Mayor of New Orleans
Landrieu was sworn in on May 3, 2010, after winning 66 percent of the vote in the primary, winning a majority across African American and white votes.
When Landrieu was sworn in, the recovery from Hurricane Katrina had stalled, the city teetered on bankruptcy and the New Orleans Police Department was under federal investigation. He created a diverse and citizen-led transition committee, made up of six different task forces that engaged thousands in public meetings. He hired the consulting firm Public Strategies Group (PSG) to assess the city government operations and, according to PSG's final report, issued in March 2011, "to identify opportunities for transformational change that would increase the organization's effectiveness, efficiency, adaptability, and capacity to innovate." PSG senior partner David Osborne observed that Landrieu had "inherited the least competent city government [he'd] ever seen in this country and the most corrupt".
Landrieu promoted recovery by fast-tracking over 100 projects and securing billions in federal funding from FEMA and HUD for schools, hospitals, parks, playgrounds and critical infrastructure particularly roads and drainage. Landrieu brought sound fiscal management, balanced budgets, and ethical contracting to City Hall, leading to the city's highest-ever credit rating and over $8 billion in private development. His top priority was public safety—reforming the police department and reducing the city's murder rate.
Landrieu immediately established clearer command and control, instituting a Deputy Mayor system and a new organizational chart for the nearly 4,000 employees and $1 billion total budget. In 2010, facing a nearly $100 million deficit, he closed the city's budget gap—more than one-fifth of the total general fund—by cutting out waste, reorganizing departments and the delivery of core services, reducing boards and commissions, thereby eliminating the city's longtime structural deficit. For eight straight years, he delivered a balanced budget. As a result, New Orleans’ credit ratings were upgraded four times during Mayor Landrieu's tenure to its highest all-time rating. Landrieu reformed the city procurement system. He created the Office of Performance and Accountability to publicly track how well City government is keeping its promises and launched an expansive open data system making more information available to the public and press. His administration developed NOLA 311 for constituents to report quality-of-life concerns and requests. It also launched a "One Stop Shop" permit processing system to reduce permit times and make the city more business friendly.
To ensure the city is building for the future, he launched the world's first resilience strategy, Resilient New Orleans.
As a result of the public investment and new confidence in the city, the city's economy has thrived, adding more than 20,000 new jobs since 2010. Landrieu recruited GE Capital's Technology Center to the city, adding 400 high-paying jobs. The GE Technology Center in New Orleans was announced in 2012 with a promise of 300 jobs. The Center fell significantly short of its employment goals before closing entirely in 2020. The closure ultimately resulted in a net loss of jobs for the city. And spending from tourism has now surpassed pre-Katrina highs. Since Landrieu took office, the Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch named New Orleans one of the “most improved cities for business.” In 2012, Landrieu unveiled a 5-year-plan called Prosperity NOLA which aims to diversify the economy and add major jobs in digital technology, biosciences, and water management. New retail was booming, in many areas surpassing pre-Katrina levels. The city is now a hub of entrepreneurship activity, outpacing the national per capita average by 56 percent, with $8 billion in private development in the city since May 2010. As a result of growth and confidence in the market, property values are up 50 percent. Under Landrieu, the city began construction on a new, nearly $1 billion terminal at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. The terminal added major international flights to improve global business opportunities for the region.
Making public safety a high priority, Landrieu introduced a comprehensive murder-reduction strategy, "NOLA for Life," which launched in 2012. The multifaceted plan comprised 29 different programs, from a Multi-Agency Gang Unit, made up of local and federal law enforcement that focused on the city's most dangerous gangs and groups, to mentoring programs for youth and support services for offenders on probation. Landrieu shepherded major new investments in recreation and public health. Following the inception of Nola for Life, the city saw a reduction of its murder rate through 2014; in 2015 it rose again by 9% over the previous year but still remained one of the lowest rates the city had experienced in 25 years.
Landrieu has also championed reforming the New Orleans Police Department in partnership with the Department of Justice—overhauling use of force policies, leading the nation in body camera use, and improving law enforcement relationships with the community. In recent years and under the Mayor's leadership, the city's criminal court system has implemented pretrial services, electronic monitoring and alternatives to detention that focus on risk. NOPD also began issuing summonses in lieu of arrests for minor offenses to reduce pressure on the jail population and to ensure a smarter focus on arresting violent criminals. These efforts have significantly reduced the local jail population, which now is just one third of what it was pre-Katrina.
Landrieu's re-election bid received the endorsement of The Times-Picayune.
Shortly after taking office during his second mayoral term, Landrieu announced the appointment of Ronal W. Serpas as the new Superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department until the latter's resignation in August 2014.
Landrieu prioritized equal economic opportunity. From his work on NOLA FOR LIFE and black male achievement, he launched the Network for Economic Opportunity, a comprehensive strategy to connect disadvantaged job seekers and businesses to new training and job opportunities. He launched a multi-year initiative on racial reconciliation called The Welcome Table, and the City unveiled a racial equity plan tying the various initiatives together and institutionalizing the strategies in City Hall's day-to-day operations.
In 2015, Landrieu called for the removal from prominent public display of four monuments, three honoring Confederate leaders and one honoring a short-lived, violent coup of the state government by the Crescent City White League. The New Orleans City Council approved their removal the same year. After various legal challenges to removal were struck down, on April 24, 2017, the long-contentious Battle of Liberty Place Monument was the first to be removed. He was criticized by opponents of its removal for his lack of transparency. The statues of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and P. G. T. Beauregard as well as Confederate President Jefferson Davis were removed in May 2017. As the Confederate monuments came down on his orders, Landrieu made an address explaining the decision, which quickly went viral, and received praise in national media outlets.
