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City of New Orleans Promotes Tourism Amid Rising Pandemic Numbers

by Daniel Meinecke, musician

Musicians in New Orleans are outraged over the decision from the city to spend money on Dick Clark’s ‘New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’ concert production. Initially Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser pushed for the state’s involvement in the even to the tune of $500,000 only if singer Lauren Daigle was to be the representative for Louisiana. This caused outrage amongst the community because Lauren Daigle was also partially responsible for the super spreader event in November that Sean Feucht hosted and the city police and leaders failed to shut down. Mayor Cantrell requested to the event promoters that they remove Daigle from the concert, which caused the outrage of Nungesser and the removal of state funds from the project. Mayor Cantrell should have used this opportunity to vilify Nungesser, who is more aligned with Daigle than the needs of the people of New Orleans. However, the Mayor was insistent on the event happening, so she funded the spot in the concert through the New Orleans Culture and Heritage Fund (NOTCF) and used it to keep the event in New Orleans, but with the New Orleans artists PJ Morton and Big Freedia.

The funds were pulled from this account because the slot in the NYE production was to be an advertisement for tourism to New Orleans. This is despite the current spike in COVID-19 cases. “New Orleans cannot market itself out of the situation it is in,” said a representative of Music and Culture Coalition of New Orleanse.

City’s misuse of Culture Fund benefits tourism companies, not artists

The biggest issue of the misuse of these funds is that the board of the NOTCF has been unable to pivot the use of these funds to help the community, but instead goes ahead with an advertisement to promote tourism. Even Kristin Palmer of the City Council who also sits on the NOTCF board said, “NOTCF is not in the business of promotion, but to invest in our people,” according to meeting minutes from an NOTCF meeting on December 18th. Kristin Palmer was also the only dissenting vote on the measure to allow the use of the funds for the concert. The NOTCF is out of touch with the community and actively digging itself into a hole as it fund projects not related to helping the community through a pandemic that has left people out of work for 9 months.

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A Poem in Support of a Fully Funded Relocation for the Residents of Gordon Plaza

by Ryan Jones

Dear mayor,
in the office
hear my call
my people are dying
while you having a ball,
with death lingering
under our feet
for years
y’all refuse to hear us speak,
people had to die more can come
but you sit and play games
like this is for fun
filling us with broken promises
covering us up with ash
y’all created prisons
and police cameras instead
and say that is that,
this is not fair
I’ll tell you the truth
you would not like it if this was you,
all we ask is to be removed
from the cancerous place called
Gordon Plaza you fool,
from the pain to the tears of the ones we lost
this is not us this is your fault
how can you do this? it’s easy to do
you do have the power
but instead you use it you cater to others,
take your time make sure they’re fine
but now is our turn as victory is mine
you will hear our voice; you will see us speak
and at the end of this fight there will be peace,
remove us from this toxic land or forever
we will make you understand,
may your guilty conscious haunt
you at night with the darkest
of your mind that you reside – we will win,
until then mayor – goodnight,
sincerely,
ryan jones

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New Orleans Workers Must Stand with Firefighters’ Union

10 Reasons to Support  New Orleans Firefighters

  1. Mayor Cantrell threatens firefighters lives and our safety by refusing to hire more firefighters. Cantrell’s attacks on the firefighters are a disgrace.
  2. An attack on the firefighters is an attack on all parish workers.
  3. Mayor Cantrell gives away millions in tax exemptions to corporations and real estate developers but denies funds to firefighters, youth, and other essential services. Every year the city gives $180 million in stolen tourism tax dollars to big corporations for their private profit.
  4. The union is calling for more firefighters: in the last ten years, staffing has decreased by 25% while the number of calls they have to answer has gone up 150%. NOFD cannot attract or retain firefighters with wages starting at $11/hr and meager retirement benefits.
  5. Firefighters are being forced into brutal overtime at a moment’s notice. Many firefighters are working 96 hours a week.
  6. Because of low pay, many firefighters have to work two jobs to support their families.
  7. Firefighters’ families are suffering from forced overtime. They cannot plan childcare or appointments at schools and doctors.
  8. Our neighborhoods are not safe when firefighters are overworked and understaffed.
  9. The union is fighting for our neighborhoods to be protected.
  10. The union is calling for an immediate end to unsafe, less effective two person crews on firetrucks. Two person crews pose a lethal hazard to firefighters.

