what have you done for me lately? December 14, 2009
I went to the debate at Loyola tonight for the candidates for City Council District A. It wasn’t really a debate, it was more like an opportunity for the candidates to make an impression. I thought Susan Guidry did very well. She clearly has a grip on the issues that are important to District A and to the city. Susan is extremely intelligent and she’s obviously been doing her homework. She’s an attorney, and she has that measured way of thinking before she speaks.
The questions ranged from cemeteries to utilities. I submitted a question which was asked of all the candidates, “what have you done in the past five years to bring New Orleans back?” Jay Batt’s answer was not very good. He said he had been rebuilding his house and volunteering with Beacon of Light. I am not familiar with Beacon of Light, if someone wants to, um, enlighten me.
Susan Guidry answered that she had become president of the Parkview Neighborhood Association and had led efforts to close a nuisance bar in the neighborhood and to restore their firehouse. She has also worked with a coalition of District A neighborhood associations on issues like re-population, street lighting and blight. She also represented the Port of New Orleans in their successful Katrina lawsuit.
Virginia Blanque answered that she was a board member of the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization and that she worked for several months in Arnie Fielkow’s office.
Fred Robertson said that he basically hasn’t been doing enough.
UPDATE: It’s Beacon of Hope, not Beacon of Light. See comments. I thought Batt said Beacon of Light.
- Posted in : main
- Author : dangerblond
Comments»
Is Batt a Baptist?
http://www.beaconlight.org/
I never saw anything publicizing this event. (Then again, I haven’t read the dead-tree edition of the Times Picayune lately.) Is another forum coming soon?
It’s the Beacon of Hope. Close though.
http://www.lakewoodbeacon.org/pages/about.html
http://www.lakewoodbeacon.org/pages/inthenews.html
Most residents in District A are familiar with this community outreach program as it was formative in bringing the Lakeview community back with grassroots efforts.
Just thought you should know. It’s an important program that continues to help rebuild our community.
[...] “Jay Batt’s answer was not very good. He said he had been rebuilding his house and volunteering wit….” [...]
It was suprising to see Batt take the humble pie approach that he did. Saying what he did, in the form that he did, explains the reason for his loss against Shelly. He was not there for the citizens of Distict A when they needed him after the Federal Flood and also before. He was too dedicated to special interests.
The woman sitting next to me at the forum expressed it very well in her notes, “Beacon of Dope.”