by Tom Forrest
Oct 3, 2022
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has been criticized for flying in first class.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who has been under fire for her jet-setting lifestyle as crime plagues the city, may have also been living rent-free in a pricey, city-owned apartment.
The Democrat, 50, has allegedly been using a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in the French Market Corporation’s Upper Pontalba Building in Jackson Square as a personal residence. The unit has a fair market value of nearly $3,000 a month.
The mayor’s comings-and-goings from the apartment were the subject of a two-month-long investigation by FOX8 New Orleans, which last week reported to have combed through more than 600 hours of surveillance footage.
The outlet found Cantrell at the apartment nearly every day over a 26-day period, often staying for hours at a time and sometimes staying overnight.
The Metropolitan Crime Commission wrote a letter to the city council on Thursday asking its members to investigate whether Cantrell is living in the unit 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."