The slow death of New Orleans. (Lake Charles, Many: apartment complex, school, university)

[Innotech]

Originally Posted by WhereInTheWorldIsPetra

Crime happens everywhere. Some more gruesome than others, but it is unfortunately present everywhere in our country.

I am planning to move to NOLA in three years. I visited for the first time last September between Hurricanes Gustav and Horacio (I think that was the name) and fell in love immediately. The City was empty due to the hurricane threats, but I still felt its soul through the folks who stayed behind, music, cuisine, art, and even the weather. Yes, the weather.

It is a great city, and I'm excited to relocate there.

If you liked it when it was relatively empty, you'll no doubt find the city very charming now. I wont kid you, aside from the crime, there is actually a lot to like about the city, and even more to love.

[tellme101]

Is it politics that is crippleing the city. I hear $ to rebuild is starting to become available. How does the city attract builders to breath life back into the area, and how do you repopulate it with quality people that New Orleans deserves? I have only visited, but the whole nation's heart is affected by the plight.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by tellme101

Is it politics that is crippleing the city. I hear $ to rebuild is starting to become available. How does the city attract builders to breath life back into the area, and how do you repopulate it with quality people that New Orleans deserves? I have only visited, but the whole nation's heart is affected by the plight.

I watched a PBS documentary about all of the corrpution going on in every level of the government.

[tellme101]

Can't honest builders come and get honest locals to work, to build nice little houses to rent out and to sell and fill some of the barren city with life. Where are the people who are moving back going to live? Is there enough housing for all concerned. I hear that you don't need over built speculation high rises. But what does the heart and soul of the city need? If the single family homes are rebuilt and sold at a reasonable price ( what would that be? or rented to families ( what would be a fair rental) If these neighborhoods were to be re established and a larger sense of community was created would that help? How much of the city is left untouched after Katrina? Is it only the low income areas that haven't been rebuilt. On one blog they quoted 100,000 homes have been rebuilt, Is that correct? Are the same people coming back, or is it a new community? Can this community be turned into something better that ever imagined. Who is the city trying to attract into the rebuilt areas. There has been so much media coverage nationwide about the plight, but what are the real needs of the community. What is the goal of the city members for their city? I want to understand....

[MetroBTR]

Originally Posted by tellme101

Can't honest builders come and get honest locals to work, to build nice little houses to rent out and to sell and fill some of the barren city with life. Where are the people who are moving back going to live? Is there enough housing for all concerned. I hear that you don't need over built speculation high rises. But what does the heart and soul of the city need? If the single family homes are rebuilt and sold at a reasonable price ( what would that be? or rented to families ( what would be a fair rental) If these neighborhoods were to be re established and a larger sense of community was created would that help? How much of the city is left untouched after Katrina? Is it only the low income areas that haven't been rebuilt. On one blog they quoted 100,000 homes have been rebuilt, Is that correct? Are the same people coming back, or is it a new community? Can this community be turned into something better that ever imagined. Who is the city trying to attract into the rebuilt areas. There has been so much media coverage nationwide about the plight, but what are the real needs of the community. What is the goal of the city members for their city? I want to understand....

What New Orleans really needs is for Capitol Hill to care about hurricane protection. The devestation was 100% preventable. They need to take a lesson from the Netherlands and their flood protection system. Long explaination made short, you will not be hearing about a devestating flood in the Netherlands any time soon.

But until that happens (fat chance) houses in the areas below sea level (roughly 50% of the city) need to be built on piers high enough to bring them up to at least sea level.

[adventuregurl]

Originally Posted by miserylovesco.

If I'm not mistaken, the murder rate currently is 37 for 2009.
That's plenty screwed up if that's the facts according to T/P

I really find this sad and unbelievable.

I'm originally from Toronto, a city of 2 million people (with 5 million in the greater Toronto area) and last night (Sept. 4th or 5th) they just had their 39th murder. I cannot even fathom having that number of murders in just 20 days especially with such a small population. I SO hope this gets straightened out for you.

[Senor Boogie Woogie]

Could the Saints win the damned Super Bowl before New Orleans dies?

