N.O. council scraps take-home car limit
by Bruce Eggler - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

The New Orleans City Council voted Thursday to eliminate a legal limit on the number of city employees who may drive their city-owned vehicles to and from their homes. An ordinance, sponsored by Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell and approved 4-2 after heated debate, says any employees who perform "a critical function that contributes to the overall operations and recovery of the city and maintenance of its infrastructure" and who "respond to critical needs on a 24-hour basis" may be assigned take-home cars. Even those criteria will not apply to personnel of the Police Department, Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services, Office of Emergency Preparedness, Department of Safety and Permits, code enforcement office, Department of Property Management and the Sewerage & Water Board, the law says.