Author Archives: Jan V. Ramsey

January 11th 2012

Cultural Mecca?

Not long after Katrina, I wrote a piece speculating about the future of New Orleans. For many years, New Orleans was the largest city in the state. When the Galveston hurricane of 1900 (read “Isaac’s Storm” for a great account of this incident) wiped out the city, it was then the crown jewel of the Texas Gulf Coast. The Great Storm of 1900 almost wiped Galveston off the face of the earth. After that, investment and population moved to Houston; Galveston became a boutique city.

Wikipedia states, “The most important long-term impact of the hurricane was to confirm fears that Galveston was a dangerous place to make major investments in shipping and manufacturing operations; the economy of the Golden Era was no longer possible as investors fled. In 1920, Prohibition and lax law enforcement opened up new opportunities for criminal enterprises related to gambling and bootlegging in the city. Galveston rapidly became a prime resort destination enabled by the open vice businesses on the island. This new entertainment-based economy brought decades-long prosperity to the island.”

Sound familiar?

Pontalba

Only in New Orleans, culture abides and grows. Photo by Kim Welsh.

In my original piece, I speculated if New Orleans would become the next Galveston, and Baton Rouge, the next Houston. It’s true that New Orleans’ population has not returned to its pre-Katrina numbers, whereas Baton Rouge’s population has increased. However, the New Orleans metropolitan area population of 1.17 million still outstrips Greater Baton Rouge’s 802,500.

The difference is that New Orleans, more and more, is becoming a city whose main source of income is revenue derived from the hospitality industry, unlike Baton Rouge, which has more of a standard business orientation. With the numbers of sporting events, conventions, and festivals we currently host in the city, visitors to New Orleans are growing by leaps and bounds, even with the lousy worldwide economy.

It’s ambitious to try to create a new market; it takes an enormous amount of marketing investment to promote it, and a relatively long period of time to build momentum. It may be easier to capitalize on factors the city already possesses rather than try to recreate the wheel.

I’m certainly anxious—just like everyone else in the country—to see more manufacturing jobs returning to the US and to Louisiana. But we have to face the fact that we don’t have the educated (or motivated) populace that’s going to create a manufacturing or high-tech economy in New Orleans.

We also have an inferior physical location in terms of access and distribution that prevents sizeable manufacturers from locating here; it’s something we have no control over.

So can we continue to capitalize on what we already have? A truly fascinating, relatively cheap place to live, an endless wealth of cultural attractions, food, music, joie de vivre, tolerance for eccentricities (that you’d never find in Baton Rouge), sporting events—although I personally would never decide to live in a city because of the sports activities. We have recently acknowledged that we have city with an orientation towards culture and cultural development. But we also have much poverty in the city, subpar educational opportunities, and a complacent population who’d rather laissez-faire than TCB. Crime is increasing, and we have a police department and justice system that needs a whole lot of work and revision.

What’s ahead for us? Do we become an entertainment and cultural mecca and de-emphasize trying to get manufacturing concerns in the city?  Throw ourselves full-force into becoming a cultural center? Or do we do economic development the way it’s “always been done,” by focusing on manufacturing jobs?

What do you think?

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January 4th 2012

New Year’s Resolutions

This is the time of year when we assess our performance over the past year, and make resolutions and set goals for what we’d like to accomplish next year. So here are my resolutions: tasks that I’d like to accomplish—or help accomplish—in the next year. Some of them may take more than a year, but, if nothing else, I tend to put more on my plate than what I can reasonably do!

1. Create a high-profile free music festival in Armstrong Park, and create walking tours of the park itself on an ongoing basis. (Interestingly, last week, I actually saw groups of people walking in the park during the day, checking out the park itself and the newly-installed sculptures.) Armstrong Park is a gem, a treasure, waiting to be discovered by the traveling public. Now all we need to do is to stop hotel concierges and Quarterites from telling travelers that it’s unsafe.

2. Brand New Orleans as a “music city” so that travelers from all over the world will know that we consider our musical heritage and live music scene to be a top priority in attracting visitors to the city.

3. Help create a museum dedicated to New Orleans music in a prominent location on Canal Street in the theater district that will give visitors and locals alike information on the local music scene, expose them to some live music, lead them to other musical resources in the city, and provide them with an educational experience.

4. Develop music, cultural and entertainment districts throughout the city that will welcome and promote local music and musicians, as well as artists.

