City Services and Infrastructure Coalition Partners:

After School Partnership
Beacon of Hope
Business Council of New Orleans and the River Region
Broadmoor Improvement Association
Committee for a Better New Orleans/Metropolitan Area Committee
Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans
Common Good
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Louisiana
Idea Village
Neighborhood Housing Services
Neighborhoods Partnership Network
New Orleans Chamber of Commerce
Louisiana SPCA
Vieux Carre Property Owners, Residents and Associates
Young Leadership Council

 

 
Issue 5 - City Services And Infrastructure PDF Print E-mail

Public infrastructure is a determinant of economic growth, and enables the delivery of city services. New Orleans’ infrastructure historically has suffered from under-investment and poor management. City officials now must rise to the challenge of rehabilitating aged and storm-damaged infrastructure and planning against future decline.

The primary function of city government is to provide basic services. Poor delivery of city services undermines a community’s quality of life, its attractiveness and, ultimately, its long-term viability. The citizenry expects fully functioning and reliable infrastructure and city services. Accordingly, city officials must:

 
 

Leadership Mandates

Financial and Strategic Planning - Develop realistic and workable multi-year financial and strategic plans for aging and declining infrastructure, including streets, sewerage and water systems, and capital projects.   Prioritize critical infrastructure needs for maintenance, repair and replacement based on clear, objective criteria and realistic revenue projections.
 
Fiscal Responsibility - Ensure cost-efficiency and highest return on investment for contract performance and delivery of city services. Award contracts transparently, based on objective criteria. Prohibit patronage and favoritism. Institute accountability measures. Benchmark operations to U.S peer cities. Where permissible, re-bid contracts for substandard performance or improper deviation from average peer group per capita cost. Reevaluate expensive outsourcing of project management and administration.
 
 
Street Maintenance and Repair – Emphasize maintenance and rehabilitation over reconstruction. Establish system for assessment of all streets. Implement a Pavement Management Plan to prioritize street maintenance and repair based on objective, transparent criteria in lieu of the current practice of equal funding across districts regardless of magnitude of repairs. Require coordination of street work with planned utility work. Increase funding for street maintenance by dedicating income from street-related fines.
 
Essential Facilities (Police, Fire, DA, Courts, Municipal Buildings) – Design new public facilities to withstand major storm wind and flood. Formulate a plan for hardening infrastructure, including water, sewer, electric and gas, so that it will drive, rather than impede any future recovery.
 
Sewerage and Water Board  -  Support the appointment of individuals who bring professional credentials and specific, necessary expertise to the Board, which will continue to confront significant challenges due to aged and storm-damaged infrastructure and insufficient revenue to achieve its current five-year capital plan.
 

Contract Award Process  - Accelerate the entire process of advertising, evaluating and awarding contracts for infrastructure work. Eliminate delay due to the city’s failure to expeditiously undertake and complete the contract award process.