The City's take on HCR-59

Here's how the Mayor's communications staff characterized the measure to provide greater legislative oversight and a fiscally responsible approach to the UMC project:

"The City and delegation also lobbied successfully against a series of bills and resolutions designed to strip New Orleans of resources and funding. Chief among them were efforts to slow down the $1.2 billion University Medical Center project in Mid City. The delegation fought off House Concurrent Resolution 59 by Rep. Cameron Henry which would have require full legislative approval of the UMC business plan, significantly slowing down the project’s start date."

Again, the rabid attempt to push the project forward at all costs strikes me as irresponsible.

If the city was truly worried about slowing down the project's start date, it would have long ago supported the FHL study's recommendation to build new within the existing Charity shell - a process that would certainly have been a faster way to bring healthcare back online - rather than razing a neighborhood into submission and wading into a legal morass.