| Voter's Guide, 2021 Fall Elections, New Orleans
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| Position | Councilmembers District C | | Name | STEPHANIE BRIDGES | | Party Affiliation | Democrat | | Profession | Executive Director, Attorney | | Present Employer / position | New Orleans Council for Community and Justice | | Length of residence in Jurisdiction | Native New Orleanian | | List of educational institutions and degrees | Loyola University Law School, New Orleans, LA, Juris Doctor August 2006
Loyola Law Clinic, Criminal Defense & Civil Practice - New Orleans, LA Spring 2006
George Washington University School of Law, Washington, D.C.,, Fall 2005
George Washington University, Washington, D.C., Graduate Studies 1989-1991
University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, Bachelor of Arts,May 1984 | | Prior elected and appointed positions | N/A | | Civic involvement and affiliations | Algiers Charter School Association (ACSA), Former Board Member)
Common Ground Health Clinic, Former Board Member
Lower Algiers Community Action Group, Former President
Welfare Rights Organization, Member
LA Violence Prevention Task Force, Member
Lower Algiers Civic Group, Member |
Questions specific to the position
| 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?
| NOFD and EMS employees provide critical public safety and public health services to New Orleanians. No, I do not believe that NOFD AND EMS’s wages are adequate.
Traditionally, NOFD contracts are weighted on the back end meaning firefighters have accepted pay concessions on the front end of their contract in exchange for a more generous retirement package on the back end. I would renegotiate the entire contract including the firefighters’ retirement package in order to determine how much of a pay increase is warranted and how and when the pay increase should be applied.
Also, EMS’ pay is at the top of the bottom one-third nationally. (https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/What-Is-the-Average-EMT-Salary-by-State) However steps should be taken now to keep New Orleans competitive and in order to move the city from the bottom third to the top half.
One source of funding to raise NOFD and EMS’ wages could come from revenue acquired from facility rental fees generated from the Municipal Auditorium. The Municipal was a financial success and generated a huge amount of funding to the City of New Orleans’ General Account. It accommodated carnival and society balls, high school graduations, community events, theatrical plays, etc., and is sorely missed in the city.
The $38 million dollars in FEMA funds should be used to seed the renovation and restoration of the Municipal Auditorium to its original use and bring it back into commerce.
| | 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, I support an ordinance to establish an independent external evaluation of the Ethics Review Board (“Board”) to ensure that the Board is enforcing the provisions of the Code of Ethics. | | 3. In your role as the regulatory body for Entergy, what factors would you consider to increase rates?
| The factors that I would consider regarding increasing rates would be to look at Entergy’s satisfaction of business and residential customers, the cost and reliability of provided power, the financial status and performance (e.g. rate of return, dividends payments), their short and long-term plans for growth and improvement, Entergy’s customers are very concerned with Entergy’s performance (losing power with the minor gust of wind) and Entergy’s billing for unsatisfactory service. | | 4. Where is the best site for a new City Hall and why?
| The best place for a new City Hall is where it is located right now. To relocate City Hall would cost at least a $100 million dollars that the city would have to raise to accommodate the move. Any revenue raised to move City Hall should be used to renovate the building on Perdido. In addition, with the new remote working practices, the city should wait to see what the trends and changes will be relative to managing work locations. As it stands now with more employees working remotely, determining space requirements for city employees housed at City Hall, and the other various sites city staff are assigned, remains uncertain, and will until the pandemic subsides. |
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