Public-service candidate John Young addresses Harahan council, stresses utility accountability

Harahan — John Young, who identified himself at the meeting as a candidate for the Public Service Commission and a longtime Jefferson Parish resident, addressed the Harahan City Council and outlined his priorities on energy and infrastructure.

Young described his public-service background — including service as an assistant district attorney, councilman at large and parish president — and said that experience managing large budgets and storm response informs his campaign. "I'm running for public service commission to make sure that we continue to have safe, reliable, and affordable power at the lowest rates possible," he said.

Young urged the council and residents to require that large new energy consumers, including AI data centers, "pay for any added infrastructure and pay for their own power supply so that those costs aren't shifted to" existing ratepayers. He also said the state has low base rates but high per-capita consumption and argued for diversifying supply, mentioning "small module reactors" as one possible option and stressing grid hardening and cyber resilience.

Young closed by listing voting dates and asking for support: "It's my name is John Young. It's number 44 on the ballot... Voting is on May 16th. Early voting starts on May 2nd through May 9th." He left his contact information with the council and offered to answer questions after his presentation.

What happens next: Young's remarks were recorded as a special presentation; there was no council action associated with the speech.