James Perry 2010 - Mayor for a City that Works

JAMES PERRY . . . MAKING NEW BLACK HISTORY- Candidate, Mayor New Orleans, LA
Listen Live Today at 12:30 EST

We had a great fundraiser last night hosted at the home of Liz Fallace and Mike Harris. Thank you to everyone who helped out!

Wade Henderson gave a great introduction.

A major part of our campaign is to implement the “blind” contracting process. If elected, we will have the Inspector General dedact the names of the contractor and a committee will be created to judge a proposal based on its merits rather than how much they donated to an elected official’s campaign. Citizens will be able to see online the names of all the contract proposals and will have the opportunity to judge the best one as well.

Over the course of the past three-years, Southern Louisiana has endured the wrath of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike. Middle and Northern Louisiana, like much of America, has coped with high foreclosure and unemployment rates. Louisianans, however, are resilient. Through each difficulty, we have persevered. We have done so, however with the help of the American people and the American government. For instance, our fledgling hurricane recovery has only progressed because of America’s support.

In working towards a post-racial New Orleans, sharing data is key. If we all have the common goal of a better City then there is no harm in making information available to everyone. Decisions about contracts should be open, inclusive, and transparent. Transparency and openness provide a base allowing trust to endure even through disagreement and bad reasoning. We need transparency in New Orleans government now. The progress of New Orleans’ racial dialogue depends on it.

“The program that has generated the most attention is the Elm City Resident Card, a multipurpose identification card that can be of use to any city resident, irrespective of status.1 The card, launched in July 2007, was created to address several areas of concern in the immigrant community: public safety, access to financial services, access to government services, and knowledge about individual rights and civil liberties.”

President Obama’s Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan is a huge improvement over prior Bush policy in addressing America’s foreclosure crisis. However, it stops short of fully addressing the problem. The plan is designed to exclusively assist employed homeowners in danger of foreclosure.

As Yale awaits the arrival of James Perry, the Yale Daily News has written several articles in anticipation of his Master’s Tea talk.

James Perry will be speaking to students at Tufts at Noon today. If you can’t make that, come listen to him at 7pm in Brookline.

A teenager who is unable to read can’t complete a job application, take a driving test or even discern all the food choices at McDonald’s. Daily life becomes a reading exam that he can’t pass. Armed robbery, petty theft and murder, however, require no literacy test.