Times-Picayune

EDITORIAL: Be sure to vote

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Every election is important in some way, but these first elections post-Katrina are especially meaningful.
 
As this region recovers from one of the most devastating storms in the nation's history, our needs are great. We need government to be efficient and responsive. We need leaders who are principled and wise.

Katrina has given us a chance to take a hard look at how we do things. Really, it has forced us to do so. We don't have the luxury of doing things the way they've always been done just because they've always been done that way.

We need to do them better and smarter.

Louisianians have already started to make changes. Last month, voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to streamline and professionalize levee boards in South Louisiana.

Today, voters have a chance to streamline government in Orleans Parish. Constitutional Amendment 7 provides for a single property tax assessor in the city instead of seven. The old system is antiquated, wasteful and unfair. Some of the current assessors want voters to fear consolidation, but that is only a desperate attempt on their part to hold onto personal power.

It is vital to the recovery and future well-being of New Orleans that this amendment pass. But Amendment 7 is only one reason to vote today. Louisianians need to choose who will represent us in Congress for the next two years, select a variety of local officials, decide the fate of eight constitutional amendments and myriad local propositions.

This is your chance to set the course for our future. So, go out and vote.

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