Last week, The Times-Picayune was quick to pick up on the City of Kenner Press Release announcing that Kenner was ranked as the 10th Most Diverse City under 100,000 population in America. But, as is typical with the Times-Picayune, they failed to tell the whole story.
Rather than probe, The Times-Picayune just regurgitated the press release (written by former T-P writer Bob Ross), including this nugget from Kenner Mayor Mike Maunoir/Yenni:
Kenner Mayor Mike Yenni heralded the study's findings in a news release sent to City Business. "Diversity
is something we are very proud of in Kenner," he said. "We know that
more than one out of five residents are Hispanic and you only have to
drive down Williams Boulevard to see the many different ethnic
restaurants and other businesses."
Of course, this is the same Mike Maunoir/Yenni who, as a candidate in 2010, said on WDSU-TV that diversity was not important in City Government. The website, KreweOfTruth.com provides this:
In the WDSU TV debate by Norman Robinson featuring Phil Capitano and Mike "Yenni", at the very end, Norman asks if racism still exists in America, if it still exists in Kenner, and whether diversity is still needed in government. Surprisingly, Mike "Yenni" says racism is over and diversity is not needed in government. This from one of the metro area's increasingly hispanic districts. Hmmmm. Phil Capitano said racism did still exist and diversity was necessary.
And, despite his words to the press, the Maunoir/Yenni Administration is incredibly not diverse at all.
It is estimated that over 22% of Kenner's population is Hispanic; approximately 24% is Black; and about 48% is Caucausion. Approximately 3.7% of Kenner is classified as Asian, and another 2.6% are two or more races.
You would think that, since, as Maunoir/Yenni says, "Diversity is something we are very proud of in Kenner", that the Maunoir/Yenni Administration would attempt to mirror the racial makeup of the City.
You would think wrong.
The Maunoir/Yenni Administration at the Department Director and above level breaks down like this:
CAO - White Male
Deputy CAO - White Female
Mayoral Assistants - 2 White Female, 1 White Male
Directors:
White Male (6) - Finance, Fire Department, Fleet Management, Legal, Parks & Recreation, Planning
White Female (5 ) - Civil Service, IT, Inspections & Code, Personnel, Purchasing
Hispanic Male (1) - Public Works
Hispanic Female (0)
Black Male (0)
Black Female (2) - Clerk of Court, Community Development
19 Department Directors, Executives and Mayoral Assistants and 3 are non-White. So, in a City that is less than 50% White, the top of Kenner's City Government is decidedly White occupying 85% of the top paying jobs in the City.
Someone please tell Mayor Maunior/Yenni that "Diversity" means more than Ethnic Restaurants on Williams Blvd.
