District B

I live in New Orleans City Council District B, which includes part of Mid-City, the CBD, the Garden District and Irish Channel, Central City and Gert Town, most of Broadmoor and a little bit of Uptown. [PDF map] We have six candidates running for this council seat in the next election.

The League of Women Voters has profiles of all the candidates. Laureen posted interviews with Quentin Brown and Shane Landry.

Rev. Marshall Truehill is the only candidate I’ve actually met. He came to an MCNO meeting a few weeks ago, and made a good impression. As a friend of mine said:

I think Truehill is serious about getting City Council out of the planning process and that should be something all of us push for as one of the single best things that could happen for our future quality of life (along with fixing the schools). Truehill was on the City Planning Commission for a number of years and I think he saw the damage done by our current system.

That being said, I have at times disagreed with his support of certain projects. He seems a little too connected to the old-guard New Orleans way of doing things for my taste. Maybe it is just the post-K thing, but I’m ready for a complete changing of the guard.

Speaking of changing the guard, there’s also Renee Gill-Pratt, the incumbent, but I have to agree with Mr. Clio on this one: ABIEMO.

That leaves Duplantier and Head as the two candidates I really know nothing about. Duplantier is the only candidate who explicitly mentions the growth of the university where I work in his LWV profile. Gotta like that.

If I had to vote today, I’m not sure who I’d vote for. I need to learn more. Hopefully I will at the upcoming Candidate Forum.