Just Another Day in da 'Hood

[rosetree]

Sometimes things happen that just make your blood boil. This is one of them:mad: :mad: :mad: I think that looters should be locked up for a long, long time. The problem is that this is becoming an everyday occurrence. These theives won't be caught or go to jail. The system just is not in place to do anything about this, and the criminals know it.

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_12_26.html#219222

Please forgive me for posting this as a forum thread. There really is no place for general news/ stuff unrelated to JF, but important to New Orleans. Maybe the moderator can set up another category for "other things New Orleans".

[funkkjunkie]

So sorry, rosetree. I know you must question yourself often on staying or setting up a home in a different place. I know others do. But it's home, eh?

[funkkjunkie]

And yyr, it would be cool if the forum were set up like delphi with categories on the left and threads under them. Easier to sort things out.

[ohio]

So sorry, Mark. Just what y'all don't need.

I guess this is as good a place as any to report what I have learned. I wanted to donate some more tools to Arabi Wrecking Krewe, like I did last year at this time. The response from Sheik was pretty devastating. He said they couldn't use any tools right now, they can't do any more gutting nor rebuilding. Fema will no longer haul away trash and the city will fine you if you leave it in front of the house. No permits are being issued until Fema issues new guidlines (due out 'sometime' next year). Insurance companies, like Traveler's, won't insure any rebuilt properties right now either.

This just blows me away. WTF? What can I do to help?

[mangoon]

Sometimes things happen that just make your blood boil. This is one of them:mad: :mad: :mad: I think that looters should be locked up for a long, long time. The problem is that this is becoming an everyday occurrence. These theives won't be caught or go to jail. The system just is not in place to do anything about this, and the criminals know it.

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_12_26.html#219222

Please forgive me for posting this as a forum thread. There really is no place for general news/ stuff unrelated to JF, but important to New Orleans. Maybe the moderator can set up another category for "other things New Orleans".

Sorry to hear that rosetree. Hopefully karma will catch up to those people when the time comes.

[Corona]

Amen Mangoon.....karma does have a way......bastards :(

[dumbtourist]

<H1 class=red>One of our fav Irish bars, great Po-boys...really suks, Mark!

Parasol's robbed again; it's second time this year

</H1>It doesn't indicate new crime wave, police say

Thursday, December 28, 2006 By Laura Maggi


Two armed men -- one carrying a gun, the other a knife -- held up Parasol's bar and po-boy shop Tuesday night, marking the second time since Hurricane Katrina that the popular Irish Channel establishment has been hit by robbers.
While police said the holdups are not part of an uptick in armed robberies in the area in recent weeks, an employee said he could not recall Parasol's being robbed in the six years he has worked there before the two recent holdups.
Besides taking money from the 15 patrons at the bar, the robbers directed a bartender to clean out the cash register and safe, police said.

[rosetree]

KARMA---
Now all we need is some of this karma down here

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070104/NEWS01/70104012

[NYMAMA]

I truly belive that what you put out there comes back to you (either to kiss or kick you in the ass).

[NeenAtlanta]

KARMA---
Now all we need is some of this karma down here

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070104/NEWS01/70104012

That one should definitely be in the running for the Darwin Awards this year!

"We salute the improvement of the human genome
by honoring those who accidentally remove themselves from it...
ensuring that the next generation is one idiot smarter."

http://www.darwinawards.com/

[PaulC]

KARMA---
Now all we need is some of this karma down here

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070104/NEWS01/70104012

Yikes,... Toledo seems like a real nice place....... not so.........

I have always liked that name though... TOE-le-doe...

Rose,.. it's a serious bummer to hear that our collective bestest places of places is increasingly beset with conditions that do not honor life as we wish to see it lived... I surely hope that the very real fact that some of our favorite joints can be subjected to stuff that saddens us all,.. will never overpower those incredible positives we all hold tightly... There are so many positives,.. thoughts of which are with us constantly,.. and which I think most of put to use often to get by the daily humsie drumsies...

Obviously poverty and crime has presented a huge problem in N.O. for far too many a year now,.. and to see the ravages of those problems creep into the sections we thought of as safe is less than comforting,.. but we have to believe that the good will always prevail... We honestly have to.... we do

[mightyradgumbo]

Man, just when you think we turn one corner in the process another brick wall presents itself. :mad:

It seems sometimes that it is Us (collectively this group and those who love NOLA and New Orleanian residents) swimming against the tide in our efforts to bring the city back to where it needs to be. :confused:

[dumbtourist]

Been a tough week in New Orleans...sorry Mark.


Thursday, January 04, 2007
http://www.nola.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.nola.com/images/spacer.gif
New year off to deadly start in New Orleans
By Brendan McCarthy and Laura Maggi
Staff writers

In the sixth New Orleans murder in less than 24 hours, a woman was killed and her husband shot in their home at about 5:30 a.m. Thursday, said New Orleans police, who found the bleeding husband kneeling at the door of the couple’s Faubourg Marigny home, holding their two-year-old son.

The toddler was not hurt; the husband, 35, underwent surgery at Elmwood/Charity Trauma Center, police said. The woman, 36, was pronounced dead at the scene. But friends identified the Marigny couple as Helen Hill, an animator and filmmaker, and Paul Gailiunas, a doctor.

Including another murder on New Year’s day, the latest violence brings the brand new year’s total to at least seven slayings in four days, though one of the apparent killings — a woman’s body Wednesday found rolled up in a throw rug on a Lower 9th Ward street — remains officially an “unclassified” death. In the past week, 12 people have been murdered in the city.

[Corona]

Oh my god, this is a nightmare. What the hell??????

[BigDag]

First thing this morning, I read the story in the paper about all of the murders over the past week, including the shootings of the young civic activists in the Marigny; I followed that up with Chris Rose's column, about the joys felt with the opening of the "Mardi Gras Box". I guess all places have their contrasts between darkness and light, but the disparities never seem to be as wide as they are in New Orleans.

[chicagomike]

As someone who has seen the ravages and consquences of people killing other people, the Marigny murder really disturbs me. It is one thing for a thug to kill another thug. It seems that more and more innocent people are getting in the way of these savages and paying with their lives. On a side note. I spoke yesterday to a young man who called me at the firehouse yesterday. He was on the initial deployment of Illinois firefighters who responded on Labor Day to New Orleans after Katrina. His fiancee attends Notre Dame and they drove down for the Sugar Bowl. Had a fine time...Until someone stole his wallet. I am tired of the poverty card being played for as an excuse to be an asshole. Plenty of poor people find ways to live without stealing, robbing or killing. Its too bad that my young friend who worked his ass off Sept. '05 has a bitter taste in his mouth because he got pick pocketed by some two-bit criminal.

[NOLA]

As much as I love this city, I am really not sure how much more I can take. The murder of the Hot 8 snare drummer hit me pretty hard, but this latest round of murders is beyond comprehension. The cycle of violence, retribution killings, gang warfare, drug murders, teenagers settling disuputes with handguns instead of fistfights - it all has gotten so bad that I don't know how you stop it. A couple of days ago some thieves broke into Puglia's sporting goods shop on Veterans in Metairie and stole 115 handguns. Great, just great. Somehow I doubt those guns will end up in the hands of honest citizens wanting to protect themselves. There are so many handguns out there already that confiscation would take forever (and probably not solve anything). The police and criminal justice systems seem unable to do anything about the problem, unable to even come up with any new or creative ideas for addressing the situation. Can anyone out there think of a solution? I really do not want to leave New Orleans, but I am so tired of this I don't know what to do.

[Rossvegas]

I've never understood why the gun manufacturers aren't required to embed microchips into the handles of all their guns. The technology exists to effectively turn gun handles into transmitters, and that would allow the police to identify armed thugs immediately.

As for NOLA, I've always been on the edge about the upswing in violent crimes over the past few years. A couple of Fests ago, two gals from Atlanta were jacked up by a crack addict in broad daylight on Rampart; one of them was shot in the face and the other in the leg (I believe). They both survived (thank Gawd), but it really made me question my decision(s) to visit the city. After all, there are a thousand places in the world I haven't seen yet, and most of them aren't going to put my life at risk.

Most of us in this forum are EXTREME lovers of the city, and we'll return time after time no matter what...but what about the rest of the world? All it takes is one dentist and his wife to get jacked up in the Marigny and there goes New Orleans chances of hosting the annual dentistry convention.

The bottom line: I'm dead set against "Disneyfying" the city, but Nagin and friends had better get a handle on this SOON. If tourism is the cornerstone of NOLA's economy (and ultimately the catalyst for the rebuilding of the city), crime needs to trickle away to next to zero.

This is NOT cool.

[Corona]

I agree Ross...I've always been a loyal supporter of this city but all this is starting to scare the crap out of me. I'm supposed to bring my daughter and her friend back down for Jazzfest and I'm also bringing a couple more newbies 2nd weekend. I'm questioning bringing my daughter and the fact that I have to question it is disturbing me big time. Can't we start some sort of email onslaught to the paper, Nagin's office...anywhere? The voices need to come from somewhere. This is bullshit.

[dumbtourist]

NOLA, here's part of that same story from NOLA.com I posted above that really distrubs me...

"Historically, however, the city's police and court system bring a small faction of those arrested to justice. Indeed, most offenders are never arrested, and only a tiny fraction of those who are arrested are ever convicted of a crime, according to recent studies.

Witnesses fear revenge

In New Orleans, the lack of reliable witnesses has long stymied murder probes, said Anthony Radosti, deputy director of the Metropolitan Crime Commission. Many people fear street retaliation more than they trust the police's ability to protect them, Radosti said.

"In certain areas of the city, people live under the gun," he said.
The commission found that between October 2003 and September 2004, the system convicted just 12 percent of people arrested for murder or attempted murder -- a figure that doesn't include the cases in which police never make an arrest."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No wonder the thugs don't fear the law...if only 13% of those who commit murder are ever arrested, and then of those only 12% are convicted...that works out to 1.56 out of every 100 murderers facing the music for their crimes. There is only a 1.5% chance that you'll get busted for killing someone???? No wonder! Where's the deterrent?????? WTF is up with the police department and the justice system????

Personally, if I had to look at those numbers everyday, the only conclusion I could come to would be vigilante justice. Screw the cops, screw the courts. Take out 20-30 of those thugs and they might just get the message. But then, I've stooped to their level, haven't I?

[BigDag]

One more dead today; domestic violence, apparently (from nola.com):

Woman murdered on Pitt Street

A woman was shot to death in her home at 7437 Pitt St in Uptown New Orleans at 7:24 a.m. Friday, New Orleans police said.

No other details were available from police, but neighbors said the victim’s boyfriend was taken from the scene in handcuffs.

A hairstylist who moved to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, the victim was the mother of two and was in her early 20s, neighbors said.

Neighbors said the woman was killed in the rear bedroom of the tiny shotgun double.

[dumbtourist]

Corona, here's a good way to let all New Orleans and readers everywhere of NOLA.com how you feel about the crime there.

http://www.nola.com/mailforms/standard/index.ssf?CrimeWave

Just fill in the blanks and write your story...hopefully we'll see a bunch of Threadhead stories and concerns soon!

[Rossvegas]

If it was just crackheads killing crackheads (as was traditionally the case in the past) I wouldn't have so much of a problem with it, but it seems like everyone is a target now.

If you get the chance, go to NOLA.com and take a quick glance at the gal who was shot in the Marigny while trying to protect her 2 year old. She (and her husband) look like the kind of people that all of us would just LOVE...great smile, funky style and a wonderful twinkle in her eye. She could be any ONE of us, and frankly, that just scares the shit out of me.

Someone please wake me up when this nightmare is over, okay?

[Rossvegas]

This is what we've lost...

An animator, a filmmaker, a wife, a mother...a life.

Him? He's a family physician with (visible) wounds that will heal, and countless invisible wounds that never, ever will.

I'm seriously pissed right now.


http://www.nola.com/hp/photos/010407_marigny_murder.jpg

[mangoon]

There are just not enough Police Officers in N.O to flood these high crime areas with the protection they need. I think the national guard need to be given police powers (If they dont already have them ) and brought in for the long haul. Numbers to the point that these criminals need to know that if they do something there is an above avg chance they will be seen or heard or at least know that there is some sort of law enforcement source near by.
As it is now I assume long periods of time go by with no police presance at all. Where the deterrent?

[NOLA]

I don't know what the answer is, folks. The National Guard DOES have police power, but they are assigned to the areas where nobody lives to prevent further looting of homes, so that the NOPD can patrol the more populated and violent areas. The State Police mostly patrol the quarter and are doing a pretty good job as far as I can tell (although there have been a couple of incidents lately). In at least a couple of the murders recently, the police were within blocks of where it happened and on the scene within minutes. In every one of the 6 that were reported today, NO witnesses have come forward. They are scared of retribution from the criminals. That is why the arrest and conviction rates are so low. Until the people that witness the crimes are willing to come forward, how is the justice system supposed to convict people? As someone said in the article, "This isn't CSI. We need witnesses in order to make cases". One small recent step in the right direction is that where prosecutors can make a federal case, they are running these creeps through the federal system where they don't get out quite as easily. But you still need witnesses willing to speak up.

It just tears me up that the city that we all love so much is destroying itself from within. If this keeps up, the tourists and conventioneers will stay home, and more businesses in the quarter and on Magazine St. will close, residents will pack up and leave, and the downward spiral will continue until there is nothing left. Katrina couldn't kill the spirit of New Orleans, but the @%$ing criminals and murderers may. How's that for irony?

[Amy Winette]

Been a tough week in New Orleans...sorry Mark.


Thursday, January 04, 2007
http://www.nola.com/images/spacer.gifhttp://www.nola.com/images/spacer.gif
New year off to deadly start in New Orleans
By Brendan McCarthy and Laura Maggi
Staff writers

In the sixth New Orleans murder in less than 24 hours, a woman was killed and her husband shot in their home at about 5:30 a.m. Thursday, said New Orleans police, who found the bleeding husband kneeling at the door of the couple’s Faubourg Marigny home, holding their two-year-old son.

The toddler was not hurt; the husband, 35, underwent surgery at Elmwood/Charity Trauma Center, police said. The woman, 36, was pronounced dead at the scene. But friends identified the Marigny couple as Helen Hill, an animator and filmmaker, and Paul Gailiunas, a doctor.

Including another murder on New Year’s day, the latest violence brings the brand new year’s total to at least seven slayings in four days, though one of the apparent killings — a woman’s body Wednesday found rolled up in a throw rug on a Lower 9th Ward street — remains officially an “unclassified” death. In the past week, 12 people have been murdered in the city.


Oh no, I think this is the doc who was helping NOMC mentioned in Bethany's email I'm about to post . . . Very very tragic :(

[Amy Winette]

Makes me want to move there and start a crusade. Not sure what I'd do exactly . . . (And I suppose that's the problem).

[breambob]

Another tragedy. So sad. What I don't get is this: The population is under 50% of Pre-K and the police force is at better than 60% pre-K levels. Add in the National Guard and State Police helping out seems like crime prevention should be much better. Or maybe we're hypersensitive to anecdotal crimes and the actual rates are down. I don't know. Does sound fishy though...

[PaulC]

I've been fighting yesterday and today with both my insurance company (bastards) and a hospital (crooks) about a recent bill that is criminally absurd,.. and now my concerns feel incredibly petty after reading this thread again and seeing that picture... may she rest in peace... And Ross,.. you are so right about the scars the husband will carry forward...

My previous comment about the ravages of poverty were never meant to excuse inhuman behavior,.. but unfortunately,.. the two go hand in hand all too often..... Poverty alone does not produce all the thugs in this world,.. but it produces way more than it's fair share,.. and unfortunately,.. thugs don't just kill other thugs...

Law inforcement and the courts have to take control, good people need to feel safe... and in that regard the numbers DT mentioned are shocking beyond belief... I hope those numbers he presented were mistaken on one part... I find it hard to believe that only 13% of murder cases are tried, but those conviction rates are unheard of.. Who would ever imagined numbers like that were possible???... My many years of care free strollin' in New Orleans have taken a big hit with this thread....

Recall Nagin now.......

[eat_mo_crawfish]

From what I can gather, the fella who was wounded is a doctor who has been helping the New Orleans Musicians Clinic.

[Amy Winette]

Correct. I posted this in the raffle thread but it's kind of buried at the bottom. Email from Bethany at NOMC today in response to my email that we're doing another threadhead raffle to benefit NOMC:

Dear Amy:
Your email so cheered me today! The murder of Dinerral Shavers in the Hot 8 (funeral tomorrow) and the shooting of one of our NOMC doctors and the killing of his precious wife
(Harvard educated filmmaker) have left us all feeling despondent.

We can't thank you enough for your compassion. I have created an overview of how much your Threadhead donations have aided us in 2006.

We have three ( size-xl ) NOMC tee shirts signed by Dr. John which we would adore to donate for your auction.

Please email Dinah Daley our fantastic donor coordinator dinahgrrl@yahoo.com to arrange to send you the tee shirts or if you need any NOMC materials.

Hugs, Bethany

[rosetree]

I don't know what to tell y'all. I understand where you are coming from, I would be hesitant to come down here also. But we can't let those f*ckers win! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!! It is so god-damn overwhelming that you either go crazy or just go numb. The court system is a sham. The police are hamstrung. All the statistics are right. We are going to lose the very thing that will help our recovery----YOU.
What can you do???? Express your outrage! Write letters. There are over 300 of us registered here. You represent a big part of our main industry. Write letters to everyone you can think of. Nagin, Blanco, Riley, Jindal, Jefferson, even Quint. Email them, fax them, fill up their inboxes. Send a letter everyday for a week -same letter, just keep sending it. Let them know of your horror and doubts of coming here and your putting your money somewhere else. If it has to start as a grass roots thing, so be it. We can't seem to make a change down here during elections, so maybe a group of out of towners can initiate something! Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your help and support that you have given. Please don't let it all be in vain.

[Amy Winette]

Right on Rosetree! Wouldn't it be great if someone tech savvy could create the kind of click a button to send an email to the leaders thing that levees.org and moveon.org have? Anyone know how hard that would be to do? We could really bombard them then.

I, for one, will never stop coming to NOLA. I don't care if there are bombs flying and it's WWIII. I won't be letting any bad guys win. I understand everyone has their own concerns, children, etc., that's just the way I feel.

[t.o..fester]

A friend of mine is going to N.O. later this month on business for a couple of days and he and his wife are flying in 3 days early to help out in the re-building process with Habitat for Humanity. With what is going on, they are now questioning going at all. And this guy was to be a J.F. virgin this year as well. Like the rest of you, all this violence is really pissing me off.
I remember being threatened a number of years ago on the boardwalk by a couple of thugs (Who did not get what they were looking for btw. Being a kickboxer does come in handy at times. LOL.) Brings back those bad memories. Wish I knew the answer.

[rosetree]

Crap, Crap, Crap this was just posted on MSNBC...how are we going to turn this around????:mad: :mad:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16490563/

I was trying to post the whole article, not just the link, but my abilities are limited---sorry

[Amy Winette]

Yikes, well, a lot of people don't read . . .

Hopefully this is just a poorly timed temporary spike and it will settle back down and be forgotten quickly. A lot of people are still on holiday vacations and won't notice . . .

[NeenAtlanta]

Yikes, well, a lot of people don't read . . .

Hopefully this is just a poorly timed temporary spike and it will settle back down and be forgotten quickly. A lot of people are still on holiday vacations and won't notice . . .

Sorry Amy - Bryan Williams just covered this tonight on NBC news

[rosetree]

CRAP!

[Corona]

For as much as this is bad right now, maybe it's this exposure that's going to get Nagin, Blanco etc. to get off their asses and take charge here....the national guard etc. Something has to move, maybe it has to get worse before it gets better? I think "worse" is here and maybe now they'll move cuz the whole country is watching. Am I being naive?

[rosetree]

I think that you are being optimistic. I used to be...but some days it is sooo hard to think that way. Brenda and I were talking tonight and wondering when it would start getting better. I don't see it happening for four years until we get a new mayor.:mad: I can't believe that Nagin was re-elected. I totally blame him for what is happening now. I know that the storm was out of our control, but he has been INVISIBLE since his re-election. Where is HIS outrage? He had a op-ed piece the other day in the T/P. It was laughable. You can make statistics do anything. The hard fact is that people are getting murdered on his watch! He should be on the news, in the neighborhoods, doing visable things to reassure people that he is on top of this problem.(It's not a"problem", it's an epidemic)He should be standing hand-in-hand with Eddie Jordan, Warren Riley, the whole council, Judges, all the people in the criminal justice system, expressing their freakin' outrage and how they are going to combat it.

[Rossvegas]

Well, you can forget any ideas of this murder just getting "swept under the rug". I was just watching the CTV National News here in Canada, and it turns out that the wounded doctor is actually a Canadian from Halifax, Nova Scotia who went down to New Orleans to help out.

Great advertising, Nagin...you asshole.

[rosetree]

From what I hear, the NBC spot related the murder rate, not to any US city, but to....drum roll....Baghdad! There have been more murders here than in freakin' Baghdad. How does the Tourist Commission spin this to a positive?? A year and a half of trying to put a positive spin blown to shit!

[ScoopJohnD]

For as much as this is bad right now, maybe it's this exposure that's going to get Nagin, Blanco etc. to get off their asses and take charge here....the national guard etc. Something has to move, maybe it has to get worse before it gets better? I think "worse" is here and maybe now they'll move cuz the whole country is watching. Am I being naive?

I don't think you are being naive or optomistic. Change MUST start with the citizens of New Orleans. I hesitate to say this, since there is no way I could EVER imagine going through what you have gone through and continue to go through every day. But I believe the time has come for the citizens to realize that your individual concerns will mean nothing if you allow what is happening in your city to continue. And it's time for the local media to stop trying to be balanced and stop what I sense to be attempts to soothe the population and instead provoke reaction. I am shocked and disappointed at the acceptance of complete and utter bullshit.

Do you accept this from the head of your homicide unit - Asked about the spike in murders, Nicholas sought to portray New Orleans violence as part of a national trend. "Murder rates are up all over," he said.

Do you accept a balanced well written article about what happened this week in today's paper with no indignant angry editorial demanding action in the same edition.

Do you accept this......NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley called the 2006 murder tally of 161 the lowest in 30 years, setting the figure against the backdrop of a rebounding population and officer shortage.

Do you accept this.......
Superintendent Riley insists on using the most generous population estimates. "The city could be getting an awful reputation based on (population) miscalculations,"

Do you accept this headline on an editorial in response to those bullshit statements

EDITORIAL: Caution on crime stats

And this lone statement which i guess you could say "demands" change being buried 7 or 8 paragraphs down in the same editorial

"Instead of spinning the number of murders as an encouraging development, Superintendent Riley should be telling New Orleanians what he's going to do to bring the murder rate down."

