, restaurants and small businesses. Keep our commercial entities inside New Orleans.

·                     "New Orleans East is the Metairie of the seventies." Develop commercial sites there and in the Carrolton corridor, Gentilly and Mirabeau and other blighted areas.

Action planned to promote education:

·                     The city needs a strong will to improve education. We have had small victories but need to understand how far we have to go. We have a huge challenge in high schools.

·                     Right now, we should support the existing structure and let the charters mature.

·                     He has a four year goal to return schools to local control. The mayor should have a role in that.

Action planned to end corruption and create transparency in government:

·                     would handle professional services contracts differently, would support a Charter change.

On historic preservation:

·                     "I and my family have a vested interest in the French Quarter"

·                     Historic preservation is fundamental to re-branding the city. (see above)

On the Inspector General:

·                     Need it now because of incompetence and inefficiency

·                     "It’s a shame we can’t just have a public integrity unit in the DA’s office."

·                     Not happy with its performance to date but no opinion on current inspector general.

TROY HENRY

Top five priorities:

1.                    Re-engineering city government

2.                    Crime

3.                    Infrastructure

4.                    Economic Development

5.                    Blight

Actions planned to re-engineer city government:

·                     City government needs to become more efficient and customer focused.

·                     Must do process mapping. There are inefficient processes all over the city. Map all processes to ring out the inefficiencies.

·                     Put in performance plans for each employee, review performance frequently. Step up the standard for productivity.

·                     Must be done quickly. Changing the culture must be like ripping off a band-aid. The process should take six months.

Actions planned to control crime:

·                     Most crimes are committed by black teenagers. Reach them earlier and get them involved in constructive activities. New Orleans Recreation Department is important to that.

·                     Most criminals read at the 4th grade level. In addition to improving schools we need to provide vocational training to give those who now fall through the cracks an alternative to crime.

·                     Hire a new Police Chief. Emphasis on core values of integrity, commanding the respect of the citizenry, commitment to excellence and open transparent communication.

·                     Looking for a chief that understands performance-based management, manages to results and is innovative.

·                     "Will focus on Drugs and Thugs…. We will make it very hard on violent and repeat offenders!"

·                     We will have a criminal justice coordinator whose job is to be sure we have a smooth process, open communication and collaboration among judges, police, DA and Criminal Sheriff.

Actions planned to rebuild infrastructure:

·                     We are losing about half of the city water we process. That can and must be fixed.

·                     We can and will spend more on streets. New Orleans spends $3 million on streets every year. Baton Rouge spends $26 million. Fixing streets is a matter of priority and money.

Action planned for economic development:

·                     Cultivate and invest in New Orleans businesses that have made an investment in our city.

·                     "I’m a huge fan of medical investment in the city and will support emphasis on the medical community." "We need to provide leadership to stop the languishing and floundering on the hospitals….People are dying because of indecisiveness."

·                     "I will put in a cabinet position to support all the cultural entities in the city." This will include all of our historical and cultural assets.

·                     The wider Panama Canal will be an opportunity for some Gulf Coast Port. It should be New Orleans.

·                     "I will attract 30,000 to 40,000 new jobs to our city." " I will meet with 200 Fortune 500 CEOs and offer them a compelling value proposition for doing businesses in New Orleans."

·                     "I will ask the President to put 10,000 jobs behind the levees in New Orleans."

Action planned to remove blight and rebuild neighborhoods:

·                     Copy the model of Pontchartrain Park. Supply credits to homeowners to allow them to buy and then live in energy efficient homes.

·                     Use all the tools available to reclaim blighted properties including code enforcement, condemnation and seizure where necessary.

On historic preservation:

·                     We need to invest in historical preservation; it drives a big portion of our economy.

·                     The cabinet cultural officer will be responsible for following that.

On the Inspector General:

·                     is very comfortable with the IG’s role, but it has to define its mission. It can be helpful in areas of fighting inefficiency and corruption. Is not in favor of them screening the vendors; they don’t have the expertise to do that.

