Prior to Helena Moreno’s inauguration on Jan. 12, she led a successful campaign that focused on the two basic issues that have plagued New Orleans and its citizens for years: potholes and streetlights.
Moreno’s promise to fix New Orleans’ poor city infrastructure has been imperative to her success during the past election. This promise caught the attention of citizens as the broken lights and beaten down streets have been a looming safety concern.
Michelle Tran, a business analytics major at Loyola and New Orleans native, was skeptical about Moreno’s plans as failure to act has been common throughout New Orleans.
“The city infrastructure in New Orleans is really really bad. We have not seen change in this city in decades, and the only time we did see change is when the mayor decided to play face and try to change up everything when the Super Bowl came around. Even then it was the biggest inconvenience to the locals,” Tran said.
Moreno hopes to resolve these concerns as she has launched two projects centered around “Super Bowl progress” across New Orleans and into the New Orleans East area. The two projects were based on the efficient improvements that were made on city infrastructure in anticipation for the Super Bowl.
“I promised to enhance routine street maintenance and also provide Super Bowl-level coordination for infrastructure repairs,” Moreno said at a public event.
Joseph Luu, a psychology major, English writing education major, and New Orleans native, voiced his safety concerns with the current state of city infrastructure.
“There’s a lot of improvements that need to be made, especially in the New Orleans East area. I’m in district E and there’s no lighting in a certain portion of the interstate, which is where a lot of people go through. There’s potholes galore in one section of the street that’s right next to a school, which is very dangerous,” Luu said.
Initiative “Lights On” addresses this issue of New Orleans East’s lighting shortage. Moreno plans to repair the lights along the I-10 service road which has been known for the lack of lighting, as Luu mentioned.
“We recognize this is a public safety issue, and we’re taking the first of many steps to address crime in New Orleans East,” said Moreno said at a press event. “New Orleans East has been ignored for way too long. Not anymore!”
The “Lights On” initiative is accompanied by the newly instated Infrastructure Coordinating Council. The council would function similarly to the Super Bowl group in the way that street and sidewalk maintenance would become a priority and a goal for the council. The council is focusing on one of New Orleans’ most dreaded occurrences, potholes.
“Even in the richest parts of the city there are terrible streets, terrible potholes, and cobblestone cracking up,” Tran added.
Even with the projects being put into place, the doubts of action have been weighing on students, giving them mixed feelings of hope and uncertainty.
“I definitely believe in Helena Moreno because she has taken action before. I just hope that her action on a city level as mayor will have as much of an impact,” Luu added.
Tran shares a similar hope for Moreno’s future as New Orleans’ new mayor despite previous doubts.
“I do have a lot of hope she’ll make good changes, but you know, growing up with seeing so many failures you also have lots of doubts. However, I would love to see what she has in store for the city of New Orleans,” Tran said.
