A petition was filed calling for a recall election for New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell in the wake of a series of controversies.
The Friday petition, led by former city employee and ex-mayoral candidate Belden Batiste and Eileen Carter, cited a “failure to put New Orleans first and execute the responsibilities of the position.” Critics argued she has failed on matters of police staffing, tax collection, and French Quarter security, in addition to her rhetoric in support of a teenage boy who was convicted of carjacking five people.
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Criticisms of the mayor have heightened due to a sharp uptick in violent crime in the city.
“The mayor, she should put the city of New Orleans first,” Batiste said at a press conference on Friday. “She has neglected her duties, and there’s a number of issues going on. For instance, look at crime, look at infrastructure. I don’t hate the mayor, but at the end, do your job.”
Cantrell has also come under fire for taking a $47,000 trip to the French Riviera, which the mayor argued allowed her to market the city abroad. Some raised concerns the travel was a misuse of official funds.
“When I go, I’m reinvesting in the people who get marketed, and no apologies surrounding that at all,” Cantrell said at a town hall on Tuesday, NOLA.com reported.
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Fifty-three thousand signatures are required in the next 170-some days for the petition to be successful.
Cantrell won her last election with 65% of the vote.