On the Master Plan:

·                     I believe comprehensive zoning ordinance and the Master Plan, take politics out of it. His philosophy is, follow the rules. Most of the exceptions are to help somebody. Unless there is a compelling, overwhelming reason to break the rules.

On the City Budget Process:

·                     would be priority-driven and will budget for result

·                     would collaborate with citizens and the council to be sure we have agreement on priorities.

·                     Would be accountable for results in the plan.

On the Riverfront:

·                     There are and will be a lot of demands on the riverfront, East and West Banks. Believes in parks and open spaces, but isn’t certain that the community established the Reinventing the Crescent project Ras a $30 million priority. If we are to put a park there, it should be part of a comprehensive plan with citizen participation, "not a cram down."

On Public Transportation:

·                     Is a big fan of the BR-NOLA rail. Thinks there are elements of public transportation we need to be in tune to, but a lot of that money will have to come from the federal government. Is a big proponent of public transportation, but it has to make economic sense.

On Communication and Organization of the Administration:

·                     Would meet monthly with the council representative and citizens in each council district to hear their issues and needs.

·                     Would have quarterly open forums with all department heads to hear citizen input on needs and on our performance.

·                     Would have an annual community conference to help set priorities and provide an evaluation of my performance by the citizens.

·                     Views the citizens as my customers and my administration will be committed to serving them.

·                     Contracting processes will be open and efficient. Today the city’s entire contracting process is a disaster for bidders as well as the city. The Mayor needs the authority to execute professional services contracts, but the priorities, goals and process should be completely transparent.

·                     Philosophical positions:

·                     "I believe in comprehensive planning, setting priorities and accountability."

·                     "I will take things on that we can address. I will not take things on that we cannot address."

MITCH LANDRIEU

Top five priorities:

  Says there are fifty or more priorities, there are three that make all the others possible."

1.                    Crime and Public Safety

2.                    Schools

3.                    Economic Development

Actions planned to control crime:

·                     Recruit a new police chief, probably from out of town

·                     Have a citizens committee recommend 3 or 4 finalists

·                     Hire from those finalists

·                     Commit to re-engineering the entire police department

·                     Rebuild NORD after the model of BREC in Baton Rouge; give teenagers an alternative to gangs and crime

·                     Rebuild NORD after the model of Baton Rouge’s recreation department (BREC): give teenagers an alternatives to gangs and crime.

·                     Reform the juvenile justice system. Bring state reforms to New Orleans to assure we use the right resources and responses for each kid.

·                     Get district attorney, judges, and police in one room. Demand performance and cooperation. Act as a traffic cop between the various entities. Be sure they understand, "If I don’t see significant progress you will hear from me during the next election.

Actions planned to improve schools:

·                     Be a champion for schools

·                     Seek Dollars from Washington (as he has been doing as Lt. Governor

·                     FEMA Lump sum settlement

·                     Race to the top funding

·                     Encourage experimentation

·                     Keep existing governance structure for at least 24-36 months

·                     Then work toward new structure retaining the principles of school autonomy, accountability, high standards and parental choice.

Actions planned for economic development:

·                     Sign the Public Private Partnership proposed by Forward New Orleans, thereby creating a business friendly economic development organization.

·                     Go to each local organization to retain existing business in the City, focusing on Oil & Gas and the Port.

·                     Press for growth in the following areas (in order of importance)

·                     Biomedical – it’s a huge opportunity. Charity building will be preserved and adapted to a new use.

·                     Michoud

·                     Federal City

·                     Port of New Orleans. (Emphasis is on Containers and Cruise Ships. "I can’t imagine a need to expand the Port beyond its current footprint.")

·                     Creative & Digital Media

·                     Green Jobs

·                     Foreign Direct Investment

On historic preservation:

·                     "The French Quarter is really important. It will not survive if we take it for granted."

·                     "The federal government should invest in the French Quarter, make it a Federal Historic District."