I don't believe you accept any of this. It's time for you to show the country you don't. Find out what companies Nagin and Blanco and NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley have financial interest in and tell them you won't spend a friggin dime on any of their products until those companies demand accountability and solutions for what is going on in New Orleans. Take to the streets. Don't lie down, WAKE UP!!!

I rarely get this fired up , but seriously if you all don't show the country YOU care, no one will.

[ScoopJohnD]

From what I hear, the NBC spot related the murder rate, not to any US city, but to....drum roll....Baghdad! There have been more murders here than in freakin' Baghdad. How does the Tourist Commission spin this to a positive?? A year and a half of trying to put a positive spin blown to shit!

My point exactly. One lead statement, on that NBC piece got more of a reaction out of me than the lengthy article in the T-P and the editorial a few days before combined. Stop soothing and start provoking ACTION.

[rosetree]

Of course I don't accept it!!!!!!
I was raised to believe that change comes from the people by electing leaders who share your point of view and will initiate that change. ALLof the people I voted for lost. I am back to writing letters to my Councilman who lives around the corner from my studio, but is not seen in the neighborhood (or TV for that matter). The politicians will not take a stand. No one will make a hard decision(or any decision for that matter). How can you convince someone to change their opinion if they are invisible? I don't think that the politicians feel that they have to answer to us.
After the storm, we thought that it was our duty to return to the city, re-establish our small business, and contribute to the rebirth and revival of OUR city. Now we see that this is just not enough. It is so much bigger than that. It is overwhelming. I don't have the answer. It is depressing, but I haven't given up yet....

[Rossvegas]

For what it is worth, I knew the moment that the thing hit that it would take someone MUCH more influential/on the ball than Ray Nagin to solve this problem. Let's face it: any idiot can cut ribbons and approve budgets but what NOLA faced (and still faces) is akin to a nuclear bomb going off. They should have ASSIGNED someone like Guiliani, Clinton, Colin Powell, etc to oversee the restoration and suspended the status quo. Instead, we got the good ole boy who seems to be still wandering around looking for ribbons to cut. The city needs LEADERSHIP, and it's just sad that it isn't getting anything even close. I feel for you Rosetree, I really do man. Please keep the faith - that's all we have left!

[rosetree]

YYR Ross, I think that if Colin Powell had come down here and didn't care about the local feeding trough, things might be looking better. However, that's not the cards we were dealt. We have to deal with the status quo of the same old bullshit and how to wade through tons of it. Maybe Jindal will run for governor and change can come in a couple of years. We can only hope...and yes, I am trying to keep the faith, although some days are better than others.

[Rossvegas]

Rosetree, et al...I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but here is the text of an article that will appear in today's Toronto Star, Canada's best read newspaper. (This definitely isn't going to make the recruitment of new Canajun Jazzfest virgins any easier...)

Canadian MD shot in New Orleans
January 05, 2007
Canadian Press

A Canadian doctor and his young family were caught in a wave of violence sweeping New Orleans that left his wife dead and the physician known for his work with the poor recovering from multiple gunshot wounds. Paul Gailiunas and his wife, a well-known American filmmaker, were at home shortly before 6 a.m. Thursday when someone apparently came to the door of their small white house.
Moments later, Helen Hill was lying in a pool of blood on the floor and Gailiunas was on his knees, clutching their 2-year-old son, after gunshots rang out through their working-class neighbourhood.
The 35-year-old doctor from Halifax was shot in his hand, forearm and cheek, police said in a brief statement, while Hill was found inside the home with a fatal gunshot wound to the neck.
Their son Francis wasn’t injured.
“It’s just devastating,” Robert Thompson, a longtime friend, said from New Orleans on Friday. “It’s just such a tremendous loss and so senseless.”
Friends and colleagues were stunned when the news began trickling out that the couple known for their devotion to helping the poor were the victims of an apparent random shooting.
Police said little about the sixth homicide in the troubled city in less than 24 hours and the 12th in a week. Friends said there were reports Hill pleaded for the safety of her child before being shot.
Brad Ott, who has known the couple for 14 years, said Gailiunas heard his wife scream from the front room of their house while he slept with the little boy. He raced toward her, but saw someone and fled to the bathroom with his son where he was then shot repeatedly.
“It’s awful, there’s just no sense in it,” Ott said in an emotional interview from a hotel on the outskirts of New Orleans, where he was staying with Gailiunas.
“They looked after the poor and the dispossessed. . . . They’re just such bright spirits that losing Helen is like a light’s gone out in New Orleans.”
The couple, who married in 1995, moved to the U.S. city in 2001 after spending time there in the 1990s and becoming interested in improving health care for the poor.
Soon after they arrived, Gailiunas opened a clinic in a public housing complex that treated people with no health insurance and little money.
Colleagues said he went out of his way for patients by making sure they had their medicine or trying to find ways to pay for it.
Hill, an accomplished experimental animator, offered filmmaking workshops at a local coffee shop and helped her husband run Food Not Bombs, a group that handed out food to the needy.
The couple had to abandon the clinic when hurricane Katrina struck in 2005 and they rode out the storm with her family in South Carolina.
They decided to return nearly a year after the disaster to help rebuild a city friends say they came to love.
“We decided several months ago that we were going to go back and give it a shot, see what life is like and what we could do to help,” the family doctor said in an interview shortly after returning to the city last August.
It was a quality that seemed to fuel the work of both Hill and Gailiunas, who graduated from Dalhousie’s school of medicine in 1999 after completing a residency in family medicine.
The bespectacled doctor, who was born in Halifax but grew up in Edmonton, was given a prestigious community service award in Halifax for a student-run program he helped found through a church that provided shoes to the homeless.
“He’s a phenomenal person,” said Anne Houstoun, a family doctor who worked with Gailiunas at the North End Clinic in Halifax. “I have never met a more generous, kind, selfless person in my life — both he and Helen.”
Houstoun said the pair were remembered by all who met them because of their kindness, but also because of quirky ways that included having a potbellied pig as a pet.
“They brought joy into the lives of everyone they met,” said Marla Cranston, who once lived in the same Halifax building as the couple. “They were really fun to be around.”
Gailiunas was also a guitarist/singer in bands that often played charitable events and produced songs with strong social and political messages.
Ott said relatives of both Gailiunas and Hill were in or en route to New Orleans.
Gailiunas had surgery on his hand and was released from hospital late Thursday. It was thought he would leave the city for Columbia, S.C., where Hill is expected to be buried.
Friends and patients gathered outside the couple’s house Friday, leaving flowers, notes and children’s toys.
Officials with the New Orleans Police Department did not return calls Friday.

[rosetree]

a senseless tragedy....
I'm exhausted...g'night y'all

[ScoopJohnD]

Of course I don't accept it!!!!!!
I was raised to believe that change comes from the people by electing leaders who share your point of view and will initiate that change. ALLof the people I voted for lost. I am back to writing letters to my Councilman who lives around the corner from my studio, but is not seen in the neighborhood (or TV for that matter). The politicians will not take a stand. No one will make a hard decision(or any decision for that matter). How can you convince someone to change their opinion if they are invisible? I don't think that the politicians feel that they have to answer to us.
After the storm, we thought that it was our duty to return to the city, re-establish our small business, and contribute to the rebirth and revival of OUR city. Now we see that this is just not enough. It is so much bigger than that. It is overwhelming. I don't have the answer. It is depressing, but I haven't given up yet....

I have never doubted that you or many others care, believe me. Anyone who read what I wrote shortly after it (the thing) happened knows. And what you have done is fantastic. But speaking as an outsider, it is time to turn the we that you write about (which I take to mean we as a couple) and turn it into we as in everyone who has done the same as you. What I wrote was trying to express what the outsiders see. My friends know I love New Orleans, and they ask me the same questions. Why did they re-elect Nagin, and that Congressman? What's going on down there? And I try to pass the word, about how good the people are, and how hard they are working. But they don't see it. And that was what I was trying to convey. The outsiders need to see the sincere caring you write about, and the anger you write about. The Saints are nice, the Sugar Bowl is nice, shots of a crowded Bourbon St. are nice, and it's all shot to hell by what's happened this week. And that is what they will see and hear until the Saints game, when it'll be cheering fans and shots of Bourbon St again. And the two stereotypes of New Orleans are burned into the country's brain again. Crime and partying. And the even worse stereotype, that havin the party is more important than stopping the crime.

[dumbtourist]

The Saints are nice, the Sugar Bowl is nice, shots of a crowded Bourbon St. are nice, and it's all shot to hell by what's happened this week. And that is what they will see and hear until the Saints game, when it'll be cheering fans and shots of Bourbon St again. And the two stereotypes of New Orleans are burned into the country's brain again. Crime and partying. And the even worse stereotype, that havin the party is more important than stopping the crime.

You may have hit it on the head there Scoop. WE may be complacent in our willingness to keep going back in spite of the crime to feed our own needs/wants/desires for great music, food, and people. As long as the hotels keep filling up, the Superdome sells out, Mardi Gras, JazzFest etc. keeps drawing so well...is there really a problem?

N.O. is a tourist town dependent on tourist dollars. IMO it's going to take hundreds of tourist like us who love N.O. and usually spend lots of money there getting extremely vocal with the mayor, the tourist board, chamber and T-P to let them know WE no longer feel safe in visiting and WE will no longer visit until and unless the problem is addressed and corrected. And NOW is the time to strike, while the heat is really on with all the national coverage.

[peteup]

This leaves me feeling quite helpless with an inarticulate anger. In my line of work I have gotten used to the unspeakable horrors that humans can inflict on each other, but when good people, really good people are cut down and driven out of the place they not only have loved but given so much to, then it is time to look at ways of re-directing helpless anger into action. Maybe the media, who I generally couldna be bothered spittin' on, can humiliate the political leadership of New Orleans and Louisiana into getting off their fat lazy asses and DO something. At every opportunity, humiliate them and if they can't take it, then resign.

To all the residents of New Orleans, keep hanging in there and know that you're loved from near and afar.

[ScoopJohnD]

You may have hit it on the head there Scoop. WE may be complacent in our willingness to keep going back in spite of the crime to feed our own needs/wants/desires for great music, food, and people. As long as the hotels keep filling up, the Superdome sells out, Mardi Gras, JazzFest etc. keeps drawing so well...is there really a problem?

N.O. is a tourist town dependent on tourist dollars. IMO it's going to take hundreds of tourist like us who love N.O. and usually spend lots of money there getting extremely vocal with the mayor, the tourist board, chamber and T-P to let them know WE no longer feel safe in visiting and WE will no longer visit until and unless the problem is addressed and corrected. And NOW is the time to strike, while the heat is really on with all the national coverage.

Personally I'd rather see the locals turn Mardi Gras into one "Hey Ray, we're not gonna take this shit anymore" parade. Imaging anti Ray floats as far as you could see is a wonderful dream. But seriously that's the time to show the country just what a fuck up that guy is and to show how angry you are that he and his inaction is killing a great city. PR out the window, show the country you aren't gonna take it anymore.

[Corona]

oh for f*cksakes....I saw it on the news last night and I wanted to throw up. I'm gonna hear it at work big time Monday, I always do. That means my newbies are gonna get skittish and I don't even want to think about what Sammy's dad and the rest of my family are gonna say to me about taking her. We rented a friggin house inthe Marigny. Nice. This is so bad for the city. I feel helpless, sick and angry....Nagin makes me want to puke. Useless asshole....and why isn't Blanco riding his ass?

[Corona]

Of course I don't accept it!!!!!!
I was raised to believe that change comes from the people by electing leaders who share your point of view and will initiate that change. ALLof the people I voted for lost. I am back to writing letters to my Councilman who lives around the corner from my studio, but is not seen in the neighborhood (or TV for that matter). The politicians will not take a stand. No one will make a hard decision(or any decision for that matter). How can you convince someone to change their opinion if they are invisible? I don't think that the politicians feel that they have to answer to us.
After the storm, we thought that it was our duty to return to the city, re-establish our small business, and contribute to the rebirth and revival of OUR city. Now we see that this is just not enough. It is so much bigger than that. It is overwhelming. I don't have the answer. It is depressing, but I haven't given up yet....
well thank god for that Mark...I could hug you right now.

[Corona]

Rosetree, et al...I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but here is the text of an article that will appear in today's Toronto Star, Canada's best read newspaper. (This definitely isn't going to make the recruitment of new Canajun Jazzfest virgins any easier...)

Canadian MD shot in New Orleans
January 05, 2007
Canadian Press

A Canadian doctor and his young family were caught in a wave of violence sweeping New Orleans that left his wife dead and the physician known for his work with the poor recovering from multiple gunshot wounds. Paul Gailiunas and his wife, a well-known American filmmaker, were at home shortly before 6 a.m. Thursday when someone apparently came to the door of their small white house.
Moments later, Helen Hill was lying in a pool of blood on the floor and Gailiunas was on his knees, clutching their 2-year-old son, after gunshots rang out through their working-class neighbourhood.
The 35-year-old doctor from Halifax was shot in his hand, forearm and cheek, police said in a brief statement, while Hill was found inside the home with a fatal gunshot wound to the neck.
Their son Francis wasn’t injured.
“It’s just devastating,” Robert Thompson, a longtime friend, said from New Orleans on Friday. “It’s just such a tremendous loss and so senseless.”
Friends and colleagues were stunned when the news began trickling out that the couple known for their devotion to helping the poor were the victims of an apparent random shooting.
Police said little about the sixth homicide in the troubled city in less than 24 hours and the 12th in a week. Friends said there were reports Hill pleaded for the safety of her child before being shot.
Brad Ott, who has known the couple for 14 years, said Gailiunas heard his wife scream from the front room of their house while he slept with the little boy. He raced toward her, but saw someone and fled to the bathroom with his son where he was then shot repeatedly.
“It’s awful, there’s just no sense in it,” Ott said in an emotional interview from a hotel on the outskirts of New Orleans, where he was staying with Gailiunas.
“They looked after the poor and the dispossessed. . . . They’re just such bright spirits that losing Helen is like a light’s gone out in New Orleans.”
The couple, who married in 1995, moved to the U.S. city in 2001 after spending time there in the 1990s and becoming interested in improving health care for the poor.
Soon after they arrived, Gailiunas opened a clinic in a public housing complex that treated people with no health insurance and little money.
Colleagues said he went out of his way for patients by making sure they had their medicine or trying to find ways to pay for it.
Hill, an accomplished experimental animator, offered filmmaking workshops at a local coffee shop and helped her husband run Food Not Bombs, a group that handed out food to the needy.
The couple had to abandon the clinic when hurricane Katrina struck in 2005 and they rode out the storm with her family in South Carolina.
They decided to return nearly a year after the disaster to help rebuild a city friends say they came to love.
“We decided several months ago that we were going to go back and give it a shot, see what life is like and what we could do to help,” the family doctor said in an interview shortly after returning to the city last August.
It was a quality that seemed to fuel the work of both Hill and Gailiunas, who graduated from Dalhousie’s school of medicine in 1999 after completing a residency in family medicine.
The bespectacled doctor, who was born in Halifax but grew up in Edmonton, was given a prestigious community service award in Halifax for a student-run program he helped found through a church that provided shoes to the homeless.
“He’s a phenomenal person,” said Anne Houstoun, a family doctor who worked with Gailiunas at the North End Clinic in Halifax. “I have never met a more generous, kind, selfless person in my life — both he and Helen.”
Houstoun said the pair were remembered by all who met them because of their kindness, but also because of quirky ways that included having a potbellied pig as a pet.
“They brought joy into the lives of everyone they met,” said Marla Cranston, who once lived in the same Halifax building as the couple. “They were really fun to be around.”
Gailiunas was also a guitarist/singer in bands that often played charitable events and produced songs with strong social and political messages.
Ott said relatives of both Gailiunas and Hill were in or en route to New Orleans.
Gailiunas had surgery on his hand and was released from hospital late Thursday. It was thought he would leave the city for Columbia, S.C., where Hill is expected to be buried.
Friends and patients gathered outside the couple’s house Friday, leaving flowers, notes and children’s toys.
Officials with the New Orleans Police Department did not return calls Friday.
oh my god....

[Corona]

You may have hit it on the head there Scoop. WE may be complacent in our willingness to keep going back in spite of the crime to feed our own needs/wants/desires for great music, food, and people. As long as the hotels keep filling up, the Superdome sells out, Mardi Gras, JazzFest etc. keeps drawing so well...is there really a problem?

N.O. is a tourist town dependent on tourist dollars. IMO it's going to take hundreds of tourist like us who love N.O. and usually spend lots of money there getting extremely vocal with the mayor, the tourist board, chamber and T-P to let them know WE no longer feel safe in visiting and WE will no longer visit until and unless the problem is addressed and corrected. And NOW is the time to strike, while the heat is really on with all the national coverage.
http://www.nola.com/mailforms/standa....ssf?CrimeWave

This the link you posted on the last page and this is my response. If there are any more addresses I could send my response to, I'll do it now. Please post any links you have and I'll start searching too. You couldn't be more right on DT. Should we start another thread or keep this buried in here? Here's my response....btw, I haven't given up on the city but I needed to make a stronger point. Please send in your responses guys...please!


Here's mine:
Disgusted with city officials

I am a hard core New Orleans supporter who visits your city 3 to 4 times a year. I've brought many people with me on these trips and constantly talk about New Orleans with friends and family in hopes of them visiting the city in the future. In November, I brought my 18 year old daughter and her friend for the first time. They are due to come back with me for Jazzfest. I have booked my trip for Mardi Gras. After reading with complete disgust about the senseless murders this week I am completely appalled at the apathy of the city and state officials. Actually, I'm furious and sickened by their lack of action.

I am questioning my future trips to New Orleans if things don't change soon or action hasn't been taken. I know for sure, I will definitely not be bringing my daughter into that chaos and risk her safety. I am not an alarmist and have usually felt safe in New Orleans but now....I don't see it happening. If tourism is key to the city's survival then I have to say that the city doesn't stand a chance in hell if this nightmare continues. That breaks my heart. I know I'm going to be pummelled with questions about the murders in New Orleans and I KNOW that I no longer feel comfortable reassuring people that they should still try a trip down. I guess what I'm saying is I'm losing my belief in the city (not the people but the "city") and if Nagin, Blanco, and Riley don't take their heads out of their butts and take charge soon tourism is done in our precious NOLA. Believe me, the whole world is watching right now and New Orleans doesn't look to be such a "Fun Spot" to vacation.

[Corona]

Please write to them and share your outrage, send the same letter every day if you have to. We can't sit back and do nothing.

http://www.cityofno.com/Portals/Portal35/portal.aspx?portal=35&load=~/Portals/CNO/Modules/ContactUs.ascx&contacttype=message&contactid=207
Nagin's office email

http://www.managekeelson.com/websites/la.gov/index.cfm?md=communication&tmp=signup&lisID=886
Blanco's contact email

http://nolaagainstcrime.com/main/modules/cjaycontent/index.php?id=2
This is an interesting site/chat

[Corona]

From Banzai Bill, d.j. and former New Orleanian and good friend to the Jamn's. This was his bulletin on myspace. He's right, it's time to get involved. I'm cross posting the link on our board so he can read what we're saying. Bill's email addy is inbedded in this post:

Date: Jan 6, 2007 3:06 AM
Subject I AM SHOCKED AND SADDENED....
Body: Just got back from two incredible weeks in New Orleans. I was going to post some of my observations from the trip back home here, but as I settled into Central Texas and then went back to work on Thursday, I was greeted with this news from the Times-Picayune:

At the time I heard about this senseless killing and assault, no names or information had yet been revealed. I was still angry over the senseless killing of Dinerral Shavers,
drummer with the Hot 8 Brass Band.

But as I read the article, I got a sick feeling envisioning what sort of chaotic scene took place where a woman is killed in front of her two-year-old baby, and her husband barely escapes death. I have a three year old son and I could only imagine what he would go through if he lost Susan and/or I to murder that he witnessed.

When I found out who had been killed, I got even more angry….

First, my thoughts go out to the little two-year old son of Helen Hill and Dr. Paul Gailiunas. I hope your family and your parents’ friends are taking as best of care of you as they can in this terrible time. If anyone knows what I can do to help in this situation, please contact me at drwswhite@yahoo.com.

Second, my thoughts go out to all of Helen and Paul’s friends and family, all of whom should have never experienced this senseless tragedy.

A number of numbing emotions are going through my mind right now. Nobody should experience this tragedy anywhere, but NOBODY SHOULD EXPERIENCE THIS AT ALL IN NEW ORLEANS—ESPECIALLY THOSE THAT ARE MAKING SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE REBUILDING OF THE CITY WE ALL LOVE AND CARE FOR.

I am pissed off—those who HAVE returned and ARE WORKING to make New Orleans a BETTER PLACE are the true Saints of the City. They sacrifice every single day in ways many of us who live in exile just don’t know about until we return home. They have made a commitment, though, to make significant contributions to creating a great place for community, neighborhood, the arts, children, education, small business, music, and culture—the things we all find important to the City of New Orleans. THESE PEOPLE MUST BE PROTECTED. THEY NEED THE RESPECT DUE TO THE BRAVERY OF NOT ONLY THEIR BEING IN NEW ORLEANS BUT THEIR COMMITMENT TO REBUILD.

RESPECT BY THE POLICE DEPARTMENT WHO SHOULD BE DOING THEIR JOBS TO PROTECT THEIR COMMUNITIES, PROPERTY, AND PERSONS.

RESPECT BY NAGIN AND THE COUNCIL TO DEMAND THAT THE POLICE DEPARTMENT EITHER DO THEIR JOBS OR GET THE RESOURCES TO DO THEIR JOBS.

This murder and this assault did not have to take place. I remember being back home in New Orleans in October 2005, cleaning out the house every day with others who had made the commitment to come back home. The National Guard, the NOLA-PD, hell, even the Orleans Sheriff’s Department—all drove down my street every single day more than once. At night, I never felt safer in New Orleans in my whole life. Those of us here then, and those of us here NOW, all shared a great sense of hope that our rebuilding efforts will create a better New Orleans. Helen and Paul exemplified that hope. Now, she is gone, her son is motherless, and I hope that Paul is able to cope with all the added efforts he faces in rebuilding his life with his son.

Letters? Yeah, letters are needed. But I’m calling for something deeper and more organized than that. We must begin working hard to hold these public officials accountable for their collective INACTION. I’m not sure what to do right now, but I am very open to ideas and getting in contact with people who want to help.

Again, my thoughts are with the friends and family of Helen Hill and Paul Gailiunas and their little two-year old son. THIS HAS GOT TO STOP.

