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Month in Review

Belt tightening in order

Mayor Mitch Landrieu has proposed interesting and what some are calling tough measures to help trim the city’s budget. Well, actually the goal is to ensure that the city remains afloat and doesn’t operate at a deficit, which is projected to be as much at $67 million if something isn’t done. And if that number is right, then the mayor is moving in the right direction to keep the city right-sided.

One plan that has already gone into effect is curtailing use of take-home vehicles by rescinding the privilege from a number of employees. This one makes a lot of sense. It is understandable that some employees should use city vehicles to carry out their duties, but shouldn’t necessarily have the privilege to travel to and from home or who knows where else in them. And if they want that privilege, they should certainly be expected to chip in for the cost of upkeep, maintenance and insurance, costs that non-city employees bear for the vehicles they need to ride to and from work.

Other proposed cost-cutting measures include:

•Carefully monitoring overtime

•Fiscally sound use of the $23.2 million insurance settlement for wind damage to municipal buildings caused by Hurricane Katrina

•An unpaid, 11-day furlough for all city employees, which equates to about a 10-percent cut in pay and a comparable 10 percent cut in pay for the mayor and all top-level executives

Are some of these proposals drastic? Sure, specifically the furlough idea. And if some other ways to curtail spending without resulting in the loss of income for hard working city employees becomes evident, we certainly hope it is considered. But $67 million deficit is also pretty drastic. Still, its reassuring to know that the mayor isn’t asking police officers and park workers to do anything he and his top staffers aren’t willing to do.

If it is any consolation, New Olreans is not by itself in facing severe budgetary cuts. When you consider that the governor of California actually asked all employees to work at minimum wage (luckily a judge nixed that idea) or that 80 cops in Oakland, Calif., were laid off or that the mayor of Newark, New Jersey wants to stop buying toilet tissue for city facilities to keep those budgets in line, the mayor’s suggestions don’t sound so bad after all.

Reclaiming Claiborne

Anyone that remembers what Claiborne Avenue looked like before the elevated stretch of 1-10 invaded the landscape of this thoroughfare must be elated about the idea to tear down the elevated interstate and bring back the old Claiborne Avenue.

Before lanes of concrete and towering beams, there were towering trees, store fronts, and spaces where locals naturally gathered for revel in the nuances of New Orleans life. All of that was lost when I-10 cut through this neighborhood more than 40 years ago.

The idea to remove I-10 is a part of the Unified New Orleans Plan and is also being recommended as part of the city’s draft master plan. Some report that taking down the expressway along Claiborne would place New Orleans in a field with other major cities that are removing freeways from the heart of the towns.

Here at The Tribune, we’re not entirely sure of the impetus behind the proposal; but the idea of having Claiborne once again look something like it looked before 1966 when the Oak trees were torn down and homes and businesses cleared to make way for the expressway which opened two years later is inviting, to be sure.

But since we aren’t so certain about the driving force behind the move, we would only caution that as the discussion continues, plans formalized and decisions made, they are done so in a manner that is inclusive of the best interests of the residents of the area and in such a way that ensures that property owners whose homes and businesses still exist along Claiborne are treated justly and those who were displaced are given financial incentives to return to this area.

More welcome news

The news that a deal has been struck that will lead to the reopening of a hospital in New Orleans East is also great to learn.

The plans call for the facility to open in 2013, and the only bad news here is that we wish it could be sooner.

As New Orleans East continues to return and rebound, it is difficult to fathom that this important area of the city has gone this long without a major health care facility to serve those thousands of residents who have committed to returning, rebuilding and revitalizing the area they call home.