On the Inspector General:

·                     The Inspector General is my ally in improving efficiency and effectiveness and combating fraud and abuse.

On the Master Plan:

·                     "We need zoning predictability. We need to agree on the rules and enforce them."

·                     "Spot zoning is not a good thing."

·                     "I will encourage full implementation. That sets the table."

·                     "If zoning law says this is what we should do and there is a reasonable exception, I would always look at it." I would put the parties together and seek to balance the interests of all parties. "I have never subscribed to the slippery slope notion… That to me is one size fits all."

On the City Budget Process:

·                     Would budget for outcomes. The current administration says they do but they do not understand.

·                     Start from zero

·                     Decide what outcomes and what priorities

·                     Budget needed resources for highest priorities. Get away from across the board increases or cuts.

·                     "I’ve been doing this for 5 years" As Lieutenant Governor I hired a world class consultant on government re-organization. We budgeted for outcomes and reduced staff by 100 and the total budget from $160 million to $95 million.

·                     We do not collect the taxes due the city. We do not have fair assessments. Fair assessments will bring in more revenue and perhaps allow a reduction in millage.

On the Riverfront:

·                     Great cities are going back to their waterfronts.

·                     New Orleans Building Corporation management does not seem to be well respected.

·                     "I would want a leader that builds consensus."

On Public Transportation:

·                     Supported high speed rail to Baton Rouge and across the south. That would be a tremendous boon to the city.

·                     While in France met with Veolia. Respects what they have done in France.

·                     Supports a truly regional transportation authority to include adjoining parishes.

·                     Likes new smaller busses.

On Communication and Organization of the Administration:

·                     Would be a very visible Mayor very accessible. Would meet in the districts with department heads and the council members probably twice yearly.

·                     His administration would be transparent. He’s already subject to public records laws.

·                     As is done at the State level, his administration would have open contract review and would explore and employ other best practices.

Philosophical positions:

·                     Tries to bring people together. Asks if they like each other; if they trust each other; tell them to sit down and find a solution everyone can live with. "My process is to bring in smart people that build consensus." "I believe in being hard on problems and soft on people."

·                     Would work hard and be accessible

·                     Would travel to Washington and to the State Legislature to promote the City’s interest.

JAMES PERRY

Top five priorities:

1.                    Crime

2.                    Blight, rebuilding neighborhoods

3.                    Corruption and transparent government

4.                    Economic Development

5.                    City Budget

Actions planned to control crime:

·                     Police chief is a priority. He must be accountable, have goals and objectives and show measurable progress on those goals.

·                     Would emphasize quality of arrests, not quantity and understanding the importance of community policing.

·                     would direct the new Superintendent to work with all members of the criminal justice system and social services agencies to address the root causes of crime.

·                     Technology is important; we need proper data, something more expansive than CrimeStat. Would require that the NOPD compile and disclose a monthly Crime Report Card.

·                     "I don’t think the broken windows approach will work for us right away. Until we get some reforms in place, I think we will have to operate differently

·                     If I don’t reduce the murder rate by 40%, I will not run for re-election

Action planned remove blight and rebuild neighborhoods:

·                     would make Sheriff’s house sales a priority in eradicating blight

·                     would use the National Trust, choose a couple of Main Street projects, one in the East and one in the Lower 9th ward.

·                     "The president is looking at what is going on in the next Mayor’s race. We can get help through federal assistance."

Action planned to end corruption and create transparency in government:

·                     There is distrust now because of secrecy in the way government operates

·                     I will establish a new reformed process for professional services contracting.

·                     Everyone should know who all the sub-contractors are; they should be on the website

·                     Action planned for economic development:

·                     Would sign a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement (CEA) to establish the first Public-Private Partnership in city government.

·                     The port is a fundamental key, especially with the Panama Canal expansion and possible opening of trade with Cuba.

·                     We need to use incentives to get people to Louisiana

·                     believes in.the medical development but has some concerns. Doesn’t believe in destroying Mid-City to build a suburban facility when Charity could house it.

