Mayor LaToya Cantrell mentioned a particular malaise hanging over New Orleans at a recent press conference. Hurricane Ida recovery, crime, potholes, and city garbage pickup contracts are just a few issues plaguing the city. Homelessness has become a noticeable problem throughout downtown New Orleans. It’s something that we’ve talked about before on my show and will continue to discuss until there’s a concerted effort from city leaders and citizens to make a better New Orleans.
The number of folks living under the overpasses is increasing and I'm not sure why we're not doing anything about it. We're trying to attract those to drive in from Mississippi, Texas and the surrounding areas. When I run into people and we strike up a conversation, one of the first things I hear from them all the time is why are we allowing people to set up a home under an overpass. It's the first thing that you see when you come into the city...the first thing you're going to see is some somebody shaking a can, tents, and hypodermic needles.
I'm not so sure we should be making it more comfortable for folks to live on public property. I kiddingly say that we should all go out and buy sheds and stick them out on the lakefront right there by the seawall so we can all own waterfront property.... I'm being told that we can't do anything about the homeless downtown. If we can't do anything about this, then we all have the right to go set up shop on public property.
We need to have the political will to clean ourselves up and not let tourists and visitors have a lasting first impression when they leave the city because it looks filthy - plain and simple. There's no other way to say it. We need to have a vested interest in dressing ourselves up every day. We're trying to sell ourselves to visitors across this country. We want to be the shining star, but we're not, because we're not taking care of business. At some point in time, somebody's got to consume some political capital, step up and do the right thing for us collectively so that we can improve roads, improve schools and have traffic control lights that actually work
