New Orleans city councilman Oliver Thomas says Governor Jeff Landry and his administration need to focus on improving the state instead of focusing on taking over the Crescent City.
During Tuesday’s city council budget hearings, Thomas ranted against Landry during a discussion about funding for juvenile programs, noting the funding cuts to those programs could undo progress the city has made in reducing violent crime. Thomas’s comments also came hours after Landry announced he would press the Louisiana Bond Commission to deny the city council’s request for a $125 million loan to help cover payroll and other expenses through the remainder of the year.
“This administration and the state don’t want to work with the city. They want this city,” Thomas said, hinting at race being a possible factor in the Landry Administration’s motivations. “They tried it when Dutch was elected. No one read the papers in the UNO Library about what the state tried to do when Dutch Morial became mayor (in 1978)? No one read when the business community partnered with the state when we started having African Americans get elected judges that judges shouldn’t be elected (and that) it should be merit selection? No one read the old reports that talked about the pumping station (and) how they would rather give another parish coverage over a pumping station that we build and they pay us? No one read the reports about the Sewerage and Water Board? This is nothing new.”…