In light of last weekend's mass shooting, residents and business owners share Newell's point of view that violent crime is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to issues that plague the French Quarter. Newell spoke with Christian Pendleton of the French Quarter Management District on the back-and-forth they've had with city leaders.
"I've been talking about the French Quarter for a week now,” Newell began. “We've posted blogs about this issue over and over and over again. I've talked to folks that have visited the French Quarter for the last four weekends and they tell me horrifying tales of what's going on there. It's just a completely lawless environment. How do we turn this around?"
"You've got to put more boots on the street and when you actually find people that are doing wrong, you need to hold them accountable,” Pendleton answered. “The NOPD officers in the quarter are very candid about it. It's incredibly frustrating to be a police officer these days because by the time they make an arrest, these folks are out faster than they can finish the paperwork. There's this sense of helplessness. If you're an NOPD officer, it’s like, what am I doing? I'm arresting the same people over and over and over again."
"I don't know how many more dead bodies we need to stack up!” Newell exclaimed. “The Bourbon Street shooting was reported in six or seven major publications across this country!”
"It made the news in Germany... it is international news when we don't' take care of the French Quarter," Pendelton agreed.
Newell asked, "Has the council done what they're supposed to do to get more police in the French Quarter?"
"The city had not done all of the procedural things they needed to do for the council to do their part. Now we did get some very good news that New Orleans and Company and some hospitality industry leaders agreed to provide FQMD money to put additional boots on the ground while this thing rolls out."
"So the mayor and her administration is continuing to try and implement what her objectives were during the course of the election?” Newell pressed. “The public had the opportunity to choose to side with the mayor, or side with the actual proposal that's put forward. They vote for the proposal - and the mayor continues to try and get her way?"
Pendleton said, "And worse than that, it's her team that is even working around what she agreed to in her office with all the stakeholders there."
Hear the entire interview in the audio player below.
