The Coalition of the Swilling

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January 09, 2007

The Picture

...says it all.

With at least eight slayings [ths note:our morning paper says 9 now] in the city in the first week of the new year, officials are considering a curfew to help stem the violence, the police superintendent said Saturday.

"It's something we're just sort of talking about, to see if that will make a difference," police Superintendent Warren Riley said.

...Nagin and Riley both tried to reassure residents that they were doing all they can to make the city safer. Riley said some covert operations were under way and Nagin said he hoped to have details sometime next week on a "more creative, aggressive" plan developed in talks he has had with local ministers.

Riley said the slayings are a part of a chronic problem that goes back to the city's school system and what he sees as the city's failure, over many years, to adequately educate and provide job opportunities for residents.

Blogging New Orleans notes a random thought from Superintendent Riley not mentioned in the AP report and...um...the randomness of it...

...Riley mentioned imposing a curfew citing the low murder rate post Katrina and the curfew imposed during that time. I'm not sure that I follow his logic there as the city was pretty empty for a couple of months after the storm and most of the people who inhabited New Orleans during that time were there because their home was relatively unscathed and because they had a job to do...I'm not sure that sending everyone home at 11 PM will stop armed men from wandering around the Marigny in the early morning.

Well, BNO is right, you know. It's hard for guns to kill people when there's no people to be killed. Chalk one up to statistics! Think, think, think. They're sure doing a lot of thinking and idea kicking around, while residents seem to think they're getting their asses kicked. Think, think, think. Our local paper even takes a shot at Nagin's thinking cap this morning...

...For New Orleans to make it, the city must be viewed as safe to visit. There has been growing concern about the city's safety since Hurricane Katrina rebuilding got under way. It came to a head last week in a spree of seven murders -- including the deaths of a well-known local band leader, Dinerral Savers, and a filmmaker, Helen Hill; Hill's husband, a doctor, was shot three times during a robbery at their home.

And just as after Katrina, Nagin is not distinguishing himself. According to reports in the Times-Picayune, there is growing unhappiness not just with Nagin, but with the city's police chief and the district attorney.

Saturday, the Times-Picayune reported, during a press conference to react to the killings, Nagin "left ... in a rush, en route to the city's annual king cake party in Gallier Hall, an invitation-only event for Carnival captains and tourism executives that kicks off the carnival season in New Orleans."

While still at the press conference, Nagin called such "upticks" of murders in the city "unfortunately not that unusual for New Orleans."

He sure knows how to instill confidence!

I hope there were armed guards outside the party. It's a shame the residents aren't as privileged as the mayor, security wise. I'll suggest a new slogan:

One a day...keeps the tourists away.

Posted by tree hugging sister at January 9, 2007 09:34 AM

Comments

Posted by: Kelly at January 10, 2007 08:44 PM