City Council demand files on crime cameras and 311 hotline
From Sunshine Review
15 May 2008 After months of demands from the City Council of New Orleans, the Nagin administration finally produced documents related to two failed programs. This long awaited information, however, was not enough to stop the demand for answers from the Council.
On Wednesday, May 14, Chief Technology Officer Anthony Jones provided documents in an attempt to stop an investigation by the Council into the city's crime cameras program and its 311 customer service hotline. The Council stepped up its threats when Jones failed to show up for a May 6 hearing. [1] It appears the effort by Jones has been too little and too late.
[edit] 311 Hotline
The 311 hotline was set up to deal with quality of life issues, and has been criticized as ineffective. Council members said the documentation provided by Jones lacked important details. For example, $127,000 was spent each month for salaries and parking, but there was no staff list or breakdown in salaries.
Alongside this, some $200,000 was spent each month on software development and maintenance. The shoddiness of the service, however, leaves many asking just what this money went for.
[edit] Crime Cameras
Initially launched by Nagin in January 2007, the city's crime cameras program had 50 cameras operating by the beginning of 2008 - the same number the Mayor promised to be running within a week of the initial launch. By the end of 2007, Nagin promised 200 to be operable, yet on May 14, 2008, there were only 109 in working order.
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