Vacation? Baghdad or New Orleans...a toss up.

[sitarro]

choices, choices


http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070106/D8MG2T1G0.html


Big Easy Weighs Curfew After 8 Slayings

Jan 6, 6:18 PM (ET)

By BECKY BOHRER

(AP) New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley and Mayor Ray Nagin, right, discuss the cities...
Full Image
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - With at least eight slayings in the city in the first week of the new year, officials are considering a curfew to help stem the violence, the police superintendent said Saturday.
"It's something we're just sort of talking about, to see if that will make a difference," police Superintendent Warren Riley said.
Mayor Ray Nagin, meanwhile, urged residents not to leave the city, still rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, because of the recent killings. He said the slayings could be a tipping point that "galvanizes our community" to find solutions.
Some residents have called for a march on City Hall on Thursday to demand action to curb the violence.
Nagin and Riley both tried to reassure residents that they were doing all they can to make the city safer. Riley said some covert operations were under way and Nagin said he hoped to have details sometime next week on a "more creative, aggressive" plan developed in talks he has had with local ministers.
Riley said the slayings are a part of a chronic problem that goes back to the city's school system and what he sees as the city's failure, over many years, to adequately educate and provide job opportunities for residents.
He said he's also concerned about making sure "hard-core criminals" are prosecuted and kept in jail.
Problems will continue until there are improvements in the criminal justice system, which has struggled to get court cases moving again since Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, Riley said.

 

[Ninja]

zomg civil war!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[sitarro]

Nawlins is looking more and more like Baghdad everyday........

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/01/10/D8MI7FEG0.htm


Checkpoints to Combat New Orleans Crime

Jan 10 12:20 AM US/Eastern


By MARY FOSTER
Associated Press Writer



NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Police plan to set up checkpoints beginning Wednesday to help curb a crime wave that has claimed nine lives since the start of 2007, Mayor Ray Nagin said, stopping short of imposing a curfew on this tourism- dependent city.
The checkpoints will operate between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., when about a third of the city's violent crime occurs, and will target drug and alcohol violations as well as motorist insurance. The first one was to be held in a crime-ridden area of the city.



Nagin said the police force would also increase foot patrols, sheriff deputies would supplement the force, and authorities would increase the number of surveillance cameras in high-crime areas. Speeding homicide cases through the court system is also part of his plan.

"This city will focus on murders," Nagin said, flanked by Police Superintendent Warren Riley, District Attorney Eddie Jordan and others speaking at the bloodstained site of the city's first murder of 2007. "We're drawing a line in the sand, and we're saying, 'We've had it.'"

A curfew had been opposed by the city's tourism leaders, who said it would further hurt businesses struggling since Hurricane Katrina. While Nagin did not declare a curfew, he said the message to citizens was to stay off the streets in high-crime areas and in early morning hours.

Nagin acknowledged the criminal justice breakdown extended beyond the police force and said a corps of volunteers will be recruited to monitor homicide cases moving through the courts. "We're sending a signal that the system that used to allow you to commit a murder and there were no consequences is over. It has been easier to commit a murder than another crime in New Orleans," Nagin said.

Also Tuesday, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., called on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to share more information on trailer residents with police, especially in New Orleans.

Law enforcement officials say the large trailer sites _ where about 3,000 people still live in New Orleans _ have turned into hot spots for drug dealers, prostitutes and even murderers. FEMA has been very tightlipped about who is living at the sites, which has hindered police work, St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stephens said.

"We're largely still in the dark," Stephens said. "They won't share information."

Rachel Rodi, a FEMA spokeswoman, said the "records of applicants for FEMA assistance" cannot be shared, a policy all federal agencies adhere to. However, FEMA turns over information to investigators if they have "a specific, legally sufficient need," she said.

 

[Avatar4321]

You know, i think id rather go to Baghdad regardless... I think it be interesting to see.

 

[sitarro]

You know, i think id rather go to Baghdad regardless... I think it be interesting to see.

If they serve good Falafel, Baba Ganoush and Shwarma I might be up for it but I definitely want to carry numerous concealed automatic weapons.

 

[trobinett]

Nawlins is looking more and more like Baghdad everyday........

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/01/10/D8MI7FEG0.htm


Checkpoints to Combat New Orleans Crime

Jan 10 12:20 AM US/Eastern


By MARY FOSTER
Associated Press Writer



NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Police plan to set up checkpoints beginning Wednesday to help curb a crime wave that has claimed nine lives since the start of 2007, Mayor Ray Nagin said, stopping short of imposing a curfew on this tourism- dependent city.
The checkpoints will operate between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., when about a third of the city's violent crime occurs, and will target drug and alcohol violations as well as motorist insurance. The first one was to be held in a crime-ridden area of the city.



Nagin said the police force would also increase foot patrols, sheriff deputies would supplement the force, and authorities would increase the number of surveillance cameras in high-crime areas. Speeding homicide cases through the court system is also part of his plan.

"This city will focus on murders," Nagin said, flanked by Police Superintendent Warren Riley, District Attorney Eddie Jordan and others speaking at the bloodstained site of the city's first murder of 2007. "We're drawing a line in the sand, and we're saying, 'We've had it.'"

A curfew had been opposed by the city's tourism leaders, who said it would further hurt businesses struggling since Hurricane Katrina. While Nagin did not declare a curfew, he said the message to citizens was to stay off the streets in high-crime areas and in early morning hours.

Nagin acknowledged the criminal justice breakdown extended beyond the police force and said a corps of volunteers will be recruited to monitor homicide cases moving through the courts. "We're sending a signal that the system that used to allow you to commit a murder and there were no consequences is over. It has been easier to commit a murder than another crime in New Orleans," Nagin said.

Also Tuesday, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., called on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to share more information on trailer residents with police, especially in New Orleans.

Law enforcement officials say the large trailer sites _ where about 3,000 people still live in New Orleans _ have turned into hot spots for drug dealers, prostitutes and even murderers. FEMA has been very tightlipped about who is living at the sites, which has hindered police work, St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stephens said.

"We're largely still in the dark," Stephens said. "They won't share information."

Rachel Rodi, a FEMA spokeswoman, said the "records of applicants for FEMA assistance" cannot be shared, a policy all federal agencies adhere to. However, FEMA turns over information to investigators if they have "a specific, legally sufficient need," she said.

Well, I've given Spiderman a hard time about NO, but I do feel its a shame, that a city with a colorful past, and some very beautiful architect can't be taken back from the gangsters, and dead beats.

Of course, so much has to do about "attitude".

Supporting the "status quo" in NO, is NOT the way to correct the situation.

Its good to see the Mayor doing something, but HE is not the man to lead the city out of its depths of deprivation.