New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell defends living in swanky rent-free, city-owned apartment

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has been embroiled in one scandal after another involving her entitled, jet-setting lifestyle where she flies first-class citing security concerns as a black woman and lives rent-free in a posh apartment.

(Video Credit: WWLTV)

As crime skyrockets in New Orleans, which was recently named the murder capital of the nation, the Democratic mayor is living it up at taxpayer expense.

She has been residing in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in the French Market Corporation’s Upper Pontalba Building in Jackson Square. The unit has a fair market value of nearly $3,000 a month and Cantrell is reportedly living there rent-free.

The apartment issue was uncovered in a two-month-long investigation by FOX8 New Orleans, which reportedly slogged through more than 600 hours of surveillance footage to support the finding.

Cantrell is seen at the apartment almost every day over a 26-day period. She was observed staying there for hours at a time and frequently overnight.

The mayor’s office is hotly defending her use of the apartment even though she makes a reported $188,000 per year. They issued a statement to local news outlets claiming that Cantrell has done nothing wrong.

“The mayor’s usage of the city-owned apartment at the Pontalba is consistent with the usage of past mayors,” Cantrell spokesman Gregory Joseph asserted.

“In addition, the most recent franchise agreement contains no rules governing how that unit should be used,” he noted. “Lastly, according to the French Market Corporation, who are the owners of the building, this and past mayors are under no obligation to pay for using the apartment.”

FOX8 also accused her of potentially violating a city employee policy that reads, “Use of city property is for work-related purposes, and not personal benefit.”

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that emails show Cantrell has been personally involved in maintenance requests for the unit that go back to January. The requests involve fixing the shower and the internet service. Privacy screens were also added to the balcony and she has received packages at the address, according to the news outlet.

The Metropolitan Crime Commission has written a letter to the city council requesting that its members investigate whether the mayor is actually living in the apartment and whether she is “complying with city policy and/or state law by inhabiting this city-owned apartment without paying rent or being taxed for the fair market value use of this unit.”

She allegedly tapped a city employee to act as the apartment’s superintendent, according to a separate report Thursday from the Metropolitan Crime Commission.

“That’s an additional benefit tax-free that she’s been receiving. She doesn’t need to be residing there or using that. And I think that it’s a misuse and abuse of her authority. But I’m waiting to see what the city council’s position is,” Metropolitan Crime Commission President Rafael Goyeneche reportedly said, according to the New York Post.

This follows Cantrell spending $30,000 on multiple first-class tickets to Europe over the summer.

She defended those expenditures as well, declaring at a press briefing, “Anyone who wants to question how I protect myself just doesn’t understand the world black women walk in.” She also contended her “travel accommodations are a matter of safety, not of luxury.”

(Video Credit: Fox News)

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