New Orleans Temporary Fix

Although the New Orleans mayor’s newly proposed 2023 budget on the surface appears to address some of the major problems presently impacting the city negatively, it has one major flaw.  It is only a temporary fix.  Almost all of these remediation projects are funded with one-time federal monies.  But, like so many of the past projects in New Orleans there are no proposed plans to sustain all this remedial action once these federal funds are spent.   The streetlights will go out again, the blight will continue to occur along with the illegal dumping of trash and tires, graffiti will return, streets will continue to decay, drain basins will clog again, etc.

So, while everyone will feel good about the city finally addressing these problems, the long-range permanent plans to address these evils still eludes the city.  The city and its residents need to break the cycle of reliance on federal funds as the major funding source to fix its problems, for these are not self-sustaining, and are dependent upon which political party occupies the White House.

The permanent solution to the city's problems is really quite simple; all residents of New Orleans need to start paying their fair share to live in the city.   Coupled with this is reigning in the city corruption that presently exists in the collection of  all types of permit fees, sanitation and water usage fees, the collection of city property tax and sales tax, the enforcement and fining of illegal dumping and blight, and the honest letting of infrastructure contracts with penalty fees if completion dates are missed.

Until New Orleans can establish a budget which can fund these projects with its own capital by effectively managing the monies it generates from its citizenry, its problems will continue to exist.  So enjoy the fixes which are proposed, while they last.  Hopefully these remediation projects will break the city’s historical trend of corruption and be effectively accomplished to give the city a temporary break.