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Beyond the historic architecture, the spice-laden cuisine and the
beguiling voodoo underground, live close to 500,000 people, mostly
poor (more than a quarter live in poverty), mostly black (more than
66 percent), clustered into 73 distinct neighborhoods.
Crime, even before the hurricane, was high. The murder rate has come
down in recent years, but remains 10 times the national average.
Last year, researchers had police fire 700 blank rounds in a city
neighborhood one afternoon. No one called to report the gunfire.
"Maybe New Orleans should be nicknamed The Big Un-Easy, due to a
high violent crime rate and a high unemployment rate. There's also a
significant number of suicides and divorces," said Bert Sterling on
his Best Places web site.
The city's school system is a shambles. The district almost went
broke this past year and teachers nearly missed a paycheck and 55 of
the state's 78 worst schools are in New Orleans.
Dozens of school employees are under indictment for corruption. But
then, corruption in New Orleans is nothing new, politicians,
judges, the police have all been caught.
These government failures are not merely a matter of incompetence.
Louisiana and New Orleans have a long, well-known reputation for
corruption: as former congressman Billy Tauzin once put it, "half of
Louisiana is under water and the other half is under indictment."
That's putting it mildly. Adjusted for population size, the state
ranks third in the number of elected officials convicted of crimes
(Mississippi is No. 1). Recent scandals include the conviction of 14
state judges and an FBI raid on the business and personal files of a
Louisiana congressman.
In 1991, a notoriously corrupt Democrat named Edwin Edwards ran for
governor against Republican David Duke, a former head of the Ku Klux
Klan. Edwards, whose winning campaign included bumper stickers
saying "Elect the Crook," is currently serving a 10-year prison
sentence for taking bribes from casino owners. Duke recently
completed his own prison term for tax fraud.
The rot included the New Orleans Police Department, which in the
1990s had the dubious distinction of being the nation's most corrupt
police force and the least effective: the city had the highest
murder rate in America. More than 50 officers were eventually
convicted of crimes including murder, rape and robbery; two are
currently on Death Row.
(I heard this morn--Sept 6th--that over 400 police are among the missing after Katrina. The police chief has no idea where they went...they are just gone!)
Ten billion dollars are about to pass into the sticky hands of
politicians in the No. 1 and No. 3 most corrupt states in America.
Worried about looting? You ain't seen nothing yet.
Author - Unknown
beguiling voodoo underground, live close to 500,000 people, mostly
poor (more than a quarter live in poverty), mostly black (more than
66 percent), clustered into 73 distinct neighborhoods.
Crime, even before the hurricane, was high. The murder rate has come
down in recent years, but remains 10 times the national average.
Last year, researchers had police fire 700 blank rounds in a city
neighborhood one afternoon. No one called to report the gunfire.
"Maybe New Orleans should be nicknamed The Big Un-Easy, due to a
high violent crime rate and a high unemployment rate. There's also a
significant number of suicides and divorces," said Bert Sterling on
his Best Places web site.
The city's school system is a shambles. The district almost went
broke this past year and teachers nearly missed a paycheck and 55 of
the state's 78 worst schools are in New Orleans.
Dozens of school employees are under indictment for corruption. But
then, corruption in New Orleans is nothing new, politicians,
judges, the police have all been caught.
These government failures are not merely a matter of incompetence.
Louisiana and New Orleans have a long, well-known reputation for
corruption: as former congressman Billy Tauzin once put it, "half of
Louisiana is under water and the other half is under indictment."
That's putting it mildly. Adjusted for population size, the state
ranks third in the number of elected officials convicted of crimes
(Mississippi is No. 1). Recent scandals include the conviction of 14
state judges and an FBI raid on the business and personal files of a
Louisiana congressman.
In 1991, a notoriously corrupt Democrat named Edwin Edwards ran for
governor against Republican David Duke, a former head of the Ku Klux
Klan. Edwards, whose winning campaign included bumper stickers
saying "Elect the Crook," is currently serving a 10-year prison
sentence for taking bribes from casino owners. Duke recently
completed his own prison term for tax fraud.
The rot included the New Orleans Police Department, which in the
1990s had the dubious distinction of being the nation's most corrupt
police force and the least effective: the city had the highest
murder rate in America. More than 50 officers were eventually
convicted of crimes including murder, rape and robbery; two are
currently on Death Row.
(I heard this morn--Sept 6th--that over 400 police are among the missing after Katrina. The police chief has no idea where they went...they are just gone!)
Ten billion dollars are about to pass into the sticky hands of
politicians in the No. 1 and No. 3 most corrupt states in America.
Worried about looting? You ain't seen nothing yet.
Author - Unknown
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