Feb. 17: New Orleans Workers Group joins firefighters union at a Press Conference at City Park.

By refusing to reform brutal overtime rules, raise wages, or hire more firefighters, Mayor Cantrell is jeopardizing the safety of the firefighters and the residents of our city. But New Orleans firefighters are fighting back.

Because the firefighters union (IAFF Local 632) is making their grievances known, the mayor and the fire chief have attacked them for being “bullies.” The mayor has got it twisted; she’s the one putting the firefighters and residents’ lives at risk by working firefighters to the bone.

Residents should stand on the side of the firefighters because this is a fight for our safety too!

Take action:

The New Orleans Workers Group will be distributing flyers and talking with residents to rally support for the firefighters’ struggle. To get involved, contact us at  nolaworkersgroup@gmail.com or by phone at 504-900-6748.

Go to the firefighters’ union website and follow links to their social media accounts, such as Facebook, and like the page for updates. Show up for press conferences and other actions called by the union.

Call or email Cantrell’s office and tell her to accept the union’s demands (ph. 504-658-4900, mayor@nola.gov).

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Convention Center Rip-Off of Public funds for Private Profit Ramps Up

Where’s the Money for Our Kids?

A gang of thieves—aka private developers—are celebrating in their St. Charles mansions over their latest scheme to rip off public funds and tax money. The Convention Center, with the blessing of their bought-off state and city politicians, will build a huge hotel with $114 million of public funds and millions more in property tax exemptions (Bureau of Governmental Research).

The policy of allowing private hospitality capitalists to profit from public funds, tax exemptions and the wholesale theft of tax dollars is outrageous. Only 3% of the city budget goes to families and children while the rich steal $160 million. It shows that the government is solidly in the pockets of the rich.
Just one example is the Convention Center hiring of State Rep. Walter Leger III as vice president for Strategic Affairs. While in office, Leger sponsored legislation to enable public funding for the Convention Center hotel. A high paid position is his reward. If that ain’t corrupt, what is?

DECEPTIVE “FAIR SHARE” IS A NET LOSS FOR RESIDENTS
While Mayor Cantrell boasts of getting a “fair share deal” with a return of some city taxes to the Sewerage & Water Board, most residents don’t know that she agreed to legislation which included public funds for the hotel.

The total tourist tax dollars bypassing the city budget and going into private profiteers’ bank accounts was $180 million a year. Now “only” $160 million in taxes are being funneled to these private interests. To offset the money that the hospitality capitalists “lost,” legislation was passed that grants them even more money by way of new taxes. They also scored whopping tax exemptions for themselves. The net result of this “fair share” is that the people are getting less, the tax dollars are still stolen and the Convention Center is getting even more money.

Knowing this deal is unpopular, Mayor Cantrell is now criticizing what she agreed to. Convention Center President and General Manager Michael J. Sawaya said, “the mayor, when we agreed to the PILOT [payments in lieu of taxes] and agreed to give her $28 million, she agreed to support the hotel project,” he said. “She committed to it in front of the governor, in front of all of us.”

So, who is really running the city— the mayor or the mainly conservative, white, super-rich capitalists pulling the strings? We need to build up the independent power of the working class to fight this theft and have money for our kids.

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Mayor Cantrell’s Affordable Housing Meetings Are a Sham

By Sanashihla

An August 29 meeting in the 9th Ward called by the mayor about the housing crisis was beyond disappointing. One after another city official droned on about proposals mostly benefiting developers, not homeowners or tenants. 9th ward residents were not allowed to speak but merely put a question on a card where the officials could pick and choose. Residents should be allowed to get up at these meetings and the politicians should shut up and listen. What are they afraid of?

Black New Orleanians are being pushed out of homes and apartments all over the city to be replaced by mainly white professionals. The city backs this scheme by granting tax incentives to developers and pursuing code violations that are unimportant but expensive.

The only “relief” offered were loans to fix homes; Mayor Cantrell even threatened homeowners who hadn’t made these repairs. Far from fighting new assessments which are raising taxes in Black neighborhoods like Gentilly or Treme and further pushing people out, Cantrell is actually pushing to get those extra tax dollars out of working class New Orleanians.

When the Residents of Gordon Plaza showed up to the meeting en masse, they were also ignored.

Initially, the mayor didn’t mention anything about Gordon Plaza on her own. It took an audience member’s question/comment card submission for the mayor to mention that the city “might have—but no promises” plots of land that can be considered.

