NEW ORLEANS— We got the rare opportunity to speak with Mayor Latoya Cantrell and while our conversation was supposed to center on her reelection campaign, top of mind for her was the current legislative session.
According to Cantrell, “Our top priority focusing on the power plant associated with the Sewerage and Water Board. So definitely capital outlay that has been there and we do expect to come out of the session with so that we can keep the progress going forward as it relates to that power source for Sewerage and Water Board collectively.”
The mayor has her detractors but she generally gets high marks for the city’s handling of COVID-19.
Her latest frontier in that fight is getting vaccines in arms, “We do need to reach herd immunity, no doubt about it. That is over 75% of our residents who are eligible being vaccinated. Everything depends on our city reaching herd immunity.”
According to Cantrell, it’s a precarious time with school ending and hurricane season on the way, the vaccines are critical.
She’s also considering mandatory vaccines for municipal employees and stated that our busy fall outdoor calendar depends on people getting the shot.
Cantrell said, “As it relates to how we’re looking forward to festivals and cultural festivities, getting back to that. It’s rooted and grounded in our ability to be vaccinated.”
May 7th will mark 3 years that the mayor’s been in office. During that time, her administration has faced 3 major crisis, including the Hard Rock Hotel collapse, a cyber attack, and COVID-19.
In spite of that, she feels her administration is poised to lead the city to a full recovery.
“This is our time, but the focus will remain on public safety, also remain on infrastructure in our city, it is critical. But now is not the time to regress. It is the time double down on our efforts in terms of leadership as well as our ability to get things done and remain accountable to the citizens of this city,” said Cantrell