·                     Use tax increment financing

·                     Use Horizon Institute to allocate to entities wanting to do business n the city.

Action panned for budgeting:

·                     Outcome-based, zero base budget starting 6 months before approval.

·                     Citizen input is important and easy to get, but budgeting for priorities is the key.

·                     His budget priorities would be crime and public safety. People must feel safe.

On historic preservation:

·                     his first job out of school was with the Preservation Resource Center.

·                     committed to historic preservation and proud to be a preservationist.

·                     A good Master Plan is the key. A Mayor must be clear about enforcing the rules that are on the books.

On the Inspector General:

·                     supports the office of the Inspector General

On the Master Plan:

·                     A good Master Plan is key to preservation and economic development.

On the City Budget Process:

·                     Budget reform is a key priority (see above)

On the Riverfront:

·                     There needs to be more respect for community input in this process.

On Public Transportation:

·                     Public transportation makes a difference in making a city prosper and work well.

·                     Transport NOLA has come up with a plan, a 20 year plan developed in 5 year increments. He has adopted the plan and would implement it.

On Communication and Organization of the Administration:

·                     Philosophy is action orientation, commitment to immediate actions and reforms.

NADINE RAMSEY

Top five priorities:

1.                    Neighborhood input and participation

2.                    Crime

3.                    Education

4.                    Economic Development

5.                    City Budget

Actions planned to get neighborhood input and participation:

·                     Establish Office of Community Affairs, a neighborhood liaison in the mayor’s office

·                     Go into neighborhoods. "I am serious about communities and I will show my face!"

·                     Would have regular meetings with neighborhoods

·                     Would honor input from the neighborhoods on all issues

Actions planned to control crime:

·                     Recruit and hire a new Police Chief with experience as leader in crime control

·                     Make new chief and department understand she (Ramsey) expects something to be done

·                     working with the district attorney and courts is very important

·                     Develop plans for neighborhoods, dealing with quality of life issues

·                     Have police engaged in neighborhoods including working with kids and the elderly

Action planned to improve education:

·                     Make a strong statement through leadership

·                     We need trade schools to teach construction trades

·                     Assure that all schools are accountable

·                     Support efforts of schools. When things are unacceptable, a leader will stand up and say this is unacceptable

Action planned for economic development:

·                     Promote New Orleans as a city of small business and entrepreneurs

·                     The medical community and education will drive economic development

·                     Tourism is important. "You can’t underestimate the value of the French Quarter!"

·                     The Mayor needs to take an active role in promoting the city.

Action planned for budgeting:

·                     Deal with budget earlier in year

·                     Start with department-by-department review

·                     Have extensive public input and review

On historic preservation:

·                     "I love the French Quarter. This is why people come here."

·                     "I am not at all in favor of destroying historic value"

·                     We must enforce the laws and ordinances.

·                     Preservationists have to understand compromise; we all may have to give up something

On the Inspector General:

·                     "It’s in the charter. When it works we can live with it."

·                     "Some things that have gone on have not helped the office."

On the Master Plan:

·                     It’s been voted on

·                     If it’s a good (zoning) law for everybody, we live by that. We don’t change the law for one person.

·                     It is incumbent on the Mayor’s office to work with it and make sure we have input from citizens

On the City Budget Process:

·                     One of her top priorities (see above)

On the Riverfront:

·                     Renewing the Crescent is a wonderful idea

·                     It must be balanced with neighborhood needs

On Public Transportation:

·                     Not an issue I have been confronted with

·                     Open to improvements and proposals

On Communication and Organization of the Administration:

·                     She has a sense of urgency. If people don’t share that, she won’t tolerate it.

·                     She doesn’t have all the answers but will work with you.

·                     The city needs to be open for business and free of corruption

·                     would keep personal services contracting process as it is

·                     Philosophical positions:

·                     Leadership, expecting and demanding of citizens

·                     Focus on community input and involvement