5. Designate both North and South Rampart Streets, Frenchmen Street, Canal Street and portions of other major thoroughfares in the city as special districts to encourage creative endeavors.

6. Work with City Park, and the new Reinventing the Crescent areas to develop more music festivals and cultural events.

7. Market New Orleans as a music city to international markets, particularly in Europe, Japan and the Pacific Rim.

8. Re-develop the Municipal Auditorium site as a public venue or even a sound stage for the hundreds of movies that are being shot here.

9. Make sure that any noise ordinance proposed by the city is equitable for musicians and clubs, not only for residents who don’t like “the noise.”

10. Support the French Quarter Festival’s effort to pay local musicians directly, instead of asking them to play for a sponsorship. They’ve made strides in this area, but continue to need help.

11. I’d like to interview and create biographies for all of our musicians, whose lives and accomplishments need to be documented.

There are a lot more I have in mind, but I think these will reasonably fill up next year.

As to business resolutions,  I resolve to be more tolerant, less opinionated, more investigative and more patient; to listen more and talk less; to be more compassionate and less judgmental.

I don’t suffer fools gladly, but I should at least be more patient, don’t you think?
 

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December 21st 2011

Happening on Canal Street…Rebirth or Not?…and Merry Christmas!

I just got back from a tour of the Joy Theater on the corner of Canal and Loyola Streets. I’ve seen many a movie there, but the theater had gotten pretty dilapidated over the years, and Hurricane Katrina pretty much put it out of its misery.

Thanks to a group of developers, the Joy will soon be back in service, restored to its original Art Deco glory, except this time it’s going to be multi-purpose venue with a state-of-the-art sound, light and acoustics, a flexible downstairs that can be open or contain seating, and a large fixed-seating balcony upstairs with a full-service bar. I also love the fact that it’s a no smoking venue and has an elevator.

The Downtown Joy, in its younger, more affluent days.

The theater’s opening weekend will feature Irma Thomas with Lance Ellis opening (December 29), Soul Rebels and Cyril Neville’s Tribe 13 (December 30), and for New Year’s Eve, Kermit Ruffins and Big Sam’s Funky Nation.

The Joy has also started booking January, and will feature Cowboy Mouth, Percy Sledge, and the Little River Band, among others. Hopefully, the booking at the Joy will pump some life back into lower Canal Street, which has surely been lacking in entertainment venues and a classy place to hear live music for decades.

After leaving the office last night (we shipped January last evening), we passed the Joy’s restored sign and marquee. It lit up Canal Street, and I hope it continues to bring life back to the street.

Speaking of life on Canal, we have a problem. The same developer that developed low-income housing at 200 Carondelet Street is now planning  to create low-income housing in the space that used to be the LaSalle Hotel, in the front of the Saenger Building. Their tax credit application has apparently been approved. Hmmm. Let’s see, there’s supposed to be a revival on Canal Street. There’s a new high-end condo across the street; the Joy is reopening, and the Saenger is in the process of being restored. Why would anyone want low-income housing smack-dab on Canal Street? Certainly the best use of this property, which would make sense for the so-called revival of Canal Street, would mean a commercial venture of some kind. This is just the spot that should house the New Orleans Music & Culture Museum, not low-income housing.  It just doesn’t make sense for this deal to go through. Once again, New Orleans will shoot itself in the foot by not planning development properly. Low-income housing can built anywhere; these developers are taking advantage of tax credits that the city let slip through its fingers. Shame on the city and all the associated entities for not monitoring this development more closely.

Rebirth...go get 'em! And bring home that Grammy!

A belated congratulations to the Rebirth Brass Band from me, personally. Phil, Keith, Stafford and all the guys: we are so proud that you’ve been nominated for a Grammy, and are hoping you are the very first brass band to bring home that prestigious award. If you’re a member of NARAS, please vote for our homeboys so they can bring home the bacon on February 12.

If they do win the Grammy, we should close down the city to welcome them home. Here’s to you!

And to you, too: go out and buy some great Louisiana music as a gift for someone you love. It’ll certainly help our local musicians and make the recipient really happy. Merry Christmas!

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December 14th 2011

Festival Season Kicks Off Early

One thing I can say about the sports impacting New Orleans: we have hosted more major sports events than any other city in the US.  That means tourist dollars. Even now, in December 2011, the city’s tourism people are in a frenzy preparing for Superbowl XLVII, which is scheduled to be held in New Orleans again in February 2013 (this will be the tenth time the event will take place here).

