Richard’s Disposal earns $5 million; Jason Williams goes national 2023

After last year’s service failures, Mayor LaToya Cantrell criticized Richard’s Disposal. “Cure” letters demanded improvements and threatened to rebid the contract.

However, December’s service issues changed the administration’s tone. Public criticism receded and termination threats were replaced by a commitment to support the faltering firm through its contract in March 2024.

In January, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Joe Threat told the City Council that authorities were seeking financial aid and new contractors for Richard’s.

“Get well package,” Threat said. According to a March deal, it was a legal settlement to “buy peace” and prevent Richard’s from suing the city. At Thursday’s City Council budget committee meeting, CAO Gilbert Montaño mentioned the settlement.

The city paid Richard’s $4.8 million, which is close to the company’s overdue payments.

Richard’s has long maintained that Cantrell shorted his firm during proclaimed calamities like the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Ida, which caused household trash surges. The corporation claims it collects from more sites than it is reimbursed for.

The seven-year deal, negotiated under previous Mayor Mitch Landrieu, started with a base number of outlets and projected a predetermined rate of yearly growth that was significantly below reality.

Metro Service Group, which signed the same deal, made identical accusations. City leaders publicly chastised Metro for its route delays. The administration canceled Metro’s contract in November as promised.

Metro filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, putting the hauler’s longstanding claims in court. Like Richard, the city settled for millions.

Jason Williams nationalizes

Jason Williams, Orleans Parish District Attorney, addressed New Orleans’ crime issues nationally: “Rome is burning, and that is not meant to be hyperbolic,” he told a television program presenter of growing crime nationwide.

The Thursday night segment’s forum, not William’s message, was shocking.

The progressive district attorney appeared on Fox News with “America’s Newsroom” presenter Bill Hemmer and touted his shift from reformist campaign pledges.

Williams stated, “We actually have brought back the multiple offender law,” which permits prosecutors to add decades to the jail terms of many felons. Williams will only use it for violence.

“Juvenile court does not offer enough accountability for the victims, or for someone to learn from their bad behavior,” he said of his decision to charge murder-accused juveniles as adults.

Changes like those might cost Williams progressive allies. Dana Perino, though, praised them.

Perino called him lucky.

Mayoral touch

Mayor LaToya Cantrell helped a high school student avoid prom night dress mistakes.

At her weekly press conference on Wednesday, Cantrell said she got a grateful email from the mother of a young man who noticed the mayor as he was finishing a pre-prom supper at a restaurant with his girlfriend.

“They stopped Teedy,” Cantrell added. I told him they looked wonderful and fixed his boutonniere.

Cantrell was astonished to receive a photo of herself adjusting in her email a few days later.

The narrative wasn’t simply about the mayor’s personality. She then reminded the city’s youth to be sober and courteous throughout prom and graduation season. Cantrell said the New Orleans Police Department will monitor companies supplying underage drinkers.

Six individuals were shot, two fatally, during a prom after-party in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, last weekend.

“To our graduates, this is a moment in our lives that you will always remember. “We want you to prosper in our city,” Cantrell stated. Again, being responsible, violence-free, and not accepting the bait.