[Corona]

Sh*t! I opened our little morning paper and there it was. My family and friends are gonna freak....as is my 5 JF newbies that were planning their trips. I don't even know what to say anymore....how to defend the city to these people. They don't know it like I do and will only focus on this.
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=dbb1c608-8bc3-41f9-9fb5-76193d8850ee

[NYMAMA]

Corona-Thanks for the addresses. I will be sending emails every day. I have been reading theses posts for the past couple of days and getting sicker by the min. One month before Katrina hit we had put our house on the market and were planning to move to NOLA. We were planning on putting our house back on the market this spring so we could move down to the city I love to the bottem of my soul. Now my husband is even having second thoughts about even going to JF> and is trying to get me to look at Austin as an alternative .

[Corona]

oh crap girl....try and hang on for a bit....at least for fest. It's all so fresh and happening so fast. Do you think he'll give it a bit of time?

[NYMAMA]

He knows I'll go to the fest with or without him so I think he'll go. But as far as moving there I don't think I'll be able to change his mind right now. I told him there is no other place I want to live besides where we are now and NOLA. He has a difficult time understanding that. I explained by saying have you every gone to a place and knew you were home that 's the feeling I get every time we are there. The fisrt time we visited was five years ago in August it must have been 500 degrees in the shade and I still knew this was where I wanted to be.

[Corona]

man, I hear ya on that one sister! That's why this is all hurting so much huh? I'm not a violent person but I wish I could lineup those thugs for a firing squad. Hopefully in time, it'll become safer and you can have your dream of living in N.O.

[PaulC]

As terrible as this past week has been in, and for, our beloved city,.. especially those personally touched by such senseless tragedies,.. I would kindly ask that people (here, at least) please refrain from repeating stats that are in no way true.... That crazy Iraq slant concerned a very small window of comparison ,.. and it was in relation to U.S. military deaths,.. not to murders in Iraq as a whole.... New Orleans is in no way as dangerous as Iraq,.. such statements help no one but those who use inflamatory nonsense to sell something... Such thinking should not,.. and need not,.. be repeated,.. especially by people who love and care for New Orleans...

One thing is for sure,.. all that has come to pass in the past number of days cements one very painfully obvious fact,... Nagin needs to go....

A recall is needed for the good of all,.... and the people of New Orleans and beyond need to act...

Corona,.. Thank you for the contact info...

Let's all hope this current madness can be healed both by the passage of time and more importantly by the continuing efforts of those who manage to make life better on a day by day basis...

Hang in there all of you out there who populate the city we have all grown to love... You are all in our thoughts and prayers...

[Rossvegas]

Thanks for the links, Lis. I PROMISE that those people will be getting an earful from me...

I just woke up to see the article on page 21 of the Star; not exactly front page news but it does take up half a page. The photo of the couple is huge, and you can't miss it.

Lis, I'm not sure our American friends can really appreciate how this thing plays up here in Canada. For those who don't know...

We Canadians don't like handguns. They scare the shit out of us, and virtually none of us own them. Probably 95% of the people up here have never even SEEN a handgun except those located on a policeman's hip, and even those are RARELY unholstered.

We DO have crime, and many of the bad guys DO have guns...but they tend to shoot each other. That's okay.

It's when someone innocent gets shot - a mistaken target, a wild bullet - that we get REALLY outraged....and scared.

What mortifies me about this shooting (and I'm sure most Canadians and Americans as well) is that this wasn't a "stray bullet" intended for someone else. It wasn't a drug deal gone bad, and it wasn't a case of someone being in "the wrong place at the wrong time". In fact, one of the most chilling things I read in the articles was: “Friends and colleagues were stunned when the news began trickling out that the couple known for their devotion to helping the poor were the victims of an apparent random shooting.”

A random shooting. In their own house. At 5 am in the morning. Fuck.

There's a really good article about this couple in today's TP (www.nola.com) and it made my skin crawl even more. Apparently this asshole was going door to door at a BED AND BREAKFAST in the Marigny, with gun in hand. Here's the latest:

"Officers had been working a bizarre burglary call at a bed-and-breakfast nearby when they heard loud noises -- apparently, the gunshots -- and soon got a call from dispatch. Four officers bolted out of the bed-and-breakfast toward the couple's home, said the owner of the guest house, who asked that his name not be used.


New Orleans police confirmed the nearby investigation, in which officers responded to reports of an armed man breaking into the bed-and-breakfast and knocking on guests' doors. The gunman apparently fled after a guest heard knocking in an interior hallway and opened her door to see a man with a gun standing in the hall, said the co-owner of the guest house. But detectives don't know if the incident is linked to the shooting, said Lt. Joe Meisch, commander of the homicide division."

A Bed and Breakfast? In the Marigny? There but for the grace of God go ANY of us.


I haven't read the entire article in the TP yet, but I will. I'm also going to watch footage of the doctor and his band "the Troublemakers" playing an instore at LMF.


I realize that there are a LOT of sad stories in the naked city these days, but I've decided to make these folks my poster children. They are going to be my symbol of outrage, and I will fight for answers from whoever I can, because this just isn't acceptable.

[Rossvegas]

Lis, if you get the chance, pick up today's Globe and Mail. (The Globe and Mail bills itself as "Canada's National Newspaper" and it is available coast to coast.)

The entire FRONT PAGE is dedicated to this killing, and there are supplementary articles about the couple.

Gee, this ought to help drive a bunch of Canadian tourists into NOLA, eh? Keep up the good work, Ray!

[ScoopJohnD]

"We DO have crime, and many of the bad guys DO have guns...but they tend to shoot each other. That's okay."

NO IT IS NOT!!!!! Tolerance of crimes like that by citizens and public officials alike begats crimes like the one we are reading about. Tolerance of crimes like that by citizens and public officials only leads to the perception among the good people who live in areas where those crimes occur that no one cares because of who they are and where they live. Tolerance of crimes like that by citizens and public officials erodes the foundation of good any city is built on.

[Papins]

who gives a crap if thugs kill thugs? It's the new Darwinian way. I hope these scrotes get what they deserve, and please, if some cop on the NOPD racks up the kill, don't be sniveling about the scumbag's civil rights being violated.

[BigDag]

I agree with Corona. You can't shoot the messenger. All of these months, we have hoped that the media would keep New Orleans in the national spotlight, and for the most part, that has happened, especially with Brian Williams on NBC. But they can't turn a blind eye to this problem. The story must be told, and hopefully, something productive will come out of it.

[NeenAtlanta]

I agree with Corona. You can't shoot the messenger. All of these months, we have hoped that the media would keep New Orleans in the national spotlight, and for the most part, that has happened, especially with Brian Williams on NBC. But they can't turn a blind eye to this problem. The story must be told, and hopefully, something productive will come out of it.

I agree! I rarely watch tv news, but during the last year, every time I've turned on Brian Williams, there is always at least one item about New Orleans.

[ScoopJohnD]

who gives a crap if thugs kill thugs? It's the new Darwinian way. I hope these scrotes get what they deserve, and please, if some cop on the NOPD racks up the kill, don't be sniveling about the scumbag's civil rights being violated.

Would you give a crap if it kept happening in YOUR neighborhood, where YOU were trying to live a good life, and it was accepted?

[Papins]

nope...it would be a cleansing.

[saturn]

nope...it would be a cleansing.

I disagree. I think our society is becoming enough like "Lord of the Flies" without the rest of us sitting back tolerating and approving of it.

[Corona]

okay boys, the last thing we need to do is turn on eachother. I can't speak for Paps and Ross but the "thugs killing thugs" acceptance for me is that although any killing is dispicable (these thugs have mommas, daddies, siblings and granny's too.) it makes me a little less afraid then when it's random people, tourists, regular run of the mill "joe" doing the 9-5 thing with a family ya know? It just seems farther removed from my life and lives of my friends who live down there....I don't condone it but I see it as the nature of the beast when gangs, drugs and guns are involved. Like Ross said, in Canada, we are so far removed from guns. The right to bear arms for you guys has made for a real tough life in some of the more crime-ridden cities. I hope I'm not offending anyone with that statement because I didn't mean to. But it's just so damn easy to buy a gun in the states and now they're crossing our borders into my city and this past year there's been more shootings then ever before....so ya Scoop, that scares the hell out of me. I wish there were tougher gun laws but it's so far gone now....I don't know the answer but I do know that the N.O. city and state officials need to get off their asses now.

Yeah, I agree that Nagin needs to get the f*ck out and if a recall is possible, it needs to be done. Question....how do you think Landrieu would have done if he got the job as Mayor. I ask because I don't know much about it but wanted to pick your brains on that.

[ohio]

"We DO have crime, and many of the bad guys DO have guns...but they tend to shoot each other. That's okay."

NO IT IS NOT!!!!! Tolerance of crimes like that by citizens and public officials alike begats crimes like the one we are reading about. Tolerance of crimes like that by citizens and public officials only leads to the perception among the good people who live in areas where those crimes occur that no one cares because of who they are and where they live. Tolerance of crimes like that by citizens and public officials erodes the foundation of good any city is built on.
YYR! It certainly is not! Enforcement against crime, especially violent crime, must be equal across the board. Expecting or accepting that the criminals will kill each other off (and ONLY each other) is ludicrous, inhuman, and amoral.

After all the citizens who have stayed/returned have been through, after all they have put up with, after all that the rest of us have tried to do to help, after all the worries about Nola losing it's soul or becoming Disney-fied, this has got to be one situation that no one really expected. I wouldn't worry about 'Disnification' at this point...they don't have a murder rate at Disney!

It is obvious that the citizens and the rest of us are justifiably outraged, but what about the elected leadership? Where is the Mayor? He seems to be invisible in all of this. The police chief is apathetic. Where is the Govenor, the Legislature, The Congressional Representitives? How can they stand by and allow this to continue? It is more evident than ever that the police, the district attorneys, the courts, are under funded and without leadership. These things can be corrected, but where is the help? The citizens are there- they need help!

[ohio]

I disagree. I think our society is becoming enough like "Lord of the Flies" without the rest of us sitting back tolerating and approving of it.
I have to agree!

[Corona]

Exactly...can you send that to some of those officials, congress etc.? That was really well said Bry.

[Papins]

I have to agree that we shouldn't turn on one another, so I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. But let's take a look at what's not working. Marchs', petitions, slogans etc. A neighborhood police force may be the answer. Get a firearms permit, learn how to use it. Train in basic take down and street fighting martial arts. Carry walkie talkies, handcuffs, learn to make a citizen's arrest. Get a lawyer to look out for your group. Involve all pissed off neighbors in one form or another. Get neighborhood churches involved. Patrol 24/7. Set aside personal feeling and work with the NOPD. Start a fund to pay off CI's (confidential informants) and if a dead thug turns up, call the garbage pickup and don't worry who did it.

[rosetree]

Dear Corona, DT, and all of you other wonderful Threadheads:
This is what I proposed for y'all to do yesterday--

What can you do???? Express your outrage! Write letters. There are over 300 of us registered here. You represent a big part of our main industry. Write letters to everyone you can think of. Nagin, Blanco, Riley, Jindal, Jefferson, even Quint. Email them, fax them, fill up their inboxes. Send a letter everyday for a week -same letter, just keep sending it. Let them know of your horror and doubts of coming here and your putting your money somewhere else. If it has to start as a grass roots thing, so be it. We can't seem to make a change down here during elections, so maybe a group of out of towners can initiate something! Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your help and support that you have given. Please don't let it all be in vain.[/QUOTE]

Thank you for starting to do it! I went to sleep last night exhausted and very angry. I still think that a change is going to come from the outrage of people both in our city and outside it. Deep in my heart, I don't think that the people running the show care at all about us and it is frightening. It is people like you who can keep our fight on the fore front.
Do you think that the emails and addresses of public officials should be listed on another thread and made "sticky"? This would give us a place to easily come back to and express our feelings to the right parties.

[Corona]

I think that's a great idea Rosetree....wonder if Festydave is reading this. Only he can do the sticky I think. The outcry is starting so please don't give up on your precious city. When I get back, I'm going to search some more addies. I couldn't find one for Riley but did for Blanco and Nagin....ya got any more for me? I'll be back in a couple of hours.....I've also sent the Mayor's office the link to this thread as well as the link to some canadian newspapers so they can see what they're going to lose if they don't get their shit together...I think Ozzie's going to do the same from Australia. They need to know how deeply serious this will effect the economy (something they seem to care about) since they don't seem to give a shit about their own people...

[dumbtourist]

The best thing about living in a free country is the ability to be able to express your opinions openly. While I find agreement on many different issues that have been raised, one I cannot accept is anyone thinking it's okay for anyone to take anothers life...whether it's thug/thug or otherwise. If we accept that, then once the big thug has killed off all the other thugs, who will he start killing next?

This whole topic became very personal to me when my son, the evening before heading back to Loyola this week, asked me, "Dad, how old do I have to be to own a gun?" I can't express how shocked, saddened and angry that has made me. I don't want to bore any of you with my thoughts on that...

However, I am thrilled that so many of the Threadheads feel as pissed off as I and are willing to raise HELL and get vocal. I hope none of us ever has to "pull out" of New Orleans. But we owe it to the city that we love and the wonderful people of New Orleans to try to help get this message across to Nagin, the police, the business community, etc. that this is so unacceptable and it can no longer be ignored or swept under a Mardi Gras float.

Please, write to the links posted here by Corona, if you really want to help!

[dumbtourist]

Sorry Mark and Corona, I was posting at the same time.

FestyDave was on here last night at 2, so I know he's around. I can send him an email asking about making the links to the elected a new thread with a sticky, but let me know so we don't duplicate. If you Mark or Corona already have a number of links gathered, you can go ahead and start a new thread and he can sticky later.

[rosetree]

This is great...I really think a grass roots effort like this can do some good! I'll look up some emails tonight and get them posted.....Thanks again :D

[ScoopJohnD]

"It just seems farther removed from my life and lives of my friends who live down there....I don't condone it but I see it as the nature of the beast when gangs, drugs and guns are involved."

Here's the point and then I'll drop it. For every thug "cleansed" 5 more come in, and 5 more, and 5 more. And then the good get hurt. And you ask why. Because no one stood up when it began, not elected officials, not police, not citizens. Why? Well back then it didn't matter, it was "just" thugs offing thugs.

If you ignore a broken window, pretty soon the whole house comes down.

[ScoopJohnD]

And I will write to whoever I can. May I urge those who do not live in N.O to make it CLEAR that you are concerned about the city as a whole. My fear is the response will be superficial window dressing to ease the fears of tourists, while bigger picture continues to be ignored.

[VWGal]

This really brings it home doesn't it...as someone who has visited New Orleans solo and with friends, it makes me wonder whether I would chance it as a solo in the future. Having said that, I have two friends who are planning to join me this year for Fest, and if they aren't aware that NOLA is a place where one must be cautious, I am going to have to tell them. Fear of being shot or robbed is not something we live with in Canada unless you've made choices where crime and anger are part of your life.

The story hit the Calgary Herald today section A, page 11, so not prominently as other examples cited here. However, Paul was raised in Edmonton (150 miles north of Calgary) and so the story will be much more prominent there.

I plan to write emails and letters, those of you on the ground, tell us Canadians more places to send our anger and disgust -- someone MUST be prepared to listen or the downward spiral will only accelerate. When good people die in the pursuit of altruism, like Paul and Helen and the NOMC, it is beyond tragic and the ripple effect enormous.

I see Ray is up on nola.com, will go there and listen in. I think the man is a lame duck, he is not the right guy to roll up his sleeves and take on this element. Give us Rudy Guiliani for six months though.... I wonder if a curfew will only cause the desperate and disturbed to attack in broad daylight. What's needed is visible enforcement and visible punishment.

[VWGal]

This really brings it home doesn't it...as someone who has visited New Orleans solo and with friends, it makes me wonder whether I would chance it as a solo in the future. Having said that, I have two friends who are planning to join me this year for Fest, and if they aren't aware that NOLA is a place where one must be cautious, I am going to have to tell them. Fear of being shot or robbed is not something we live with in Canada unless you've made choices where crime and anger are part of your life.

The story hit the Calgary Herald today section A, page 11, so not prominently as other examples cited here. However, Paul was raised in Edmonton (150 miles north of Calgary) and so the story will be much more prominent there.

I plan to write emails and letters, those of you on the ground, tell us Canadians more places to send our anger and disgust -- someone MUST be prepared to listen or the downward spiral will only accelerate. When good people die in the pursuit of altruism, like Paul and Helen and the NOMC, it is beyond tragic and the ripple effect enormous. The article about them in todays TP is simply heartbreaking.

I see Ray is up on nola.com, will go there and listen in. I think the man is a lame duck, he is not the right guy to roll up his sleeves and take on this element. Give us Rudy Guiliani for six months though.... I wonder if a curfew will only cause the desperate and disturbed to attack in broad daylight. What's needed is visible enforcement and visible punishment.

[Rossvegas]

VWGal, we're running an ad for our resort in the Edmonton Journal right now so they send me the daily tearsheets. I just checked, and the story ran on page B8 in the city section. Here's a link to the tearsheet - let me know if the link doesn't work, okay?

http://www1.ad-express.com/PDFView/B000800001B.PDF?c=20070106&b=1&d=37976&h=w522453961A

[Rossvegas]

Okay, I guess it didn't work. I'll email you the pdf of the page when I get the chance, okay? It looks like a good article...and apparently the Edmonton Jewish community is pissed.

[VWGal]

Ross, the link didn't work for me, and I am not an Edm Journal or Edm Sun subscriber so I can't pull down any clippings online. I'm in Edmonton on Monday so I'll see what I can track down in our office there.

Just watched the Nagin press conference at nola.com. I understand and applaud the live and let live permissiveness that has spawned the community spirit we all love in New Orleans, but I have to say the statements made were disturbingly laissez-faire. Something has got to give.

[Rossvegas]

Donna, I just sent you the tearsheet page as a pdf file. Check your email!

[NYMAMA]

Just sent my first 2 emails of disscontent to Nagin and Blanco and plan on keeping going everyday untill we see some change down there. I had to rewrite them 3 times so the readers would know I'm angry and not psycotic.I know we can make our voices heard.

[VWGal]

And have duly noted this as a daily task in my Outlook calendar. While I noted I was a visitor primarily, I did also say that there would soon be nothing to visit, if the daily lives of law abiding citizens in New Orleans were not made safe and productive.

When I checked one of the links Corona provided, this article was there, saying the good Dr. was going to return to Canada. I hope and pray there is peace for him and that precious little boy wherever they go.

http://nolaagainstcrime.com/main/modules/news/article.php?storyid=270

Ross, I'm on the home PC right now, will fire up the work laptop later today and read the PDF. Thanks for sending it, my friend! I was so sorry to hear that Joel Neville had passed, have to say that it sticks with me just how incredibly exhausted Aaron looked when we saw him in August.

[Corona]

"It just seems farther removed from my life and lives of my friends who live down there....I don't condone it but I see it as the nature of the beast when gangs, drugs and guns are involved."

Here's the point and then I'll drop it. For every thug "cleansed" 5 more come in, and 5 more, and 5 more. And then the good get hurt. And you ask why. Because no one stood up when it began, not elected officials, not police, not citizens. Why? Well back then it didn't matter, it was "just" thugs offing thugs.

If you ignore a broken window, pretty soon the whole house comes down.
I feel the need to clarify myself Scoop because I think I came across wrong and was misunderstood. Because of the nature of this conversation, it's important to me that I'm understood okay?

First off, I am a social worker and with that comes the belief that all people be valued equally, no matter what walk of life they come from or what they have done...some are just harder to love then others that's all. In my career, I've worked with all types of criminals- rapists, child abusers, pedophiles, psychopaths, sociopaths, wife beaters, mentally ill, substance abusers etc. No matter what they've done, when I worked with them, I showed them respect as human beings. Therefore, let me be very clear that I do NOT condone anyone killing anyone....like I said before, the "thugs" have moms, dads, siblings etc., they are human beings no matter what they do.

What I was trying to say is that because it's spreading into random killings, in some of the better neighborhoods, I'm even more scared. This is because I can identify with a middle class lifestyle because of my own. It doesn't mean I believe in "cleansing", in fact, I'm completely against it. I was trying to say that with drugs and gangs, you have guns and killings....it's a package deal that we have been faced with across america...I live on the border of Detroit and my daughter goes to college in a very dangerous part of Detroit. She faces it everyday..the gang bangers are there and campus police are everywhere. I read the crime stats every month and it scares me but that's where she wants to go. Having said that, if in the future one of those thugs goes on campus and starts randomly shooting people, I'm going to be a hell of a lot more terrified then I am right now. That's just the way it is. Even though there are gang wars and shootings that take place a couple of blocks away, there's still a 'line' that hasn't been crossed. That line has been crossed over and over in a very short time in New Orleans this past month or so. Thus the panic you are seeing. Am I condoning it or accepting that thugs kill thugs? Hell NO but it's reality and it's there. That's the point I was trying to make....does that make sense?

[Corona]

Here's the article about Nagin's press conference this morning:

N.O. mayor, police chief weigh crime threat

At the end of a bloody week that saw the 2007 murder count in New Orleans rise to seven, Mayor Ray Nagin said Saturday that city leaders are focused on stemming the violent tide, though he offered few details of what new strategies may be used to enhance public safety.

Police Superintendent Warren Riley said he is considering use of a curfew to stem criminal activity.

Speaking with Riley at a hastily-called morning news conference, Nagin admitted that recent days also have seen a broadening chasm between the city's two main crime-fighting agencies: the New Orleans Police Department and District Attorney's Office.

Police officers' morale has plummeted, Nagin said, since District Attorney Eddie Jordan indicted seven current and former officers last week on murder and attempted-murder charges stemming from a Danziger Bridge shooting episode a week after Hurricane Katrina. In announcing the indictments, Jordan said officers cannot be allowed to "shoot and kill our citizens without justification, like rabid dogs."

"The comments that the D.A. made were unfortunate," Nagin said, "and did some damage to the relationship" between the city's police force and its prosecutor's office, which long has been criticized for winning convictions on only a fraction of arrests made by police.

Riley said he has instructed his officers to remain focused on their jobs, rather than getting wrapped up in the emotional politics of the case.

"The citizens of New Orleans have absolutely nothing to do with that indictment," he said.


Nagin, meanwhile, said city leaders are working hard to thwart the recent surge in homicides, describing the pattern as an "uptick" similar to the intermittent spikes in crime that have ravaged New Orleans for the past 40 years.

"We've had upticks in the past, so this is unfortunately not that unusual for New Orleans and for most urban cities in American" Nagin said. "But let's make something clear: One murder is too many in this city."

Nagin said he has talked with Jordan, Orleans Parish Criminal District Court judges and local ministers in recent days in an effort to come up with "creative, aggressive solutions" to the crime problem. He said he expects to have "specifics" this week on new tactics for quashing crime at its neighborhood roots.

Riley said of the curfew idea, "It's something we're just sort of talking about, to see if that will make a difference." He said a curfew used in the early part of 2006, combined with a hurricane-reduced population, seemed to make a big difference in preventing crime.

On the streets, Riley said the police force continues to operate with reduced manpower. Compared with a pre-Katrina roster of 1,668 officers, the force now includes just 1,401 officers, including 41 recruits and 114 officers on sick leave, he said.

