WAGE THEFT in New Orleans

I went to the City Council Special Projects/Economic Development meeting last week, where one of the agenda items was Wage Theft in New Orleans.  This item was on the agenda because of the recent study " Under Siege: Life for Low-income Latinos in the South" by The Southern Poverty Law Center.

This was some of the most eloquent, articulate and impassioned testimony I have ever heard in the New Orleans City Council Chambers.  It was sad though that only two members of the City Council were present for this testimony at a time when so many of the residents of the city are dealing with such abuses of the private market and at a time when there is an initiative to form a new public private economic development agency, one that we should all hope will move us past such abuses, past the Plantation-Sharecropper economic model the region has employed for more than 150 years - one whose very foundation is built upon exploitation and continues the poverty-making status quo.  Council members Feilkow and Willard-Lewis were the only members present.

Unfortunately this impending new economic development agency looks to be more of the same.  As I testified at a recent City Council Economic development Committee meeting, if the stakeholder identification, community outreach and public information efforts of the group forming this new agency are any indication of their future efforts, we're in deep shit, as very few people in the city are aware of this important development.  It has not been a democratic or transparent process at all, despite the millions of dollars committed by The City.

CulturePAC, a Public Action Coalition for Economic Equity that is seeking to ensure this new agency is inclusive and citizen-driven and is calling for 30% of the seats on the board go to the low-income, since that is the percentage of city residents living in poverty. CulturePAC contends that those who are able to amass capital and wealth, who have exclusive access to vast amounts of private capital are not always the smartest in the room, and are often times the most complacent.  Our low-income community is made up of many of our best and brightest, our most creative, with new ideas and awareness of beneficial alternative economic pathways, with knowledge, skills and abilities in innovation, adaptability and sustainability.   

Please join CulturePAC in making life in New Orleans better for all, rather than just a select few.  Join CulturePAC in developing inclusive economic development policies, strategies and initiatives that will build a more diverse, just and sustainable economy for our region.