NORA is breaking new territory in attacking post-Katrina blight by partnering with neighborhood groups to move blighted properties into the hands of nearby individual stakeholders to expand the concept of the successful Lot Next Door programs.

Recreation centers in the 9th Ward and in New Orleans East are underway and the Rosenwald Center on Broad Street is under review by FEMA. The City is working so that Rosenwald is declared over 50% damaged so that a new center can be built and a covered pool can be built by supplementing with CDBG funds. All New Orleanians should know how to swim and year-around swimming facilities must be built.

Over the past two years, I have led the effort to enact a formal City policy for the use of Tax Increment Financing to redevelop areas that would not otherwise stimulate investment. Recently, this policy was approved by the Council and TIF funds were authorized for a plan to bring the Lake Forest Plaza in New Orleans East back into commerce. I would encourage the increased use of TIF to eradicate blight in commercial properties.

New Orleans East is also home to the site of the former Six Flags theme park. I am a strong advocate for using this valuable land, which is currently sitting in disrepair, into a multi-use recreational complex. Built and managed by Big League Dreams, a company that has had incredible successes redeveloping neglected areas of other cities, this sports complex would provide our local youth with state-of-the-art fields and courts and could play host to regional tournaments.

Language outreach in Spanish, Vietnamese, and French is vital to our city’s growth. As a pilot event, a recent Special Development Projects and Economic Development Committee meeting on trade with Cuba was broadcast in Spanish in addition to English. Future communications contracts should include multi-lingual requirements, and proposals should be available for review in the full light of day.

Last year, I passed legislation that would have opened up the currently secretive Request for Proposals contracting process to the public. A mayoral veto of this ordinance obstructed this measure’s passage into law. I intend to work closely with the next mayor to ensure that contracting is fully transparent in compliance with Louisiana Open Meetings Laws, as required by State Law and asserted in two recent Louisiana Attorney General opinions.

On a personal level, my Council office has always maintained a policy of a 48-hour response time for any call or e-mail that requires an answer. I believe that as an elected official, one of my main responsibilities is to serve as a resource to the public, and I have received much positive feedback from constituents on the availability of my staff. I certainly plan to continue this policy if elected to another term.

In an editorial that ran in the Times-Picayune on November __ [date omitted in original response], I proposed a mini-constitutional convention to take place between the election in March and the beginning of the new mayor’s term in May. This assembly would address issues such as the budget process, the contracting process, and the economic development public-private partnership. I look forward to helping organize and participating in this important meeting of past, present, and future leaders of New Orleans, which I hope will aid in getting relations between the new mayor and the new Council off to a good start.

I am excited for the opportunity to thoroughly review the City Planning’s Commission’s Master Plan, which is expected come before the Council sometime in the spring, and eventually the new comprehensive zoning ordinance. The new Master Plan and CZO will have a dramatic
We do not have to wait for the Master Plan to remedy the housing problem in New Orleans, however.

In taking the controversial but necessary position that what are known as the “Big 4” housing projects needed to be demolished, I voted for a New Orleans that was not marked by compacted pockets of poverty. The Big 4 are in the process of being replaced by modern, efficient mixed-income housing. This type of housing builds communities and can be a solution to many of the other problems facing the city. Council members can play a role in increasing access to mixed-income housing by encouraging further development of housing that is available and affordable.

Too many of our citizens are incarcerated. The city must lay the groundwork for good citizenship early in the lives of our young people with educational and recreational mentoring in order to foster hope and belief in their futures.