It's game time, and it's not a sport.
Gov. Jeff Landry has recommendations from the New Orleans Transition Council for ways to reduce crime in the City of New Orleans and the metro region. This is serious business.
The recommendations might determine whether someone you love is arrested, charged and faces prosecution with Louisiana state troopers moving in to help.
They could determine whether New Orleanians' bill disputes with the Sewerage & Water Board are resolved faster — and maybe, just maybe, some significant, costly and long overdue infrastructure issues might get addressed.
They might determine whether more New Orleans area residents spend time in the city, even at night.
There are many possibilities.
Though the committee included four Black people and several New Orleans residents, I feared much of what we'd get would promote a far-right agenda on crime by a committee told what to recommend.
If the recommendations are any indication, I was wrong.
Recommendations from the 27-person committee suggested a number of action items:
- Dealing with New Orleans crime head-on by eliminating the New Orleans Police Department's federal consent decree.
New Orleanians are divided on the consent decree. Some want to see it disappear. Others want it to remain; they don't trust police to do the right thing. Still others, including me, want to see the consent decree lifted when post-decree guidelines ensure officers operate within the letter of the law and good policies.
- Stabilizing local law enforcement by sending state troopers into the city and having state Attorney General Liz Murrill's office handle more criminal cases.
This might not get full support in the city. What surprised me was language about troopers helping on the interstate, in the French Quarter, in the Downtown Development District "and other areas within the City." That means high-crime areas like parts of New Orleans East, the 9th Ward and Mid-City might get some crime-fighting assistance.
- Developing a "comprehensive" public safety strategy for "metro New Orleans." That broadens the approach from Landry's campaign days when he said he would “bend (New Orleans) to his will” — rhetoric that angered New Orleans elected officials. The committee correctly says area federal, state and local law enforcement agencies must be coordinated to help.
- "Mandate" a special master to oversee SW&B billing disputes; explore a stormwater management plan to reduce flooding and determine whether the state-authorized S&WB should be overhauled by reviewing governance and funding.
That might be a bitter pill for some city officials, but many New Orleanians are frustrated enough that they just might support blowing up the whole thing.
The original, stated intent of this transition task force was to focus on New Orleans crime. They've done that and more.
It appears Landry wants to use his power to restructure some state agencies and assets in New Orleans. That includes some potentially significant changes at the Superdome, the Smoothie King Center, the Dock Board and the Morial Convention Center — all of which the state, not the city, owns. Those state-owned assets are governed by a board appointed by the governor, not the mayor.
Perhaps to drive that point home, the New Orleans task force's recommendations were crafted by a team that included business executives, a few prominent opponents of Mayor LaToya Cantrell, law enforcement officials and state Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans.
Duplessis isn't aligned with Landry politically, so I wondered what he thought about the recommendations.
"With more than 30 recommendations, there are a number of them I have serious concerns about, although there are a number of things consistent with the desires the public shared with me in my request for recommendations," the senator told me. "For example, the recommendations around the NOPD consent decree and proposed changes to reporting juvenile data are really concerning."
Duplessis said he prioritized more state support for interstate lighting and resources for positive youth development. As with anything this big, the real test will be how the governor's team interprets and executes the task force's general recommendations.
"Some things that look good now can turn out to be very problematic," Duplessis said.
Still, he said, he is "cautiously optimistic," in part because the committee's three meetings were "mostly respectful, civil and constructive."
I'm happy to say I may be wrong about how the governor will treat New Orleans. We'll see. The committee's recommendations are general ideas; the devil is in the details.
Hopefully, Landry will follow the lead of those he asked to advise him about New Orleans — and proceed with respectful, civil and constructive specifics that make the entire New Orleans region safer and stronger.