Though he did not blame the murderous surge on a shrunken staff, Riley lamented the spate of violence as a glitch in what seemed to have been a positive trend in public safety.

"In the early part of December, we thought we had turned a corner," Riley said. "So obviously the last week of December and the first week of January is disappointing to us."

Riley said last week that fewer murders — 161 in all — occurred in New Orleans in 2006 than anytime over the past three decades. On a per-capita basis, however, even the most optimistic projection of the post-Katrina population makes the murder rate an increase from previous years.

Nagin and Riley spoke to reporters Saturday for about 15 minutes at City Hall. The mayor's spokeswoman, Ceeon Quiett, said before the news conference that with media inquiries pouring into City Hall for several days, Nagin wanted to address questions about the murders directly.

However, the 9:15 a.m. event was announced less than three hours before it started. News agencies throughout the city were advised by e-mail at 6:30 a.m. that the mayor and police chief would be available for questions.

Asked by one reporter about criticism that he has seemed disengaged from the violence gripping his city, Nagin said he has stayed apprised of the situation. The mayor added that he and his staff also have been busy working on the myriad aspects of rebuilding, from seeking FEMA reimbursements to expediting the payment of federal grants to homeowners.

"We have a tremendous amount of challenges," Nagin said. "If people don't think that I'm working, I would love for them to follow me around for a day."

--The Associated Press contributed to this story

[20-20]

It's just my two cents worth of opinion, but I have always been an apostle of the Bard from merry olde England, and a firm believer in the prose he voiced in Henry VI..."The first thing we do, let's kill all of the lawyers". It's a start.

[NYMAMA]

What a load of CRAP!!!!!!!Just my opinion.

[rosetree]

Blah, blah, blah....statistically speaking, blah, blah, blah....
I'm so tired of this bullshit...I want some desk pounding, this is what we are going to do type talking. This is the same crap that Nagin gave us before elections--- After elections, in the first 100 days we will have a plan---Well Mr Mayor, WE ARE STILL WAITING!!! We are expecting much, much more. Imagine the legacy that he could have had as the person to bring our city from the brink of destruction, but instead, he is going to be seen as the person who watched it happen. There are so many comparisons to this and 9/11. Right or wrong, Guilianni will be remembered as the unifying and guiding force in the aftermath of that tragedy. What will Nagin's legacy be??? I think that I know, and I surely don't like what I see.
Are they so blind to not see that crime is the #1 problem facing recovery in N.O.?? They want people to come back. Who is going to come back to a war zone? They want businesses to relocate here. What CEO will subject their employees to this kind of danger? They want to help small businesses. Who is going to come and support them? Certainly not tourists. You can't have recovery, new housing, new schools, new businesses, a new New Orleans until people will feel safe coming here. I don't hear a lot about Beruit, Mogadeshu, Medallin(sp), or Baghdad's recovery. It's because no one in their right mind will go there. Is this the road we are taking????

[NotInterestedAnyMore]

Pretty sad state of affairs. Blowing smoke up Nagin, Riley and Blankho’s asses is not going to do a bit of good. Nagin was reelected by a segment of the population that is not going to get rid of crime. Hell, they profit from it in many instances. None of these people have the solution and from the many ideas of what a solution is it should be clear that the problem is very, very complex. Lack of education, poor family values, poor moral values, lack of good paying jobs, underpaid and under trained police, ineffective criminal prosecution, low tax base, a comfort zone for criminals to operate in, no fear of reprisal from law enforcement, etc., etc., etc.. None of these things happened over night and none are going to be solved for a very long time. I expect it will get a lot worse before it gets better. The head in the sand attitude of government typifies the overall lack of concern from the vast majority of the citizens. There is no cooperation between the police and witnesses to violence.

Hell, there are a lot of other very nice places in this country and elsewhere that have crime but try to do something about it. There are a lot of places with good music, good food, nice hotels and beautiful scenery and those places will get my vacation dollars. I will not go back to a city where I have to walk around looking over my shoulder and questioning whether or not I should carry a gun. The hell with it.

[ibjamn]

Don't let the saloon door hit your ass on the way out.

[NYMAMA]

Unfortunately this is my husbands attitude also. Me I can't give up.

[ScoopJohnD]

I feel the need to clarify myself Scoop because I think I came across wrong and was misunderstood. Because of the nature of this conversation, it's important to me that I'm understood okay?

First off, I am a social worker and with that comes the belief that all people be valued equally, no matter what walk of life they come from or what they have done...some are just harder to love then others that's all. In my career, I've worked with all types of criminals- rapists, child abusers, pedophiles, psychopaths, sociopaths, wife beaters, mentally ill, substance abusers etc. No matter what they've done, when I worked with them, I showed them respect as human beings. Therefore, let me be very clear that I do NOT condone anyone killing anyone....like I said before, the "thugs" have moms, dads, siblings etc., they are human beings no matter what they do.

What I was trying to say is that because it's spreading into random killings, in some of the better neighborhoods, I'm even more scared. This is because I can identify with a middle class lifestyle because of my own. It doesn't mean I believe in "cleansing", in fact, I'm completely against it. I was trying to say that with drugs and gangs, you have guns and killings....it's a package deal that we have been faced with across america...I live on the border of Detroit and my daughter goes to college in a very dangerous part of Detroit. She faces it everyday..the gang bangers are there and campus police are everywhere. I read the crime stats every month and it scares me but that's where she wants to go. Having said that, if in the future one of those thugs goes on campus and starts randomly shooting people, I'm going to be a hell of a lot more terrified then I am right now. That's just the way it is. Even though there are gang wars and shootings that take place a couple of blocks away, there's still a 'line' that hasn't been crossed. That line has been crossed over and over in a very short time in New Orleans this past month or so. Thus the panic you are seeing. Am I condoning it or accepting that thugs kill thugs? Hell NO but it's reality and it's there. That's the point I was trying to make....does that make sense?

Yes it does Corona and I certainly didn't mean imply that you didn't care. Simply put, in my opinion, if citizens, or elected officials, or police, wait until the "line" is crossed they have waited too long. How many good people live in places where killings occur and see nothing to stem that tide because those killings didn't cross the "line"? ALL citizens, ALL police, ALL elected officials have to realize that ALL crime destroys lives, destroys cities, destroys hope.
I want citizens, police, elected officials to be ANGRY at ALL crime, and when it crosses whatever line they have set, I want them to be ANGRIER.

I'll shout it till I'm blue in the face......If you ignore the broken window, eventually the house will be destroyed.

[NYMAMA]

I love ya IBJAMN

[ibjamn]

I love ya IBJAMN

:)

[ScoopJohnD]

Unfortunately this is my husbands attitude also. Me I can't give up.

I WILL NOT give up.

[Corona]

lol Ibjamn....that's my girl :)

Scoop, I agree wholeheartedly....too bad there's not more people who felt the way most do on this bored. Maybe we'd get somewhere. Nagin's press conference was pathetic....comletely wishy-washy...the best they can come up with is "we're thinking maybe a curfew"? Wow, real out of the box thinking there guys...the whole thing is disgusting.....I think post-k burnout is high across the board in this poor city....the people are tired, the police are tired, the court system is tired, Nagin is very likely burnt out....fresh blood with fresh ideas would be helpful. My heart breaks for all of them....even for head up his ass Nagin.

[dumbtourist]

I love ya IBJAMN

That should say...We love ya, IBJAMN! And Mark. And NOLA. And all the fine people of New Orleans....that's why we are so pissed and are trying to help. We won't give up on you.

What a time for a reincarnation of wondering (notinterestedanymore)! Definitely on the "ignore list".

[ibjamn]

That should say...We love ya, IBJAMN! And Mark. And NOLA. And all the fine people of New Orleans....that's why we are so pissed and are trying to help. We won't give up on you.

What a time for a reincarnation of wondering (notinterestedanymore)! Definitely on the "ignore list".

Thank you, DT! I'm feeling a little verklempt after reading your post. :)

[dumbtourist]

Thank you, DT! I'm feeling a little verklempt after reading your post. :)

Hey...Yiddish! I like that.

[Corona]

http://inyourownwords.blogs.nola.com/default.asp?mode=blog&category=52277
From Nola.com...some readers write in....some letters were really good but man some were pretty out there. Consensus for the National Guard to come back though....
click on this and then on the left you'll see Readers React: What's your take on the violence....click on that and then the response window pops up for you to write and submit....
http://www.nola.com/

[ScoopJohnD]

I agree Corona. I didn't see the press conference but I read that article and it's pathetic.

"covert operations" - translation, we're not doing anything

Nagin said city leaders are focused on stemming the violent tide, though he offered few details of what new strategies may be used to enhance public safety - translation: we have no fucking clue

Nagin said he expects to have "specifics" this week on new tactics for quashing crime at its neighborhood roots. Translation - In a week, I hope you'll have forgotten I said this so I can go back to doing nothing.

That load of crap, and the usual trying to paint a rosy picture.

Message to Bozo the Mayor and his hand puppet of a police chief.

STOP WITH THE FUCKING SPINNING AND DO SOMETHING!!!!

[La Ti Da]

Just read some of those, the one about the devils was pretty out there! This whole topic is so disturbing and depressing, I don't know what else to say that hasn't already been said by you all, its so frustrating! I hope all of this this outrage will make a difference somehow.

[Rossvegas]

Don't pay too much attention to the comments out there. I was reading some of the ones on Canada's Globe and Mail site, and they ranged from rants against "redneck Albertans and the national gun registry" to "they never should have built a city there in the first place."

Idiots.

[ohio]

Pretty sad state of affairs. Blowing smoke up Nagin, Riley and Blankho’s asses is not going to do a bit of good. Nagin was reelected by a segment of the population that is not going to get rid of crime. Hell, they profit from it in many instances. None of these people have the solution and from the many ideas of what a solution is it should be clear that the problem is very, very complex. Lack of education, poor family values, poor moral values, lack of good paying jobs, underpaid and under trained police, ineffective criminal prosecution, low tax base, a comfort zone for criminals to operate in, no fear of reprisal from law enforcement, Blah Blah Blah
If you're really notinterestedanymore, then why bother posting?

[dumbtourist]

If you're really notinterestedanymore, then why bother posting?

Easy Ohio...don't let the troll get to ya

[mymecca]

and the internet are your friend...would move towards solving the no witnesses coming forward part...and maybe the non listening part if enough public shame was involved...like any complex problem...it's gotta be split into manageable pieces...attacked from all directions...i know there are so many more problems...we need all of us and more to solve them all...dialogue is a good start...but action must follow...

all of us outside the city should make as much noise as possible to whoever is currently on the hook responsible and anyone wanting to replace them...especially if they are directly elected by us...

re: the arabi wrecking krewe et al stoppin' work because fema won't haul trash no more...can't we network with existing charitable groups even churches to get construction dumpsters wherever needed...or coordinated mobile trash hauling...paid for through donations?...a la donate, need met?

[ohio]

Easy Ohio...don't let the troll get to ya
Thanks D! Been so long since dealing with a troll.
< note to self > ...that's what the ignore button is for... < /note to self >

[ozzie]

Like all of you I have been reading this thread for two days, filled with rage, frustration and utter anquish for my friends in New Orleans... those I know and those I am yet to meet. My heart is with you all.

I take your point (all of them) about using our voices and writing letter upon letter, but I can't see how sending these to La. officialdom is going to help in any way. The Police Chief has no resources, and Nagin and Blanco are so incompetent and unresponsive that if they don't respond to the plight of their own citizens... then it follows that how we feel would be of no consequence to them.

I'm thinking more of how America was so slow to react after Katrina and now, when the city needs their help more than ever, America is once again leaving its citizens to sink or swim as best they can. I would therefore like to direct my letters to appropriate politicians and activists outside of La, to express my disgust at how the country is leaving New Orleans to wallow and to ask questions of what America is going to do to bring back a city that has such a high profile throughout the world. It goes without saying that this situation reflects so badly on the US, and thus the reputation of the entire country is on the line.

If anyone can nominate the appropriate folk to direct my letters to I would be most appreciative.

Peace.

.

[Rossvegas]

Ozzie, I hear exactly what you're saying.

After working through my own levels of rage, it occurred to me that this situation needs to be framed as a "war on terror" and nothing less. When you look at all the resources that the US government has dedicated to fighting the "war on terror" (including the establishment of the homeland security department, suspension of specific rights and privileges for the sake of safety, etc.), I don't think this situation requires anything less.

I realize that it might sound a little alarmist, but think about it for a second.

This IS terrorism.

For all the talk about how "Americans are at risk", I can't think of one group in the entire US who is more "at risk" or who is more "terrorized" than the current residents, potential returnees and the millions of tourists who are thinking about making NOLA their home or their vacation/convention destination.

Just think about all the vitriol and hand-wringing about how "if you cave into fear, you let the bastards win" and overlay that against what is happening in NOLA right now. New Orleans IS currently under attack by true terrorists; real, live bad guys who's sole purpose seems to be taking control of the safety and psyche of everyone.

What do you think would happen if a group of Islamic fundamentalists showed up in some American city and started taking hostages? What if they were randomly breaking into houses in the middle of the night, shooting random people through car windows or executing citizens in their living rooms? What would be the response from government if the death toll from these terrorist acts hit the 200 mark? The 400 mark? The 600 mark? In an American city?

Well, that's what's happening in New Orleans right now. It's pure terrorism, nothing more and nothing less.

I personally don't think that anything less than a real "war on terror" (including all of the nasty side-effects such as suspension of civil liberties, special detention and prosecution rights and security measures) is going to solve this problem, and I believe that it has to be framed in this regard. After all, isn't it worth marshalling these resources to save the cradle of American culture?

As incredible as it may seem, what is happening in NOLA isn't much different than what is happening in Tikrit, Mogadishu, Kabul and dozens of other hot spots. These areas are being victimized by violent war lords; gangs of armed thieves who force frightened citizens into their homes and out of the streets. There's the omnipresent fear of reprisal, a sense of insecurity and a daily reminder that they are in charge...

I don't know what the answer is, but I do know that America's homegrown 'terrorists' need to be dealt with...and soon.

[Rossvegas]

For what it is worth, here is the text of a letter that I recently sent to the TP and was posted among the MANY letters of outrage:

Hey there, Mayor Ray - former resident, frequent visitor and first time caller here...

I just thought you should know that up here in Canada, your city - sorry, OUR city - is all the rage in the news these days. It turns out that the doctor who was shot was a Canadian, and now, every single major news media in the country is doing lots of free advertising for you. It made the front page of Canada's National Paper (The Globe and Mail) and it has been the lead item on all national news broadcasts.

I realize that Canada is only a nation of 35 million people, but any advertising is good advertising, right? Hey, I'm willing to bet that right now there are literally dozens of Canadians diving for their phones to book their Mardi Gras and Jazzfest vacations, planning their company's conventions and arranging flights as I write this.

Nice work, man.

A beautiful human is killed in a "random incident" in her own home at 6 in the morning. In her OWN HOME...at 6 in the morning, Ray. The crazy thing is that the gunman was strolling around the hallways of a bed and breakfast with a gun just before that. A bed and breakfast, Ray.

I realize that you have a lot on your mind, Ray. Hey, a LOT of people in NOLA have a lot on their minds, Ray. But here's the thing...

If you can't assure me (and every other tourist) that we're not going to be safe, we're not coming to visit you. Ever. There are plenty of other places that I can visit out there, and most of them don't come with the abject risk of some crackhead firing a bullet into my face.

Ray, I'm no civics expert, but it seems to me that if you have a city that relies almost entirely on tourism for its economic base...well, you might want to make sure that the place is safe. I'm pretty sure that if Walt Disney had allowed the Magic Kingdom to become Needle Park, his business model would have suffered somewhat. Surely that isn't your master plan for "The Chocolate City", is it?

Ray, I'm sorry, but you really need to grow a pair. You need to put cameras on every corner of the Quarter, the CBD and the Marigny and you need to DEMONSTRATE to the WORLD - and especially the magnificent, incredible citizens of the city you are sworn to represent - that you won't tolerate this any more.

This isn't just an "uptick in crime", Ray. This is catastrophic failure of your management, and you need to either get a grip on it or move aside and let someone else do it. You cannot allow thugs to run the town, or in the end, only thugs will remain.

(Uh, and Ray...thugs don't vote, remember?)

[Corona]

For Ozzie and anyone else willing to write in:

http://www.house.gov/htbin/wrep_findrep?HIP4576593330.22331.1494
contact page for William Jefferson (Representative)

The White House
comments@whitehouse.gov.
and Cheney's email: vice_president@whitehouse.gov

[Corona]

oh my god Ross, I LOVE it!!!!

[NotInterestedAnyMore]

Pointing out the truth sure gets everyone upset. I am not a troll but I see I can't disagree with the running thought here. All I did was tell you my thought. Go ahead and play Russian Rulette with your vacation. Sorry for your attitudes towards me.God Bless.

[Corona]

here we go...what the hell did you expect by posting something so negative on the JF chat board....that we would embrace your way of thinking? Freedom of speech....blah, blah, blah...doesn't mean we're not going to react to what you wrote...again...what the hell kind of reaction did you expect? For someone who is "notinterestedanymore" you sure are presenting as interested if you're still posting....your 'post, pout and run' attitude is getting old and boring....I'm hitting the ignore button so don't bother responding.

[Rossvegas]

Hehehe...post, pout and run - I love it!

[NotInterestedAnyMore]

Yep. Post, pout and run. What a bunch of dummies. I have been coming to New Orleans since 1982. I have been there close to fifty times since then. I have come on business and to attend Fest and MG more times than I would venture 90% of you have been there. I have helped in the reconstruction efforts with my money and with my support for the reopening of the city because I love it but I will not bring my family back because it is not going to get better. I have felt this way for some time, beginning before the storm. All of the things I mentioned in my original post are things that the present system is incapable of fixing. Nothing they, or the people who elected them, do is going to resolve this any time soon. Terrorism? Yes that is what it is. But to compare it to the terrorism overseas is ridiculous. It is a large group of opportunistic idiots who have no regard for life or law and who see New Orleans as a place where the pickings are easy. The pickings have been easy for years and are getting easier. No one is going to teach them any values any time soon and no one is going to change this behavior. As more of them come back it will get worse not better. Write your letters to those who you think care. But remember, if they cared something, just maybe, would have been done before now. Also, remember we have a constitution and it protects rights not only of the good people but the bad also. What a shame that such Pollyanna ideas seem to draw such support but realistic opinions are dismissed as not worth discussing.

[Corona]

Thought I'd cross post this on here too. Way to go Chris, betcha Nagin is seething right about now. Good that he looks like a dupe :)

http://www.nola.com/living/t-p/index.ssf?/base/living-7/1168154762152530.xml&coll=1&thispage=1

[20-20]

Oh my goodness "notinterestedanymore", prepare thyself for the barrage of "throll" references by those not comfortable with differing points of view. Bailiff...Whack his Pee-Pee.

[Rossvegas]

NI, what I'm saying isn't that much different than what you've just said...

Why is it so ridiculous to compare it to the terrorism that exists overseas? Is the level of 'terror' any less? Are the tactics and results any less sickening? Is the 'enemy' any more visible? Is it not the mission of 'domestic terrorists' to intimidate, control and acquire what they want at the expense of others...regardless of the consequences?

My point is that some entity OUTSIDE of the city of New Orleans has to view this recent wave of violence AS terrorism for the issue to be handled properly. The thugs obviously have no fear of the status quo...perhaps an extended stay in a Gitmo-like setting in the middle of the bayou might change their minds.

I've always believed that everyone has a "higher Gawd" that he/she fears, and I don't mean that neccessarily in the biblical sense. The sad reality is there has been no "higher Gawd" brought to bear upon the thugs...yet.

I hate to say it, and I know that many people here will rightfully disagree with my opinion, but I liked the NOPD better when you KNEW they were badasses. The one thing I always understood was that DON'T want to find yourself in trouble in NOLA, because all bets were off in terms of what might happen to you. I feared the police, and now, it doesn't look like anyone does. The thugs don't respect them, the public seems to have lost faith in them...they are no longer the "higher Gawd" that is capable of controlling the mayhem of today's NOLA.

Call it terrorism, treat it like terrorism and handle the criminals like terrorists. After all, they ARE invoking terror on an innocent public, aren't they?

[ScoopJohnD]

This may shock you but while I didn't agree with the overly pessimistic tone of his post, I DID think that Not Interested Anymore presented some valid points and I thought some of the bashing was unfair. And I also think it might wise for the citizens, leaders and those of us who love New Orleans to realize that his view of the city is probably far more widespread than any of us would like to believe. Which is why it is imperitive that change occur.

He wrote he would not come back, which is his right and said why, (again pessimistically). Aside from the tone of post, is what he said really any different than what Ross wrote when he threatened to not come back in the letter he wrote to Nagin?

[glinda]

I agree, scoop. (Seems like the more "anonymous" 1st or 2nd posts get a much more negative reaction than the same sentiments expressed by a regular poster. More likely to be identified as a troll.)

[PaulC]

I gotta agree Scoop,.. and I would hope all viewpoints are allowed,.. especially when a thread is addressing obvious massive fault lines...

As for future letters,.. I'm not sure any attempt that is draped in sarcasm from beggining to end gets a complete reading on the receiving end... If the intention of this board is to inform those within the circles of power in New Orleans that us outsiders who are most loyal with our love for the city are frightened,.. then a direct mention of that which concerns us may hit the target better... Anger and sarcasm aren't always the best dance partners when trying to effect change...

[ozzie]

For Ozzie and anyone else willing to write in:

http://www.house.gov/htbin/wrep_findrep?HIP4576593330.22331.1494
contact page for William Jefferson (Representative)

The White House
comments@whitehouse.gov.
and Cheney's email: vice_president@whitehouse.gov

Thanks Corona.

[NotInterestedAnyMore]

Excuse what sounded like pessimism from me as it really is far more anger than pessimism. It just seems to me that New Orleans does not want to help itself enough and that makes me furious. How does a mayor who let people drown rather than use an established evacuation procedure to get them out get reelected? How does a common criminal found with 90,000 in his freezer get reelected? And in this mornings paper he uses our tax dollars to mail his cohorts to ask them to contribute funds spent by him to get himself another term on the Gravy Boat. How does an area not come up with a plan to get a fair share of funds and let them go to a neighboring state? How does a city with so many problems come up, finally, with a “ PLAN “, which in the first line of the article in the TP describing the “ PLAN “ mentions the reestablishment of Public Housing (Can you say breeding ground for social misfits)? How does a city manage to kick itself in the Ass so many times and expect people will love it so much that they overlook all of its faults?

