With just months left in her second and final term, and engulfed now by a criminal indictment issued Friday, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s near-decade-long leadership of city government may be over for all practical purposes.
Any progress on projects and initiatives in New Orleans will come through the efforts of others, say City Council members, business leaders and neighborhood activists.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell speaks during a unified command press conference about the city’s ongoing readiness for Super Bowl LIX at Gallier Hall in New Orleans on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
They say they expect the mayor to concentrate on her legal battles in the coming weeks and months, stay mostly out of public sight and do little to promote the remaining items on her agenda.
Other elected officials are likely to steer clear of Cantrell, who seems to have few remaining political allies.
“When you’re a lame duck, there’s very little you can do productively,” said Gary Clark, a political science professor at Dillard University. “And now she becomes the lamest of lame ducks.”
As Clark and multiple City Council members pointed out, Friday’s indictment doesn’t mean the mayor has committed any crimes. She still has the right to prove her innocence and has previously denounced the federal investigation as racially motivated.
Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Simpson, left, for the Eastern District of Louisiana departs a press conference after he talked about the indictment of New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell on Friday August 15, 2025. With him is FBI Special Agent In Charge Jonathan Tapp, center. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)
But political insiders say that Cantrell, under a legal cloud for more than a year and with dismal approval ratings, already seemed to be making few visible moves to achieve lasting progress ahead of her term ending in January 2026.
Her public activities of late have mostly consisted of fights with a City Council that seems to have little respect for her views.
In recent weeks, the council members have overturned her effort to block a revamp of the city attorney’s office and seen a judge side with them over Cantrell related to how much money the city should collect from oilfield land under the Wisner Trust. The council has also stymied a plan she supported over which contractor would pick up trash in the French Quarter and the Downtown Development District.
Three of her senior aides even disclosed to the City Council last month that Cantrell had agreed to keep IV Waste working on its emergency contract but then surprised them by favoring another company instead.
Cantrell has not spelled out remaining priorities
Normally, a mayor hitting the final stretch of her term would be focused on finishing several legacy projects. But political insiders said they couldn’t identify the mayor’s remaining priorities.
A request to have Cantrell or someone from her administration outline the priorities in an interview elicited only a press release that spelled out the mayor’s achievements during her tenure. And in a statement late Friday, Cantrell’s administration said her attorney was reviewing the indictment and had no comment on it yet.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell speaks at a press conference at the temporary New Orleans Police Department headquarters about a suspected terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (Staff photo by Scott Threlkeld, The Times-Picayune)
Cantrell has limited her public appearances for months, usually having aides shield her from the press whenever she does appear. City Council members say they have had little contact with her lately, though she appeared last week at the grand opening of the first Trader Joe’s in New Orleans, where she posed for photos with employees and clapped along to a band.
“The big question right now is, will the mayor continue her duties as normal and be publicly available or, under the advice of counsel, will the mayor shield herself from public scrutiny?” said Council member Joe Giarrusso III. “That question will be answered quickly with all the Katrina events coming up.”
He noted that there will be Katrina events daily during the week of the storm’s 20th anniversary.
“There hasn’t been a checklist of issues they want to accomplish when they leave,” said Oliver Thomas, who represents New Orleans East on the council and is running to replace Cantrell in this year’s mayoral election.
And City Council Vice President Helena Moreno, who is also running in the mayoral race, said she’s also continuing to act as a council watchdog. She’s also running for mayor, along with State Sen. Royce Duplessis.
Cantrell can point to some accomplishments.
She was part of the team that pulled off successful preparations for this year’s Super Bowl.
New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick talks to Mayor LaToya Cantrell
Violent crime began dropping in late 2022 and has continued the trend under Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick, who was chosen for the job by Cantrell in September 2023.
In 2024, New Orleans had only 144 homicides, about half the number in 2022. The tally so far this year is 82, according to Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission.
Work of local government carries on
Amid a potential leadership vacuum in the mayor’s office, city officials, outside groups and business owners say they are continuing their work to move New Orleans forward.
“It’s been very gratifying to see City Hall workers and department heads perform their work very vigorously,” said Gregory Rusovich, a shipping executive who has chaired numerous city boards. “It’s a credit to the New Orleans spirit that we’re not letting her issues cloud our efforts and the success of the city.”
The Sewerage & Water Board is installing smart meters aimed at addressing longtime complaints about inflated monthly bills and has taken control of cleaning catch basins from the Department of Public Works under a bill sponsored by state Sen. Jimmy Harris, D-New Orleans, and signed into law by Gov. Jeff Landry.
Last month, the City Council approved using $20 million of city funds, over Cantrell’s objection, for Tulane’s $650 million retrofit of the old Charity Hospital, closed since Katrina.
Developers are turning vacant land just upriver of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center into offices, condos and apartments, thanks in part to massive taxpayer subsidies.
The Audubon Nature Institute is also working to turn the Governor Nicholls wharves at the downriver end of the French Quarter into a park that will connect the Moonwalk with Crescent Park.
Plans to turn the old Six Flags amusement park in New Orleans East into the Bayou Phoenix complex are also advancing, said project leader Troy Henry.
Jennifer Avegno, the city’s health director, is overseeing three new programs aimed at reducing crime and helping the city’s most vulnerable residents.
Rick Hathaway, the director of the Department of Public Works, and Anthony Davis, the director of code enforcement, are continuing their work to rebuild their depleted agencies.
Brenda Hatfield oversaw the city’s workforce under then-Mayor Ray Nagin while news stories swirled about his legal troubles. After his term ended, Nagin was indicted and convicted on bribery charges.
“They have to chin up and get their work done,” Hatfield said of city employees. “They have to know they’re being watched by the public, the people they’re serving.”
Staff reporter Ben Myers contributed to this report.
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