Helena Moreno officially becomes the mayor of New Orleans on Jan. 12, but she’s been unofficially acting as the city’s mayor ever since she was elected in October.
“Not 24 hours after I was elected mayor, I was pretty much treated like the de facto mayor,” she says.
The city was in a major financial crisis, and Moreno, along with City Council President JP Morrell and Budget Chair Joe Giarrusso, went up to Baton Rouge to ask state officials to let them get a $125 million loan to pay workers through the rest of the year. Shortly after, Moreno tapped Giarrusso to be her chief administrative officer. Meanwhile, Mayor LaToya Cantrell was missing in action…