Thank you Ross for your response but the critical line of my last post was in reference to the constitution. It cannot be ignored despite what our present administration feels is in our best interest. And thank you to the other posters who felt I had a little something of worth to say in my original post. As for the rest of you, take off the rose colored glasses and see New Orleans for what she is. A broken and very sadly lacking place with a few undeniable treasures strewn about her yard. I hope none of you has the misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when you go there. Please be careful as I think you may be mistaking your past need to be careful where you go with the present fact that there really are no safe places to go when you are there any more.

[Rossvegas]

Well, I think we're all treading on some very raw nerves here, so a fiesty reaction is to be expected. All you have to do is scan some of the comments on the NOLA.com site, and you'll see that NotInterestedAnyMore is definitely not alone.

Unfortunately, it appears that the opinions are being polarized into two distinct camps: the "I'm never going back" camp and the "good riddance you quitter" camp. More realistically, I think that both sides are very much in the grey area...the "I desperately want to come back because I truly love this city, but this is breaking my heart and I don't know how much more I can take" camp.

The only comments that I would immediately dismiss as "troll" comments are from those who never really liked the city, have some kind of overt racist axe to grind or are just plain stoopid. The vast majority of comments I've seen (at least 90%) are from those in the grey area - including those from NotInterestedAnyMore and I would never dismiss those opinions out of hand.

The bottom line: I'm definitely not in ANY position to deny any New Orleanian - current or former - their expression of how they feel about what's happened to their homeland in the past 18 months.

[Rossvegas]

NAIM, I hear your frustration and I'm extremely sorry that you feel the way you do right now.

It's one thing to bitch about the government; it's entirely another thing to be victimized on a daily basis by their neglect and corruption and to have to endure the type of hardship that every New Orleanian is dealing with right now.

I'm not in your shoes, so I can't say what i would do if I was faced with the decision to stay or go. I completely understand how people can feel helpless and defeated, and I will never judge anyone who makes a decision based on the best interests of their family.

By the same token, I have IMMENSE respect for the IBJamns of the world; the true pioneers who have returned to stare down adversity in the face and continually challenge and dare it to destroy their spirit. Despite dealing with a veritable shitstorm of hardship, the Jamns have opened their bruised home and hearts to many people on this board, and they have soldiered on a real-life symbol to MANY of us who believe the spirit of New Orleans is worth fighting for. I stand with them in their fight, and Gawd love them for hanging in there...but I'm never going to judge you or anyone else if you can't handle it. As I said, I'm not sure I could either...

Peace!

[PaulC]

I hate to say it, and I know that many people here will rightfully disagree with my opinion, but I liked the NOPD better when you KNEW they were badasses. The one thing I always understood was that DON'T want to find yourself in trouble in NOLA, because all bets were off in terms of what might happen to you. I feared the police, and now, it doesn't look like anyone does. The thugs don't respect them, the public seems to have lost faith in them...they are no longer the "higher Gawd" that is capable of controlling the mayhem of today's NOLA.

I had to come back to this Ross... You make decent enough points,.. but underneath it all belays the dangers modern day New Orleans has always presented.. I have never known the city without it's incredibly high impoverished conditions that exist just outside of the mostly comfortable zones we tend to visit,.. and such conditions always harbor higher crime rates... I hope it doesn't sound as if I'm presenting excuses for people to do terrible things,.. but it's fact that such things happen far more often under bad conditions... and conditions there now are undeniably far worse after the thing then they were prior to... A bigger and badder police force my fill more jails,.. but it won't solve the underlying problems...

Living in a quasi police state is something I understand pretty well down here in Florida... And as much as I don't care to see them in my rear view mirror multiple times a day,.. it probably lessens the chances of my finding myself on the wrong end of those with bad intentions.... Watching the local news (something I try not to do too often),.. quickly reminds me of how many people are actually out there who have a far different outlook on life than that which I do.... Then again,.. a society that sees the gap between the haves and the have nots grow by the minute under the past six years of "conservative" moral rule (arggggghhhh!!!! the hypocrisy is limitless) is destined to experience painful after effects...

[denideadhead]

Just like everyone else here and thousands of others I wish more than anything for New Orleans restored to be a habitable place for returning and new residents and a tourist destination that celebrates it's cultural uniquenes. Unfortunately no answer seems not to have a catch 22. The threadheads are such an open and intellegent group I am asking that you consider in your responses and letters another huge piece of this puzzle.
I personally would appreciate hearing your opinions...

My concern is over the ever increasing us vs them mindset that is clouding any positive approaches to resolving the problem of violence in NOLA.
It is increasingly apparent that there now exists in perception at least a white and a people of color response to the deteriorating conditon and that the differences in these responses is dangerous. While I have experienced this divide first hand in discussions (one of which with someone who told me point blank that he doesn't really like or trust any white people but still considers me a freind?) However, for our puposes do a google search on the topic of crime or violence in New Orleans and you find greatly differing opinions out there that must be addressed and for the most part they are clearly racially divided.
There is a very strong belief in the African American community that the currently proposed solutions are targeted at limiting the return of people of color to the city, proliferating profiling, condoning racial prejudice etc. This thinking and believe me it does have a basis in the reality of experience makes it impossible for this large percentage of the population to embrace an aggressive or anti terrorist approach. It is very hard if not impossible to effectivelly reassure the community that any strong arm efforts to address the violence issues are not just an attempt by the white developers and carpetbaggers to take over the city and push the black population out. Curfews etc are percieved as directed solely to limit the freedom of only residents of color and this causes at its worst a backlash that rejects all attempts at changing the system.
I whole heartedly agree that this crisis must be addressed the entire justice system in New Orleans must be reformed TODAY not hypothetically but in REALITY. no more catch and release ...effective prosecution... appropriate access to public defenders etc . I read somewhere and can't find the article that one approach to begin this fall was supposed to be an increase of drug and weapons cases refered to federal courts for prosecution as DEA cases. I can not find any evidence of this occuring and that the issue of case dismissals particularly murders due to lack of witnesses was going to be addressed (how??)
I have seen no evidence of this occuring. Yes the city is being terrorized and if there was ever a good use for all that homeland security money to be used to secure a homeland it is in New Orleans. My question is how do you get such a diverse population on the same page when there are so many voices and many of them loudly reject what may appear to us the obvious solutions.

this link is to one of of the least radical pieces of literature I came across that expresses the feelings of victimization and frustration of the african american community in New Orleans....



http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2006/09/8658_comment.php#8881

[ohio]

Yep. Post, pout and run. What a bunch of dummies. I have been coming to New Orleans since 1982. I have been there close to fifty times since then. I have come on business and to attend Fest and MG more times than I would venture 90% of you have been there. I have helped in the reconstruction efforts with my money and with my support for the reopening of the city because I love it but I will not bring my family back because it is not going to get better. I have felt this way for some time, beginning before the storm. All of the things I mentioned in my original post are things that the present system is incapable of fixing. Nothing they, or the people who elected them, do is going to resolve this any time soon. Terrorism? Yes that is what it is. But to compare it to the terrorism overseas is ridiculous. It is a large group of opportunistic idiots who have no regard for life or law and who see New Orleans as a place where the pickings are easy. The pickings have been easy for years and are getting easier. No one is going to teach them any values any time soon and no one is going to change this behavior. As more of them come back it will get worse not better. Write your letters to those who you think care. But remember, if they cared something, just maybe, would have been done before now. Also, remember we have a constitution and it protects rights not only of the good people but the bad also. What a shame that such Pollyanna ideas seem to draw such support but realistic opinions are dismissed as not worth discussing.
Not much to discuss with you. You post on a New Orleans chat board that everyone should stop going there. What's to discuss? Pollyanna ideas? Do you suggest anything which might help? No, you advise everyone give up and stay away. At least we are trying. Your apathetic approach puts you in league with Ray and the rest of them. Ignore button on.......NOW

[Corona]

I agree, scoop. (Seems like the more "anonymous" 1st or 2nd posts get a much more negative reaction than the same sentiments expressed by a regular poster. More likely to be identified as a troll.)
I think my reaction was because there was a familiarity to the poster even though it was a different login name. As a result, I assumed it was the same poster and reacted as such. I apologize if it is not. I usually try to agree to disagree but my reaction came from a personal place that I'm not prepared to discuss on this board. I think Ibjamn was coming from the same place. If notinterestedanymore is not "that" person...and only he/she knows if they are or not...then I apologize for that. If it IS that person then I stand my ground because the statements are not made out of a care and concern for Nola but to get a rise out of people. Sorry for bringing some personal past issues on this board guys...I guess some of us have trust issues after being burned pretty badly in the past.

Okay, continue with the regularly scheduled programming....thanks for listening.

[NotInterestedAnyMore]

A different take, well thought out, on what I said in reference to the constitution. We all, black, brown or white, have protections afforded to us under the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, The court system and presumption of innocence, etc. that we can not and should not take lightly. To do anything along the lines of Martial Law or weakening of protections to solve this problem is not the way to go. To do so opens up further a door that in the past few years has opened up a surprising amount already to a loss, for all citizens, of the rights this country was founded on. As I stated this is a very, very complex problem and there is no single or right answer to solve it. What is being done now is not working. There is not enough organization and competency in the police department, there is not enough follow-through in the judicial process and there is not enough community involvement from the citizenry to help the problem as it exists today. There is not enough decisive political leadership from the mayor and governor on down through the police department leadership to make anyone think that anyone will get a handle on things any time soon. One sits back hoping a change will happen or that a flood of enlightenment will overtake everyone and it is more apparent by the day that this is not going to take place. New Orleans is far from the only place such problems exist but is nearly alone in its inability to grasp the seriousness of the problem and address answers. How would you feel if you, having been the victim of a mistaken arrest, were put in a cell under the conditions described in the article cited above. Probably not very well. A prior post from Ozzie made mention of the point I made regarding writing LA. Politicians asking them to solve the problem. If they were going to do something meaningful don’t you think they would have by now? Nagin is just waiting for his ticket to Washington to get punched I believe.

Ohio. I love the city and want to see something done. I think discussion rather than bullheadedness might resolve issues. Sorry you do not agree but feel free to ignore me if you wish. Thought you had decided earlier to do that already but apparantly not. Sorry if we have different ideas on how to hopefully arrive at a solution. I know I do not have any great, life altering answers but I would think conversation works better than ignoring differing viewpoints and might be a path to some workable solutions.

[Rossvegas]

Denise, you raise some REALLY interesting points.

I'm not denying that such a divide exists - it certainly does - but based on the points raised in your post, one would easily assume that the Mayor of New Orleans is some type of good ole boy/Boss Hogg character intent on keeping the black population out. When you overlay the image of Ray Nagin and his "chocolate city" proclamation, however, the whole picture really doesn't make much sense.

IMHO, the story of modern day New Orleans is as old as time itself: those who have vs. those who have not. Unfortunately, history has proven to us that you ignore the "have nots" at your own peril. When faced with feeding your child or sleeping on the streets, people tend to swoop down on the "haves" because they know that they have what they need or want.

I wish I had the answer for this, I really do. The people who talk about the "culture of welfare" are right. The people who talk about opening their hearts are right. The black people who distrust government, the police and even white establishment are right, as are those white people who distrust the gathering of bandana-clad black youth at the end of the street.

There is a large segment out there who have viewed everything post-K as agreat opportunity to "cleanse" the city and reinvent it as some type of Utopian model of civic bliss. That just ain't gonna happen.

There are others who just want the status quo back, but even I as an outsider know that the status quo was one of the most fragile, frightening and nerve-wracking states.

If you figure out the answer, let me know, okay?

[ohio]

Denise, the link you posted is an unsettling narrative to be sure. It points out so many problems, from racial profiling to ticket quotas to justice sytem failures. And YYR we need to address these base problems before any real change will be seen. Curfews do not deal with these core issues, and in fact likely add to unrest and non-trust. No one in leadership seems willing to dig in an begin to address these issues. I can only hope that with the change in leaders brougt in by the last elections, along with a countinued outcry from the public as a whole, will prompt some action. <sigh>

[PaulC]

I have seen no evidence of this occuring. Yes the city is being terrorized and if there was ever a good use for all that homeland security money to be used to secure a homeland it is in New Orleans.

It would help if Junior "stayed the course" (or began the course) in New Orleans as he said he would those many months ago as he posed in Jackson Square.....

[PaulC]

Not much to discuss with you. You post on a New Orleans chat board that everyone should stop going there. What's to discuss? Pollyanna ideas? Do you suggest anything which might help? No, you advise everyone give up and stay away. At least we are trying. Your apathetic approach puts you in league with Ray and the rest of them. Ignore button on.......NOW

Now that you put it that way,.. his chosen path really doesn't allow for alternatives now does it....

[NotInterestedAnyMore]

I'm sorry I intruded. I did not tell everyone to stay away. I said I would not bring my family back with things as they are. I am far from apathetic. It amzes me that such insights into me can be gained so quickly by someone reading a few sentences on a chat board. Again, sorry to have intruded. I will leave.

[PaulC]

You needn't leave,.. there are hundreds of threads on this board that flow with continous positive vibes.... What has happened in the past week (year,..) is not positive and any and all viewpoints should be considered ,..if they stay out of the muck... Although you did seem to limit the alternatives going forward,.. you didn't muck it up...

Just curious,.. how do you spend your time during normal workin' hours???...

[ScoopJohnD]

Here's my letter to Nagin. A drop in the bucket but it felt good to write it and hopefully it'll be seen. Unfortunately, I'm getting close to point of urging my congresspersons and Senators to take a good hard look at the Mayor and his government and urging them to demand accountability before allocating funds. Perhaps that would mean action instead of idle talk.

Dear Mayor Nagin,

I write as an outsider, but as an outsider who has a deep love and respect for your city and it's citizens, and sadly I write to express my disappointment and outrage at how you, your city government and your police chief are slowly destroying the very thing I love.

I, as all Americans, was raised to believe that being an elected official or public servant was a higher calling. That to have the opportunity to serve was something special and as such demanded that those who serve provide leadership and inspiration that average citizens cannot.

Sadly, in the regard to you and your officials that does not seem to be the case. Your citizens show the country and the world a heart and a will that very few of us could hope to have, while their city leaders continue to present a picture of indifference, of a lack of vision, of demanding help with no return commitment on your part, and most sadly, a picture of a group of officials that looks to assign blame and make excuses instead of taking a good hard look in the mirror.

The citizens of your city and of this country, who deeply care about New Orleans and it's future deserve more than what you are currently providing and believe me our patience is rapidly running out. If the picture I described above continues then the legacy of you and your administration will that of a group of officials who the citizens put their hopes and trust in to save and rebuild a great city and instead stood by and watched it's erosion and decay.

I want to believe that no public official would want that as his or her legacy and I hope and pray that you and your officials will stand up and show the citizens of your city, this country and the world that the views I've expressed about your stewardship are wrong.

Thank you for your time,

[ohio]

Now that you put it that way,.. his chosen path really doesn't allow for alternatives now does it....
I'm sure I over reacted to some degree, but I see this board as positive people working for solutions. When a negative person comes on and tells us we are fools and Pollyannas, without offering really a hint of a solution or different approach, it burns my ass. I maintain his post were trollish- he said goodbye at least a couple of times, yet continues to post once he's gotten a reaction...the very definition of troll behavior. I'm sorry to the good folks here- I am a sucker for trollish remarks sometimes. I'll keep the Ignore Button on for him.

[ohio]

Nice job, Scoop! Beautiful!

[rosetree]

Wonderful letter Scoop!
I think that writing your congressional delegation and demanding action and accountability is a good one. As stated before, this is a national tragedy....

[Corona]

Wow! well said Scoop!!!!

[Fables of Faubus]

HI. I've been following this thread and keeping up with news reports since the home invasion and murder of the mother/filmmaker/commumity activist from the F.M. It is shocking and mindboggling that someone could do this to a woman at 5:30 A.M. in her own home. And, then proceed to shoot her husband, who is holding a 2-year old baby, multiple times.

I'm trying to figure out what kind of a human being this shooter is. I ask myself, what kept this individual from shooting the baby, too? I would think that he must be a complete sociopath to commit these crimes, but even this criminal seems to have some limits. He can't murder a baby in cold blood.

Following homicides in New Orleans, you read the same thing every time...the police have no leads. You never read a thing about ballistics test or anything like that. Rather than doing racial and ethnic profiling of individuals, why dosen't the NOPD come up with some kind of pyschological profile for suspects who may be persons of interest in crimes such as this?

Ray Nagin is no Guiliani. Instead of cracking down on quality of life issues and petty crime, which proves to be an effective way of getting repeat, violent felons off the street, Nagin offers a curfew as a solution. Theorectcally, the continuum from this would lead to more home invasions because everyone is under "house arrest", and the felons will be out on the street, because they do whatever the fuck they want to do anyway.

I'd just like to figure out who the person is who took away a little boy's mother. I wonder, if she could speak, what course of action this beautiful mom would want us to take? We should not forget her.

I'm rambling... I have no point to make, but I'm really upset and concerned by this wave of senseless killing.

[ScoopJohnD]

Wonderful letter Scoop!
I think that writing your congressional delegation and demanding action and accountability is a good one. As stated before, this is a national tragedy....

I'm definitely considering it. I don't want New Orleans to not receive money, but I want to see action and know that the money is being well spent. It hit me when reading about President Ford this week. When he was pres, NYC was going through SERIOUS financial trouble and the city was a mess and we asked for a Federal bailout and Ford said no, which inspired the famous N.Y. Daily News headline.....FORD TO CITY-DROP DEAD.

But he didn't deny funds because he didn't care about the city or think it unimportant. He did it because our city government didn't have it's shit together and he wasn't going to commit anything until that changed. In hindsight he was correct.

[Blitzzzzz]

I'm sorry I intruded. I did not tell everyone to stay away. I said I would not bring my family back with things as they are. I am far from apathetic. It amzes me that such insights into me can be gained so quickly by someone reading a few sentences on a chat board. Again, sorry to have intruded. I will leave.

I, for one, hope you stick around.
I knew Helen Hill from her stint as a judge at the Ann Arbor Film Fest, and I had the pleasure of meeting Dinneral Shavers during the Hot 8 residency here last year.
I have been lurking this thread but just haven't had the heart to post. We are all, in our own ways, in shock, angry at things we can't comprehend. Some of us just want to run, and why not? My friends in New Orleans are feeling like that right now. Not Interested is certainly not Wondering, but even Wondering occassionally had an uncomfortable pearl in his posts. Not Interested has brought thoughtful, if painful, posts to the board. I, for one, welcome that. Posts that are way less troubling than some others we have read whether we responded or not. Why call him a troll??
One thing we all know is we love this beautiful city whose fates have become so tragically representative of most all that is wrong with our country these days. Let's all pray that our collective love and intellect can move towards some solutions. If we all do what we think makes sense perhaps we can overcome the stupidity, greed, poverty, racism and hatred that afflict us so!

[pokerchick66]

I think that you are being optimistic. I used to be...but some days it is sooo hard to think that way. Brenda and I were talking tonight and wondering when it would start getting better. I don't see it happening for four years until we get a new mayor.:mad: I can't believe that Nagin was re-elected. I totally blame him for what is happening now. I know that the storm was out of our control, but he has been INVISIBLE since his re-election. Where is HIS outrage? He had a op-ed piece the other day in the T/P. It was laughable. You can make statistics do anything. The hard fact is that people are getting murdered on his watch! He should be on the news, in the neighborhoods, doing visable things to reassure people that he is on top of this problem.(It's not a"problem", it's an epidemic)He should be standing hand-in-hand with Eddie Jordan, Warren Riley, the whole council, Judges, all the people in the criminal justice system, expressing their freakin' outrage and how they are going to combat it.

How do you start a recall?

[pokerchick66]

YYR Ross, I think that if Colin Powell had come down here and didn't care about the local feeding trough, things might be looking better. However, that's not the cards we were dealt. We have to deal with the status quo of the same old bullshit and how to wade through tons of it. Maybe Jindal will run for governor and change can come in a couple of years. We can only hope...and yes, I am trying to keep the faith, although some days are better than others.


I've heard great things about Jindal from my mom (she lives in Slidell/Pearl River).

[pokerchick66]

Please write to them and share your outrage, send the same letter every day if you have to. We can't sit back and do nothing.

http://www.cityofno.com/Portals/Portal35/portal.aspx?portal=35&load=~/Portals/CNO/Modules/ContactUs.ascx&contacttype=message&contactid=207
Nagin's office email

http://www.managekeelson.com/websites/la.gov/index.cfm?md=communication&tmp=signup&lisID=886
Blanco's contact email

http://nolaagainstcrime.com/main/modules/cjaycontent/index.php?id=2
This is an interesting site/chat

You go girl! (((((Corona)))))

[pokerchick66]

http://www.nola.com/mailforms/standa....ssf?CrimeWave

This the link you posted on the last page and this is my response. If there are any more addresses I could send my response to, I'll do it now. Please post any links you have and I'll start searching too. You couldn't be more right on DT. Should we start another thread or keep this buried in here? Here's my response....btw, I haven't given up on the city but I needed to make a stronger point. Please send in your responses guys...please!


Here's mine:
Disgusted with city officials

I am a hard core New Orleans supporter who visits your city 3 to 4 times a year. I've brought many people with me on these trips and constantly talk about New Orleans with friends and family in hopes of them visiting the city in the future. In November, I brought my 18 year old daughter and her friend for the first time. They are due to come back with me for Jazzfest. I have booked my trip for Mardi Gras. After reading with complete disgust about the senseless murders this week I am completely appalled at the apathy of the city and state officials. Actually, I'm furious and sickened by their lack of action.

I am questioning my future trips to New Orleans if things don't change soon or action hasn't been taken. I know for sure, I will definitely not be bringing my daughter into that chaos and risk her safety. I am not an alarmist and have usually felt safe in New Orleans but now....I don't see it happening. If tourism is key to the city's survival then I have to say that the city doesn't stand a chance in hell if this nightmare continues. That breaks my heart. I know I'm going to be pummelled with questions about the murders in New Orleans and I KNOW that I no longer feel comfortable reassuring people that they should still try a trip down. I guess what I'm saying is I'm losing my belief in the city (not the people but the "city") and if Nagin, Blanco, and Riley don't take their heads out of their butts and take charge soon tourism is done in our precious NOLA. Believe me, the whole world is watching right now and New Orleans doesn't look to be such a "Fun Spot" to vacation.


Sweet.

[pokerchick66]

Here's the article about Nagin's press conference this morning:

N.O. mayor, police chief weigh crime threat

At the end of a bloody week that saw the 2007 murder count in New Orleans rise to seven, Mayor Ray Nagin said Saturday that city leaders are focused on stemming the violent tide, though he offered few details of what new strategies may be used to enhance public safety.

Police Superintendent Warren Riley said he is considering use of a curfew to stem criminal activity.

Speaking with Riley at a hastily-called morning news conference, Nagin admitted that recent days also have seen a broadening chasm between the city's two main crime-fighting agencies: the New Orleans Police Department and District Attorney's Office.

