I just read that New Orleans' murder rate is twice as high as D.C. and Newark, NJ. What canbe done about it?

Why would people want to come back and rebuild only to live in fear for their lives? It is said that the crime sprees are a result of the lack of opportunities in the Big Easy.





Your thoughts if you please. *N.O. citizens in particular.*





This article is about a week old, but it did leave me wondering about the state of N.O.





http://www.nypost.com/seven/08282007/pos...





EXCERPT FROM ARTICLE:


Since Katrina, in fact, New Orleans has clocked a murder rate higher than that of any first-world city. Depending on estimates of the city's population, it's perhaps 40 percent higher than its pre-Katrina rate and twice as high as activities such dangerous cities as Detroit, Newark and Washington.





Families trying to rebuild must live in fear - or they don't come home at all.

I just read that New Orleans' murder rate is twice as high as D.C. and Newark, NJ. What canbe done about it?
I would support bringing in the National Guard to areas in need of violent crime control in America, this, is unacceptable by any standard.
Reply:They need to get JOBS. Mexicans are moving into the area and rebuilding the city so I know there are jobs there. People would not have the time or the energy to kill and commit crimes if they had to get up at 5 or 6 to go to work.
Reply:The story in the NY Post is (as usual for the NY Post) filled with half truths.





The District Attorney here in New Orleans, a man by the name of Eddie Jordan is VERY, VERY ineffectual. He has an APPALING conviction rate somewhere in the upper teens. But even this is not all his fault. Evidence was washed away by the floodwaters as easily as it washed away our belongings, making the conviction of people KNOW TO BE GUILTY impossible. Still, Complaints have been made to the LA state bar about this man to no avail, We can't impeach the man because he being incompetent is not a crime.





The Post article states





"The police and (in particular) the prosecutors are ineffectual. The mayor doesn't try to change it, because he thinks, as he often says, that it's a social problem - a lack of opportunity for poor young black kids."





This is only partially true. Nagin knows these are thugs in most cases. Our city's police force is inadequately manned and currently 11 more police officers leave each month.





Right now, residents of New Orleans ARE LUCKY if they receive the services that citizens other cities take for granted - street lights, sewerage, timely garbage collection and even home phone service. There are also herds of rodents and roaches to deal with and in some places clouds of blood sucking mosquitoes, which breed well in putrid, standing water. Add to this, rows and rows, thousands upon thousands of mold ridden, abandoned homes, STILL caked with mud and you can see what an enormous advantage those who rob, steal, rape or murder have over honest, hardworking people trying to rebuild. To us it sometimes feels as if America itself is disintegrating around us as our government fiddles in Iraq.





Yes, New Orleans had it's severe problems, but we are literally rebuilding an entire major US metropolitan area from the ground up. Many of us here view those outside of New Orleans who shout words of either condemnation or encouragement from far distant sidelines to be disingenuous and self-serving at best.





This is not a spectator sport.





a 45 year old, 45 year resident of the great AMERICAN city New Orleans.
Reply:My personal opinion is that Mayor Nagin is about as weak as a mayor can get as illustrated during Katrina, but was quick to blame others just as he is doing now. I used to live in New Orleans and having left, revisited often. However, since Nagin made his ultimate racist statement about making it back into a "chocolate city," I haven't been back and four of my relatives who lived there during Katrina have made a life elsewhere. Mayor Nagin's weakness is key to the crime problem in New Orleans!
Reply:Doesnt matter any more, I am moving out of Houston, they can stay here for all I care.
Reply:The office of the DA has become a true + deliberate revolving door for criminals and almost all cases are "refused" by the DA - not just pre-Katrina cases with lost evidence. The problem goes far beyond issues of resources or competence and is at least malfeasance.





The current DA needs to GO and the US Justice Department needs to seize control of the district attorney's office in New Orleans.
Reply:We took in a lot of them after Katrina and the crime sky rocketed in our city afterwards. Can anyone explain that to me. I don't want to be judgemental but...
Reply:The author pretty well nailed it. Nagin's re-election ensured that nothing will be done about it any time soon. Note that the French Quarter and the Convention Center area are quite safe, though.


Large swaths of NOLA are not parts of a city in the way we normally think of the term. They're uncivilized areas where residents trying to rebuild are reminiscent of settlers in some old West town. The most reasonable approach would be vigilantism until there's something approaching normalcy, but that won't be tolerated. Pre-Katrina New Orleans was one of the cities most inimical to the concept of self-defense, and the philosophy is reaping its rewards.
Reply:I'm not from N.O., nor have I ever been there, but if I were to do anything, it would be to send more police into the city to combat the gangs that are vying for power.





On another front, I would try to pass a kind of New Deal for N.O. and hire locals top dollar to clean up their city and rebuild as well. This would bring money back to the city and help the ones who lost everything at the same time.