Over at the yellow blog, Jeffrey can't wait to vote against Stacy Head.
Why?
Because she's exactly what I told everyone she would be.
Unless you're a homeowner (I guess landowner would make it sound more ominous...OK, we'll go with that). Unless you're a landowner, she wants nothing to do with your lazy ass.
That is, maybe, unless you're renting from her.
And not the one token section 8 property she has.
In a March city council meeting, as the dirty south bureau reports, Ms. Head and the rest of the council met with the PHRF, a tenant's rights group. Here are some choice quotes from that report:
Stacy Head made no attempt to hide her disrespect for the presentation and her disagreement with the need for protection of tenants' rights. She spent the entire length of the PHRF presentation sighing, scowling, rolling her eyes, and whispering indignantly to James Carter and Shelly Midura, the two councillors sitting beside her. She interrupted Malcolm Suber a number of times to angrily insist that landlords faced insurmountable hardships in insurance costs and that they were the real victims needing protection.
Later, a former resident of the Lower Ninth Ward got up to testify that he’d been the owner of a small local hip-hop record label before the storm, but he couldn’t come home to contribute to the economy because of high rents and he was still stuck in Baton Rouge while commuting to the city every day. Stacy Head showed him even more contempt. She refused to believe he couldn’t find affordable housing in the city. “You’re a young man,” (I’d guess he was in his 30s) she said with that mixture of disdain and patronizing sweetness that only a yuppie can muster. “You’re probably looking for - what – a one-bedroom?” No, he said, he was actually a family man with two kids to support. “Well, there’s a website you might try looking at; it’s called Craigslist, and it’s got all sorts of listings for apartments available. I’m sure you can find something there.” This in the same cloying, falsely-helpful tones as before, as if it had never occurred to a man trying for months to get his family home and re-start his business that there might actually be apartments listed on *gasp!* the Internet! The audience murmured angrily at her patronizing suggestions, but she kept going with her lecture on Apartment-Hunting 101, completely unaware of how offensive her assumptions were.
So apparently to the Stacy Heads of the city, the housing problem is not due to high rents, lack of livable apartment units, or shuttered public housing; it’s just that these complainers just aren’t resourceful enough to find apartments for themselves. They just need to look harder.
But Stacy Head doesn’t even try to seem sympathetic to the needs of tenants. She’s an open unabashed representative of real-estate developers, yuppie gentrifiers, and landlords. During her election campaign last year, one of her most-trumpeted qualifications for elected office was that she had bought a number of run-down rental properties, renovated them, and resold them for a tidy profit. She’s a landlord and gentrifier, plain and simple.
Now, fans, comes the money quote.
Stacy Head is the Jackie Clarkson for a new generation.
Boom! Dirty South Bureau nails it!
Remember, I told everybody way back when that all she cares about is her pocketbook and the fact that no Black folks live near her.
Now, you know I was right.
Hey, all I know is that I voted for Quentin Brown.
Wonder how he's doing these days?
Posted by: Mr. Clio | 11 July 2007 at 12:49 PM
Yes you called it. Thank goodness I live in a different district.
Posted by: GentillyGirl | 11 July 2007 at 01:57 PM
I saw Quentin a couple of months ago. I decided that my wife was going to have to work in the yard, as Quentin's price were too high for my cheap, miserly wallet.
He's looking good. Somebody stole all his stuff, but he's getting it back, and trying to find good people for his crews.
I genuinely like the guy.
Posted by: ashley | 11 July 2007 at 02:27 PM
It's bad when we can't wait to vote out a candidate who replaced someone who was clearly worse.
Posted by: oyster | 11 July 2007 at 02:30 PM
So, What exactly are you talking about?
Did you watch the March meeting?
Are you buying up properties to create low income housing?
Posted by: Confused | 11 July 2007 at 02:42 PM
You got upset at Head because she wanted officers to crack down on littering -- which is a major problem -- because we have bigger crimes to deal with. Never mind that this kind of thinking never works -- Lee Brown tried it in Houston and New York, to no avail -- that kind of thinking also ensures that we'll have a filthy city. Besides, connecting a dislike of littering to a dislike of blacks is curious to say the least.
Now you argue against Head because she points somebody to Craigslist. In truth, there are a number of decent listings there, and although rents have gone up, they have been stablizing or declining as more and more housing comes online (and as I'm sure you're aware, there is a major glut in the housing market that's encouraging people to switch to rentals).
