District C candidates discuss street repairs, homelessness

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — At a forum of District C candidates, they were asked a critical first question: how do you plan to address street repair delays and improve communication for those impacted?

“Getting people that live in this parish, know what’s going on and get things moving and how to really know how to get things moving is just a huge thing,” candidate Jackson Kimbrell said.

“I’d like to inhouse a lot more public works and fix the systems that are broken that are not allowing us to move projects in a timely manner,” candidate Kelsey Foster said.

“We have a lot of other projects in the pipeline and I think that we should be conscious that all of it could be jeopardized by the nation’s capital,” candidate Eliot Barron said.

The conversation then shifted to homelessness, asking each candidate if they believe the city’s office of homeless service is properly funded and staffed.

“Based on the visuals and the feels, I would say that they do need more staff and money,” Barron said.

“Absolutely not. We are not adequately funding the response to the unhoused situation in our city, and I think that’s clear,” Foster said.

“Talking to residents, I really appreciate that almost unanimously they say I don’t want someone sleeping in front of my house, but I want them to get help,” Kimbrell said.

Each candidate was then asked what policies they would propose that would fix the long-term neglect that results in building failure and ultimately demolition.

“We can now pursue these slumlords as a criminal violation. I will aggressively pursue slumlords for criminal blight,” Foster said.

“I would say that increasing fines is such a huge thing to getting these bad owners off and keeping these buildings that can’t be used,” Kimbrell said.

“I can’t believe we don’t have enough ordinances on the book to try and use for public nuisance and quality of life issues,” Barron said.

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