NEW ORLEANS, La. – In a scathing response to new travel restrictions passed by the New Orleans City Council, Mayor LaToya Cantrell issued a dire warning Wednesday, declaring she may have no choice but to “actually be present and do work” if deprived of her first-class travel privileges.
“I didn’t sign up to sit next to coughing tourists in coach class,” Cantrell said during a press conference from the airport’s private lounge. “If you force me to stay here, you force me to govern, and frankly, that’s a burden the people of New Orleans should think long and hard about. I’ll be expected to make decisions on everything from the city’s collapsing drainage system to millions owed in court judgments, not to mention figuring out who’s picking up the French Quarter’s trash this week. Is that really what y’all want?”
The ordinance, requiring council approval for taxpayer-funded travel, has been labeled “draconian and hostile” by the Mayor’s Office.
Sources inside City Hall say panic has already spread among senior staffers, many of whom have begun circulating resumés in anticipation of the mayor’s rumored “increased daily visibility.”
Insiders report Cantrell may retaliate by forcing employees to endure a full week of in-person meetings—featuring her live and unfiltered—just to make a point.