In any case, though, the tenant activists are suggesting some form of rent control, which is beyond moronic. Rents rise as a consequence of increased demand, and the higher rents in turn quell that demand. If you artificially lower prices, then demand stays the same. That means some people get sweetheart deals, and others get left in the street. It also discourages people from renting, which further exacerbates shortages. It's small wonder Head has little patience for people who can't comprehend these issues, or simply don't care about the consequences.
Posted by: Courreges | 11 July 2007 at 07:53 PM
One more thing: For the record, I do agree with you that Head goes too far, especially since she apparently supports appropriating private property just to be turned over to private developers. I was wary of that initially, and it's still a concern.
However, it does no good to critisize her when she's right. We DO need to crack down on littering, and we DON'T need rent control. We also DON'T need people decrying "gentrification," as if changing racial balances are somehow a great evil (News flash: proposing we strive to maintain traditional neighborhood demographics is no better than the racism that led to 'white flight' in the 1960's). It's one thing to fight corruption that violates peoples' rights, it's another to advocate ridiculous policies.
Posted by: Courreges | 11 July 2007 at 08:06 PM
So Louisiana Arch-Republican David Vitter is outed as a serial prostitute-solicitor, and today, you post on the evils of .... Stacy Head.
Jesus.
Posted by: wintermute | 11 July 2007 at 08:15 PM
So Louisiana Arch-Republican David Vitter is outed as a serial prostitute-solicitor, and today, you post on the evils of .... Stacy Head.
Jesus.
Posted by: wintermute | 11 July 2007 at 08:21 PM
Wintermute, you goober, why don't you look at the post before this one. Also, I can't hold a candle to Oyster's coverage. This is right in his alley.
And Courreges, you're right, I'm wrong. Stacy Head is a genius and should be made emperor of NOLA. No litter for all -- at least all who can afford to live here.
God, I wish Duplantier or Landry had made the runoff...
Posted by: ashley | 12 July 2007 at 12:00 AM
Typical right winger. "I got mine...if you don't have yours well that's just tough...it's your problem...."
Posted by: Richard P. | 12 July 2007 at 07:56 AM
Courreges, your comments also make the assumption that New Orleans is a generic city that can be exchanged with Houston or NYC when discussing crime stats or such. It can't. It truly can't. Our culture is so entirely different than that of the rest of the country, it is impossible to say that what worked or didn't work somewhere else can even apply here.
It's like what happens when another city tries to have a Mardi Gras type party. Either it's completely lame (Fort Wayne), or people get killed (Seattle). Our cops are the best in the cosmos at crowd control, and our culture is one of tolerance to a certain point. That's just one of the reasons why "solutions" that work in other places may not play here.
Perhaps you should read this piece in the NYT to get a bit more insight about renting in NOLA post-K: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/12/us/nationalspecial/12exile.html?hp
It's not as easy as you and Ms Head think.
I *do* like this entirely out-of-context quote from your comment: "Head has little patience for people".
Posted by: ashley | 12 July 2007 at 08:05 AM
Ashley,
That's a blank check argument. "We're different, so policing tactics that have failed everywhere else will work here."
Moreover, the truth is things are not so different. In Houston you have older, dense slums (with shotgun homes, too!) full of gang violence. In New York you have even greater density and similar social conditions in high-crime areas. Experience has shown that when the police ignoreminor crimes to focus on the "big" ones, it doesn't reduce overall crime and it sure as heck doesn't make violent crime less prevalent.
I'm not saying "broken windows" theory is correct -- the evidence there is circumstantial at best -- but I am saying that it's foolish to let litter pile up with the expectation that this will free up the cops to prevent some gang killing on South Saratoga. We already have plenty of police per capita (the highest in the south, I believe) and so there's no reason to ignore quality-of-life issues. Nor is there a compelling reason to "tolerate" people creating unsanitary and dangerous conditions by throwing food and glass bottles in the street (I can only imagine how many kids get stitches, even serious infections, from the refusal of people to throw away glass bottles).
As for Mardi Gras, I would note that people have been killed during Mardi Gras here, although I won't dispute that the NOPD has unparalleled experience with crowd control. The closest I know of is Galveston, and they (*shutter*) charge ADMISSION.
