In JP Stench Scandal, All Fingers Point To Yenni and Conley

Like his Sexting Scandal, in the JP Stench Scandal, JP's Sexual Predator-In-Chief Mike Yenni just seems to get himself in deeper and deeper (no pun intended) with every word from his mouth, every Council meeting and Press Conference. 

Several weeks back, Yenni called a Press Conference to address the persistent complaints in recent months from residents of Harahan and River Ridge regarding the stench that seemed to be coming across the river from the JP-owned landfill in Waggaman. 

At the Press Conference, Yenni, always trying to act like he's in control and doing his job, pointed fingers at everyone from the JP Engineer charged with monitoring the landfill to former Parish President John Young and a "phantom" letter written in 2012 allowing the landfill operator, IESI to cut corners at the landfill, to IESI itself and their alleged incompetence. 

Well, weeks have passed and John Young unequivocally denied any relaxation of the landfill rules under his Administration, we have yet to see the "phantom" letter that Yenni used to blame Young, and we have now learned that before Yenni's Press Conference, IESI, the landfill operator, sent a letter to Yenni stating that they would repair and maintain the parish-owned gas trapping equipment at NO COST TO TAXPAYERS. 

Now, a report from an Engineering Consultant (paid for with our tax dollars) has zeroed in on the real  reason why the odor has only begun in the past 6-9 months and the blame points directly at Yenni and his CAO Keith Conley. 

Last year, without public debate or the approval of the Jefferson Parish Council, Conley (acting on Yenni's behalf) asked the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) for permission to start accepting liquid industrial waste at the landfill. 

During a Special Council Meeting Friday, when asked about the acceptance of liquid industrial waste, Yenni sat silent but Conley claimed to not know anything about the change. 

Until, an audience member disclosed the letter written and signed by Conley to the LDEQ seeking the permission to accept the liquid industrial waste. 

And, you know as well as I do that Conley wouldn't even consider writing that letter without Yenni's approval. 

Who are you going to blame now, Mikey?

Conley, for those who don't know or who haven't heard about him, is a former JPSO Deputy who resigned after his implication in the coverup of a JPSO altercation with a Mardi Gras parade goer on Veterans Blvd. While Conley wasn't accused to the physical altercation, he was implicated in the coverup and the victim filed a Civil law suit seeking (and receiving) monetary damages from Conley. 

After leaving the JPSO, Conley became an Attorney, having his own practice until filing for bankruptcy. He then went to work in the law firm of Yenni's BFF Michael Brandner. the personal injury attorney. Conley, who contributed to Yenni's 2010 Kenner Mayoral campaign, despite his bankruptcy filing, also served as Kenner's City Attorney during Yenni's first term as Kenner Mayor. 

For Yenni's 2nd term as Kenner Mayor, Conley was elected Councilman-At-Large so he could help push through Yenni's agenda. 

When Yenni became Parish President, Conley quit as Councilman-At-Large and followed Yenni to the Parish, becoming Yenni's Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) despite having ZERO experience in a role that vast. 

Of course, having ZERO relevant experience hasn't stopped Yenni from loading up the Parish payroll with other high paying execs, each earning over $100k in salary plus more in benefits, including: 

- Former Kenner Police Chief Steve Caraway, one of Yenni's Chief Administrative Assistants despite the fact that the Parish President has ZERO input into the JPSO and Caraway has spent his career in law enforcement. 

- Former JP Public School Superintendent Dianne Roussel, another of Yenni's Chief Administrative Officers with oversight over departments including Human Resources and the Animal Shelter. REALLY? We need a Chief Administrative Officer overseeing the Animal Shelter? Roussel, for those of you following along at home, was at least partially responsible for running JP's Public School System into the ground, taking on mountains of debt, and a continued decline of test scores. Years after Roussel's retirement after an 8-year stint where, according to her anyway, she "left the school system better than I found it", the JP Public School System is still struggling to recover. 

- Deputy Chief Operating Officer (under Conley) Natalie Newton, who also came over from Kenner where she was first an uncertified City Auditor (a position created for her by Yenni) and later Kenner's Deputy CAO. Newton's background before meeting Mike Yenni: she was a secretary for a Texas company. 

