LA: Helena Moreno announces picks to lead New Orleans RTA, pledges to take agency in new direction

Mayor Helena Moreno unveiled her picks Wednesday for the Regional Transit Authority’s board of commissioners in a shake-up aimed at revitalizing the agency's partnerships with neighboring parishes following years of turmoil.

The mayor appoints five of the seven RTA board members. Her new choices are Adler’s Jewelry owner Coleman Adler, former state Sen. Ann Duplessis, Dryades YMCA CEO Erika Mann and community organizer Barbara Major, a former RTA board chair. A fifth pick is forthcoming. Each will require City Council confirmation.

Moreno's administration notified former Mayor LaToya Cantrell's appointees on Tuesday that their last day of service would be Wednesday. Leaving the board are Flozell Daniels Jr., Fred Neal Jr., Timolynn Sams, Mariah Moore and Arthur Walton.

“In line with the Mayor’s vision, the new board will build greater regional cooperation and a renewed emphasis on equity and accessibility in public transportation," Moreno’s communications director, Isis Casanova, said in a statement Wednesday.

Mitchell Guidry, Jr., who was appointed by Moreno when she was on the City Council, and Louis Colin, who was appointed by New Orleans state Rep. Delisha Boyd, were unaffected by the move and are remaining on the board.

Among the biggest questions facing the board once it takes over will be whether to keep the agency’s CEO, Lona Edwards Hankins, who was hired in 2023. Moreno said she wanted to see “major changes” at the RTA in an interview shortly before taking office in January, though she's said little since.

Moreno’s circle of advisors, however, is filled with critics of the RTA’s existing leadership. Major, a 14-year veteran of the RTA board, made it clear as recently as 2024 that she didn’t trust Hankins.

Hankins, in a statement Wednesday, said she remains committed to the RTA and looks forward to working with the new board members “as we continue building the transit system that New Orleans deserves.”

The mayor’s announcement comes just days after the RTA reversed course on a controversial plan to end paratransit service for portions of Jefferson Parish and New Orleans. The proposal, which has since been shelved, prompted an outcry among transit advocates and Jefferson Parish officials.

Hankins, at a board meeting Tuesday, said the agency's communication about the proposed cuts was "less than stellar" and showed that the RTA had room to improve.

Board shifts

The RTA's fleet of buses, streetcars, ferries and paratransit shuttles primarily service Orleans Parish, though the state agency also operates a handful of bus lines into St. Bernard and Jefferson parishes and a ferry connecting Lower Algiers and Chalmette.

The mayor selects five of the RTA's board members, while the City Council and a rotating cast of state legislators select the two others.

But the board’s current makeup is a far cry from how it looked when Hankins took over, when three members hailed from Jefferson Parish, as the agency aimed to live up to the “regional” in its name.

Those ties were severed in 2024, after the Jefferson members resigned en masse and Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng formally withdrew the parish from the agency amid questions about whether RTA leadership had been truthful with the board about a construction contract that ballooned in value. The FBI later launched an investigation into the matter; it’s unclear as of now where that stands. Moreno, in the interview before taking office, said the agency was "under multiple investigations."

Jefferson Parish, which operates a much smaller transit agency and took over the RTA's bus routes in Kenner after the breakup, won't be rejoining the RTA board anytime soon.

In an interview last month, Lee Sheng said she wants to partner with the RTA to improve regional connectivity. But she reiterated Wednesday that the best way to do that is through cooperative endeavor agreements, not by participating on the board.

Success and challenges

Hankins, for her part, has highlighted successes under her watch in securing federal grants, developing a fleet management and capital improvement plan, and overseeing updates in the agency's financial management software and procurement processes.

On Tuesday, Hankins announced that the federal government had awarded the agency $27.2 million in competitive grants to purchase new buses and rehabilitate its operations and maintenance facilities.

In a post on LinkedIn on Wednesday, Neal, the outgoing board chair, praised Hankins's leadership and noted that the agency is in a much better financial footing than it was when he joined the agency eight years ago.

“Yes, there is still more work to do, especially around reliability of service, but the progress is undeniable,” Neal said.

The recent snafu around paratransit boundaries, however, put the spotlight on the lack of progress the RTA has made in improving its service for disabled riders, which has faced repeated criticism for missed pickups and excessively long trips. Those issues prompted federal regulators in September to conclude the RTA was violating disability-rights laws.

Hankins vowed to improve the RTA’s paratransit service in December 2024, after The Times-Picayune reported on an internal audit that painted a dire picture of its operations.

But Major, who also expressed skepticism when Hankins was hired in 2023, wasn’t convinced. Speaking at a board meeting in 2024, she tore into the RTA’s leadership handling of its paratransit service.

“Now I hear all of what you’re gonna do, but I can honestly tell you, I don’t trust you," Major said, turning to Hankins.

The City Council's governmental affairs committee, which handles mayoral confirmations, is scheduled to meet on March 9. None of the incoming or outgoing board members contacted by The Times-Picayune would comment.

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