New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and other elected officials from New Orleans and Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes held a news conference today urging voters to approve extending Crescent City Connection tolls.  Other elected leaders, like state representative Pat Connick of Harvey, want the tolls to go.

Mayor Landrieu said it's simple: the tolls fund maintenance, lighting and police protection on the bridge,  and if the tolls are gone, it would fall on New Orleans and Jefferson parish to fund those things.

"At the end of the day, what that means to me, is I'm going to get the bill for it, the people of New Orleans, or the people of Jefferson Parish, and they're going to have to pay for it out of their general fund," Landrieu said.

Rep. Connick says toll money has been wasted.  He also said there's no guarantee in the proposal being voted on next week that the money will be better managed.

"The people are being misled, and they have to know about it, and when they vote, they have to know what they're voting on," said Connick.

New Orleans, Jefferson and Plaquemines residents will settle it Tuesday.