Police officers' morale has plummeted, Nagin said, since District Attorney Eddie Jordan indicted seven current and former officers last week on murder and attempted-murder charges stemming from a Danziger Bridge shooting episode a week after Hurricane Katrina. In announcing the indictments, Jordan said officers cannot be allowed to "shoot and kill our citizens without justification, like rabid dogs."

"The comments that the D.A. made were unfortunate," Nagin said, "and did some damage to the relationship" between the city's police force and its prosecutor's office, which long has been criticized for winning convictions on only a fraction of arrests made by police.

Riley said he has instructed his officers to remain focused on their jobs, rather than getting wrapped up in the emotional politics of the case.

"The citizens of New Orleans have absolutely nothing to do with that indictment," he said.


Nagin, meanwhile, said city leaders are working hard to thwart the recent surge in homicides, describing the pattern as an "uptick" similar to the intermittent spikes in crime that have ravaged New Orleans for the past 40 years.

"We've had upticks in the past, so this is unfortunately not that unusual for New Orleans and for most urban cities in American" Nagin said. "But let's make something clear: One murder is too many in this city."

Nagin said he has talked with Jordan, Orleans Parish Criminal District Court judges and local ministers in recent days in an effort to come up with "creative, aggressive solutions" to the crime problem. He said he expects to have "specifics" this week on new tactics for quashing crime at its neighborhood roots.

Riley said of the curfew idea, "It's something we're just sort of talking about, to see if that will make a difference." He said a curfew used in the early part of 2006, combined with a hurricane-reduced population, seemed to make a big difference in preventing crime.

On the streets, Riley said the police force continues to operate with reduced manpower. Compared with a pre-Katrina roster of 1,668 officers, the force now includes just 1,401 officers, including 41 recruits and 114 officers on sick leave, he said.

Though he did not blame the murderous surge on a shrunken staff, Riley lamented the spate of violence as a glitch in what seemed to have been a positive trend in public safety.

"In the early part of December, we thought we had turned a corner," Riley said. "So obviously the last week of December and the first week of January is disappointing to us."

Riley said last week that fewer murders — 161 in all — occurred in New Orleans in 2006 than anytime over the past three decades. On a per-capita basis, however, even the most optimistic projection of the post-Katrina population makes the murder rate an increase from previous years.

Nagin and Riley spoke to reporters Saturday for about 15 minutes at City Hall. The mayor's spokeswoman, Ceeon Quiett, said before the news conference that with media inquiries pouring into City Hall for several days, Nagin wanted to address questions about the murders directly.

However, the 9:15 a.m. event was announced less than three hours before it started. News agencies throughout the city were advised by e-mail at 6:30 a.m. that the mayor and police chief would be available for questions.

Asked by one reporter about criticism that he has seemed disengaged from the violence gripping his city, Nagin said he has stayed apprised of the situation. The mayor added that he and his staff also have been busy working on the myriad aspects of rebuilding, from seeking FEMA reimbursements to expediting the payment of federal grants to homeowners.

"We have a tremendous amount of challenges," Nagin said. "If people don't think that I'm working, I would love for them to follow me around for a day."

--The Associated Press contributed to this story

pffft.

[pokerchick66]

For what it is worth, here is the text of a letter that I recently sent to the TP and was posted among the MANY letters of outrage:

Hey there, Mayor Ray - former resident, frequent visitor and first time caller here...

I just thought you should know that up here in Canada, your city - sorry, OUR city - is all the rage in the news these days. It turns out that the doctor who was shot was a Canadian, and now, every single major news media in the country is doing lots of free advertising for you. It made the front page of Canada's National Paper (The Globe and Mail) and it has been the lead item on all national news broadcasts.

I realize that Canada is only a nation of 35 million people, but any advertising is good advertising, right? Hey, I'm willing to bet that right now there are literally dozens of Canadians diving for their phones to book their Mardi Gras and Jazzfest vacations, planning their company's conventions and arranging flights as I write this.

Nice work, man.

A beautiful human is killed in a "random incident" in her own home at 6 in the morning. In her OWN HOME...at 6 in the morning, Ray. The crazy thing is that the gunman was strolling around the hallways of a bed and breakfast with a gun just before that. A bed and breakfast, Ray.

I realize that you have a lot on your mind, Ray. Hey, a LOT of people in NOLA have a lot on their minds, Ray. But here's the thing...

If you can't assure me (and every other tourist) that we're not going to be safe, we're not coming to visit you. Ever. There are plenty of other places that I can visit out there, and most of them don't come with the abject risk of some crackhead firing a bullet into my face.

Ray, I'm no civics expert, but it seems to me that if you have a city that relies almost entirely on tourism for its economic base...well, you might want to make sure that the place is safe. I'm pretty sure that if Walt Disney had allowed the Magic Kingdom to become Needle Park, his business model would have suffered somewhat. Surely that isn't your master plan for "The Chocolate City", is it?

Ray, I'm sorry, but you really need to grow a pair. You need to put cameras on every corner of the Quarter, the CBD and the Marigny and you need to DEMONSTRATE to the WORLD - and especially the magnificent, incredible citizens of the city you are sworn to represent - that you won't tolerate this any more.

This isn't just an "uptick in crime", Ray. This is catastrophic failure of your management, and you need to either get a grip on it or move aside and let someone else do it. You cannot allow thugs to run the town, or in the end, only thugs will remain.

(Uh, and Ray...thugs don't vote, remember?)


Whoa. And snap.

Love it, Ross.

[ScoopJohnD]

In case Nagin doesnt read mine I sent it as an open letter to the T-P

Here the link on how to send a letter to the editor.

http://www.timespicayune.com/moreinfo.htm

[ibjamn]

Why call him a troll

I call him a troll because his very first post on this board was inflammatory. I agree with corona that his writing style is very much like someone a lot of us know. Even if he/she is not that person, that being his first post leads me to believe he is a regular poster posting under another name because he/she doesn't have the cajones to post his thoughts under his "regular" name. It's easy for me to dismiss (ignore) somebody like that.

[ScoopJohnD]

I call him a troll because his very first post on this board was inflammatory. I agree with corona that his writing style is very much like someone a lot of us know. Even if he/she is not that person, that being his first post leads me to believe he is a regular poster posting under another name because he/she doesn't have the cajones to post his thoughts under his "regular" name. It's easy for me to dismiss (ignore) somebody like that.

Gotta disagree Jenn. As I wrote.......

"This may shock you but while I didn't agree with the overly pessimistic tone of his post, I DID think that Not Interested Anymore presented some valid points and I thought some of the bashing was unfair. And I also think it might wise for the citizens, leaders and those of us who love New Orleans to realize that his view of the city is probably far more widespread than any of us would like to believe. Which is why it is imperitive that change occur.

He wrote he would not come back, which is his right and said why, (again pessimistically). Aside from the tone of post, is what he said really any different than what Ross wrote when he threatened to not come back in the letter he wrote to Nagin?"

And if you read some of his later posts, they are quite articulate and valid even if you don't agree with what he says. In fact far more constructive than some others I've read.

[20-20]

Two thoughts I would like to post...To IbJamin, I haven't been following this entire "Troll" thing from it's inception. I can tell that for whatever reason that term has strong impact and resonance to the "faithful" who most often occupy this space. Two years ago on the orginal board someone slammed me with that adjective (or noun), for some post that I've long forgotten and I was shocked at the little mindedness and dismissive attitude toward some point of view on some innoculous subject that I thought was a shining moment of wisdom and insight. A sharper mind from the resident cadre of "True Belivers" and "Defenders of the Faith" quickly disabused me of that notion. The sting still lingers (as you can tell), I had never thought of myself as quite the nethandral that I appearently am.
Second thought for "Blitzzz" (please forgive spelling, two many "z's for me to remember!!). Great response. For many reasons, mostly a strong anti-AnnArbor prejudice on my part, we are most of the time at odds in our perspectives. I am anti-government involvement, feeling they (it, whatever) will almost always let us down and so I just feel that the less that we count on government the better off everyone will be. That means "non-profits", and all of the other second, third tier and on down entities that suckle at the teats of that great cash cow of government. However, your measured response to the delicacy of this particular thread was a pleasure to read and a credit to you. Not That You Need Some Form Of Approval From Me!!

[Corona]

Thanks for the hug Chip, I needed that! Right back atcha babe :)

[Corona]

Sweet.
I know my letter wasn't as political as all the others but that's not my bag. I am a tourist and have to come from where I'M coming from and that is as a tourist. Our letters don't have to be eloquent and political. They can be simple and state how we feel. That's where I'm coming from. Tourist dollars are important to the N.O. economy so I think it's important for them to know what tourists are thinking. For every one that writes in, there's likely hundreds if not thousands who are thinking the same way...

[ibjamn]

By the same token, I have IMMENSE respect for the IBJamns of the world; the true pioneers who have returned to stare down adversity in the face and continually challenge and dare it to destroy their spirit. Despite dealing with a veritable shitstorm of hardship, the Jamns have opened their bruised home and hearts to many people on this board, and they have soldiered on a real-life symbol to MANY of us who believe the spirit of New Orleans is worth fighting for. I stand with them in their fight, and Gawd love them for hanging in there...but I'm never going to judge you or anyone else if you can't handle it. As I said, I'm not sure I could either...
Peace!


Thank you for the kind words, Ross.

[ScoopJohnD]

I know my letter wasn't as political as all the others but that's not my bag. I am a tourist and have to come from where I'M coming from and that is as a tourist. Our letters don't have to be eloquent and political. They can be simple and state how we feel. That's where I'm coming from. Tourist dollars are important to the N.O. economy so I think it's important for them to know what tourists are thinking. For every one that writes in, there's likely hundreds if not thousands who are thinking the same way...

Your letter was wonderful Lis !!

[Corona]

Your letter was wonderful Lis !!
Thanks Scoop. Sometimes some of the more eloquent and political letters can be a bit intimidating....at least for me they can be...only because I'm not totally up on all the politics and my writing style is a little more simple. I was a bit shy to write as a result but decided to say "screw it" and do it anyway. I just wanted to post that in case there were others who were afraid to submit letters for the same reasons.

[ScoopJohnD]

Thanks Scoop. Sometimes some of the more eloquent and political letters can be a bit intimidating....at least for me they can be...only because I'm not totally up on all the politics and my writing style is a little more simple. I was a bit shy to write as a result but decided to say "screw it" and do it anyway. I just wanted to post that in case there were others who were afraid to submit letters for the same reasons.

As long as the heart and the concern comes through, that's all that matters. That goes for everyone who wants to write. Make your voices heard!!!

[rosetree]

Lis--- I don't think that the style really matter, it is what is in your heart. You come off as one who really does care about us and our city (along with most everyone else here). I think that the tone of the letter along with the number of them that the Threadheads send will make a point. I don't think that the recipients will be grading them!;) :D

[ScoopJohnD]

Lis--- I don't think that the style really matter, it is what is in your heart. You come off as one who really does care about us and our city (along with most everyone else here). I think that the tone of the letter along with the number of them that the Threadheads send will make a point. I don't think that the recipients will be grading them!;) :D

I hope not, I forgot footnotes and a bibliography (bad flashbacks writing term papers now occuring) : )

[rosetree]

I will be posting pertinent addresses tomorrow after I get back to the studio and go through my lists....Thanks again for doing this.....

[Corona]

Thanks you guys and yeah, I care more about New Orleans than I do my own city as twisted as that sounds. She's my second home and one of the great loves of my life (along with my hubbie and daughter). Seeing her like this has been so deeply painful...but, I'm not giving up hope so bring on those addies rosetree!!!!

[rosetree]

Lis: My newly added signature pretty much sums it up!

[Corona]

amen brother...amen.

[Rossvegas]

Folks, I spotted the following letter on the NOLA.com site, and I thought it was definitely worth reprinting here. I hope the author doesn't mind...I just thought it needed to be seen by us.

Hopeless in New Orleans (http://inyourownwords.blogs.nola.com/default.asp?item=420097)

Posted by Your Words (http://inyourownwords.blogs.nola.com/default.asp?mode=author) January 7, 2007 12:00
Categories: Crime Wave (http://inyourownwords.blogs.nola.com/default.asp?mode=blog&category=52277)

David Rebeck of New Orleans, LA, writes:

On New Year's Eve I was playing at my gig at the Spotted Cat and was filled with joy to see Paul Gailiunas holding his son at the threshold of the doorway (no children allowed because of video poker) to the bar so he could see and hear us play better. I remember thinking to myself this is why I live in this city and fight hopelessness every day . When we finished I spoke with Paul whom I had met several times before while his wife, Helen was strapping their son into his bike seat preparing to ride off. He was gushing about how much he liked the music and how wonderful it was to have a daytime performance that he felt safe to bring his son to. We parted ways and I hurried to my car parked in front of the nursing home around the corner on Royal Street between Elysian Fields and Frenchman. It was 6:15 pm and I was in a rush to get to the Crescent City Steakhouse to meet my friends for dinner. I normally don t carry much cash but didn t know if the recently reopened restaurant was taking cards yet so I had planned accordingly. As I reached for my car keys I heard a girl's voice order me to me to "give us every thing you got". I turned around to see two young boys crouched down pointing firearms at me. I realized I was mistaken that it was a girl because the younger one's voice hadn't changed yet. The older one did not appear to be older than fourteen. I was looking at the guns they were pointing at me to make sure they were real. One was a swat team type sawed off shotgun and the other was a large automatic pistol (probably looked bigger because of the boys small hand, and that it was pointed at my face). They both were shiny and looked brand new. Luckily, I was not shot, and they only got my wallet, keys, and cellphone and not my instrument. They ordered; Turn around and don't look back or we'll shoot you. I waited a few minutes and then turned around. The first thing I saw were two families crossing Royal St. in opposite directions. Both had several small children on bikes with training wheels, and one had a baby in a stroller. I ran to the corner to find a cop and looked to my right down Frenchman St. I saw two police cars immediately by the corner of Chartes and Frenchman. One of my band mates was just driving off so I flagged him down telling him I had just been robbed. He immediately pointed out that the car right behind him was an unmarked police car with two officers in it. Details are more boring from here.

As the week went on my emotions varied, but ultimately got me thinking of what more I could do to help my city. I was in the middle of writing an e-mail to We-Kare(group coordinating out of town volunteers) to offer the use of the guest room in my house. I was interrupted by a call from a friend who had just been to the coffee shop around the corner (in the Bywater). She told me it was closed with a note on the door from the cafe owners saying that the mother of a playmate of their two year old had just been shot and killed in her home in the neighborhood. My friend asked if I knew who it was and told me she had just passed another mutual friend saying he was crying too hard to communicate. I didn t know who it was until later that day We all know what we feel like now.

I wanted to change my e-mail to tell We-Kare to stop sending volunteers to our city because it is too lawless and dangerous. I want to tell my friends and family (my parents are coming a second time for a two week stay in March with a group of volunteers from their church in Michigan to gut rotting houses) to not try and come for Mardi Gras and Jazzfest this year. To cancel plans on coming to volunteer. I don t want to give detectives my cell phone records of calls made after my phone was stolen. What if those boys that robbed me find out I have helped the police and come to the address they have on my license and business cards to try and kill me and my girlfriend?

For some reason I don t think about moving.

I want our leaders to know (from the president all the way down to our city council representatives) that I and many other residents feel like there is a total breakdown of society here that has not existed in America since the civil war and wild west days. I hate to compare anything to war, but we have an ongoing deadly conflict here between hopeful and hopeless people. It feels like the hopeless have the advantage right now. This has to change. I don t know what to do. Hopelessness rules right now. How can we bring some hope back? To the Feds: Close MRGO, start restoring our vanishing coastal protection, start building our levees, and give our state more oil revenue money than the amount you are spending in Iraq every twenty-two hours. To our State: have some pride and put politics aside to help our city use federal funding appropriately instead of slowing it down, help us fix our schools. To our City: stop all the useless discussion about the tourism industry and everything else that is not related to stopping crime, truancy, and MURDER and try to give us some HOPE. Until this week I had been optimistic, full of hope, urged former resident friends to try and move back, urged other friends and family to come and visit. This week has completely changed me. I don t have any hope that anything can be changed in our right now and the Saints winning the Super won t give me any even though I as much of a diehard fan as I am a permanent resident of NEW ORLEANS.

[rosetree]

wow...just....wow.
He should send this to Nagin.....

[ScoopJohnD]

Speak up, speak out. I still believe voices raised in unison can affect change. Please don't let hope die.

[ScoopJohnD]

wow...just....wow.
He should send this to Nagin.....

Fuck it, I'll delete the name and send it myself.

[Corona]

I'm speechless.....and depressed again. This is just awful.

[Corona]

lol....you read my mind. In fact, why don't we delete the name and send it everywhere we can? Would that be wrong? This letter needs to get to more readers....it's just so powerful.

[rosetree]

Do what you need to do...Don't ask, don't tell...

[ScoopJohnD]

We all should, with the subject line "This is YOUR city, what are YOU going to do about it!!!"

[Corona]

already started....

[Corona]

I thought this was a good letter:

A Draft Action Plan for Crime-Fighting
Posted by Your Words January 7, 2007 14:30
Categories: Crime Wave

A. K. of New Orleans, LA, writes:

I typed these up for a community meeting happening today in NOLA about the crime wave and thought they might be of interest to others who are planning to take action. It is a bit of a "hardcore" draft maybe, but the goal is to figure out how to do something urgently. Good luck to all.

FIGHTING CRIME IN NEW ORLEANS - 9 POINTS FOR QUICK ACTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

1. Keep the focus on the future.
Leave racial complaints, political attacks, personal crusades, nostalgia and in general most of the past behind. We have to work together quickly to make anything happen and we can't do this if we are all fighting over what happened a week or a year ago. Tomorrow is what matters.

2. Investigating, arresting criminals and upholding the law is not our responsibility �1/2 we pay taxes to have the NOPD do this.
While the eyes and ears of citizens are important, many New Orleanians are still rebuilding and already have too many demands on their time. We cannot burden ourselves with additional responsibilities that the city and state are supposed to provide. Any plan of action should be one that helps the NOPD do their job better and more efficiently.

3. Most people already know the blocks in their neighborhood have the worst crime problems.
Information given by citizens on criminal activity should be acted upon quickly and the NOPD should document when tips lead to arrests to rebuild the confidence of the public that something is being done. A website would be a good start in getting more tips. Citizens could anonymously email in reports on criminal activity at a known drug house, for example, and when arrests are made, a quick update could be posted acknowledging that the arrest came about as result of citizen tips.

4. Curfews are a temporary solution �1/2 the real issues are loitering, vagrants and lost youth during daytime hours.
In various neighborhoods, large gatherings of all sorts of questionable types are hanging out on the streets, to a scale not seen before Katrina. Drug addicted vagrants wander around the city stealing odd items such as your back shutters, copper pipes or some minor item left in your car. Child thugs drive around the city in fancy cars. The NOPD needs to get out of their patrol cars and break up these gatherings, as well as plainclothes observation, followed up with stopping and searching more of the drug addicts and professional gangbangers (both male and female!) who've set up shop in flooded areas, because we see them everyday and frankly, they scare us. Minors without parents should not be returned to the streets.

5. The NOPD needs a system of identifying its best and brightest officers, and rewarding them with placement on elite community crime-fighting squads that offer them career-enhancing challenges and experience.
Conversely, the community will never feel safe while crooked cops run free. Cops are not going to turn in their own, so more FBI sting operations should gear up to help clean up the NOPD.

6. The City Council needs to help asap by enacting new laws needed for post-Katrina crime-fighting.
For example, a legal framework is needed so that citizens can work with neighborhood groups and the NOPD to issue eviction orders against criminals who are operating drugs/theft/prostitution out of the homes of law-abiding relatives, abandoned houses or even FEMA trailers.

7. The job of the NOPD is to protect the public.
Please stop giving us excuses about NOPD budget woes, staff cuts, how your job sucks, how depressed you are, and other fatalistic, downward spirals. We�1/2ve been thru hell, too, since Katrina. And try not to act afraid when you get out of your patrol car. We need you to be brave, because you know you are brave, and that is why we have called upon you to help us.

8. Propose creative and practical solutions that are achievable with a shoestring budget.
The city and nearly everyone else is bankrupt after Katrina and any proposal will need to happen via existing funds. Can do spirit is the most priceless asset the public has nowadays, as our resilience is well-proven.

9. Don't stop the Laissez les bon temps roulez of New Orleans.
We can party wild and party safe. Crime-fighting should mean that our streets are safe for the unique culture of New Orleans. So don't hassle people about sidewalk BBQs or second lines. Just make it safe for them to have fun.

[Rossvegas]

I liked that one a LOT too, Lis. I love it when people provide some constructive suggestions...

Thanks for posting that!

[t.o..fester]

I have not posted to this thread until now, but have read each and very post with growing anger. I have a friend and his wife heading to Nola to help with rebuilding process and I am now thinking that I should have them read this thread to be informed of what is going on down there. My first thought is to tell them not to go, but at least if they read this they can make their own informed decission. Never thought I would want to tell someone not to go to New Orleans.

[ScoopJohnD]

Done. Had to edit it since I guess there is a character limit on that link when you try to email Nagins office but I think I got the gist and it kept it's emotional wallop. And it was was sent with this preface.

Dear Mayor Nagin,

This was posted on NOLA.com and it represents what many of the good hardworking people of your city feel everyday, because they see nothing of any substance coming from City Hall. No amount of federal or state help will matter if YOU do not address the basic quality of life problems that now infect your city. No excuses, no whining about lack of funds..........FIND A WAY......YOUR city is dying.

I promise I will send this to as many major newspapers, network news outlets and federal officials as possible urging them to investigate what YOUR leadership has brought to good, innocent hard working people.

[Corona]

very good Scoop! God, something has to change. That letter scared the shit out of me and it breaks my heart to feel nothing but fear about my upcoming trips to New Orleans. I'm booked for Mardi Gras and for fest...in the Marigny for fest nonetheless....I can't feel excited, I feel fear and ill. My husband is starting to freak and wants me to cancel my trip. I told him I need time to think and to see what happens for awhile longer. Breaks my heart to even think this way but truth be told, I'm scared :(

[ScoopJohnD]

Sent it complete to NBC Nightly News asking them to consider doing a story on the hard working good people of New Orleans and how Nagins and the NOPD's ineffectual leadership has affected them, as well as the link to the In Your Words-Crime Wave page on NOLA.com so they can read more for them selves.

[ScoopJohnD]

Here is a link to ABC News

http://abcnews.go.com/Reference/story?id=54216

[rosetree]

I posted this in another thread, but I thought I would post it here too...

