| 1. Do you feel like the wages for municipal employees, such as the NOFD and EMS are adequate, and if not, how do you propose raising them?
| I believe wages for our NOFD, EMS, and NOPD are not nearly high enough. We ask these citizens to put their lives on the line for insulting salaries, and that needs to change. My office would raise new revenues by pushing for user fees to be assessed to non-profits and churches owning land within the city of New Orleans. My office would also push for the city council to legalize and tax recreational marijuana now, and not wait on the state. The tax revenues just from these two items would easily pay for the new programs we will need and additional training, staffing, and pay for our police, fire, and EMS departments. |
| 2. Will you support an ordinance to establish an independent external evaluation of the Ethics Review Board as called for in the Charter? Please explain your answer.
| Yes. If the charter calls for that action, then I would certainly support an ordinance to have an external evaluation to ensure integrity. |
| 3. In your role as the regulatory body for Entergy, what factors would you consider to increase rates?
| I would be hard pressed to consider any rate increases for Entergy at this time. I would be open to pushing Entergy to find ways to decrease customer bills in New Orleans by increasing solar and renewable energy projects that will cut down on the amount of fossil fuels we consume. |
| 4. Where is the best site for a new City Hall and why?
| The best location for a new City Hall would be off of Read Blvd in New Orleans East. There is plenty of available land and buildings in that area that we could easily put a new City Hall. The construction costs would be less than anything we could do in the CBD. The drivetimes to Read Blvd from most parts of the city compared to driving to the CBD and finding parking would be comparable. And the parking in the East would be free! Building a new City Hall in the East would be the city putting its arms around a part of town that we have been neglecting for more than 20 years. There's no better statement move for us to make if we want to change the course the city is on now. |
