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The Listening Post Asks: What's Your New Year's Resolution?

Jesse Hardman
We went to city hall to talk to Councilmember Jason Williams about his goals for 2015.

WWNO's Listening Post project asks questions about local news in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast and reports back on the community's response. This week the Listening Post asks: what's your new year's resolution? What should the city's resolution be for 2015?

Happy New Year New Orleans! For a look ahead at 2015 in the city we’ve enlisted a special Listening Post guest, City Councilmember Jason Williams.

Williams says his personal new year's resolution is better time management.

“Time management for everything: constituent services, time management for my kids, time management for getting into a yoga class, time management for reading a book at some point.” 

We also asked Councilmember Williams to talk about his goals for the city in 2015. He says his top priority is workforce development, something he sees as a solution to both poverty and crime in New Orleans.

“I’m talking about folks who do not have a skill set, folks who maybe did not finish high school, folks who may have gotten involved in the criminal justice system. And giving them specialized training to be prepared to take the jobs that are going to manifest themselves because of the economic boom,” he says. 

Credit Jesse Hardman
The proposed City Zoning Ordinance could bring major changes to city and is highly contested.

Williams says he wants to expand mental health and homeless services. And he says he’s hoping to get a new City Zoning Ordinance passed in the first part of the year. That CZO document, says Williams, will define New Orleans for the next generation.

“I think we will look back on it and if we do it right we’ll say ‘this is why New Orleans is great right now.’ If we do it wrong, we will know that we lost a huge opportunity and we will pay dearly for it.” 

Click below to listen to more of of our interview with City Councilmember Jason Williams about what's in store for New Orleans this year, including the new CZO, workforce development, and a possible smoking ban. 

jasonwilliamsedit.mp3

As usual, we wanted to know what New Orleanians were thinking about our topic. We sent a text message asking:

  • What's your new year's resolution?  
"To do better than I did last year" "I want to stay out of bars and cut down on drinking unless it is a special occasion. With the money saved, i could go visit family and take some other trip out of country. It will be a productive year." "To develop both my organization skills, and financial discipline" "Act, don't react, and communicate better" "To be more positive about life" "quiet meditative focused" "I am going to have my knees replaced in 2015...I want to dance!" "Money, fortune and love" "Get rid of one thing in my house per week that I no longer use." "Stop smoking. Save more money. Fall in love" "Who makes New Years resolutions anymore" "Quit talking shit" "go to the dentist" "To be celibate for the year!" "Make magic" "No fast food. No sodas."

  • What should the city's new year's resolution be?
"Job growth" "More programs for incarcerated youth to be rehabilitated and finish school...rent control...more restrictions on AirbnB." "Minimum wage hike" "No noise ordinance, except on bourbon!" "Accountability" "Street repairs, education, Orleans Parish Juvenile Court/juvenile laws." "You don't actually think the city of New Orleans has resolve besides diehard football fans and mardi gras and claiming everything is getting better?" "Hire more qualified police...do something with Charity's building." "No resolution" "Reduce noise and pollution" "Shut down the sheriffs plan for a bigger jail" "No opinion" "Attracting more tech jobs" "I dont care - I'm moving" "Cut down on crime, of course. Promote community building" "A different approach to educating underprivileged youth" "Preservation. Do not allow zoning changes that will harm the character of the city"

Councilmember Williams agrees. He says New Orleans’s reputation as a world class city is at risk in 2015 if the crime issue isn't addressed. 

“It’s a beautiful place, it’s historic, you’ll love it, you’ll have great food you’ll see great art, you’ll see great music...but you might lose your life.  That’s not a great marketing strategy,” he says.

We took some of your comments to Councilmember Williams. Click the audio link above to hear his responses.

Remember, if you want to join the conversation, text the word "Hello” to 504-303-4348. Or stop by our Listening Post recording device at Norman Mayer library in Gentilly. You can record your thoughts on our weekly topics and you might just hear your voice on the radio. 

Or follow us on Twitter: @LP_NOLA.

Hit us up! We'll see you at the Listening Post.

 

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