Nagin gave a few sketchy details of the "new" New Orleans as he slouched along on his mystical river journey. He laconically described visions of outdoor concerts, a redeveloped Mississippi shoreline, more streetcars, and a new and improved Canal Street.
In interviews afterwards, City Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell praised the idea of the economic package, but questioned how enthusiastic her constituents would be. "It's going to be very difficult to sell that to my residents in District D when they're dealing with things like I can't drive down the street the infrastructure is not there," she said.
Of course Hedge-Morrell was cited for driving 100 miles per hour last year, which may account for her concern about street infrastructure. But if I were she, I would be more worried that Nagin might take away her credentials for implying that New Orleanians will not immediately embrace the idea of more streetcars instead of getting the FEMA trailers off the streets three years post Katrina. Hedge Morrell also mentioned that perhaps Nagin should have said something about education. That comment's gonna get her hands slapped with a ruler, for sure.
Did I mention that this was reported on WWL-TV?
Moving on from the hypnotic introduction to the State of the City, Nagin said:
"Now what is the state of our city? Ladies and gentleman, we are reinventing ourselves in recovery. "
Reinventing ourselves in recovery.
"Today our population is strong at 72 percent of pre-Katrina, or 327,000 residents."
Oops. The United States Census Bureau puts the numbers at 240,000, which are even less than 2007.
"The police department and District Attorney's office are now on the same page. Last year we had 1,509 "701" releases, where criminals who had committed serious crimes were out walking the streets 60 days after their arrest. This year we have had zero. That's right, not one."
A law enforcement officer offered another interpretation of the Mayor's factoid:
"A 60 day release is also known as a "701 release." 701 releases may have significantly been reduced this year, however, the D.A.'s office now just 'refuses' the case within 60 days with the right to reinstate the charges. Whatever the case may be, criminals are still being released from jail (now due to refused charges, not 701 releases)."
Yep, folks, just take a deep breath.
On May 5, New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley released statements which indicate violent crime and armed robberies surged 20 percent in New Orleans during the first months of 2008. This is an increase over the same time period last year. A 10.4 percent drop in murders during the first quarter of 2008 was immediately erased by murders in April--there were 70 killings in New Orleans this year and 63 killings by May 2007.
The interpretation of the statistics is complicated by the disagreement over actual population numbers between the Mayor's Office and the Census Bureau.
"Two weeks ago I spoke to the American Association of Public Opinion Researchers, the nation's leading survey scientists at their annual conference right here in New Orleans. They were amazed at the many studies about us and how we have progressed. They were stunned that we had gone from less than 50 percent who wanted to return after Katrina to 70 percent now who are hopeful about our future. They have reduced us to a three letter term and call us KAPS, Katrina Affected Populations. Go figure."
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
