Shelley Midura bows out of the Council District A race
Council Member Shelley Midura has been a great public servant.
While not parting words, in her announcement that she would not seek re-election, she provided some profound insight into the entrenched problems of City Hall (emphasis added):
What troubles me most about New Orleans is the democracy gap between the priorities of the people and the priorities of the decision-makers in power. Too many of our elected officials and influential citizens continue to do the public wrong by protecting the status quo or their own self-interest. Rather than using data or best practices or evidence of success, policy and budget decisions with long-term consequences for the City’s future are too often made in the absence of sufficient public input, and instead on the basis of personal whim, anecdotal evidence, or alliance with entrenched institutions that have much to lose or gain by a given decision. Make no mistake about it: defending the status quo is not in the best interest of this City, and anyone who does so is not putting the City’s interest ahead of their own. The status quo has not worked, is not working, and will not work to make New Orleans a world-class city. I will spend the last year or so of my term fighting adherents to the status quo, as I believe our greatest hope for the future lies in continued reform. …
Answering the question, “Is this in the best interest of the City of New Orleans” has been my guiding principle over the last three years, and it will continue to be the basis for every decision I make, position I defend or advocate, and points I raise on any given issue. Thank you for trusting in me to make sure the answer is always “yes.”