This could put a crimp in our regular Mardi Gras season because Mardi Gras 2013 is set for February 12. Maybe we can just move Fat Tuesday up a week to accommodate the NFL and the massive fans that are expected for the Superbowl.  Should we move Mardi Gras weekend to accommodate Superbowl Sunday? Am curious to know what you think.

We now also have the 2012 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell schedule to contemplate, since it was released early this morning. The earlier you get the word out, the quicker fest-goers can make their festival attendance plans by booking rooms and making their airline reservations. We used to get the Jazz Fest schedule in mid-to-late February. Now we get it before Christmas. So festival season is officially underway.

The Foo Fighters: one of this year's Jazz Fest headliners

Aah, I remember the good ole days at the WWL-RayBan stage (now controlled by Acura), when I could still hang out and enjoy the music. Those days are long gone; I’m not fighting crowds to see the Foo Fighters or the Eagles. I’m still in the Bonnie Raitt fan crowd, and since I haven’t experienced a Bonnie show in a while, you might see me there.

Despite the usual grumblings from old school Jazz Fest fans, the lineup always looks pretty great to me. I understand how difficult it is to book a major festival that depends on ticket sales. Heads through the gates mean more money to support the festival and the ability to get more money from sponsors.

If you haven’t already, consider supporting a band for this year’s French Quarter Festival. They’ve made the effort to pay musicians in cash rather than allowing individual sponsors to foot the bill for the bands. I imagine if you want to sponsor a band that’s playing French Quarter Fest, you would certainly welcome the opportunity to not only pay the band, but to support FQF, which features only local music. Go here for info on how to sponsor a band.

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December 7th 2011

I’m a Member of the Krewe of Cos

Cosimo Matassa is a legend.

He’s one of the creators of the “New Orleans Sound,” and his engineering expertise was as influential as anyone, including the people who actually made the music—Fats Domino, Dave Bartholomew, Little Richard, and so many others—in birthing New Orleans as the seminal R&B capital of the South.

Anyone who’s been involved in music in New Orleans in the last 60 or so years knows this. The fact that Cos is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is long, long overdue.

Cosimo Matassa. Credit: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I first met Cos almost 30 years ago. I was a young whippersnapper, eager to put the music and musicians of New Orleans more “on the map.” Cos was, of course, well-known to musicians and people in the biz. To me, not so much. I loved the music, wanted to apply my business acumen to promoting it, but didn’t know anything about how it was made.  I was in a hurry to get people to recognize music as an economic force. Looking back from the perspective of ripe old age, I see that I didn’t have the proper respect for my elders—which isn’t all that unusual for younger people wanting to accomplish something. Young means you think you have all the answers.

My attitude was sort of… “Well, you did something 30 years ago, but what are you doing now?”

Bad attitude. Stupid, disrespectful woman!

But I learned.

After meeting and getting to know Cos, and getting my comeuppance from him a few times, I had to reform my smart-aleck attitude to put him on the pedestal he deserves. The man deserves massive respect for what he’s contributed to the music world.

Cos was the very first recipient of our Best of The Beat Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Music Business. Who else could we give that award to?

He and I became pretty good friends over the years; he’s told me so many stories about how he made music. How he basically didn’t know what he was doing, learned on the job, and managed through sheer talent to make some of the greatest music this city has ever produced. He’s definitely an idea guy, and always willing to take a chance on something new. Way back when we first became friends, before the compact disc became the primary means of recording and selling music (so you know how long ago that was!), Cos wanted to open a compact disc manufacturing facility in New Orleans. He looked for a spot to put the plant, that would have also had a recording studio attached.

He wanted to create a gourmet grocery store and deli downtown on a piece of property behind Canal Place; had the plans worked up, and was ready to go.

His plans and ideas were fabulous. He had the energy to get his ideas off the ground too, but never had the money to take his grand ideas to the next level. And they were great ideas—anyone hear of Rouses on Baronne Street? Probably just way ahead of his time.

And talk about a closet stand-up comic! Cos knew and could tell more jokes than anyone I have ever met. They were either crazy corny (ba-dum-dum) or dirty as hell. I miss his sense of humor…

Cos has been in failing health for some time now. The last time I saw him was about a year ago at the Rock Hall when Dave Bartholomew was honored. I am thrilled to know that he’s being honored while he’s still alive and that he can be applauded nationally. If anyone deserves it, he does. Cos, I love and respect what you’ve done for New Orleans music, and will always hold you in the highest regard. I will forever be a member of the “Krewe of Cos.”

