Mayor Mitch Landrieu will hold a town hall meeting on city finances Thursday evening in City Council District A, at Lakeview Christian Center.
The meeting begins at 6 p.m.; The Lens will live-blog it here.
The forums are designed to allow the public to weigh in on how Landrieu should spend public dollars next year.
District A, represented by Councilwoman Susan Guidry, hugs the western edge of the city and includes Lakeview, parts of Mid-City and Hollygrove, Carrollton, Riverbend and Uptown.
Because the district includes Lakeview, home of some of the city’s worst roads and the Fix My Streets campaign, District A budget meetings have focused heavily on road repair.
But another campaign has emerged this year: Employees and supporters of the Orleans Public Defenders Office have shown up to every meeting to seek additional city funding.
The office, which represents about 85 percent of the city’s criminal defendants, is facing a $1 million deficit. Chief Public Defender Derwyn Bunton has warned that staff cuts and furloughs are coming in the fall.
Bunton made an appearance at the last town hall meeting, making the case that a better funded public defenders office would reduce the jail population. A jail now under construction is capped at just over 1,400 beds, but the city’s average daily jail population is still above 1,800.
Sheriff Marlin Gusman wants to build another facility to accommodate the inmates, which Landrieu now opposes. A number of audience members at the District B meeting spoke out against the idea.
“We need to force ourselves to do better when it comes to incarceration,” Bunton said.
The Lakeview Christian Center is awesome. It is better than any hotel in the CBD. WE (ASP and I) went over there to “appeal” our 2016 assessment. Everybody over there was real nice, but they (the City of New Orleans) gots their agenda, and WE got ours. WE couldn’t understand an increase of $100,000 in MARKET VALUE! Well, not to worry. After we showed the assessor the photographs and the contractor’s proposal of $271,990.00 to fix the property, WE managed to reduce the amount assessed by $7,000. Gawd is good! It’s da humans dat are “wanting.”
08/02/2015 5:42 AM DST USA
Thank you, Errol. WE (ASP and I) would like to know what you are “having,” because WE would like to have what you are having. It’s not the day-to-day City Hall employees who are the problem.
08/02/2015 5:48 AM DST USA
Errol the Assessor – you are not actually the problemo. You are no better, nor you any worse. It’s just that you sent your picture out on the announcements. Why? I DON’T KNOW.
08/02/2015 5:57 AM DST USA
WE did a spellcheck with the FBI – it would appear that Errol the New Orleans Assessor, is spelt wit two Ls. But this doesn’t look right. “ERROLL”!
Then WE did a spellcheck on ASSESSOR, and that has way too many $s $s $s $s….
08/03/2015 1:38 AM DST USA
Hold up! Hold up! There may be a problem with the day-to-day City Hall employees after all. Check out K. C. King’s article. There is a City employee who is asking for detailed information.
ASP is off the chair – rolling on the floor. WE are both LOAspO!
08/03/2015 2:06 AM DST USA
WE are getting down to “making groceries.” Do you want quality (“hello, Mr. ASP, how are you…”) or do you want quantity (watch what they are ringing up over at Wal-mart – yo girl loves to hit dat quantity button – “99 years.,.”). Well, WE hoped that journalism would not get down (or up, depending on what direction you are heading) to this, but here WE are. Fasten up…
08/03/2015 2:40 AM DST
USA