Building a Better New Orleans

**Announcement Video Coming soon**

New Orleans' annual budget for 2023 was set over $1 billion dollars and as of a 2023 review, the city only spent 65% of its budget. And many departments were on track to spend roughly 37% of their budgets. Surplus economics on paper typically look wonderful--especially in savings accounts; however, on the municipal level with several critical areas of improvement and with so many citizens in dire need of support we have to inject this surplus into the New Orleans economy. This campaign is a campaign of necessity. Here is why I have to run:

• New Orleans has 25% unemployment rates (which have steadily been growing since Oct. 2023);
• More than 23 percent of children in the greater New Orleans area are at risk of hunger; that is an astounding 140,000 kids^(*) living in vulnerable conditions. As well as, According to Feeding Louisiana, New Orleans has the second highest incidence of residents experiencing food insecurity in the United States. Food insecurity in children can lead to adverse health effects and poor school performance
• The worst housing market in all 50 states according to national real estate company, Zillow;
• In 2023, The NOLA Public Schools district received a C again. Five New Orleans charters received an F.;
• Continued Teacher Shortage and since 2018, Louisiana as a whole has had a decline in individuals earning teaching credentials;
• According to Data USA, 23.8% of New Orleans residents, or 88,700 people, live below the poverty line, which is higher than the national average of 12.6%. The largest demographic living in poverty are females 25–34, followed by females 55–64, and then females 35–44;
• Louisiana ranks second in unbanked individuals and the 2021 FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households reported that 14.7% of households in New Orleans-Metairie, LA are unbanked.
• Continued unhoused crisis grows in New Orleans. According to Unity of Greater New Orleans, the nonprofit that conducts the region's annual, federally mandated “point in time” count, said this week that the number of homeless people in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish as of January rose to 1,390, a 15% increase over the 2022 count.
• New Orleans continues to struggle with retaining residents losing 2% of our already dwindled population.
• Utility prices in Nov. of 2023 were near $500 with continuing increases to utility costs and water costs while workers families get breaks. And recourse for corporations that simply offset fines of failed grid maintenance to the citizens of New Orleans;
• Hardly any inflation relief from Washington in sight which during the peak of the financial stress of COVID in 2022 New Orleans has not gotten any cheaper, in fact I would argue we have gotten more expensive;
• In 2024, the average cost of minimum coverage car insurance in New Orleans is $126 per month, or $1,510 per year. Full coverage insurance costs an average of $386 per month, or $4,627 per year. New Orleans residents pay the most on average for car insurance in Louisiana, at $4,320 per year, or $360 per month;
• Chronic diseases are rising and rampant in New Orleans, such as addiction (95% Overdosed Deaths in 2023 were from Fentanyl). In 2010, over 55,000 patients were discharged with heart disease; over 11,000 had strokes; and almost 9,000 people had diabetes. The scariest of all statistics: 93,000 persons from Kenner to NOLA aged 12 or older (10.8 percent) were classified as having a substance use disorder in the past year;
• Continued inability to recruit and retain police officers in one of the most fluctuating cities for violent crime in the last decade;
• Continued inability to recruit and retain firefighters as department ranks have fallen from 803 to just over 500, and seven fire stations have been closed. Including failed contract negotiations for over a decade creating an almost impossible retention effort.
• Continued inability to recruit and retain EMS workers. Annual turnover of EMS has shot up from 17% five years ago to 40% in 2021. The agency has a 23% vacancy rate. As with New Orleans' dwindling Police Department, the EMS vacancies have reduced the number of high-priority 911 calls that are answered within 12 minutes
• Our state ranked dead last in a national poll by USNews...

I am hopeful that I can deliver a vision of growth to the city of New Orleans that we desperately need for the times that we are in. To free ourselves from helplessness, we must first be inspired, and what inspires people? A change of vision.

For over a century we have had Democratic leadership in New Orleans and for over a century we have not had the results that have been promised. A quote often misattributed to Einstein, but with roots in Mental Health Initiatives such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous is: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." With over a century of missed results... It is time for something new.

What makes this campaign unique?

1. First, I am running as a true independent/political outsider. This gives me a powerful advantage as my policies are geared toward my fellow community members and not special interests.
2. Second, with a degree in mental health (Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling) I have insight that other candidates lack in this field—especially within the realm of addiction and adolescence.
3. Third, I have worked in numerous cutting-edge industries in technology from 3D printing to solar energy, cannabis, to diabetic pumps, etc. I know how to build industry.
4. Fourth, I want to put New Orleanians to work (creating opportunity); infuse industry with necessary capital; revitalize the public school system; encourage the return and creation of unions; purchase Entergy New Orleans and create a true public option for power; create sustainable energy options such as hydropower and battery bank facilities; audit/restructure S&WB; forge confidence with first responders; harness blockchain technology; and so much more.

As this campaign trail continues, you will find that my solutions are simple, data supported, realistic (not idealistic), and necessary for our city. We are the economic heartbeat of the state, and the more reasons we can create for people to not just visit but to live here, the better our entire community becomes.

Join me on this campaign and let's make history by electing the first non-democratic leader in over 100 years.