Some people (mostly public officials) think I’m too hard on our public officials.  Having been a public servant, I have high expectations for public servants. Also, if a public official doesn’t do their job properly and well, it reflects badly on me as their employer.

Today, I have good things to say about a public official.

LA Secretary of Department of Transportation and Development, William D. Ankner took responsibility for having inconvenience the motoring public. According to the report in the Daily Monopoly ( story here) Ankner said:

“I directed that all lane closures be canceled during the Thanksgiving holidays,” he said. He said he assumed “our contractors would know that this would apply to Wednesday, the busiest travel day of the year. Obviously I was wrong, and I am sincerely sorry that our customers were inconvenienced by the closures.”

A LA public official taking responsibility is rare, but to actually apologize to the public for a mistake is so uncommon as to be noteworthy.

Kudos to Dr. Ankner! Hopefully, he will become a role model for all public servants in Louisiana.

C.B.