[Prytania]

New Orleans isn't going to die and corruption isn't what it used to be. We have good people operating on the City Council....and Jim Letten has crushed the Jefferson machine into oblivion. Congressman Cao, I believe is a good guy (I could be wrong).

We we doing much much better....enough with the f**king negativity. If I ever leave this city it will come from all the wah wah things are so bad we must complain about it. Tired of it!

[big daryle]

Originally Posted by miserylovesco.

The slow death of New Orleans.

I moved to New Orleans in hopes to harness something inside.
I fought tooth and nail to be here, to live in the city that birthed Jazz, where the bars don’t close and the music is as hot as the food.
I knew what I was getting into, to truly love something; you have to love it for its flaws.
New Orleans is, a flawed city.
Yet, those of us who love it will defend it when its face is buried in the social dog **** that we’re allowing.
We cannot turn our heads any longer, crime is crippling this city and every day people are finding more and more reasons to pack their things and find a new place to celebrate life. A safer place, in a city that can barely contain somewhere between 300K and 400K (depending on who you ask) we beat the national crime average by 12%, that is a sobering number. The New Orleans murder rate is higher than the rest of the country but everyone will still proudly admit that it’s down!
This is NOT a good thing.

Last night a woman was shot and killed during an armed robbery, she lost her life over money. This instance was not in the slums, but in the bread and butter of the city: the French quarter. The place where the money is made and tourists flock to.
Three kids held her up on the way to her car, three kids who have no value on life and more than likely spent her blood money without the blink of an eye.
This is another notch in the belt of a dying city.
Leadership is a joke and no one will take responsibility of the actions of the citizens.
What can we do?
If the one place that buoy’s the local economy is under fire, then everything is lost.
It’s a sad reality to know that certain neighborhoods have to pay for private security forces to patrol as a measure to keep their residents safe.
Again, not a good thing.

Rallies don’t work, prayer doesn’t work, and the police certainly don’t work.
It’s not as simple as some might point the finger and say it’s all black people.
It’s a matter that bad people who are constantly given multiple chances to continue heinous behavior only grow worse and the company they keep only sees this and acts accordingly.
I have lived in a section of the city that had drug dealers on my stoop, people screaming at all hours.
I have heard descriptive accounts of where drugs are hidden and who wants to kill whom.
Now, I live in a “nice” part of the city. Do I buy it? Not really, I’m just waiting for the shoe to drop. Something is bound to happen in our happy little neighborhood.
It’s the New Orleans brand: nothing is perfect.





I am at a loss for what we’re expected to do outside moving away, going to live someplace where crime doesn’t stare you in the eye and places it’s finger directly in your face and you’re supposed to make a choice; deal or leave.
The people need to stand up for each other, to do something to make this place livable again. When you’re having a good night here, it’s the stuff of legend but when you have that one bad night…you could end up in a pine box.
I implore people aside from myself to do something, say something, start a movement.
Because we cannot accept this any further.

To sweep life under the rug only makes the pile larger and vile.
These are only words on a screen but they are real issues that need to be addressed and unless the city wants everyone armed and ready to end the next attacker by way of vigilante justice, something must be done and NOW.
I don’t have the answers and I wish I wasn’t writing this but this is our reality.
I am enclosing my email address; let’s start a revolution together.
I don’t know what we can do, but let’s at least talk, have a drink and see if we can think of SOMETHING that can help.
Anything at this point is a blessing.

This is life in New Orleans, murder happens.
Kidcarre@gmail.com

Let us be blunt about this, the white people of the New Orleans area dont give a ---- about the black people in New Orleans, they consider them to be ------- and far less than human and far less than animals. Before people start ripping me and wanting to dock me points, this is NOT my opinion of the black people that live in the area, it is the typical attitude of the racist whites that permeate that area. I wish it wasnt true, but that is the way a LOT of them feel.

[Prytania]

That is not true of most whites IN New Orleans. If we had a problem with black people we wouldn't live here.

That said many of us are wary of the thugs or those that fit a thug stereotype....I've seen 10 yr old boys whip out guns, or curse out grown adults. There are guidelines for proper social behavior...and the urban gangsta wannabes should leave the city. This should be a good city to live in white, black, Latino or Vietnamese... (or anything else).