Gordon Plaza was a city initiative, framed as “affordable housing,” promoted toward Black residents as an opportunity, that led to the crisis at Press Park and Gordon Plaza being built on toxic soil in the first place.

The residents are demanding a fully funded relocation, where they can be fairly and justly compensated for their homes in the context of an increased cost of living, increased property taxes, and the fact that their houses could sell for top dollar if the neighborhood that it sits on were not toxic. Cutting checks in the name of the Residents only requires resolve. And considering the Residents of Gordon Plaza are not even seeking restitution for the impact on their health or medical bills associated with living in the second-highest cancer-causing neighborhood in the state of Louisiana, this is a small request.

A fully funded relocation of 52 households would only cost half of what the City of New Orleans spent on installing red and blue flashing surveillance cameras all over the city.

It’s the working-class residents across New Orleans who need the real breaks, not a handful here and there but all. Working class residents can’t keep up with the constant rise in the cost of living, particularly with increases on rent and property taxes.

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Mayor Cantrell and City Council Want More Jail Space to Warehouse Mentally Ill People

By Tina Orlandini

Mayor Cantrell and City Council have been going back and forth with Orleans Parish Prison about a plan to build a separate wing of the city jail to house inmates with mental illnesses using funding from FEMA.

But this will only mean increased incarceration with new beds opening to be filled with poor and working people of the Parish. Mentally ill people should not be in prison. The New Orleans Prison Reform Coalition is putting pressure on Cantrell and Councilmembers to halt the jail expansion and reduce the city’s incarceration rate. However, the city remains uncommitted to care for the mentally ill. Mental illness is a disease—not a crime—and needs to be treated medically.

The Unites States incarcerates more people than any country in the world, including the inhumane caging of people in need of mental healthcare.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), approximately 20 percent of state prisoners and 21 percent of jailed prisoners have “a recent history” of mental illness. Nearly 70 percent of young people in the juvenile justice system have at least one mental health condition and approximately 20 percent have a serious mental health illness. NAMI reports that between 25 and 40 percent of all Americans living with mental illness will spend time in jail or in prison at some point in their lives.

Given the disparities in race and class within the prison system, and its lineage to slavery as a mechanism for upholding the capitalist state, it should come as no surprise that the majority of those incarcerated are people of color, poor whites, and/or members of the LGBTQ community.

Mentally ill people are forced into the streets

In 1963, a bill named the Community Mental Health Act called to shift mental health care from asylums and state hospitals to community-based mental health centers. But before it was passed, the bill was gutted, removing all funding for personnel and leaving money only for buildings. By the 1980s, this policy was completely failing mentally ill patients. “States proved more enthusiastic about emptying the old facilities than about providing new ones” (Chicago Tribute, 1989).

In 1980, the Mental Health Systems Act granted direct support to community mental health centers, but this support was quickly repealed with the arrival of the Reagan administration which cut federal mental health funding by one-third (The Atlantic, “America’s Largest Mental Hospital Is A Jail”). The demise of mental health infrastructure, coupled with the parallel defunding of public housing and other social services, has brought us to where we are today: the caging of the mentally ill in jails and prisons.

Prisoners get torture instead of treatment

Approximately 80 percent of people incarcerated under Louisiana DOC have substance abuse problems according to VOTE (Voice of the Experienced) Deputy Director Bruce Reilly and Dr. Anjali Niyogi, who co-wrote a column for the Advocate last month. The piece explained, “There are FDA-approved drugs proven to help people overcome opioid addiction, and yet these drugs are not made available to them.” Instead, they reported that the DOC had authorized the profiteering healthcare company BioCorRx to perform experiments on inmates for the non-FDA approved implant, Naltrexone.

In Alabama, the state was given a strict deadline in May to make improvements to its prison system after atrocious photos were released documenting the inhumane conditions in its prisons in violation of the 8th Amendment, which is meant to prohibit cruel and unusual punishment. Alabama prisons have reported the highest suicide rates in the country and often mentally ill inmates, including those on suicide watch, are subjected to the cruel torture of solitary confinement. Some Alabama prisoners are shackled to toilets for 5 days as punishment.

Abolish the U.S. prison system

Examining the prison system from the perspective of mental health care simply deepens what we already know—behind the prison walls is torture, exploited labor, and experimentation. For those who can’t find or afford mental health support, it is a pit to fall into and crawl out of, only to fall back in. For these reasons and many more, we call for the abolition of the U.S. prison system!