It's like this 24/7.
We are beaten down...tired of the same old crap....tired of incompetence....tired of fear....
Someone asked--why don't the people of New Orleans do something? I'll tell you why, 16 months of this takes it's toll. I am doing my best to answer questions here and give y'all a feeling of what it is like. I am trying to rally some people (you) to send a message. You can turn off your computers and go to bed. When you wake up you have the choice to think about us or not. I'm SOglad that you do. We don't have that choice. We can't turn away.
I know that I am preaching to the choir. But we are barely holding on here. We do need your help in whatever way you decide to give it. I pray that things will turn around. I am thankful for you.

[ScoopJohnD]

Did the same to World News Tonight and one of the ABC prime news shows. (can't remember which......getting tired)

[Rossvegas]

Rosetree, I hear ya. I spoke with Art "Poppa Funk" Neville last year in Calgary, and he expressed a lot of the same frustration to me. He told me about how they had asked everyone to come back to rebuild the city (and he did return), but the past year has been just incredible. Everything is screwed up, small things seem to take forever and now he is seriously considering leaving again. I know he's not alone, but what do they expect people to do? You return to an area that doesn't even have the basics of a civic infrastructure and you're expected to live a "normal" life there.

Most of the people I used to know in New Orleans couldn't even consider living anywhere else. In the past 18 months, half of them have been FORCED to relocate to somewhere else against their will, and the other half (who either didn't leave or have returned) are now questioning whether or not they want to stay.

Never in a million years would I have imagined this. Never.

[ScoopJohnD]

I posted this in another thread, but I thought I would post it here too...

It's like this 24/7.
We are beaten down...tired of the same old crap....tired of incompetence....tired of fear....
Someone asked--why don't the people of New Orleans do something? I'll tell you why, 16 months of this takes it's toll. I am doing my best to answer questions here and give y'all a feeling of what it is like. I am trying to rally some people (you) to send a message. You can turn off your computers and go to bed. When you wake up you have the choice to think about us or not. I'm SOglad that you do. We don't have that choice. We can't turn away.
I know that I am preaching to the choir. But we are barely holding on here. We do need your help in whatever way you decide to give it. I pray that things will turn around. I am thankful for you.

We know it's hard for all you there although there is no way we can comprehend the depth of the struggle. We can do as much as we can, but I implore you to somehow, dig deep and find the strength to let the country know how YOU feel. As I wrote earlier on this thread you MUST realize that the face of New Orleans that the nation sees is the tragedy this week on the news, the crowds partying next week at the Saints game and for Mardi Gras and Nagin. I don't and you must not think people don't care. Apathy can only exist if there is something presented to ignore. And the country does not know the daily heartache and struggle. But no words any of us can write can have as much impact as words from those who live it every day. And if those words are combined, I still believe good things will come.

[rosetree]

There is going to be a citizen's march on City Hall on Thursday protesting the rise in crime here. Will C. Ray take any action? Probably not. Will he see that we are pissed? I sure hope so.
Let me ask this-- where are Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton expressing their outrage to the murders? I guess it's not a good media shot for them.

[ohio]

I posted this in another thread, but I thought I would post it here too...

It's like this 24/7.
We are beaten down...tired of the same old crap....tired of incompetence....tired of fear....
Someone asked--why don't the people of New Orleans do something? I'll tell you why, 16 months of this takes it's toll. I am doing my best to answer questions here and give y'all a feeling of what it is like. I am trying to rally some people (you) to send a message. You can turn off your computers and go to bed. When you wake up you have the choice to think about us or not. I'm SOglad that you do. We don't have that choice. We can't turn away.
I know that I am preaching to the choir. But we are barely holding on here. We do need your help in whatever way you decide to give it. I pray that things will turn around. I am thankful for you.
Please don't give up, Mark. If the good folks like you leave, what will be left? I for one will continue to do what I can to help. I just sent a letter to the mayor letting him know how bad I feel as a non-resident, urging him to step down if he cannot fullfill his obligations to the people and the city. Like Ross, I also sent it as an open letter to the TP. It is late and I am bushed, but in the morning, I will write more letters to more so-called leaders. It's all I know to do right now...

[ScoopJohnD]

Hopefully who ever is organizing it has notified not only the local media but the national media as well, because then Nagin will notice. I believe the only reason he came out of his hole this week was because NBC Nightly News picked up the story.

[Blitzzzzz]

There is going to be a citizen's march on City Hall on Thursday protesting the rise in crime here. Will C. Ray take any action? Probably not. Will he see that we are pissed? I sure hope so.


Maybe Mayor Hyatt would notice if someone, in the spirit of Martin Luther, nailed those letters to the front door of his favorite hotel.
Oh, wait, they're glass! Hmmmm..................................:cool:

[Rossvegas]

Rosetree, I think that your question about Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton just highlights one of the great lost opportunities in recent history.

Back in the day, the issues that these two support were truly a 'cause'. The civil rights movement was extremely important (and relatively successful) and millions of black youth now have opportunities that were never considered possible to people just a generation before. Hell, it wasn't that long ago (in historical context) that black and whites weren't even allowed to perform on the same stage in New Orleans.

Where I see the real lost opportunity is in these 'leaders' failure to galvanize and uplift their community to society's highest standards. Let me give you an example...

My grandparents emigrated from Russia and Poland at the turn of the century. As Eastern European Jews, they were considered just about the lowest scum on the totem pole. They worked really hard to create a good life for their children, and my dad ultimately became a lawyer. Despite both their efforts and his efforts, a Jew still couldn't get a job working in a bank in the mid 60's in Canada. Like may of his generation, my dad became a lawmaker. His friends became politicians, judges, doctors and financiers...and they affected change from within.

It is that sense of community and the thirst for education/betterment that has allowed Jews to rise to positions of prominence in North America, and it will be those same things that will elevate the black community...but I don't see Jesse and Al selling that. If they really cared about black people, they would encourage their brothers and sisters to point out the scum and say: "please take this one away. He isn't one of us, and he doesn't represent our values." Instead, they choose to pounce on anything that furthers their agenda of "look who's keeping the black man down."

I hope everyone clearly understands what I'm saying here. The VAST majority of black people AREN'T criminals, and I just wish that the culture existed for blacks, asians, whites and others to cast away the scum within their midst. Never once have i hear Jesse or Al say: "it is your primary duty as a member of civilized society to turn in anyone who might somehow cast aspersions on ALL of us as a race."

Now THAT'S leadership.

[dumbtourist]

I hope everyone clearly understands what I'm saying here. The VAST majority of black people AREN'T criminals, and I just wish that the culture existed for blacks, asians, whites and others to cast away the scum within their midst. Never once have i hear Jesse or Al say: "it is your primary duty as a member of civilized society to turn in anyone who might somehow cast aspersions on ALL of us as a race."

Now THAT'S leadership.

Damn...let me be the first...Ross for President, 2008. Why can't an American leader get/give that message????

[ohio]

Rosetree, I think that your question about Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton just highlights one of the great lost opportunities in recent history.

Back in the day, the issues that these two support were truly a 'cause'. The civil rights movement was extremely important (and relatively successful) and millions of black youth now have opportunities that were never considered possible to people just a generation before. Hell, it wasn't that long ago (in historical context) that black and whites weren't even allowed to perform on the same stage in New Orleans.

Where I see the real lost opportunity is in these 'leaders' failure to galvanize and uplift their community to society's highest standards. Let me give you an example...

My grandparents emigrated from Russia and Poland at the turn of the century. As Eastern European Jews, they were considered just about the lowest scum on the totem pole. They worked really hard to create a good life for their children, and my dad ultimately became a lawyer. Despite both their efforts and his efforts, a Jew still couldn't get a job working in a bank in the mid 60's in Canada. Like may of his generation, my dad became a lawmaker. His friends became politicians, judges, doctors and financiers...and they affected change from within.

It is that sense of community and the thirst for education/betterment that has allowed Jews to rise to positions of prominence in North America, and it will be those same things that will elevate the black community...but I don't see Jesse and Al selling that. If they really cared about black people, they would encourage their brothers and sisters to point out the scum and say: "please take this one away. He isn't one of us, and he doesn't represent our values." Instead, they choose to pounce on anything that furthers their agenda of "look who's keeping the black man down."

I hope everyone clearly understands what I'm saying here. The VAST majority of black people AREN'T criminals, and I just wish that the culture existed for blacks, asians, whites and others to cast away the scum within their midst. Never once have i hear Jesse or Al say: "it is your primary duty as a member of civilized society to turn in anyone who might somehow cast aspersions on ALL of us as a race."

Now THAT'S leadership.
I agree, Ross. It is a difficult line to walk though. Bill Cosby also shares similar views http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Cosby#Political_views

I do think one reason this does not happen is the fear of retaliation.

[dumbtourist]

I have been lurking on this thread for over 24 hours while reading opinions and trying to sort out a few things. Now I have a few things I want to say...

1) I was the first to use the "troll" label. I was the first to accuse NIMA of being wondering. Mea culpa, mea culpa. I totally agree with Scoop in that his/her later post were indeed enlighting and welcomed...much more worthwhile than anything wondering had ever posted.

2) However.....well, let's just leave it at that.

3) Thank you Scoop, Ross, Corona, Ohio and any others that have acutally written a letter/email to someone in New Olreans/Washington to express your outrage. We can vent all we want here, but I doubt that Ray, Riely, or Blanco bother with reading our posts. The heat is on...and let's not allow them to escape this time. Just remember that it is very easy to direct emails to a delete folder without ever reading them...however, fax paper (or mail) laying all over the floor, which clerks have to pick up (and of course read) will have more significant impact.

4) Here are the folks that I have directed mail to and the reasons why...I'm sure that many of you have other and better suggestions and I would appreciate hearing them:

Ray, Riley, and Blanco....well....duh.
T-P...well....duh again.
Fr. Kevin Wildes, President of Loyola. This is personal, since I have a child at Loyola and am sweating his safety on a daily basis. BTW...he has already responded to our letter in the positive. For those who may not be aware, Loyola, Tulane, U.N.O. and other colleges in New Orleans have suffered major downturns in enrollment due to K. This is high season for high school seniors to select their school of choice...what a great advertising campaign New Orleans is running with it's out of control murder rate. It cost about 53K yearly for a student to attend Loyola and slightly less for Tulane. Provides jobs for professors, administrators, cafe workers, custodians, etc. High paying professional jobs, clean jobs, environmentally friendly jobs. Jobs any city would love to have...
Dauphane Orleans, Monteleon, Hampton Inn Garden District, Hilton Garden Inn CBD, Place D' Arms, and Homewood Suites. Last year we spent 26 nights at these hotels while visiting New Orleans. Just wanted to let them know that they were very unlikely to get any more of our money unless something significant is done about the crime problem.
New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau...well...duh
Habitat for Humanity. Volunteered last year...why risk our lives again? We have Habitat projects right here in our own town and I certainly feel safe here. Besides, I don't have to spend the money to travel or for hotels or food, and have a direct impact on my local community.
NRA - after all, it's their high priced lobby that keeps us from enacting any worthwhile and meaningful gun control, but it's their members guns that keep taking the lives.While we have not made any decisions about going back to N.O. at this time, I wanted these organizations to know that this issue has a direct impact on them and hopefully they will also become a voice...or better, an agent for change. You gotta hit them where they will feel it to get their attention. Like I said on an earlier post...I feel complacent in this somewhat. As long as I am willing to go back, as long as the hotels fill up and Mardi Gras, JazzFest, Swampfest, etc sell out, is there really a problem???

5) Finally, I agree that this is not a problem unique to N.O. I belive that all or our major cities are sliding into this same chaos. And yes, the problem is very deep and the solutions unknown at this time. Sadly, the arrest rate is also dismal in Birmingham. But thankfully, if an arrest is made, the conviction rate is much better that N.O. can ever boast. Yes, our mayor and police chief seem to be in a contest with Ray and Riley as to how far they can stick their heads up their azzes instead of doing something constructive. So maybe if we can help N.O. with this issue, maybe we can help our own cities.

Please, please, please...don't let this become a race issue. It's much more than that. We are all members of the same society.

Peace and love to all you threadheads.

[rosetree]

Ohio: I would not leave New Orleans. I have too much invested here to leave. The roots are too deep. Besides, even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to sell my home and studio with the current climate here, so I guess I am stuck!
Re. Bill Cosby, wasn't he ridiculed for being so outspoken by the black community? I think that speaking the truth sometimes hurts, and in this case, we need someone to to a lot of that kind of speaking.
It's very late so I'm leaving now (only from the thread,don't worry:) ) I'll try to look up some addresses later...g'night.....

[ozzie]

Ohio: I would not leave New Orleans. I have too much invested here to leave. The roots are too deep. Besides, even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to sell my home and studio with the current climate here, so I guess I am stuck!
Re. Bill Cosby, wasn't he ridiculed for being so outspoken by the black community? I think that speaking the truth sometimes hurts, and in this case, we need someone to to a lot of that kind of speaking.
It's very late so I'm leaving now (only from the thread,don't worry:) ) I'll try to look up some addresses later...g'night.....

Thanks Mark... I have my letter ready to go, although I'll now change to incorporate some of today's info. That TP letter almost did me in... which is of course the whole point. So far I have Nagin, Blanco and co, Corona's Big House suggestions and the US Embassy here. I'll add your address suggestions to my list and then mix in every high profile person I can think of.

Strong hearts.

[ozzie]

Sorry DT... hadn't read your post. As a foreigner I can't really write effectively to your suggestions (I had a go at Habitat last week on the Musicians Village issue). I could send something to our hotel, but then again I don't want to spook them if they are receiving cancellations and worrying about paying their bills. Or maybe I do want to spook them. Holy crap I can't think straight.

[peteup]

Sent my first letter/email today to Nagin, but took a different approach from probably everything he's been receiving. Dare I say it might have even been vaguely sympathetic - well for New Orleans anyway! But in the end, we've got to get constructive about solutions, and I was thinking about how can we get the social aid clubs or the Mardi Gras indian tribes involved in the solution. Maybe Cyril's return for Mardi Gras could be a catalyst. I'm a hopelessly naive optimist and always believe that good will prevail over evil. Thanks Corona for the addresses (this thread has expanded so much over the past few days I really had to search to find them!). BTW, we're also booked into Marigny over jazzfest.

I just wanna search for positive solutions (even if they may be long term) and I do not want or intend to go to my soul city in fear and despair. I've been to some dangerous places on this planet - Kabul and Belfast (in the 1970's) and los cuidades de Mexico y Guatemala y Belize y Panama and I do not yet think of New Orleans in the same vein.

Again, only best wishes and warm regards to y'all. Now, it's off to the bar for a drink. Cheers!

[Amy Winette]

Please write to them and share your outrage, send the same letter every day if you have to. We can't sit back and do nothing.

http://www.cityofno.com/Portals/Portal35/portal.aspx?portal=35&load=~/Portals/CNO/Modules/ContactUs.ascx&contacttype=message&contactid=207
Nagin's office email

http://www.managekeelson.com/websites/la.gov/index.cfm?md=communication&tmp=signup&lisID=886
Blanco's contact email

http://nolaagainstcrime.com/main/modules/cjaycontent/index.php?id=2
This is an interesting site/chat

This is great, thanks Lis! I will be using these emails tomorrow.

[peteup]

Good move Amy - let's keep those addresses to the fore (seriously, I'm a silly 'ol fossil and tend to get a bit lost in my dotage!)

[Amy Winette]

For what it is worth, here is the text of a letter that I recently sent to the TP and was posted among the MANY letters of outrage:

Hey there, Mayor Ray - former resident, frequent visitor and first time caller here...

I just thought you should know that up here in Canada, your city - sorry, OUR city - is all the rage in the news these days. It turns out that the doctor who was shot was a Canadian, and now, every single major news media in the country is doing lots of free advertising for you. It made the front page of Canada's National Paper (The Globe and Mail) and it has been the lead item on all national news broadcasts.

I realize that Canada is only a nation of 35 million people, but any advertising is good advertising, right? Hey, I'm willing to bet that right now there are literally dozens of Canadians diving for their phones to book their Mardi Gras and Jazzfest vacations, planning their company's conventions and arranging flights as I write this.

Nice work, man.

A beautiful human is killed in a "random incident" in her own home at 6 in the morning. In her OWN HOME...at 6 in the morning, Ray. The crazy thing is that the gunman was strolling around the hallways of a bed and breakfast with a gun just before that. A bed and breakfast, Ray.

I realize that you have a lot on your mind, Ray. Hey, a LOT of people in NOLA have a lot on their minds, Ray. But here's the thing...

If you can't assure me (and every other tourist) that we're not going to be safe, we're not coming to visit you. Ever. There are plenty of other places that I can visit out there, and most of them don't come with the abject risk of some crackhead firing a bullet into my face.

Ray, I'm no civics expert, but it seems to me that if you have a city that relies almost entirely on tourism for its economic base...well, you might want to make sure that the place is safe. I'm pretty sure that if Walt Disney had allowed the Magic Kingdom to become Needle Park, his business model would have suffered somewhat. Surely that isn't your master plan for "The Chocolate City", is it?

Ray, I'm sorry, but you really need to grow a pair. You need to put cameras on every corner of the Quarter, the CBD and the Marigny and you need to DEMONSTRATE to the WORLD - and especially the magnificent, incredible citizens of the city you are sworn to represent - that you won't tolerate this any more.

This isn't just an "uptick in crime", Ray. This is catastrophic failure of your management, and you need to either get a grip on it or move aside and let someone else do it. You cannot allow thugs to run the town, or in the end, only thugs will remain.

(Uh, and Ray...thugs don't vote, remember?)

Great letter Ross!!

[Amy Winette]

Here's my letter to Nagin. A drop in the bucket but it felt good to write it and hopefully it'll be seen. Unfortunately, I'm getting close to point of urging my congresspersons and Senators to take a good hard look at the Mayor and his government and urging them to demand accountability before allocating funds. Perhaps that would mean action instead of idle talk.

Dear Mayor Nagin,

I write as an outsider, but as an outsider who has a deep love and respect for your city and it's citizens, and sadly I write to express my disappointment and outrage at how you, your city government and your police chief are slowly destroying the very thing I love.

I, as all Americans, was raised to believe that being an elected official or public servant was a higher calling. That to have the opportunity to serve was something special and as such demanded that those who serve provide leadership and inspiration that average citizens cannot.

Sadly, in the regard to you and your officials that does not seem to be the case. Your citizens show the country and the world a heart and a will that very few of us could hope to have, while their city leaders continue to present a picture of indifference, of a lack of vision, of demanding help with no return commitment on your part, and most sadly, a picture of a group of officials that looks to assign blame and make excuses instead of taking a good hard look in the mirror.

The citizens of your city and of this country, who deeply care about New Orleans and it's future deserve more than what you are currently providing and believe me our patience is rapidly running out. If the picture I described above continues then the legacy of you and your administration will that of a group of officials who the citizens put their hopes and trust in to save and rebuild a great city and instead stood by and watched it's erosion and decay.

I want to believe that no public official would want that as his or her legacy and I hope and pray that you and your officials will stand up and show the citizens of your city, this country and the world that the views I've expressed about your stewardship are wrong.

Thank you for your time,

Great letter too Scoop!

[Amy Winette]

Wow, lotta good stuff on this thread. Count me in on the letter writing, I'm going to attack that tomorrow after some sleep. I hope some national media will get action. Keeping the faith, this too shall pass . . .

[Corona]

Just sent a whole bunch to all the abcnews sites plus a link to Nola.com in your own words section:

Here's the link to add since you can only write 500 words
http://inyourownwords.blogs.nola.com/default.asp?mode=blog&category=52277

[Corona]

Link for CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/confirmation/generic.html

and then you can write in separately to the different ABC news programs by clicking on the box that says Good Morning America and Primetime, 20/20 etc. will come up in the scroll window
http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html?cat=Good%20Morning%20America

[NotInterestedAnyMore]

I’m not sure why I am writing this but I feel compelled to do so. I am a 48 year old business man and I live in a small town in California called Tehachapi. I work for a company that manufactures motor coaches and I am a degreed teacher who has never taught. I never had the patience or desire to continue on in school after I realized I had wasted five years studying something I really did not want to do. I was lucky to find a position with a firm that, like many first jobs, did not have the least bit of a relationship to what I had gone to school for. I have been with my present job for the past eighteen years. I have a lovely wife and three children, the youngest of which is now a senior in High School.

I have been a fan of New Orleans since my first visit there in 1982 to attend a business sponsored conference and have returned, as close as I can compute, fifty times since. I attended my first Mardi Gras in the late eighties and my first Jazzfest in 1991. I have the framed poster on the wall of my office.

I spoke up on the topic of New Orleans’ recent crime wave because I felt a need to express an opinion I did not see showing up. In retrospect I probably chose my screen name poorly and also used a tone that obviously put some people off. I will not be participating in this forum any more after this post but it seems like I raised some eyebrows with my posts and I did not want them to be misconstrued. Sorry for the problems I apparently caused as I was simply attempting to get across a point that I felt needed to be stated. Hope all of you have a safe and fun trip to the city this year. I wish I could see fit to join you.

[mangoon]

http://tinyurl.com/ycdw8z

[ScoopJohnD]

Well, I for one hope you stay, but if you choose not to, that is your choice and I respect it.

[ohio]

I have been lurking on this thread for over 24 hours while reading opinions and trying to sort out a few things. Now I have a few things I want to say...

1) I was the first to use the "troll" label. I was the first to accuse NIMA of being wondering. Mea culpa, mea culpa. I totally agree with Scoop in that his/her later post were indeed enlighting and welcomed...much more worthwhile than anything wondering had ever posted.

2) However.....well, let's just leave it at that.

3) Thank you Scoop, Ross, Corona, Ohio and any others that have acutally written a letter/email to someone in New Olreans/Washington to express your outrage. We can vent all we want here, but I doubt that Ray, Riely, or Blanco bother with reading our posts. The heat is on...and let's not allow them to escape this time. Just remember that it is very easy to direct emails to a delete folder without ever reading them...however, fax paper (or mail) laying all over the floor, which clerks have to pick up (and of course read) will have more significant impact.

4) Here are the folks that I have directed mail to and the reasons why...I'm sure that many of you have other and better suggestions and I would appreciate hearing them:
Ray, Riley, and Blanco....well....duh.
T-P...well....duh again.
Fr. Kevin Wildes, President of Loyola. This is personal, since I have a child at Loyola and am sweating his safety on a daily basis. BTW...he has already responded to our letter in the positive. For those who may not be aware, Loyola, Tulane, U.N.O. and other colleges in New Orleans have suffered major downturns in enrollment due to K. This is high season for high school seniors to select their school of choice...what a great advertising campaign New Orleans is running with it's out of control murder rate. It cost about 53K yearly for a student to attend Loyola and slightly less for Tulane. Provides jobs for professors, administrators, cafe workers, custodians, etc. High paying professional jobs, clean jobs, environmentally friendly jobs. Jobs any city would love to have...
Dauphane Orleans, Monteleon, Hampton Inn Garden District, Hilton Garden Inn CBD, Place D' Arms, and Homewood Suites. Last year we spent 26 nights at these hotels while visiting New Orleans. Just wanted to let them know that they were very unlikely to get any more of our money unless something significant is done about the crime problem.
New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau...well...duh
Habitat for Humanity. Volunteered last year...why risk our lives again? We have Habitat projects right here in our own town and I certainly feel safe here. Besides, I don't have to spend the money to travel or for hotels or food, and have a direct impact on my local community.
NRA - after all, it's their high priced lobby that keeps us from enacting any worthwhile and meaningful gun control, but it's their members guns that keep taking the lives.While we have not made any decisions about going back to N.O. at this time, I wanted these organizations to know that this issue has a direct impact on them and hopefully they will also become a voice...or better, an agent for change. You gotta hit them where they will feel it to get their attention. Like I said on an earlier post...I feel complacent in this somewhat. As long as I am willing to go back, as long as the hotels fill up and Mardi Gras, JazzFest, Swampfest, etc sell out, is there really a problem???

