City Council District E candidates talk preservation

Overview

District A • District B • District C • District D • District E • At-Large

If elected to the New Orleans City Council, what will be your role and focus in the area of cultural and historic preservation?

Cyndi Nguyen  – D (incumbent)

Preserving our cultural & historic landmarks, value and properties is critical. I will continue to serve as a thoughtful partner.

New Orleans simultaneously struggles with affordable housing and blight? How can we move more blighted and vacant houses into the hands of people who will bring them back to life?

Cyndi Nguyen  – D

Transforming blighted and vacant lots back into commerce is important to improve quality of life. We recognized that creating affordable housing is for our working class families. I have supported IZD zone as well as amending the Mow to Own which is now the Good Neighbor Program to help get overgrown lots back into commerce. We need to continue our efforts to change state legislation to allow the city of New Orleans to expedite the return of blighted and overgrown properties back into commerce.

City leaders agree that the current City Hall needs to be modernized or moved to adequately serve its citizens. As a council member, how would you address this issue?

Cyndi Nguyen  – D

City Hall needs to be where the people are at. City Hall should serve as an army [to] revitalize communities. City Hall should come to New Orleans East. With the existence of City Hall in the East, it will attract developments to the East as well as it will increase sale taxes and property taxes for the city of New Orleans.

Decisions of the Historic District Landmarks Commission (HDLC) may be appealed to the City Council. As a council member, what would be your criteria when considering whether or not to overturn an HDLC decision?

Cyndi Nguyen  – D

As a District Council, I review the recommendation of the district council for the property as well as to review the recommendation by the Historic District Landmarks Commission. At the end of the day, it is always my desire and hope that a solution will be provided to allow the property to get back into commerce.

The New Orleans tourism sector is rooted in our historic architecture and our unique culture, but are we doing enough to make tourism equitable? What would you do to protect neighborhoods from “overtourism”?

Cyndi Nguyen  – D

For the past 3 1/2 years, my primary focus has always been about improving the quality of life for our residents through (1) Amended STR/AirBnB legislation; (2) Recently, a push for enforcement on AirBnB/STR.

No response: John Bagneris – D, Minchon Copelin, Vanessa “Gueringer” Johnson – D, Aaron Miller – D, Oliver M Thomas – D.

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