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Gordon Plaza Residents Suffer Second Highest Cancer Rate in LA

New Orleans, Louisiana– On September 8, tens of thousands of people gathered for a major climate mobilization across the U.S. and the world. People around the world joined more than 830 events in 91 countries under the “Rise for Climate” banner. In the U.S., over 300 events took place in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The “Rise for Climate Jobs, and Justice” events in the US highlighted the need for real climate leadership in the face of intensifying climate impacts and the ongoing assault on climate and communities from the Trump Administration. The actions took place just days before the Global Climate Action Summit in California, demanding a phase-out of fossil fuel extraction and a just transition to a 100% renewable energy economy. Event organizers emphasized community-led solutions, starting in places most impacted by pollution and climate change. Gordon Plaza is a house development that has been designated by the US government as a Superfund site where over 150 toxicities have been documented. Gordon Plaza residents’ only demand for Mayor LaToya Cantrell is: Fully Funded Relocation for all affected residents. Photo by Fernando Lopez | Survival Media Agency

Gordon Plaza residents are fighting for a fully funded relocation from the toxic site the city built their homes on decades ago.

A new report by the Louisiana Tumor Registry confirms the findings of previous studies: Gordon Plaza has the second consistent highest rate of cancer in Louisiana. The study consistently found between 125 and 406 more cases per 100,000 residents than the state average. Gordon Plaza homes were built on a city landfill containing arsenic, lead and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons—all known or probable carcinogens according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

Mayor Cantrell:  the time to remedy this injustice is now!

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We Deserve 100% of Hotel Taxes, That’s a “Fair Share!”

By Ashlee Pintos

Mayor Cantrell’s office is claiming a victory for “Fair Share” New Orleans on the issue of what we call the Stolen Tax dollars. This ridiculous months-long negotiation between the Mayor’s office and the Convention Center has resulted in huge benefits for big business with a marginal benefit for the city. While $180 Million is stolen from New Orleans yearly, Cantrell has only asked for a fraction of the money (a one-time $48 Million with an additional $27 Million over the next 5 years). While the remaining yearly $153 Million is forgotten about for a perceived victory for the Cantrell administration, the convention center has been promised $300 Million for a new hotel and a portion of (more) Airbnb taxes among other concessions. How is this a fair share for the workers?

For over two years, the New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance and the Peoples’ Assembly have been bringing this issue to light. It was not until this past year that Mayor Cantrell started to acknowledge the $180 Million in tourism taxes (such as the hotel tax) that are collected yearly. NONE of this money touches the city’s general budget: it currently goes to private, non-elected boards composed of big business/corporation owners and politicians who use these millions to further fatten their wallets. $180 Million is a quarter of the city’s general budget. We could use this yearly money to fund healthcare, childcare centers, paid vacation and sick leave, quality transportation, AND fix streets.

Tax money is supposed to be collected to use for goods and services for the benefit of the people. How can it be that politicians are nicely asking for the return of tax money from rich capitalists? This is robbery of the people on behalf of big business. Cantrell is complicit and as Mayor, she should be held accountable. Why does she want to give the people’s money to the same rich capitalists who oppress us workers?

Without hospitality workers who hold up the tourism industry, none of the profits or the tourism taxes would flow into the city. Meanwhile who pays high rents, high property taxes, and high sales taxes, all with a constant boot on our neck? Us workers! Who gets huge tax breaks and also makes away with millions in tourism tax money? The Convention Center! In New Orleans workers would need a quadruple raise to make a living wage as we currently make a base of $7.25 an hour and even less as tipped workers at $2.13.

If someone had been taking a quarter of your already-too-small paycheck, every single month, for years and you found out about it; would you kindly ask them to pay you back? Would you only ask for a fraction of it? Would you negotiate? Absolutely not!

We as workers have consistently maintained our demand that ALL of the money be given back to the people. All tax money should go into the general budget for city council discussion and public input. It is not up to the Mayor to unilaterally decide to give this money to the Sewage and Water Board to pay the extremely high salaries of their administrators. These funds will not be used to lower our rates. In fact, the Mayor has said she supports raising taxes for drainage. This scheme does not insure a properly functioning system. It’s because of a lack of public oversight of the board that millions were stolen from the budget before.