- Valerie Waguespack Brolin, currently the head of the JP Housing Authority. Her background: before joining the Parish, she was the IT Director for Kenner (another position created by Yenni), despite not knowing any computer programming. Before she became the IT Director, she was a secretary for former Mayor Ed Muniz and before that she was a legal secretary. 

Hey, there's nothing wrong with being a secretary, but running a city and a parish, or even a department of government, requires certain skills, background and experience.

Similarly, there's nothing wrong with working your way up or growing into a job if you have a passion for it.

But, for $100k + annually in tax payer dollars as a salary, plus benefits, these shouldn't be On-The-Job Training positions. In my opinion, unless your position requires extensive education and experience, like an Engineer, no one in Parish or City government should earn anything close to $100k per year, yet alone more than that, including the Parish President or the Mayor of a City the size of Kenner (or smaller). 

My point in this is to show repeated instances of Yenni's vanity in surrounding himself with people who aren't even on his low level intellectually. Yenni is a narcissist that needs to think he is the smartest guy in the room and loathes anyone that has the experience or expertise to challenge him. 

SO WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

Despite the overwhelming evidence pointing to Yenni and Conley, there is no doubt that Yenni defenders will rally around him to attempt to deflect blame. 

JP District 3 Councilman Mark Spears and District 4 Councilman Dominick Impastato, have already begun trying to cast aspersions everywhere - everywhere that is, that is away from Yenni. 

There are calls to close the JP-owned landfill and use one of the River Birch landfills on the West
Bank. Kenner, due to Yenni's intervention, already uses a River Birch landfill for disposal of its waste instead of the Parish-owned landfill, which may have provided a less expensive option to River Birch. 

And, I don't need to rehash all of the past River Birch political scandals. 

River Birch has contributed Tens of Thousands to the political campaigns of many elected officials including Yenni, Spears and current Kenner Mayor Ben Zahn. 

But, the answer isn't to close the Parish-owned landfill. The answer is to stop the practice of accepting liquid industrial waste, which the Yenni Administration did stop last month, but only after hundreds of folks got sick. 

And, since the acceptance of the liquid industrial waste was initiated by the Yenni Administration, and authorized by Keith Conley, why haven't he and Yenni resigned? 

Yenni and Conly are responsible for the unsafe practices at the Parish-owned landfill - not John Young, not IESI, not a poorly maintained gas trapping system and certainly not an Engineer that was just doing his job and following Conley's (and Yenni's) orders.. 

YENNI and CONLEY MUST RESIGN. PERIOD. 

Closing the Parish-owned landfill won't fix the stench in Jefferson Parish when it's actually coming from the Parish President's Office. 

Apartments Out; A Church In? At Kenner's Old Hollywood Cinemas Site

The saga of the former Hollywood Cinemas site at The Esplanade Mall continues.

In 2015, the vacant, crumbling theatre site was sold to a Baton Rouge Property Developer that wanted to put a multi-story apartment complex on the site. A total of 265 high-end apartments were to be constructed.

Residents of Cannes Brulees (the subdivision adjacent to The Esplanade) howled in protest. The apartments would lessen their property value some said, Others claimed that the apartment residents would be able to see into homeowner's yards and houses.

After several public meetings, the property developer promised to put up trees, shrubbery and other items to lessen the opportunity for apartment dwellers to peep into homes and yards.

Despite the vociferous objections of the neighborhood, the Kenner City Council approved the project by a 5-2 vote. The Council did add 15 amendments to the zoning ordinance approving the change to make the project more palatable to neighbors.

Fast forward to earlier this year and the Hollywood Cinema site was still vacant and even more unkept and unsafe.

Kenner Mayor Ben Zahn requested the Council fast track demolition of the property to reduce the blight in Kenner.

The property developer said they just needed a little more time and their financing might fall through if the building were demolished. They promised to bring the property back to code compliance and keep the property in good repair.

After relatively little activity at the site, and the property developer not following through on their pledge to maintain the property prior to demolition, new District 4 Councilman George Branigan said that he would use District 4 improvement money to cover the cost of the property demolition as the expected cost would exceed the City's entire demolition budget.

While a noble gesture by Branigan, this would have been a terrible idea for District 4 residents who would be far better served by Branigan using the funds on infrastructure (sewerage, drainage, streets, etc.) then blowing a chunk of money on a demolition and then securing a lien against the property that would only be paid if the property were sold - which could have taken years, if ever. In the meantime, the needs of District 4 would have gone unmet.

