NEW ORLEANS -- The Landrieu adminstration has cut the number of city employees with take-home cars in half. 414 people now have take-home cars, including the mayor, City Council members and the heads of public safety agencies.
So, what impact will it have on city government? And should other elected officials have given up their take-home cars?
“Part of it was making sure that we meet our budget targets this year. You know, we have an $80 million deficit, and it's important that we do that. But some of it was just good public policy,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu said.
The take-home car investigation was the first that the city's first inspector general took on. Robert Cerasoli found big problems with how the fleet of take-home cars was managed under the nagin administration.
“The moves that the city has made in the last six months are obviously a move in the right direction. We follow up on all our projects so we'll probably follow up next year,” said Ed Quatrevaux, New Orleans’ current inspector general.
The NOPD continues to have the largest share of take-home vehicles, 80 percent of them.
City Council Member Cynthia Hedge-Morrell applauds Landrieu's move to slash the number of take-home cars.
“The only concern I have is whenever you take EMS and police off of 24-hour calls, even if they do live 40 miles outside of the city, they don't have to respond if it's their day off,” she said.
Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro has the second-highest number of take-home cars, assigned to his office. Spokesman Chris Bowman said 23 of their 27 cars are assigned to investigators who respond to murder scenes all hours of the day.
“When the mayor implemented his policy regarding how far away you can live and still have a take home vehicle, certain investigators had to turn their vehicles in,” Bowman said.
Cannizzaro, City Council members, and Landrieu all kept their take-home cars.
“I think the Council uses their city cars. We have meetings on the weekend, we have meetings at night. We have meetings early in the morning. We have lots of meetings. So, I don't think the council members are gonna give their cars up. But I'm really speaking for myself. I didn't poll the council,” Hedge-Morrell said.
When asked whether Landrieu deserves to keep his take-home vehicle, he replied, “I pretty much work 24/7, 365. And so I'm always in my car. I think it makes a lot of sense. I think you're gonna be hard-pressed to find a major mayor in an American city that doesn't have one.”
Landrieu said the City Council members are the only ones who can make the decision whether to give up their take-home cars.