We need all of us workers to come together to continue the struggle, and we must be ready to fight for what is ours in the first place.

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City Budget Ignores Youth, We Must Fight for Youth Services Not Jails

63% of City Budget goes to cops and jails, only 3% to children and families.

By Malcolm Suber

New Orleans mayor Latoya Cantrell and arch-racist DA Leon Cannizzaro have teamed up to announce yet another scheme to supposedly curb an uptick in crimes committed by youth, especially young Black men. They are using sensational reports of youth crimes to call for more funds for the NOPD, more police patrols and more police contact with our youth (meaning more unwarranted stops and searches).They are also calling for stepped up enforcement of the citywide youth curfew.

The mayor and DA paint a picture of Black youth as predators in need of rounding up and locking away from the majority of law-abiding residents; so they call for an expansion of the juvenile lock-up as well as the trying of more juveniles as adults.

We workers should not be taken in by this ruling class propaganda. Youth crime is tied to the lack of gainful employment opportunities and lack of recreational and cultural programs that provide youth with positive things to do in their non-school hours. Why don’t the Mayor and DA address the root cause of juvenile crime instead of offering a band-aid on the cancerous conditions which exist for New Orleans youth? The working class community is rightly frustrated by the almost nightly barrage of reported criminal activity by alienated youth. But the Mayor and DA are only playing to this frustration in order to get the public to consent to their plan to lock up more youth. These youth in many cases are lashing out against the rich white ruling class and their politicians who have written them off as nothing more than a public nuisance.

Where is the money for more programming at our recreational centers? Where is the money for hiring full-time coaches? Where is the money for counselors and for youth employment? Rather than ‘disrupting’ the pipeline to prison, the Mayor and DA are actually facilitating the mass incarceration of our youth. They would rather spend more money on surveillance cameras and give fat contracts to their friends to monitor ankle bracelets on the growing number of youth arrested by the NOPD.

“What we are seeing and the rhetoric we are hearing from the political elites is because the system continues to fail our communities. We do a great job of holding vulnerable youth and parents accountable, but who will hold the system accountable? WE WILL THAT’S WHO!”
— Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children (FFLIC)

Even though the capitalist media claims the USA economy is robust and nearing full employment, Black youth unemployment is nearly 50%. Many of their parents and guardians are forced to work two jobs and the youth are left to raise themselves. By allowing these conditions to fester, we show that we are not really concerned about saving these youth from the path to enslavement in the USA prison system.

Our task is to help our youth build a movement that champions their demands for a quality of life that gives them the freedom to explore their revolutionary history of struggle for Black liberation. This movement will train our youth to avoid the modern day slave catchers and give real meaning to being woke and the understanding that Black Lives Do Matter.

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Fines Are Not About Safety But $$$$$

JUSTICE FOR PARTY BUSES FIGHTS BACK

Suddenly the city is concerned that residents are driving safely in school zones, making sure party buses are safe and making space for folks on bikes. But the current campaign to raise fines has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with the city trying yet again to bleed working class New Orleanians dry.

Consider Mayor Cantrell’s decision to reject the idea of an advance notice that school zones ticketing speeds would change. If it was about safety, the city would have publicized it, and educated residents about the change. Her aides suggested that she give a warning, but she rejected it. It’s really about levying another tax on New Orleanians.

When a rich person gets a ticket, the expense is nothing to them. Or they can afford to park in an over-priced lot or take Uber wherever they like. But when a worker gets a ticket, it’s a crisis that can turn into a nightmare.

The attack on party bus operators is another attack on one of the few economic areas still controlled by Black drivers. Is the plan to put them out of business and bring in some white businessman with loads of bank cash to take over? Or just to shut down an aspect of Black life that the white elites don’t like? The move to gentrify the area under the Claiborne bridge is another example of the city taking away a significant gathering spot for Black people just to satisfy real estate developers.

Raising tickets to $300 for parking in a bike lane is horrendous. Did the city study why people park there? Most are just trying to drop off a child or pick someone up, not permanently park. Some streets like N. Galvez have just a bike lane on one side of the street but people live there. Should their kids run across the street to get into a car, or double park to get out their groceries? Did the city consider this problem?

Safety comes from education and support. Every school, library, community center, organization and church would gladly lend a hand to do presentations about traffic safety. But this was never about safety. It’s a money grab at the expense of those least able to pay.