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November 30th 2011

A Good Idea?

I’ve been nagging for years to get busy and use music as a promotional tool for the city.

Sometimes—especially in New Orleans—things take a lot of time to accomplish.

Obviously, the music club operators want to promote Frenchmen Street as a music district. They’ve taken a lot of time and put a lot of effort and money into creating a local- and visitor-friendly street that’s music-centric.

I’ve always operated in the mode of creating partnerships with other businesses and people so we devise a win-win strategy for everyone. It’s the only way to create something good for the community, as well as a sustainable business model.

Music Row in New Orleans?

This tactic can work in promoting the city’s music: I was recently involved in a meeting with reps from the French Market Corporation and the Louisiana State Museum to discuss performances and possible promotional ideas, when we all came to the conclusion that we should be coalescing our efforts to create a larger music district that could involve more businesses: the lower French Market; the Old U.S. Mint—which now has the performance area for the National Jazz Historical Park’s lectures and informances on its third floor, and a second-floor museum that currently houses the Preservation Hall exhibit; and Frenchmen Street.

The idea is so simple, we wondered why we hadn’t thought of it before: let’s brand the area as a music district so that all the entities can benefit from the traffic that all three bring to the table. This could simply mean signs placed at strategic locations to lead people back and forth through the area.

I love this idea. How about you? Comments?

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November 22nd 2011

Thanks For All

We’ll be heading to the vast cultural wasteland—but a shopper’s and politician’s paradise—of Baton Rouge on Turkey Day to spend time with my siblings, their families and my mother.

I’m the appointed “macaroni and cheese” maker. It’s my favorite holiday food, next to the turkey and sweet potatoes, and I make it like my mama made it, with lots of shredded Colby and sharp cheddar cheese, canned evaporated milk (it’s a must for it to turn out right), butter and eggs. That’s pretty much the recipe, except for the macaroni, and seasonings of course. No white or cheese sauce in my macaroni! Anathema!

The musical family of New Orleans (Photo, thanks to: moblog.net)

Thanksgiving isn’t really about food, though, to me. It’s one of the few times I get to socialize with my brothers and sisters throughout the year. Although my two sisters live in Baton Rouge and Lacombe, we’re too busy to see each other very much, unfortunately. My sisters, my mother and I share the same (evil) sense of humor, and whenever there’s a family gathering, at least one of us will get literally hysterical laughing over something really stupid. But that’s the way my family is, and I love them for it. It’s not to say that my brothers (I have five) don’t share in the family humor, but geez, they’re guys and there’s just something about women’s ability to talk intimately that allows us to let loose and be really silly, lay open our snarky streaks, and just plain cackle. So I really look forward to our holidays.

My daughter won’t be with us this year—she’s in Arkansas, visiting her dad and my granddaughter—and she’ll be sorely missed, as she’s pretty much the youngest of my mama’s daughters: she’s only a few years younger than my youngest sister, my mother helped raise her, and she’s got the same goofy sense of humor.

Families are really wonderful things, aren’t they? I am lucky to be a member of a large family and have a lot of people I can share common memories with, old memories and new. I’m privileged to be able to call the OffBeat staff my family as well; we are all very close, as the staff of a small magazine needs to be. I’m even more blessed to be able to call the members of the New Orleans music community my friends and extended family, and I’m thankful and thrilled to be able to call many of them my friends.

New Orleans musicians will do just about anything for each other. Yeah, they bicker and fight and bitch sometimes, but don’t all families? But when someone is sick, when someone needs help, I’ve seen this community come together time and time again to help their own. In fact, I’ve never quite experienced anything like it in my life and I am lucky and blessed to be considered part of this family.

So my thanks this year is for the support that we all give to each other, and the invisible ties that keep us together as a community. It’s a beautiful thing, and something to be incredibly grateful for.

May you and yours experience the communion that exists in our New Orleans musical family in your family. Happy Thanksgiving, y’all!

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November 16th 2011

Voting and Anarchy

Maybe anarchy is the way to go.

I heard this morning—and it’s all over the news—that our Congress’s approval rating has dropped to nine percent. Nine percent. That’s down from 13 percent in August, according to Gallup poll.

So what is this thing called democracy? Is it still working for America?

