Three shooting incidents in the French Quarter, including one on Bourbon Street Saturday that left two people injured, pose more than a problem with crime.
It threatens the tourism economy for the entire region.
“We’re seeing some areas of the city that we’re not used to seeing gun violence, and that’s troubling,” says LSU Health New Orleans Professor and Criminologist Dr. Peter Scharf.
Things in the Quarter, like the rest of the economy, are sluggish at best. Bars are operating at the whim of the Mayor who is driven by COVID positivity numbers. There is no live music, and most clubs are shuttered or operating barely one-third of the usual staff.
There’s no available revenue to spend for additional police patrols or private security.
“We don't have any money because crime is out of control, so the other part is, we don’t have any money to control crime,” Scharf says. “We’ve got a real paradox there.”
Scharf speaks directly about the issue, taking into account the consequences if the city fails at controlling crime.
“Unless you find the resources to get crime, and violent crime especially, under control—especially in areas like the Quarter—or the immediate outlying areas, we’re gonna be poor for a long time.”
Efforts to approve special taxes to pay for patrols, either through the police or private services have been turned back at the polls.
Scharf explains why these assessments have failed:
“People are wary now of what they call paid security patrols, it’s like the triple tax,” according to Scharf. “There are political agendas obviously in the Quarter and there is a certain wariness of security patrol involvement.”
There has to be an alternative to taxing your way to fighting crime when it comes to the quarter.
But, Scharf says cash strapped local businesses in the Quarter have resisted taxes to fund more police and security patrols, because they just don't have the money.
They want police to step up in Quarter and take control of the streets and protect tourists, because:
“It’s hard to be on your guard while you’re enjoying yourself in the Quarter,” Scharf says. “And that’s where the police really have to do their job. Same for the private security patrols. Because people want to let loose, and be in New Orleans, and many, they’re not aware of what’s going on.
There has to be some kind of response, there’s just too much at stake.