5) Finally, I agree that this is not a problem unique to N.O. I belive that all or our major cities are sliding into this same chaos. And yes, the problem is very deep and the solutions unknown at this time. Sadly, the arrest rate is also dismal in Birmingham. But thankfully, if an arrest is made, the conviction rate is much better that N.O. can ever boast. Yes, our mayor and police chief seem to be in a contest with Ray and Riley as to how far they can stick their heads up their azzes instead of doing something constructive. So maybe if we can help N.O. with this issue, maybe we can help our own cities.

Please, please, please...don't let this become a race issue. It's much more than that. We are all members of the same society.

Peace and love to all you threadheads.
Great thinking!

[Rossvegas]

Aw NAIM, please don't be so hard on yourself.

This community is comprised of a bunch of really great people who truly love NOLA (including yourself) and each of has said something we regret at some time or another. We're opinionated, intelligent, thoughtful, goofy...and extremely forgiving.

Your heart is obviously in the right place, but we've seen a few visitors to this site who are just 'haters' and I believe that you were unfairly tossed into that pile. I'm talking about people who log in under temporary names and suggest that the city should be bulldozed because it's nothing but a haven for thugs and illiterates; people who's sole purpose is to inflame and annoy. Those are the people we call "trolls", and we had one or two on the old board who were particularly racist and hateful.

I think that you have a lot to offer this board, and I hope you stick around.

One of the greatest things about living in cyberland is that you can just pick a brand new name, reregister and start your cyberlife all over again. Don't you wish real life was like that?

Besides, anyone who lives in a town made famous by a Little Feat song is okay in my books!

"And I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari,
Tahachapi to Tournapaw.
I've driven every kind of rig that's ever been made.
Driven the backroads so I wouldn't get weighed."

[ohio]

http://tinyurl.com/ycdw8z
I sent this off to the various network news sites, urging them to cover it.

[Fables of Faubus]

Good morning, everyone.
I have found one suggestion that could perhaps be presented to Mayor Nagin as a tool in this battle.

Some of these gun cases involving violent, repeat felons should be tried in federal court. While this is not the panacea for all of the crime problems that New Orleans faces, it could prove to be one part of the solution.

Federal courts hand down stiffer sentences for gun crimes.

State courts might sentence a violent felon with a long record to just under 10 months for a gun violation. In federal court, the average prison term was slightly over 100 months, or just over 8 years, in 2005.

Ask Mayor Nagin to call on the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute more of New Orleans' gun crimes. This is what Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory did early last year. The department responded by adding a federal prosecutor.

In 2006, 30 Cincinnati gun cases, each involving suspects with long criminal records, were indicted in U.S. District Court.


I don't believe that punishment is a deterrent to crime, but I do think that getting some of the most violent felons off the street and putting them behind bars will help to protect the citizens of New Orleans. Longer time served may help to break the cycle of crime in New Orleans.

[ohio]

Ohio: I would not leave New Orleans. I have too much invested here to leave. The roots are too deep. Besides, even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to sell my home and studio with the current climate here, so I guess I am stuck!
Re. Bill Cosby, wasn't he ridiculed for being so outspoken by the black community? I think that speaking the truth sometimes hurts, and in this case, we need someone to to a lot of that kind of speaking.
It's very late so I'm leaving now (only from the thread,don't worry:) ) I'll try to look up some addresses later...g'night.....
Yay!
and YYR about Cosby, but that doesn't stop him. Obviously it does stop Jesse Jackson et al

[ohio]

Good morning, everyone.
I have found one suggestion that could perhaps be presented to Mayor Nagin as a tool in this battle.

Some of these gun cases involving violent, repeat felons should be tried in federal court. While this is not the panacea for all of the crime problems that New Orleans faces, it could prove to be one part of the solution.

Federal courts hand down stiffer sentences for gun crimes.

State courts might sentence a violent felon with a long record to just under 10 months for a gun violation. In federal court, the average prison term was slightly over 100 months, or just over 8 years, in 2005.

Ask Mayor Nagin to call on the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute more of New Orleans' gun crimes. This is what Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory did early last year. The department responded by adding a federal prosecutor.

In 2006, 30 gun Cincinnati gun cases, each involving suspects with long criminal records, were indicted in U.S. District Court.


I don't believe that punishment is a deterrent to crime, but I do think that getting some of the most violent felons off the street and putting them behind bars will help to protect the citizens of New Orleans. Longer time served may help to break the cycle of crime in New Orleans.
Good idea! I think someone mentioned earlier that this was supposed to have already happened in Nola, but for some unknown reason has not.

[Rossvegas]

Well, that's sort of what I meant when I said "treat it like a war on terror". For whatever reason, gun crimes are treated like parking tickets in NOLA; elevate them to the status of the number one threat to society (and it is the number one threat to the rebuilding efforts of NOLA right now) and you're on the right path.

In my opinion, curbing gun violence is the single most important lynchpin in the restoration of the city. All you have to do is connect the dots...

The city's primary economy is based on tourism. Violence keeps tourists away. In order to rebuild the city's financial bedrock, you need to curb the violence.

It seems pretty obvious, but the model runs deep.

When the US went into Iraq, it sought to 1) deal with the bad guys, 2) restore order and 3) rebuild the country. In NOLA, the government is being asked (and is commited to) rebuilding the city, but it really hasn't developed a strategy to deal with the bad guys or restore order. That is understandable, because the root cause of NOLA's rebuilding efforts isn't based on rampant violence, it was based on a hurricane.

All of that said, the government wouldn't be puring billions into the rebuilding of Iraq right now if they hadn't dealt with most of the bad guys and/or restored a certain amount of order. Does it make sense for them to be pouring billions into New Orleans - a city based almost entirely on tourism - when it hasn't addressed one of the most important parts of its infrastructure i.e. it's safety?

Make gun offenses in NOLA a capital crime and let the Feds throw the book at them.

[mangoon]

Maybe a silly idea, but I think N.O should throw whatever amount of money it takes at ex NYPD and current L.A ( I think ) police commissioner William Bratton. It's my opinion that he did a tremendous job during his brief stay as NYPD chief. Rudy G. recieved a lot of the credit for cleaning things up in NYC crime wise, but I think its obivious most of the credit should go to Bratton.

He seems to be a guy who thrives on entering bad situations and making a positive impact. It would only be a small start, but perhaps a good one.

[denideadhead]

WOW EVERYONE!!!!

NAIM pls stick around ...we have all had stones thrown at us for one reason or another ..but are a pretty resilient and forgiving group...or as Ross suggested just change your name. There is validity in your opinion and I believe an important part of the issue is how do you fix it and still provide for the protection of peoples constitutional rights .

Just to add fuel to our fire another thing to overcome when addressing the crime issue and one that disturbs me to the core .....
The whole gangsta thing is out of control amongst so many of the young people in New Orleans
we have focused on thugs and crack heads and hardcore criminals ...but just how widespread the roots of this problem are is unreal..it is a hydra with two dozen heads.
I am on myspace and have seen some of the myspaces created by the young people of New Orleans. These are kids I know, they are basically good and yet there is an overwhelming worship of the gangsta mentality romanticizing drugs, guns, and sex...and I have no doubt there are thousands who see crime as the only alternative to get those things they are told they need a 200 pair of sneakers and gold teeth and coach bags and rims for your piece of crap car ...I also know adults who used FEMA money etc to buy themselves these things.... nice role models huh...so why not victimize tourists/middle class folks or do a B&E as a fast way to get cash.....it fullfills a need, they rarely get caught and they have stuff thier friends admire. There is a significant lack of postive role models that really touch these kids...I think the New Orleans rap community and professional athletes have to get involved on a grassroots level to change the message they are putting out....no bullshit and really talk to the young people of the community. Screw the Charles Barkley I am not role model crap...these people make a living off the fans and should be required to give back....sorry just a vent!!!


Anyway Great links.... great ideas....and I believe that this is a discussion to be shared so in addition to sending letters today to all of the above listed powers that be and media and other message boards I am sending a link back to this thread.....if you read it you can't help but understand the concern for everyones safety and the potential impact on tourism for sure...who is Nagin kidding that it is not typically in places where tourists frequent...and it is unfortunately black on black....be serious...it is bad people on victims..... that is just like the crap we were handed when they said all was good when only the FQ was open...Does the tourism and convention Board really believe that non residents are that gullible? and all we want to do is see Bourbon St? Oh silly of me preaching to the choir...save it for the letters....and I promise I will be less reactionary when I send them....

yes I read months ago that one of the ways the drug and gun issue was to be addressed was to have more crimes of that nature prosecuted on a federal level. I will really try to find the article I thought it was Newsweek?

in addition

I am also adding the unified New Orleans Planners site to my list
http://unifiedneworleansplan.com/home2/section/27/

Ellen Degenerse
http://ellen.warnerbros.com/show/dearellen/

the view

http://abc.go.com/daytime/theview/mail/viewmaster.html?mailbox=the_view_viewmaster_07

and any other New Orleans sympathetic artist, musician athlete etc I can think of....maybe a celebrity will high profile this cause? No Harm in ASKING.

overall I know this is Pollyanna but
I hope and pray that maybe finally a huge collective and long overdue I AM MAD AS HELL AND I AM NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE ...may finally reach the ears of the Nation as to the entire mess that ignoring New Orleans and all of Southern Louisiana and the gulf has precipitated since Sept 2005...As much as they try it is not just going to go away.....

so in line with Ross ...why not address it and make it a model of how to do it right... we certianly have the resources. Maybe if we fix this one thing that is terribly wrong right here at home we can better be an example to the other countries we presume to advise.....

PLEASE KEEP ALL YOUR EFFORTS GOING!!!!!

[Rossvegas]

Great post, Deni.

Interestingly enough, we here in Toronto are preparing to welcome 3,100 convention planners from the Professional Convention Management Association for a huge conference over the next few days. These people represent over 18 billion dollars in spending power, and you just KNOW that the New Orleans Convention and Tourism Bureau are going to be there.

I wish I could be a fly on the wall in that booth right now. Unlike every other city (Orlando, Vegas, Chicago, etc.) who simply have to puff air about how great their city is, the poor souls in the NOLA booth will have to face question after question about the state of facilities, their conventioneer's safety and the state of reconstruction....assuming people stop by their booth at all.

I know that virtually ALL of these planners will be asking the tough safety questions, and that may ultimately prove to be the very best catalyst for change in NOLA. The exhibitors will ultimately have to report to the city's administrators that New Orleans is going to blow billions of dollars in convention business because they can't guarantee the attendees' safety...and money talks.

If the NOLA Tourism and Convention bureau can't get Nagin's ear, what hope do we have? The property tax base is eroded, the city's coffers are empty and the convention business is the cornerstone of the city's revenue stream. Let's just hope that the message conveyed to NOLA's representatives in Toronto over the next few days makes its way back to the power elite in NOLA: the hoteliers, the restauranteurs and the convention lobbyists.

As I said, money talks...

[marignygreg]

I'm back on board the new "board" minus a g ( I was MarignyGregg ). I've been lurking and finally got off my ass and re-registered. I beg anyone who is in town or can get back to town to go to the Crime March on Thursday! 11:00 a.m. in front of the Aquarium. I hope my fellow Threadheads are doing well.

[Corona]

I agree Greg, I wish I could be there but I hope there is a HUGE turnout to send a message...btw,welcome back!!!!

[NOLA]

Sorry folks, I took the weekend off from the board to celebrate my birthday so I wasn't part of the on-going discussion. My loss, clearly. It took all morning to get caught up!

Fables, where a Federal case can be made, for gun violations, consipiracy to commit murder, etc., those cases ARE going into the Federal system, which seems to be more functional right now than the State court system/DA/etc. and also hands down more meaningful sentences for those convicted.

DT, I agree with most of what you said, but I doubt many of the gun-toting thugs and criminals out there are actually members of the NRA. This is by no means an endorsement of the NRA's wacky positions on some issues (I resigned my own membership years ago when they fought to keep so-called "cop-killer" bullets legal) but I don't see the NRA as a big supporter of criminals using guns, either. I know I have come a long way since my NRA days since I am now (hesitatingly) willing to support a handgun ban within the City of New Orleans...

Overflowing the in-boxes of elected officials, tourism execs, hotel managers, music club operators and others is a start. But the real problem, as I see it, is that there is no easy or evident solution to this problem. I spent the better part of the weekend (well, the non-birthday part) fretting over this very thing. As you could tell from my posts on Friday, this thing has me pretty freaked out about staying in New Orleans, and about the future of the city itself. It is impossible to create a credible criminal justice system overnight. It is impossible to convince a fearful populace to come forward as witnesses to crimes. The police presence is here; as a % of the population it is higher than ever, and with National Guard and State Police it is even higher. But there is absolutely no fear in those committing the crimes. The hopelessness and helplessness these people feel comes from a system that has instilled in them the idea that they really have nothing to live for, and so they do not fear death, much less the police or the slim chance of arrest and conviction. In this sense, they are very much like the terrorists who have no fear of dying in the name of their religion. I think Ross hit it pretty close when he said we are in a war of terrorism. So far it has gone unrecognized by the Feds, so maybe some of the letter writing and campaigning should be addressed to Bobby Jindal, David Vitter, Mary Landrieu and every elected official in every jurisdiction of every Threadhead. If the electorate in D.C. knew what we were up against down here, maybe something would happen - more DA's, a better witness protection program, supplemental pay for more and better cops.

Crap, here I go wishing again. We can't even get half of the US representatives and senators down here to see the Katrina damage 18 months after the event. Maybe the message of lawlessness and despair will engage them where Katrina did not.

There is something in New Orleans called the Metropolitan Crime Commission. Maybe they could hire Rudy Guiliani or Colin Powell to come down and shake things up. Like all of you, I am grasping for any kind of hope here.

Thank all of you for caring so much that you spent time expressing your feelings here on this board, and writing to newspapers and officials, and hanging in there with us as we try to find a way to make this city safe for its residents and prospective visitors. We love you more than you can possibly know.

[Corona]

We love you and your city so much too Frank...that's why we're doing this. We just have to keep fighting. Please don't give up...there has to be a better prognosis for New Orleans than what's happening right now. You going to the March on Thursday?

[NOLA]

Yes, I am making plans to take an hour off of work to be there. I can't really think of anything more important right now. Maybe we will get a little national (and international!) attention - that is what is needed more than anything right now, I think.

[glinda]

There is something in New Orleans called the Metropolitan Crime Commission. Maybe they could hire Rudy Guiliani or Colin Powell to come down and shake things up. Like all of you, I am grasping for any kind of hope here.

We are all with you (and all the other locals), Frank. My one constructuive suggestion is along these lines (wrote it in my NOLA.com letter). Many other major cities have made great progress in reducing violent crime over the past 10 years - including NY and Chicago. New Orleans city/state leaders need to hire some of that expert help - and put them in charge, not make them advisors.

Those who took a holistic approach WITH strong day to day leadership, action & oversight chipped away at crime. Even some of the seemingly unrelated minor things (like graffiti and cleanliness) was linked to reducing crime. [See the book The Tipping Point on this]. But it takes good management and constant follow up. Someone ACTUALLY in charge.

We will be with you all in spirit on Thursday - and barraging public officials - yours and ours - with pleas for constructive and swift action.

[marignygreg]

I hear Anderson Cooper is coming to the March. For more info go to the Marigny/Bywater forum at Nola.com. Someone even posted a letter from this guy named Rossvegas !!

[Blitzzzzz]

And to think, a week ago we were disgusted by stolen art!
Thanks 20-20, I appreciate that.:cool:

[Amyloves...]

Thank all of you for caring so much that you spent time expressing your feelings here on this board, and writing to newspapers and officials, and hanging in there with us as we try to find a way to make this city safe for its residents and prospective visitors. We love you more than you can possibly know.


All of this stuff is painful to deal with and I've struggled to read all of the posts. But I really wanted to thank you all for all that you're doing and for caring so much. You can't imagine how much it helps.

[ozzie]

I would be such a crap groupie!

Last night I sent a vitriolic letter to all the usual suspects and tonight my plan was to send a much softer version to every celebrity I could think of who has ever been mentioned in conjunction with New Orleans. After 4 hours on line, and except for a management addy for Harry Connick Jr, I came up with zip contacts... nothing. How far removed from the general public do these folk have to be!

In my frustration I ended up submitting it to the New York Times as an open letter. Prolly won't find its way anywhere, but at least I got an automated response, which it has to be said is my best response to date.

For what it's worth the letter follows. Took a bit of literary license in that we've actually only been to New Orleans twice (although Corona assures me that's enough to have a voice), our volunteer efforts were limited to just one family in Slidell and Ms Lena, and I want to qualify that I don't believe New Orleans will slide into oblivion and NOTHING will keep us away in April. Cheers.

Open Letter to the Entertainment Industry

Last week I had thought to write to you regarding the dreadful direction the Musicians Village in New Orleans is taking, however by the time I got to my keyboard events far more sinister were unfolding in the Crescent City. I am sure you are aware of the current despair in New Orleans and I'm asking that you use your influence and public profile to not only highlight the plight of the residents there but to also ask, no demand action from people who have the power to effect change.

I am an Australian, living in Australia and it follows that I, perhaps like you, am far removed from the crisis. But I visit New Orleans every year and since Katrina have done whatever I can to help the City I love so much. Last year my husband and I volunteered on several projects and are planning to do so again during the trip we have booked for April. However if we can't expect even a modicum of safety, then we like so many others may have to change our travel plans. At least we have that choice. For the many thousands who bravely returned and are trying to live a good life, together with the untold who are desperately trying to return, the choice is becoming so much harder... and if they choose to abandon her then New Orleans will continue its sad descent into oblivion.

America was so slow to react after Katrina and now, when the city needs its help more than ever, America is once again leaving its citizens to sink or swim as best they can. It does not have to be that way... strong leadership and a fair allocation of resources will see the re-emergence of this delightful Mecca that is so much a part of the cultural fabric of America.

Please take the time to read the following story from a New Orleans resident. It speaks volumes for what we are all feeling.

http://inyourownwords.blogs.nola.com/default.asp?item=420097

You have the power of celebrity, you have the contacts and you have a mass audience. Please open your hearts and use that power to help restore New Orleans.

Le Bon Temp Roulez

Tanya Younger
Cairns Australia

[ohio]

Yay Oz!

[PaulC]

That is a great letter Ozzie... Very well done....

[Papins]

Something can be done to stop-or at least put a dent in the violence. Form citizen patrols, work with police, get a volunteer reserve police officer program going. Volunteer's would be trained in the use of firearms, take downs, etc. Turning this into an Oprahesqe march with lots of groovy posters, march related ball caps & t-shirts, and rightious indignation will do squat. Symbolism over substance never works.

[ozzie]

Something can be done to stop-or at least put a dent in the violence. Form citizen patrols, work with police, get a volunteer reserve police officer program going. Volunteer's would be trained in the use of firearms, take downs, etc. Turning this into an Oprahesqe march with lots of groovy posters, march related ball caps & t-shirts, and rightious indignation will do squat. Symbolism over substance never works.

Call me Pollyanna Papins... I'm sorry, but the world you detailed in a previous post terrifies me more than anything else.

[Papins]

then get use to getting your ass kicked.

[t.o..fester]

Great letter Oz!!

[Amy Winette]

I would be such a crap groupie!

Last night I sent a vitriolic letter to all the usual suspects and tonight my plan was to send a much softer version to every celebrity I could think of who has ever been mentioned in conjunction with New Orleans. After 4 hours on line, and except for a management addy for Harry Connick Jr, I came up with zip contacts... nothing. How far removed from the general public do these folk have to be!

In my frustration I ended up submitting it to the New York Times as an open letter. Prolly won't find its way anywhere, but at least I got an automated response, which it has to be said is my best response to date.

For what it's worth the letter follows. Took a bit of literary license in that we've actually only been to New Orleans twice (although Corona assures me that's enough to have a voice), our volunteer efforts were limited to just one family in Slidell and Ms Lena, and I want to qualify that I don't believe New Orleans will slide into oblivion and NOTHING will keep us away in April. Cheers.

Open Letter to the Entertainment Industry

Last week I had thought to write to you regarding the dreadful direction the Musicians Village in New Orleans is taking, however by the time I got to my keyboard events far more sinister were unfolding in the Crescent City. I am sure you are aware of the current despair in New Orleans and I'm asking that you use your influence and public profile to not only highlight the plight of the residents there but to also ask, no demand action from people who have the power to effect change.

I am an Australian, living in Australia and it follows that I, perhaps like you, am far removed from the crisis. But I visit New Orleans every year and since Katrina have done whatever I can to help the City I love so much. Last year my husband and I volunteered on several projects and are planning to do so again during the trip we have booked for April. However if we can't expect even a modicum of safety, then we like so many others may have to change our travel plans. At least we have that choice. For the many thousands who bravely returned and are trying to live a good life, together with the untold who are desperately trying to return, the choice is becoming so much harder... and if they choose to abandon her then New Orleans will continue its sad descent into oblivion.

America was so slow to react after Katrina and now, when the city needs its help more than ever, America is once again leaving its citizens to sink or swim as best they can. It does not have to be that way... strong leadership and a fair allocation of resources will see the re-emergence of this delightful Mecca that is so much a part of the cultural fabric of America.

Please take the time to read the following story from a New Orleans resident. It speaks volumes for what we are all feeling.

http://inyourownwords.blogs.nola.com/default.asp?item=420097

You have the power of celebrity, you have the contacts and you have a mass audience. Please open your hearts and use that power to help restore New Orleans.

Le Bon Temp Roulez

Tanya Younger
Cairns Australia


Great letter Oz! :)

[tangledupinblue]

Great letter Ozzie.
Please email me. I have a way for you to get a hold of many celebrities.

taj4167@yahoo.com

[ohio]

Call me Pollyanna Papins... I'm sorry, but the world you detailed in a previous post terrifies me more than anything else.
YYR. Throwing more guns, men, and money at the problem won't make it go away. It does not address the underlying problems.