DPW Acting Director Out, more money needed for road projects
By Deja Brown
Source: WDSU
September 28, 2023
There’s a changing of the guard at the Department of Public Works, Sarah McLaughlin-Porteous, who took over a little more than a year ago, resigned Sept. 6.
“It was really a personal decision. I had a goal that when I stepped into the role of acting director, I really wanted to leave the department better than what I found it, and I feel like I’ve done that,” said McLaughlin-Porteous.
Her last day on the job was Wednesday, Sept. 27. With McLaughlin-Porteous out, Joseph Threat, Deputy CAO for Infrastructure, is taking over as the acting director of the Department.
Now he’s looking ahead to the strides needed to improve roads and infrastructure.
“I want every opportunity to discuss and explain to the residents of New Orleans, what’s going on in their neighborhood. The complexity of the work that we’re doing right now, the delays, some of the missteps that we made in the past, and how we’re moving forward to fix things right now”, says Threat.
The pair spent McLaughlin-Porteous’ last day speaking at the Bureau of Governmental Research’s breakfast briefing; a forum used to connect citizens with policymakers to discuss issues that affect the community.
Threat says the city recognizes the challenges that still lie ahead and appreciates hearing concerns from neighbors.
“They’re not going to BS me about what’s going on. They’re going to tell me if my contractors are not doing a good job, if they’re not doing good housekeeping, if it’s safety issues in the neighborhood.”, says Threat.
$2.3 billion was pumped into road projects from the FEMA Joint Infrastructure Road Program for Katrina-related repairs.
Threat says with less than 1 percent of that money spent with he took the helm in 2018, he wanted to make traction. “So you can imagine, my mindset, of having to push out this money on the streets, and get construction rolling at a rapid rate to meet that 2023 deadline that was the Katrina disaster. “
Right now, the goal is to get more funding for critical projects for the city.
“The JIRR road construction, with federal funded right now, will probably complete 10-thousand of the 20-thousand blocks in the city of New Orleans, right now. We need more infrastructure money.”
To do that, both agree, that more support is needed on all fronts.
“Not everybody understands how challenging it is to move things forward in City Hall.”
Joseph Threat: “I need the city council to support me, 100 percent. That’s what I need. We’ve got a lot of political fodder going on right now, and it doesn’t make a good environment for me to keep staff.”
Fair Use Notice
This site occasionally reprints copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We make such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of issues and to highlight the accomplishments of our affiliates. We believe this constitutes a “fair use” of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is available without profit. For more information go to: US CODE: Title 17,107. Limitations on exclusiveĀ rights: Fair use. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.