Another violent weekend in New Orleans, after two separate shootings downtown. Five people were shot on a very crowded Bourbon Street early Sunday morning. Less than 12 hours later, one boy was fatally shot and four others injured in the 1600 block of Iberville Street. While this rash of shootings is unfortunately not new to the city, citizens’ frustrations remain. Violent crime hurts the New Orleans economy. We need to all we can to keep visitors safe so they continue to come back.
We need to nurture and cultivate and maintain our ability to provide a good time for tourists that come here. Think about the conventions that come here, spend their money, create the multipliers necessary to make our economy go... we're not focused enough on this issue. There's not enough police presence in the French Quarter. The New Orleans Police Department is woefully understaffed, and it continues to be a challenge for us.
We wondered what, in the aftermath of this defunding, dismantling, this re-imagining of policing in this country, was ultimately going to happen. But if you really believe that more progressive laws and the culture of non-compliance is going to get us to the promised land of safety and security, then continue to vote the way that you're voting and listen to those things that sound really nice on the surface.
But if you want freedom, and you want the ability for you, your family, your kids, and others, to be able to walk in your neighborhoods safely and securely and go to the gas station, go to the bank without fear of being gunned down, you better take this seriously with every single last bloody vote you make during this election. It's not the national elections that are going to make a difference for you. It's the local elections. That's going to make a difference. They're the ones that are going to decide if you want to stay here in New Orleans and to try and achieve what you want in life.