The polls indicate otherwise. The people we’ve elected aren’t doing their jobs, according to 91 percent of  the country.

I’m no political pundit, for sure, but there’s really something wrong with this picture, and these poll numbers reveal that either we’re so apathetic that we don’t care who gets elected to represent our interests, or the people we’ve elected don’t give a damn about what their constituents want.

My radical-leaning husband wants to abolish the House of Representatives because he thinks they do nothing. Personally, I’d rather abolish the practice of allowing campaign contributions, make lobbying illegal, prohibit politicians from using their office to get inside information to make personal profits, and cut off privileges that give congressmen lifelong pensions and medical benefits. My political rant for the day.

Relating to musical politics, we’re about to begin the months-long process of determining who will be the recipients of OffBeat’s Best of The Beat Awards, and hopefully, our process is more democratic than what’s currently taking place in the nation’s capitol.

Anders Osborne at the 2009 OffBeat Best of The Beat Awards. Photo by Kyle Petrozza.

For some weeks now, we’ve solicited information from musicians and music businesses (our music community) asking them to update or add their contact information into our Louisiana Music Directory database online. In a few days from now, we will be soliciting nominees from the music community using this database, so if your business or band isn’t in it, you won’t be able to participate in the process of nominations. So add yourself in, or make sure your information is correct, because it’s the only way you can be sure you can nominate.

Once we receive nominations from the music community, we calculate the top nominees, and skim the cream—the top nominations—for the public to vote for the musician, band, or recording they think is the best of 2011. Please note: we’re not looking for favorite bands or records. We’re seeking to honor the folks who have really outshone their peers in musical achievement for this year. Once musicians, bands and recordings have been nominated, both musicians and fans can vote on the outcome and the award recipients.

We honor the musicians and bands at our annual event, the Best of The Beat Awards, that’s scheduled for Friday, January 27, 2012 at Generations Hall (get a list of previous winners here plus photos from the 2010 music awards show as well as photos from 2010 music business awards). We not only honor our Lifetime Achievement Award winners at that event (names will be released later this month), and also at another, earlier event on January 25, that’s only open to the music community. We also present our awards to the music business community at the earlier event. These are the people behind the scenes: attorneys, sound engineers, recording studios, instrument retailers, festivals, etc.

Tickets for the January 27 event will go on sale on December 5 at a discounted price, so keep your eye on the Weekly Beat and our Facebook page for more information.

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November 9th 2011

An Unusual Lunch for a Good Cause

The New Orleans Mission launched its “Pathway to Restoration” campaign at an unusual lunch today. First, the lunch was held on the stage at the Orpheum Theater, and it was prepared and served by staff and clients at the Mission. We ate the same meal that a homeless client might receive (baked chicken, rice pilaf, fresh carrots, iced tea and home-made cake muffins).

The Orpheum, sans seats.

The Orpheum has been out of commission and basically abandoned since Katrina. The basement under the seats and stage was so full of water they called it the “seal tank.” The theater is in the throes of renovation, and it has a long road ahead. The basement has been drained, the old ruined seats have been removed, and the theater is drying out.

I was amazed to see that the intricate ceiling in the lobby still looks great, but the inside of the theater is another story entirely. I cannot imagine what it will cost to restore the beautiful design work and the interior of the theater itself. Local entrepreneur and tax credit guru Morris Kahn and his partners are working with the owners to restore the building. Curiosity on the state of the Orpheum led me (and others, I suspect), to attend the lunch.

I support the New Orleans Mission. We pass it on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard every day on our way to and from the office. The Mission will take in anyone off the street as long as they are not “falling down, throwing up” drunk.” It not only provides meals, showers, beds, and medical and spiritual guidance, it also provides case management services intended to help the Mission clients find full-time employment and permanent housing. There’s also a rehab program for men struggling with addiction who want to change their lives.

The ceiling of the Orpheum, lacking paint and gilding, but still beautiful.

Before Katrina, there were about 6,000 homeless in New Orleans; after Katrina, the number surged to 12,000. It’s now estimated at about 19,000. Sadly, 100 percent of these individuals live below the poverty level; 88 percent have addiction issues and 75 percent have mental illness. Over 60 percent of the Mission’s clients are from Louisiana, and 42 percent are employed full-time. About 80 percent are men; 12 percent women, and 8 percent are single women with children or are families.

