New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has lived rent-free in a city-owned apartment in the French Quarter for months, the mayor’s office confirmed Friday.
The city’s Metropolitan Crime Commission asked the City Council Thursday to open an investigation into the mayor’s alleged use of a city-owned apartment in the French Quarter.
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“That’s an additional benefit tax-free that she’s been receiving,” MCC President Rafael Goyeneche said. “She doesn’t need to be residing there or using that. And I think that it’s a misuse and abuse of her authority. But I’m waiting to see what the City Council’s position is.”
Cantrell has been living in the two-bedroom Pontalba apartment, which costs $2,991 a month, since at least January. The mayor exchanged service request emails with the complex, including an alert that there was no heat in the shower, the WiFi had stopped working, and her toilet seat was broken, according to documents obtained by WWL-TV.
A spokesperson for the mayor’s office claimed the living situation did not violate any laws, and a City Council member who sits on the board of the corporation that oversees the complex said he had reviewed the policies and did not note any violations.
“Councilmember [Eugene] Green is not aware of any regulations or procedures that may have been violated,” Green’s chief of staff, Sandra Thomas, said.
A spokesperson for Cantrell claimed other mayors had used the complex during their tenures, but four recent mayors have denied the allegations, according to Fox 8.
The city purchased the complex for visiting dignitaries and city events in the 1990s under former Mayor Marc Morial.
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Cantrell made headlines recently by refusing to reimburse the city for funds used to pay for her first-class travel. City employees are required to seek the lowest fares available or reimburse the city for deluxe accommodations, the policy states. Cantrell claimed the upgrades were for her own safety as a black woman.
