This past month, New Orleans elected a new mayor who was previously one of our at-large councilmembers, Helena Moreno. And in all Council seats that it was possible to do so, the city has kept in power the existing councilperson: JP Morrell will retain his at-large seat, and so will Lesli Harris keep her seat in District B, Freddie King III his seat in District C, and Eugene Green his seat in District D.
Additionally, it was only in the two Council races where the incumbent was not running that no one was elected outright, and where a runoff will now occur this month on November 15. In District A, Holly Friedman and Aimee McCarron continue to compete for the seat currently occupied by Joe Giarrusso, for whom they both worked as council staffers. In District E, Cyndi Nguyen and Jason Hughes compete for the seat vacated by Oliver Thomas in his bid for the mayorship. Nguyen occupied the seat prior to Thomas’ election, and Hughes is the current state representative for the area.
All that to say: It is familiar faces (and truly, only familiar faces) who will lead our City’s executive and legislative branches come January 2026, regardless of how any runoff races shake out.
So, is it foolish to hope for change in a city where we have and will put back into power… pretty much all the same folks who have already been in power?
At Jane Place, we know the answer is no. Hoping for change is never foolish. And that’s not because of whomever we elect or not. It is because it is the people of New Orleans who have the power, regardless of who’s got an assigned seat in City Hall.
And the past year has proven this to us and our neighbors across the United States, again and again, even when the odds have been so heavily stacked against us by our government’s immense investments in their capacity for violence and repression. We’ve seen neighbors de-arresting people, providing them shelter, and using all forms of resistance—the bold, brave, and bizarre—to call out the hollow people and cowardice behind government violence.
And so, this month, we’re highlighting some instances of this fight-back attitude and expressing our gratitude for everyone who remains in the fight for justice.
Fights for Tenants’ Rights Here and Far
At the time of this writing, community organizers from Jane Place are in Boston, joining with housing organizers from across the country to conduct a mass canvassing effort to get rent control measures onto Massachusetts‘ 2026 ballot (follow these efforts on Instagram at @ourcityrttc and @keepmasshome). Our team has also recently visited and connected with members of the Tenant Union Federation (follow @tenantfed) and their Kansas City organizers who have led a successful, months-long rent strike against their corporate landlords. Here in New Orleans, we’re working with tenants at some of the city’s most hazardous buildings to support and amplify their calls for safety and relocation measures, and have seen this work restore elevator access in senior buildings, get corrupt property managers fired, and force slumlords into bankruptcy and property surrender. The power is the people’s, and renters near and far are proving that every day through their collective power.
Unhoused People Standing Up to Occupation
Nationwide, unhoused people are under attack. While the current federal administration has escalated threats against them, unhoused individuals have been facing violence and forcible displacement as facilitated by all levels of government for years. The City’s own health department’s forcible sweeps of unhoused individuals are being observed through a collaborative effort called New Orleans Homeless and Houseless Advocacy, Research, and Rights Monitoring (nohharrm). This effort has joined with unhoused individuals to seek legal counsel against forcible sweeps from government entities, and the resulting lawsuit achieved several successful decisions that variously ceased and delayed sweep efforts by the Louisiana State Police over the past year (follow this work at @nohharrm). In a parallel win, advocates from Jane Place, nohharrm, and the New Orleans Renters’ Rights Assembly successfully defeated three bills that stood to punish and criminalize homelessness in the state. When we fight, we win!
Budget Visions for and from Community
Jane Place is a member of the Big Easy Budget Coalition (bigeasydeal.org), which is a broad-based, community-rooted, and data-driven coalition of 30+ New Orleans organizations working together to transform the New Orleans City budget. Our goal is to advance budget equity—the just and fair allocation of government resources—to create the conditions for all New Orleanians to participate and thrive. Over the past three years, the Coalition has won millions of dollars for community needs by advocating for an annual “Big Easy Deal.”
This year, the Coalition has put forth a deal that aims to meet a broad range of community needs, from food programs and parks improvement to health and housing services, for a total of $171 million. Notably, this price tag for the proposed Big Easy Deal is less than $5 million more than has been proposed as the allocation to the New Orleans Police Department alone ($166.2 million). The deal includes $117 million for the housing-specific interventions our city needs.
It is up to our City councilmembers to amend and then approve the budget that has been proposed by the City’s chief administrative officer. Budget hearings, batched by office and topic, are already underway and will continue into early November. The hearings schedule can be found on the Council website (council.nola.gov/home). The Council will vote on the final budget on December 1, and that budget will guide the City’s spending for the coming year. There’s still time to influence the budget, and your voice is needed! Write to your councilmember today and follow the work of the Big Easy Budget Coalition (@bigeasybudget) to learn how to join in on fighting back for funding what we and our neighbors actually need: housing, health care, youth programs, workforce opportunities, and non-policing public safety interventions.
This space is provided to Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative as a community service and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or editorial policies of ANTIGRAVITY.
