Remarks by Jason Hughes
20 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 1
“Council Member Hughes. Thank you, Mr. President, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. As I begin with some opening remarks, I'm going to ask our panelists to please begin making their way to the table for the sake of time. As we begin Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we are here to celebrate our survivors, stand with those facing this disease, and honor those who we have lost. We certainly want to thank former Councilwoman Nadine Ramsey for establishing this tradition at City Hall, and Mayor Helena Moreno for her leadership and support, and for all of my colleagues for their ongoing…”
“Thank you very much. Really appreciate our panelists for sharing your expertise, most importantly for the work that you do each and every day for our residents from prevention and education to treatment and most certainly patient care. Today we're pleased to present to each of you as a token of our gratitude a proclamation from the members of the city council. We'll take a group photo at the end. Why don't you all hold those until the end if you don't mind, Willie. And after we honor all of our survivors, we'll take a group photo if you all will please stick around. But thank you all so much…”
“At this time, we've reached the climactic moment of today's program. And with that, Council President Morrell is recognized.”
“Applause Applause Applause Applause Deputy Mayor Laparolary Good morning, thank you.”
“Let me first of all congratulate each of you and just thank you for sharing your courageous battles. We celebrate each of you. This morning I am deeply honored to pay tribute, to celebrate, an extraordinary long-time resident of District E, whose family has deep roots in this district, Jan Heiser Wynne. Jan Heiser Wynne dedicated three decades of her life serving the citizens of the city of New Orleans in the United States of America as a dedicated staff member at the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal. You were excited about your impending retirement, and then all of a sudden you…”
“Thank you, Madam Clerk. This is a simple but important amendment to an existing CEA between the City of New Orleans and Sankofa Community Development Corporation for the public purpose of improving drainage systems and increasing water runoff storage capacity in the Lower Ninth Ward by storing stormwater overflow and reducing land subsidence through a green infrastructure project, all as a more fully set forth in this amendment. We have one public comment. Rashida Ferdinand.”
“Thank you very much. The board is clear. I see no questions. With that, I move adoption. Second by Councilmember McCarran. Please vote your machines. Vote your machines. Vote your machines. Securities, no names. Thank you.”
“So moved. Second. Second by Council President Morrell. Voter machines, ma'am. Seven yays, no nays.”
“I'll move. Second by Council President Morrell. Please vote your machines, members. Thank you. Seven yays, no nays.”
“I will move. Second by Council President Morrell. Please vote your machines. Seven yays, no nays. Thank you, members.”
“Thank you, Madam Clerk. The family of Taj Rudolph is coming to the front at this time. Members, it is with a heavy heart that I introduce this ordinance on behalf of an extraordinary public servant. I know when we think of the term public servant, we often think of elected officials, but few people in this life have I met that has impacted this world at such a young age. Today we honor the life and the extraordinary legacy of Taj Rudolph. To Taj's family, you probably don't know how much Taj meant to me. In fact, before I was ever an elected official, I came across Taj Rudolph, and he…”
“Thank you all for being here. I don't know if anyone else wanted to say anything. Any of my colleagues have any comments? Council Member Green is recognized.”
“Thank you, Councilman Graham. Councilmember King is recognized.”
“Thank you. Thank you, Councilman King. Vice President, will it be recognized?”
“Thank you. Thank you all. So in closing, You hold that up. Before we pass this ordinance, I do have just a small token on behalf of the city council. And I hope you always look and remember that extraordinary smile. And, you know, in this moment, as tough as this is, going to count it all joy. joy for Taj's life, joy for the joy that he brought to all of our lives, and joy to everything he did for the city of New Orleans. And every time I pass the intersection of Wright Road and Lake Forest Boulevard, in the middle of the neighborhood where Taj grew up, We will forever speak his name. So with…”
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
“Thank you, Madam Chair. Really quickly, thank you, Director. In that same spirit, what's the status, you know, these vacant lots that we have cleared title to? I know we had to put a pause on auctions because of the debacle with CivicSource. Look, there are a lot of residents. Let's put out-of-town folks aside. There's a lot of residents that are taking care of lots that they live next door to that they would love to acquire. Now they have to pay property tax, which is more revenue. And we've been talking about this since January 12th, since I've been sworn in. Are we making any progress?…”
“Okay. The only request that I'm going to continue to reiterate as we get these auctions back online. Let's please keep in mind that many of my residents are elderly. They are not going to touch a computer. They're not going to go through the mundane process of bidding online. So we've got to have some type of mechanism where those folks can go somewhere and be assisted if they want to bid on these lots.”
“I know y'all are working hard, but if we can just really keep the foot on the gas with that, because that's revenue. I mean, that's easy revenue that we can put in our general fund.”
“Thank you, Director. Thank you, Madam Chair.”