I know New Orleans is about to hit a budgetary crisis, and I don't want to see layoffs, but taking the money from the libraries to go to "economic development" to be overseen by an AirBNB robber baron is outright criminal. 1/

And then, criminal to create the false choice between libraries and early childhood education - that we must choose between one of our few public goods and paying for A FEW kids to get scholarships to preschool - it's YOUR FAILURE that scholarships are required for preschool. 2/

I want the city employees to stay employed; I want their furloughs to end and for us to be able to fund ACTUAL economic development (not just throwing dollars into the tourism bureau to run more commercials during a pandemic and re-pave the Quarter 5 more times). 3/

But I'll be damned if I sit idly by while the budget is balanced on the backs of NOLA's most under-resourced residents. Austerity is presented as if we are responsible for tightening our belts to keep the city funded, as if it's our duty to sacrifice for city budget shortfalls 4/

when the reality is that the city and the state refuse to levy taxes justly and appropriately and the rest of us are told to foot the bill, with the Mayor telling us that city employees' jobs are in OUR hands? One idea for revenue: TAX THE FUCK OUT OF OUT OF STATE-RUN AIRBNBS! 5/

The past 15 years have been corporate interests privatizing our city and stripping us for parts. That is not the fault of our people and we will not stand for you trying to turn us into a libertarian hellscape. You can take our libraries from our cold dead hands. END.

NOT END

All that to say: I am proud of the organizers in our city & my fellow New Orleanians for seeing this fuckery for what it was and soundly rejecting it. @mayorcantrell, I'll be happy to vote for budget proposals w/ the money clearly earmarked & that don't target the poor.