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Start the New Year Right: Register to Vote by Jan. 6
On Feb. 6, 2010, we will elect a new mayor, members of the city council, a single assessor, a single sheriff and other key positions that must be filled by individuals who have the best interests of our neighborhoods at heart. As we continue to rebuild our city, it is imperative that our elected leaders reflect our values. We cannot sit idly, watch and then complain when poor decisions are made. We must be actively involved now by casting our vote in this and all elections and then by holding our elected officials accountable for how they represent us.
Here are a few important dates to remember. The primary election is set for Feb. 6, 2010. In order to vote in the primary election, residents must register by Jan. 6, 2010. There are three ways to vote in the election. Of course, voters can go to the polls on Feb. 6; however, they can also participate in early voting which takes place from Jan. 23-30. Early voting locations include Room 1W24 at City Hall, 1300 Perdido Street; 225 Morgan Street in Algiers; and the Voting Warehouse at 8878 Chef Menteur Hwy.
You may also vote by mail ballot. Residents have until Feb. 2 to order mail ballots from the registrar’s office, and all mail ballots must be returned by Feb. 5.
The Color of Corruption
The news that Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard and Chief Administrative Officer Tim Whitmer have been strong arming employees into “donating” money to lavish Broussard and even Whitmer, to a lesser degree, with Christmas gifts makes us grimace. We’re talking facial contortions and scowls too unusual to describe. And to be sure, no matter how they might attempt to sugarcoat the sordid mess, the practice of sending out a memo announcing that $100 is due for Broussard’s gift and that checks should be made payable to cash is wrong, reprehensible, immoral and in poor taste; and, if it is not illegal (we hope someone is checking labor laws on this) it certainly is skirting the fine line.
The depravity of this act does not shock us. What does send our blood pressure racing is that throughout the region, New Orleans often gets the rap for being the hotbed of government corruption as if wantonness were invented in Orleans Parish. If Jeff leaders will hit up civil servants for payola at Christmastime, we’d hate to see what they would do if they had to make decisions about who receives parish contracts.
The reality is that depravity and corruption are widespread, and they occur in places other than New Orleans more often than others seem to want to admit.
Mandeville Mayor Eddie Price was indicted for perjury this past summer. Yes, the same Price who asked police to go easy on a man who assaulted a woman in a bar. Yes, the same Price who allegedly accepted gifts and gift cards paid for with funds raised by Toys for Tots.
With barely a year on the job St. John the Baptist’s Parish President Bill Hubbard resigned in September just before he was charged with conspiracy to give and solicit bribes in a scheme that involved three companies that have contracts St. John.
And of course, Jefferson Parish’s Whitmer was already up to his neck in revelations and allegations regarding the salary that skyrocketed just in time cash in on a hefty pension in 2010 and business dealings of the insurance company he owns with his wife, issues that unfolded even before Gift-gate made news.
The point of this tirade is not to scold these former and current appointed and elected leaders so much as it is to say that the next time someone dares to suggest that New Orleans should not control one thing or another because of so-called corruption or cronyism in our city they should take a good look at what’s really going on, check their facts and get real.
What Do Poverty and Orange Juice Have in Common?
Here at The Tribune we have always met the thought that poverty could be “deconcentrated” by tearing down housing developments and scattering poor people with skepticism because we knew that the notion, however meaningful, didn’t make any sense.
Saying poor people would feel less poor if they didn’t live next to each other or across the street from one another is ridiculous. Deconcentrated orange juice is still orange juice. And whether it’s uptown, downtown, in a scatter site or in a brick-layered project, poverty is poverty.
Our skepticism was validated when the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center released a report that shows that Section 8 housing voucher recipients—many of whom are former residents of the now razed public housing developments—still find themselves in some of the worst areas of the city, areas riddled with crime, with fewer economic opportunities and saddled poor-performing schools.
So wait. They haven’t even by deconcentrating the orange juice, just pouring it into similar glasses all across town.
But didn’t we know this already? If deconcentration were the answer, we would have long ago seen positive changes; but moving poor people, alone, will not change circumstances.
More specifically, what the Fair Housing Action Center report showed was that the available housing units rented through the Section 8 voucher program, which assists poor people with making private-market rent payments, are for the most part located in the areas of the city with fewest opportunities and the worst circumstances. Sure, there are some units rented through the program that are in better parts of town; but not many.
The truth is many landlords with available units in the areas close to hospitals, good jobs and good schools, near decent shops, retail outlets, recreation, etc. are leery about renting through Section 8 programs. Whether it is because of their misconceptions about Section 8 participants or their desire to avoid the red-tape associated with renting through the program, they simply don’t want to take part, and it is their prerogative.
So what do we know? Well for starters, moving the poor does not deconcentrate poverty. It seems that the Section 8 system itself is inherently flawed in that it does nothing to positively affect the lives of its participants and does not encourage landlords in better neighborhoods to take part. We wonder what would happen if a developer announced that he wanted to build affordable housing units that he would rent through Section 8 in Lakeview or the Lower Garden District. Actually, no we don’t. We already know as indicated by the fact that it hasn’t happened.
In the case of former New Orleans housing development residents, Section 8 has just taken them from one poor neighborhood to another slightly less dense, but equally as poor community.
Creating the opportunities that give poor people the chance to change the course of their lives can break the cycle of poverty. All of our communities deserve good schools, affordable and decent shopping, good jobs and hospitals; and some certainly need them more than others. Let’s stop moving people and start making the right moves, creating the change that will help people transform their own lives because poverty and orange juice have absolutely nothing in common.