Posted by: Courreges | 12 July 2007 at 09:11 AM
Courreges, I believe that we aren't really that far apart on our beliefs.
I said that "solutions that work in other places *may* not play here." It's part of what I call the go-cup theory: with this freedom comes responsibility. You get to carry an open container of alcohol, but don't make it glass, 'cause that could break and hurt somebody. Most New Orleanians see these shades of grey, but I believe that Ms Head's world is quite monochromatic.
Also, note that I'm not saying the police should ignore minor crimes, I just think that Ms Head's crackdown on litter is ill-advised at this point. What we need is not having a beat cop writing citations for somebody that missed the can with their toss. Not when vinyl siding cowboys are dumping entire trucks of debris in New Orleans East.
What we *do* need is a Pennington-style Chief that will give the officers both authority and responsibility. I wish I could see Ms. Head pushing for a new police chief rather than railing on renters.
Posted by: ashley | 12 July 2007 at 09:47 AM
We aren't too far apart, but I still disagree insofar as you imply a significant tradeoff; police on patrol can write summonses pretty quickly, and still crack down on illegal dumpers and violent criminals. In fact, patroling around and keeping an open presence is one of the best ways of preventing any crime.
I do think you're right about replacing public officials. Sadly, the big problem isn't that the NOPD doesn't have enough cops do patrol and arrest; the problem is that nobody stays in jail, so they get out an commit more crimes. The police, the DA's office, and the courts are all complicit in this. Sadly, though, only the mayor and the electorate can solve the problem. Head should probably be putting more pressure on Nagin in this regard; I'd like to know why she isn't.
Posted by: Courreges | 12 July 2007 at 11:08 AM
Oh, and Midura has been the only one on the council to stand up and call for Jordan's resignation:
http://neworleans.metblogs.com/archives/2007/07/jordan_resign.phtml
Posted by: liprap | 12 July 2007 at 05:41 PM
"Yes you called it. Thank goodness I live in a different district."
Who's your councilperson GG? It's partly in comparison with my (water down the IG's office and kill a bill to limit gifts to council reps) rep that I find myself thinking highly of Head. Maybe I'm adding 2 + 2 and getting 5, but because of those things, I'm inclined to think that Celcus was unnecessarily circumspect in this post.
Posted by: bayoustjohndavid | 12 July 2007 at 08:06 PM
Don't know why the link didn't work
http://some-came-running.blogspot.com/2007/03/pigs-on-wing-part-two.html
Posted by: bayoustjohndavid | 12 July 2007 at 08:07 PM
Courreges, remember, Stacy also wants zero tolerance on public drunkeness.
I imagine she could have entire patrols with notepads writing summonses in the Quarter. That'll teach 'em.
I was right about Stacy and I was definitely right about Midura -- the best thing to happen to NOLA politics in years.
Posted by: ashley | 13 July 2007 at 08:58 AM
The police and criminal justice system really does have the resources to handle all of the minor offenses plus the heavy-duty stuff, do they? We know from Metropolitan Crime Commission studies that the police apparently do pour a lot of effort into going after minor offenses and we also know what the story has been with violent crime. It wouldn't work to focus on the serious stuff and leave the trifling matters to take a back seat, would not? Why? Why not try something different when we already know what good the "broken glass" approach is doing or rather failing to do? Is it that the police would rather go after the easy stuff and avoid the heavy lifting?
Posted by: Richard P. | 14 July 2007 at 09:25 AM
Hamsterdam!
http://ashleymorris.typepad.com/ashley_morris_the_blog/2007/01/hamsterdam.html
Posted by: ashley | 14 July 2007 at 10:27 AM
Absurd. Stacy Head is the one of the best people to serve on the City Council. Honest, smart and progressive. Her Craigslist suggestion is a good one. So what if you didn't like her tone. I'd rather see her on the council than her corrupt predecessor.
Posted by: Android | 27 September 2007 at 10:24 PM
I'd do her
Posted by: rick | 16 February 2009 at 06:23 PM
Now you argue against Head because she points somebody to Craigslist. In truth, there are a number of decent listings there, and although rents have gone up, they have been stablizing or declining as more and more housing comes online (and as I'm sure you're aware, there is a major glut in the housing market that's encouraging people to switch to rentals).
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