Hospital Price Transparency, Port Battle, Orleans Parish Sheriff Millage Renewal Podcast Por arte de portada

Hospital Price Transparency, Port Battle, Orleans Parish Sheriff Millage Renewal

Hospital Price Transparency, Port Battle, Orleans Parish Sheriff Millage Renewal

Escúchala gratis

Ver detalles del espectáculo

Acerca de esta escucha

 Hy and Christopher kick off with an interview with hospital activist Beth Pence. She reveals that only six Louisiana hospitals have been transparent with their pricing and cost for procedures, despite the law passed by U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy which mandates hospitals must provide the pricing “openly and transparently”. We discuss how hard this byzantine economic burden places on so many families.We then move to talking about our main subject, PortNOLA - more on that story below.Our hosts also question the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s 2.46 Mills Renewal for 10 years, on the ballot May 3. The dysfunction in the Orleans Parish’s Sheriff’s Office has led to the construction of a jail complex, which the current Sheriff originally pledged not to use and has been— to put it politely— schizophrenic in the messaging of its eventual purpose. Staff attrition stand at record rates, morale is down, and recidivism is up.Sheriff Susan Hutson still has time to turn things around, and she still can make that on some of her progressive promises whilst balancing the law-and-order responsibilities of her office. Her election is not until this autumn, but she needs to take qualitative steps in order to be worthy of the tax dollars for which she asks the electorate. Moreover, Hy and Christopher have long opposed elections where only one measure is on the ballot. Sheriff Hutson did not create this system, but she could’ve chosen to put this tax on the autumn ballot—when she herself was up for reelection. Perhaps, that’s too much of a political ask, but if an elected official believes in the revenue measure, he, or she should put their own political feature on the line for it.Bayham Beats Goliath in Container Port BattleBy Christopher TidmoreOn Wednesday, April 23, State Rep. Michael Bayham (joined by the entire Council of Saint Bernard, the Parish President, DA, and Sheriff’s representatives) dealt the Port of New Orleans a sensation which the archons of the Dock Board rarely experience before a legislative committee—the taste of defeat.House Bill 616 would have granted the Port of New Orleans unilateral expropriation power to build a highway-level road from a new container-port which they proposed to build. It would have run across the parish. The bill would have empowered PortNOLA to seize private property without the approval of the parish government, levy tolls (as well as exempt their own trucks & vehicles from those tolls), and contract with a private company to own the road, allowing the private firm to administer the seized property.All of this to build a container-port which encounters majority opposition in St. Bernard Parish, to construct it on top of an historic African-American cemetery, and build in shadow of a Black community in Violet which likely would never be able to look upon the Mississippi River again.Moreover, this container-port stands years overdue with its original budgetary cost of $1.8 billion soaring. to $3.9 billion. Some even argue that taxpayers will likely be on the hook if it’s allowed to proceed— despite promises that private dollars will underwrite the container-port infrastructure. (Unlike in Plaquemines, PortNOLA representatives have demurred from explaining whom exactly will fund the full cost of the new container-port.)The victory of the St Bernard Parish citizens in the LA House Transportation Committee in deferring the legislation was immediately labeled ‘a blockade to economic progress’ in the Pelican State. PortNOLA officials have ignored, however, that the Plaquemines Port container terminal project (under construction directly across the river) achieves almost all of these economic goals, would be built on undeveloped land, enjoys wide public support, and would actually fund infrastructure bridges to connect lower Plaquemines to Jefferson by rail and road, improving evacuation routes, and underwriting the removal of a dangerous train right-of-way which bisects downtown Gretna next to a public park where children play. Jefferson and Plaquemines support their project as ardently at St. Bernard opposes PortNola’s “LIT” Project (as it is formally named).Despite friendly articles in the daily paper, the lobbyist for Plaquemines terminal facility noted that while the Plaquemines project would require major infrastructure investment, “The LIT project in St. Bernard would actually require more infrastructure investment. Plus, the Plaquemines infrastructure projects are absolutely needed, irrespective of the container terminal being built — in fact, they're 15 years overdue based on congestion and safety issues. In contrast, the LIT-related infrastructure would only be built because of the proposed terminal there.”He continues, “The LIT project would cost $1.8 billion. I know for a fact that its cost has now soared to $3.9 billion. This soaring cost would make it the most expensive U.S. container terminal ever built by far, all in ...
Todavía no hay opiniones