(Adrienne Ferguson, Headline USA) LaToya Cantrell’s second term as mayor of New Orleans is in jeopardy, according to recall organizers working to have her removed from office after claims that she has turned the city into a crime-infested “Gotham”.
“Right now our mayor doesn’t love New Orleans so the citizens and the residents stood up,” Eileen Carter, who is the current vice chair of the No LaToya recall campaign, said. “We’re taking our city back, and we’re gonna save New Orleans.”
In August 2022, Carter and the campaign’s leader, Belden Batiste, started the recall process to remove Cantrell from office. They claimed to have gathered the requisite number of signatures to have a recall election placed on the ballot, Fox News reported. If the required number of signatures are verified, a special election would be called by Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.
“Mayor LaToya, it ain’t that we hate you. You didn’t do your job, and you’re about to be fired,” Batiste shared.
Cater said they have collected “more signatures than the mayor got votes.”
According to Carter, who spent three years working in the mayor’s social media division, it was difficult to see Cantrell “quiet quit” during her second term. According to a local Fox affiliate’s review of public records, the mayor used to regularly plan meetings with department leaders, but as of November, she hadn’t scheduled any in over a year.
Carter, who compared it to “a tale of two mayors,” said “”I don’t think she’s making very good judgment decisions for the city at all, to the point of arrogance.”
On Feb. 19, Cantrell was seen insulting parade goers and giving them the middle finger during a Mardi Gras procession. Gregory Joseph, the mayor’s head of communications, justified the actions as a joke that was meant to be lighthearted.
Carter reasoned that giving the public the middle finger wouldn’t be met with applause during a recall election. Cantrell has also been criticized for her lavish lifestyle on the taxpayers’ dime.
The city, according to Carter, has a number of issues, including a crime wave that elevated it to the top spot for the number of homicides per capita in the country.
“Down here, we’re like Gotham,” Carter said. “Sad to say, but that’s essentially what people are calling us, and that’s what we name ourselves.”
The people of the city of New Orleans feel abandoned and are fed up.
“The mayor has stopped working,” Sally, a persistent New Orleans local resident, commented. “She’s a smart woman, and she’s capable, but she’s just flat out stopped working.”