Since Katrina, the New Orleans Mission has repaired its building, remodeled its Women’s Center, completed construction of a Volunteer Center, added day room services (AA meetings, shoes and clothing distribution, legal aide, employment support and training, health care services and more every Monday through Friday), and amazingly, paid off all debt while at the same time expanding its operations for the homeless.

The Mission promotes itself as a “one-stop shop” for providing all services in one location.

Click on the photo...

What these people do and the way they manage their resources is simply amazing. They are the largest homeless service provider in the city, and they provide more services for more people with less staff than any other similar institution.

The Mission needs donations and volunteers. Anyone—you or me, our family members, our friends—could become homeless at some time in their lives. There but for good fortune, go you and I. It’s been said that you can judge a city by how it treats its less fortunate. It’s up to you to help the New Orleans Mission with a donation of money, goods or your time. All donations are 100 percent tax-deductible. Helping the New Orleans Mission will help you feel good, I promise.

For more information,  go to NewOrleansMission.org or call (504) 523-2116.

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November 2nd 2011

Rotten, Really Rotten Apples

You know that old idiom, “A rotten apple spoils the barrel”?

We had a taste of that on Halloween night when two morons on Bourbon Street and Canal Street decided to take their personal fights to the street using guns. In the process, two people were shot dead, and eight others were injured. This happened in the French Quarter among crowds of people partying at the height of one of the city’s most popular destination events, Halloween. From published reports, there were “hundreds” of NOPD in the area when these incidents occurred. Obviously, the police presence didn’t inhibit these knuckleheads from carrying—and using—weapons in a crowd of tourists and locals trying to enjoy the evening in the Quarter.

Rotten ApplesIs this the fault of the police force, then? Could the NOPD have prevented this tragedy, which could prove to be a significant blow to the city’s national reputation as a tourism destination? The national media certainly picked up on it in a hurry.

Frankly, I don’t think the NOPD could have done much, if anything, to know in advance that this would happen. They’re used to seeing these thugs in the Quarter on a regular basis.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Police Chief Ronal Serpas promised they would apprehend the perps, but as we know in New Orleans, there’s little likelihood of that happening. Landrieu also claimed that this was a function of the violence that’s embedded in our culture. I do agree with that, and also contend that this could happen in any city where there’s a poor population that has lost too many of its young males to drugs, crappy education, poor parenting, easy access to handguns and exposure to violence in the media.

We all realize that something has to be done, but what? More police? Admittedly, that is a possible solution for inhibiting gun violence, unless you mix in a lot of alcohol and disregard for human life. Let’s face it, knuckleheads—especially drunk or drugged ones—solve their personal issues with guns rather than fistfights or arguments, or a discussion of the matter. They aren’t thinking about a cop who might be standing a block away in a massive crowd of people.

Obviously the solution to the problem also lies in catching and punishing the thugs. In New Orleans, we’re notorious for letting the bad guys back onto the streets. The judicial system also sucks.

It seems to be an almost overwhelming problem.

It’s been suggested that the police do random searches of people on the street who they think might be troublemakers. I can’t imagine that this would work. How would you feel if you were an innocent 25-year-old black male who’d be stopped and searched because your profile was the same as the thug? The ACLU would be all over that tactic.

As longtime readers of my columns know, I’m totally against the availability of handguns. While they’re supposedly used for self-protection, many more of them are stolen from their owners and sold on the streets to the idiots who operate like New Orleans is the wild, wild west. Many, many more are killed and injured by handguns bought by criminals either legally or on the black market.

These idiots are ruining our city. They are the rotten apples that are spoiling it for the rest of us. It’s going to take a long time to cure this problem with education, role models, and proper parenting. It could take a generation, and probably more, assuming that we can start right now by beefing up the NOPD, cleaning up our our judicial system, and educating and parenting our kids properly.

So what can we do now to ensure that our city is safe, especially in tourist areas?

Increase the police force. Train them better.

Set up random checkpoints in the French Quarter and high crime areas at night, every night, that includes metal detectors. If you want to go party in the Quarter or on Frenchmen Street, then you need to relinquish your right to carry a concealed handgun. There’s such a thing as the common good, and the city needs to man up with a policy that can keep us all safe from these knuckleheads.

We have accepted the fact that we want to promote non-stop partying with alcohol thrown in a city that has a lot of poor young people in a country that tolerates violence and drug crime. So we need to be prepared for a new reality. This isn’t your mama’s time when you could walk down the street and not have to worry about getting popped by a random bullet. We have to do something radical. Fast.

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