The good news is that Kenner and District 4 residents won't need to worry about that option.

Now, here's what I think is the bad news.

Wednesday night at 6pm at the Muss Bertolino Gym, there will be a public meeting regarding the property developer's attempt to sell the site and get it rezoned so a church could go in it's place. 

That's right - a church.

Now, I was not a fan of the apartment complex idea, but it was better than what was there - a vacant, crumbling movie theatre, and, at least, while the apartment complex wouldn't have generated sales tax revenue for the city, it would have brought in significantly more property tax revenue as the value of the developed site was substantially higher than a vacant, crumbling movie theatre.

But now, if the proposed church is built, the City won't even be receiving property taxes on the property.

No sales tax revenue. No property tax revenue. Nothing.

Mayor Zahn though calls it a WIN for the City.

"The Church and its members have an organization that will be an asset to Kenner businesses. Their congregation will use Kenner restaurants, shopping centers and gas stations when visiting Kenner," Zahn said. Independent Churches throughout this country have grown over the past years into huge groups of followers and that will only help Kenner as any company does that enters our market."

"I think it's a win for everyone."

Mayor Zahn may be correct but, you can't quantify or even attempt to project the economic impact of a church and its members.

You can HOPE that they will buy gas, eat at Kenner restaurants, perhaps even shop at what's left of Kenner's deteriorating retail base - but you can't KNOW.

You can, however, quantify and project Sales Tax Revenue and Property Tax Revenue, neither of which the City will receive if this site becomes a church.

Look, I'm not against churches. I've been a Roman Catholic my entire life. But, we already have churches in strip centers on Williams Blvd. tying up valuable Commercial Real Estate - real estate that could be generating Sales Tax Revenue for the City.

And, the City has other, valuable Commercial Real Estate that is being used by a non-profit group.

On Williams Blvd., the City sold valuable Commercial Real Estate to the non-profit group, Habitat for Humanity - again, a great group but, they pay ZERO in Property Taxes, they collect and remit ZERO in Sales Taxes (because they resell donated goods), and they even pay ZERO in Sales Taxes on the materials used in constructing their building. 

And, if that weren't enough, they paid less for the property than other potential buyers.

Again, no disrespect to Habitat for Humanity, which has a noble mission, but, other than a few low-paying retail positions, what are they bringing to the City of Kenner that we need to have their retail store on Williams Blvd.? Wouldn't the City have been better served to locate this store on a less desirable piece of City property? If you're going to buy supplies from Habitat for Humanity, you will seek them out regardless of where they are located because you want to support the group.

Habitat for Humanity's Restore building didn't need to go on Williams Blvd.

And lost in the conversation is the question of what will be the perception of potential tenants and the new owners of The Esplanade if a church pops up next to them? How will they feel with a church on that site using a chunk of The Esplanade's parking lot? Is having a church there the economic message that the City wants to send to potential business owners considering The Esplanade? Does a church show that the city's retail environment is thriving?

You should know what I think by now.

The property around The Esplanade is too valuable to not be developed into something that generates significant revenue for the City, whether it's property tax revenue that the apartment complex would have generated (and sales taxes too if the City imposed a tax on rental property) or sales tax revenue if the site were a restaurant or retail.

Since we can't quantify or even project the potential revenue from the church, its impact on the other retail businesses in the area and its impact on The Esplanade itself, I think Kenner residents should be concerned by this.

At a time when Lakeside Shopping Center is bustling with new stores like the first LEGO store in Louisiana and undergoing a $10 Million renovation and the owners of Clearview Shopping Center purchased the Sears building (which will downsize to a space inside the mall), is proposing building two additional retail/multi-use buildings and undergoing an interior and exterior sprucing up, why is The Esplanade floundering so badly that Kenner officials are happy to have a church occupying what should be prime real estate?

Yes, putting a church on that site is better than what's there now just like putting an auto dealership in what should have been Phases 3 & 4 of the Kenner Market Center is better than a vacant lot. 

But, why are we settling for "better than nothing"? 

Why is the City of Kenner settling at all? 

The first Public Meeting about the proposed Zoning change to allow a church on the site will be held Wednesday at 6pm at Muss Bertolino Gym. If you care about the future of Kenner and The Esplanade, you need to make time to attend.