Tuesday, November 03, 2009
James Perry's 5 actions in 5 days
Here is a summary of the
the policy initiative Mayoral candidate James Perry introduced today, interspersed with brief bits of praise.
During mayoral transition, we will conduct a national search to hire a new Superintendent for the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD). I will appoint a diverse citizen’s committee to implement the search process, and we will hire a Superintendent who is committed to reform and to making our city safer.
Action Item #1: Crime Report Card. Within a week of that new Superintendent’s arrival, I will sign and personally deliver an Executive Order requiring the NOPD to compile and disclose data to members of the press and public in a monthly “Crime Report Card,” enabling everyone to monitor and evaluate how we are performing on public safety.
A thousand Amens!
Action Item #2: New Public-Private Economic Development Partnership. As Mayor, I will sign a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement (CEA) to establish the first Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in city government. This PPP will create a new economic development organization to implement a long term, comprehensive, and coordinated plan for building the city’s economy.
A handful of Amens.
Action Item #3: More Open Budgeting, More Fiscal Responsibility. As Mayor I will sign an Executive Order directing the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) to begin the municipal budget process earlier in the year by releasing preliminary revenue projections to members of the City Council and to the public. I will direct the CAO to engage all stakeholders, public and private, in an open public dialogue during the third quarter of the year, setting budget priorities and promoting a broad consensus before the critical budget decisions are made in November.
Back to the thousand Amen level!
Action Item #4: Reform City Contracting, Reduce Corruption. As Mayor, I will sign an Executive Order establishing a new and reformed process for the procurement of professional services contracts throughout all executive branch departments, agencies, boards, commissions, public benefit corporations, and other public entities while also maintaining the City’s commitment to DBE hiring goals. This reformed process will establish evaluation committees with expertise and diverse membership and will require them to review proposals in an open public process that allows everyone to observe how city government awards professional services contracts.
Transparent government contracting-- so sensible and overdue... it might just work! Five hundred Amens with another five hundred if the reformed contracting oversight process can be done in an expeditious manner.
Action Item #5: More Sheriff Sales, Less Blight. As Mayor I will sign an Executive Order to make Sheriff house sales a priority in eradicating blight. I will direct housing enforcement personnel to hold monthly auctions on properties where owners have ignored administrative orders to make repairs.
As long as we start with the serious offenders first, and are auctioning obviously blighted properties, I'm on board.
Labels: James Perry
7 Comments:
There's some meat on the bones at last. It's a bit stringy and it doesn't bowl me over but it beats the hell out of the tweeter tube campaign. Perry needs to start knocking on some doors.
He's got all of the right issues. I'm not so sure about his solutions.
Campaign promises appear to be easily forgotten once an individual is comfortably ensconced in the cacoon (sp?) of power that is the New Orleans Mayor's Office. No?
I agree Eugene. It's easy to say nice things. Much harder to follow through.
Personally, I tend to watch how people campaign for a clue to how they'll govern.
At this point, my impression of Perry is that he is disengaged from actual issues and thinks very highly of himself. Sort of the softer, non-profit version of Nagin. No idea if this is the least bit accurate or in any way squares with the impressions of people who know him. Just my read on the image projected by the campaign.
It's early and I have no thoughts on the other candidates (except for Georges, and that impression ain't good). Perry could still win me over.
Adrastos: "Perry needs to start knocking on some doors."
That statement gets a thousand Amens, as well. Someone told that to Perry a year ago.
I wonder if there's any way you can give priority to fully approved or pre-approved potential home-owners from displaced areas who are ready to return?
Erster, that oughta dovetail into your area of experteeez nicely, eh?
Sherriff's sales are jokes that allow realtors & banks to buy properties at bargain basement prices because they come with their checkbook & they can immediately snatch them up.
You should allow the PUBLIC to have an opportunity to invest in their own community's redevelopment.
Perhaps that Public/Private development intitative could involve some local banks along with the New Orleans Housing Authority, or the Louisiana Housing & Finance Agency to ensure that LOCAL MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY-or FORMER MEMBERS OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY (IE-prior to the storms) to get the right of first refusal on homes in their neighborhood.
Otherwise, its just a way for banks & investors to get richer. You aren't going to bring local neighborhoods back without empowering folks on the ground level to do it.
Other than that, the guy seems pretty down to earth & sensible. He can impose a lot of those crime-related NOPD things with or without a new Police Chief...
I remember somebody telling Perry that a year ago. I also remember somebody else saying that he'd be inclined to vote for a candidate who suggested something similar to no. 3 Even though it would be an easily broken promise, it would be a commitment that the mayor could be pressured with.
I also have some reservations about no. 5, but the rest are common sense. Even if they would be easily broken pledges, the rest of the candidates should be asked about them. I wouldn't expect another candidate to respond well if asked his opinion of Perry's proposals, but each should be asked specific questions about city contracting and budgeting.
