New Orleans’ main sanitation supplier, Sidney Torres of IV Waste, alleges Mayor LaToya Cantrell bypassed the bidding course of to award a trash pickup contract to a politically-tied marketing consultant.
EXCLUSIVE: Sidney Torres isn’t mincing phrases relating to New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s newest transfer to scrap his firm’s trash contract in favor of a $2.1 million dearer, no-bid take care of a agency he alleges “doesn’t even personal any rubbish vans.”
“She canceled my contract to declare an emergency,” stated Torres, the founding father of IV Waste. “My contract runs till Dec. 23, 2025. There was no emergency. My contract’s $2.1 million much less for lots extra service. The residents and the companies are 100% behind my contract and the work we’re doing.”
Torres stated the French Quarter is headed straight again to squalor below Cantrell’s plan.
“It’s going to scent similar to it smelled earlier than we took it over,” Torres warned. “Stale beer, urine, puke, all of the stuff you scent from folks getting drunk and strolling the streets. Who’s going to wish to go and eat and scent that?”
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Sidney Torres, left, founding father of IV Waste, stands with a staff member at an organization yard in New Orleans. Torres is difficult town’s cancellation of his sanitation contract. (KB Media by way of IV Waste)
The emergency declaration, issued on July 9, allowed the mayor to override public procurement legal guidelines and signal a brand new $8 million contract with Henry Consulting that goes into impact Aug. 1 within the French Quarter.
Henry Consulting didn’t instantly reply to FOX Enterprise’ request for remark.
The subsequent day, the New Orleans Metropolis Council handed a decision calling the emergency “self-created” and terminated it outright. In addition they barred Cantrell from issuing one other emergency declaration associated to sanitation via the top of the 12 months.
Louisiana Legal professional Common Liz Murrill stepped into the fray, submitting a proper amicus transient that condemned the mayor’s maneuver as “an abuse of emergency powers.”
“The Mayor’s invocation of emergency powers to override public bid legal guidelines within the absence of a real emergency presents a big authorized problem,” Murrill wrote, calling the ensuing $2.1 million value hike “an pointless burden on taxpayers.”
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An IV Waste “lemon recent” sanitation truck providers New Orleans’ French Quarter. The corporate is combating a contract termination. (KB Media by way of IV Waste)
Torres sees it the identical approach.
“It’s simply unbelievable… they’re going to spend $2.1 million extra for much less service with someone who’s not even within the enterprise,” he stated.
IV Waste started servicing the French Quarter and Downtown Improvement District in December 2024 below a competitively bid $5.9 million contract. The corporate used custom-built gear, real-time GPS monitoring and operated seven days every week. Town’s personal sanitation director confirmed IV Waste had “no complaints.”
Nonetheless, in April, Cantrell abruptly issued a discover terminating the contract “for comfort,” then declared a sanitation “emergency” in July.
“That is simply insane,” he stated. “They’re going to usher in a man who has by no means been in any such enterprise. He doesn’t personal any gear. He’s simply the intermediary. And he’s being paid $8.2 million for one 12 months, $2.1 million greater than what I’m getting, simply because the mayor desires it.”
An IV Waste “lemon recent” sanitation truck providers New Orleans’ French Quarter. The corporate is combating a contract termination. (KB Media by way of IV Waste)
“Immediately, Decide Sidney Cates denied the French Quarter residents and companies’ (the Conwill plaintiffs), movement for preliminary injunction; that means up to now, the Mayor can transfer ahead with the emergency sanitation contract awarded to Henry Consulting, for trash assortment within the French Quarter and Downtown Improvement District – Space V,” Cantrell’s metropolis information supervisor, Kourtney Williams, wrote in a response to FOX Enterprise.
“There is not going to be a break in service to this space. The Metropolis reiterates that it’s going to proceed to work with all events to attain the absolute best outcomes for its residents. This administration stays targeted on doing the job essential to maneuver New Orleans ahead collectively.”
The trash deal is simply the most recent chapter in a mayoralty more and more outlined by controversy. Cantrell has confronted public scrutiny for every thing from taxpayer-funded first-class journey to public spats with legislation enforcement, and she or he drew headlines for refusing to vacate a city-owned condo within the French Quarter that she used for private functions. A proper recall effort launched in 2022 failed to collect sufficient signatures to drive a vote.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell speaks throughout the CROWN Awards ceremony within the Grand Ballroom of the Westin Resort on July 3, 2022 in New Orleans. ( Peter Forest/Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
Torres likened the ordeal to his alleged expertise below former Mayor Ray Nagin, who equally interfered along with his contracts on the finish of his time period.
“However to not this diploma,” he stated. “What’s happening right here is violating so many alternative legal guidelines. If any mayor can declare an emergency, cancel a contract, and hand it to a buddy, that’s not how the legislation was meant for use.”
Torres pointed to IV Waste’s file throughout a few of the metropolis’s signature and busiest occasions — Mardi Gras, the Sugar Bowl and the Tremendous Bowl.
“We now have custom-built strain washers, 4,000 PSI tanks, reside GPS and digital camera feeds, real-time dispatch,” he stated. “We’re on the market one year a 12 months. No one else can compete with us.”
Revelers stroll alongside Bourbon Road within the French Quarter throughout Mardi Gras. (Patrick Semansky/Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
There should still be a lifeline for IV Waste. The French Quarter Administration District, newly empowered by state legislation, has issued its personal emergency sanitation bid.
“We put in a bid with them, and it seems like we’re going to win it,” Torres stated. “So that you may see two firms on the market, us and Henry Consulting. However solely one among us goes to be doing the job proper.”
Even with lawsuits pending and tens of millions at stake, Torres stated he retains a humorousness and deep loyalty to his metropolis. Generally, the trash talks again.
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“We as soon as dumped a can and heard somebody yelling… it was a drunk homeless man asleep in it,” he recalled. “Needed to pull over and get him out.”
“Everybody deserves their day in court docket,” he stated. “Justice ought to be primarily based on legislation, not who you rent or what social gathering you belong to. On the finish of the day, I like New Orleans. And I do know the proper factor will prevail.”