That would be an exercise of emergency powers, and it would all depend first on whether the legislature had given the mayor that power, and if not, second, if, as the mayor said, any bumped contract holder would have the guts to sue the city for the relief effort.
Sometimes you have rights you don’t exercise, because it’s just too costly.
Houston had no state of emergency. It was not the nearest city to New Orleans and the affected area.
Houstonians had to evacuate the city when Hurricane Rita came bearing down because those who might have been affected from such a disaster had no place in town to seek shelter. Rita ended up hitting the Texas/Louisiana border but a few years later, the lesser powered Hurricane Ike scored a direct hit on Galveston and Houston and the city was without power for a week.
But he was able to spin his “own” good will gesture into a re-election with no challengers. Of course crime rates soared and we had all sorts of expenses. But it looked good in print.
Houston had no state of emergency. It was not the nearest city to New Orleans and the affected area...
Houston is 6 hours to the West of New Orleans. 6 hours north of New Orleans is Memphis. 6 hours east of New Orleans is Atlanta. And there are plenty of other cities inbetween.