NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is scheduled to take another trip overseas just days after city council members took steps to restrict her spending on travel.
The mayor’s office says she’s heading to Singapore for a week to attend the “World Cities Summit,” which begins this weekend.
Her office says the summit will focus on challenges facing urban communities, such as climate change.
Last week, two New Orleans council members introduced a proposed ordinance to restrict travel expenses for officials. It would apply to “non-essential trips,” including trips for festivals and sister city agreements.
Critics say the mayor’s recent trips overseas are not appropriate while the city battles rising crime and a police manpower shortage.
Just last Friday, an NOPD officer quit mid-shift when he realized he would have little to no backup on a busy night in the French Quarter.
“This is really not the time to be going out of the country to Singapore or other long-distance trips when the city council is considering a reduction to your travel budget,” Dillard University political analyst Robert Collins says. “It sort of gives your critics more ammunition to work with. So the mayor is really not helping her case.”
This will be Cantrell’s third overseas trip in a little more than a month. She recently traveled to France and Switzerland to sign sister city agreements.
Cantrell has maintained the trips are economically and culturally important for the city.
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