re: Is New Orleans really going to shite?

I work in the city every day and live in the suburbs.

There are certain areas I will not drive in, or go into, after dark. There are certain places on the St. Charles route I will not stand for parades.

I do not do drugs, do not drive drunk, etc. Don't go looking for trouble. I do not carry a weapon. I keep my head on a swivel whenever I am out in public - no matter if I'm in the Quarter or the Magic Kingdom. Keep my wallet in my front pocket, stay in a group, etc.

I often walk from my office to my car after dark and have never felt unsafe. I don't hang out on the corner of Canal and Bourbon at 3 am.

We have a crime problem, we have a gun problem, we have a drug problem, but 90 percent of those are all connected to one another and not to anyone else. 10 percent of the time, innocents get caught up and it's really frustrating.

Many other aspects of the city are booming. We have some money in the treasury, business is opening and moving here, housing is on the rise. It has a positive vibe for the most part.

If we could just get the crime issues under control, this city would be exploding in growth. And it's not even that you are likely to get hurt, but the perception is horrific.

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We don't have those problems at this point and really don't need to build affordable housing.

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Nobody who actually lives in an area wants "affordable housing", but don't worry. The chamber of commerce will tell you they need the low wage labor pool, the SJWs will tell you you're racist to reject diversity, and the federal government will tell you tough shite, you're getting projects precisely BECAUSE you don't get have any.

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There are some good things happening but its hard to over shadow the violence and education problems.

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The education problem is being fixed, but it will take a generation to see a difference. There's a lot of rot and bad habits to cut.

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Should be 0%

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And that's why it's so frustrating and that's why we are not exploding in growth.

I'm a native New Orleanian. But I lived away from New Orleans for 15 years. Moved back to town a few months ago with my Dallas-native wife and young daughter. I've never been happier in my adult life. The other evening my wife and I were having a glass of wine on the back porch and I asked her how she's adjusting to the move. She told me she loves it so much and thanked me for taking her to this special place and that she felt at home.

We're in our 40's now, and we don't stay out really late at night like I did when I was dumb and young and naïve.

I work in the Quarter and I deal with a lot of different types of people during the week. Young, old, black, white. Almost to a man, everyone I deal with is awesome.

But none of use are now so gullible that we don't recognize that there are troubled people here.

Regardless, this place has been magical to us. It's difficult to type that in the wake of Will Smith's high-profile killing. But our experience has been nothing short of amazing.

And for the record, I do recognize that New Orleans is not for everyone. And that's ok with me.

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ontainebleau Dr

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I was away for six years too. Glad we came back. Yeah some things are hard, but where in life is this not true? You go somewhere else, you are trading one set of issues for another.

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To be fair to New Orleans, I lived there for four years from 91-95 when it was considered the murder capital of the nation. Not once in four years did I even come close to being assaulted, robbed or murdered. I never really felt in danger during that time because the vast majority of that crime was drug and gang related and occurred in specific areas. I had zero problems during those four years.

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I had two friends murdered for their automobiles at different times uptown during that period and another friend shot in his head protecting his girlfriend by the Upperline Restaurant during that period. It was not safe at all. Its still not safe but no where near what lawlessness existed at that time.