NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – Supporters of the effort to recall Mayor LaToya Cantrell are updating the public on where they are in terms of an actual recall and an issue they say they’re facing amid their efforts.
Outside of City Hall Tuesday morning, those who filed the petition to recall Cantrell say they have received about 35% of the needed signatures.
“We have listened to the residents, and we are systematically working to literally get into everyone’s living room, beginning next week,” Eileen Carter, one of the petitioners, said. “Look for it. It’s coming.”
Carter says they are facing retaliation by the mayor’s office because of their efforts.
Carter told reporters Tuesday she attempted to partner with Daniel Ambrose, the owner of The Half Shell on the Bayou, for an event to be held at his restaurant this past week.
“There had been conversations around his restaurant about the recall, so he wanted to invite us, so we could answer any questions that they had,” Carter said.
Ambrose says he received a call from the property owner, letting him know he couldn’t host that event, so he cancelled it.
“When I cancelled the event, then I was met the next day with a restraining order, saying that I violated my lease by having that event,” Ambrose said.
In paperwork provided to WGNO, the attorney for the property owner Beverly McKenna filed a petition for a temporary restraining order, stating Ambrose violated his lease by advertising a political event on social media.
The petition also stated Ambrose owed $10,000 in back payments.
Shortly after cancelling the event, Ambrose says he received an eviction notice posted to his door, stating he had five days to vacate the property for the same reasons.
However, Ambrose believes this is a form of retaliation.
“We always had political events over there, and it was just that one,” Ambrose explained. “When I got the call, saying that I can’t do it, that’s when I knew it was something dealing with just the recall.”
According to McKenna’s attorney, the eviction is based on nonpayment of rent and that the TRO is to protect assets in the building.
Ambrose says the $10,000 is an exaggerated number and that he’s tried to pay the property owners, but they wouldn’t accept it.
We also reached out the mayor’s office. A spokesman says there has been a pattern of false accusations put out by the organizers of the recall effort and that they don’t have time to engage in petty politics.