Will Sutton’s response to Bruce Nolan leaving for Houston: “I'm betting on New Orleans.”

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Bruce Nolan left New Orleans.

I returned.

Nolan retired some years ago after a long career at this newspaper and began aging in the beautiful Crescent City. I came home to work here, in the city that I left for an extended career elsewhere, and now I'm aging in New Orleans.

I think New Orleans is a good place to age. Streetcars offer a 31-day Jazzy Pass for seniors for only $14 — a gateway to beautiful, free Audubon Park and City Park.

A New Orleans Public Library "culture pass" gets me into the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience, the Audubon aquarium and zoo, and the New Orleans Museum of Art. I love Black people. I really love New Orleans Black people and our culture.

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I understand Nolan's decision to leave New Orleans for Houston; he gets to spend more time with his family. But his family-focused decision has nothing to do with New Orleans' problems. I don't think the challenges he recited would be significantly different in southern New Jersey, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego or Jackson, Mississippi — all places where I have relatives.

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I spent my early years as a full-time reporter covering Camden and southern New Jersey before moving to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Post-Tribune in Gary, Indiana, and The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina. I did other work in Grambling and Monroe in north Louisiana before moving home.

In all of those places, people complained about crime, police response times and a lack of leadership.

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Yes, there's anger, harm and, unfortunately, too often violence in our city. Every life deserves a peaceful end. I don't want to pretend we don't have big problems, but our worst crime stretch was in the 1990s. That's not what we're experiencing now.

A key word in Nolan's engaging, emotional farewell is "suburban." He writes admiringly of Houston but admits: "I’ve rarely ventured into its older core."

That's not unlike New Orleans. Many people live in suburban parishes because they choose not to live in the city — but they like being close enough to enjoy all the city has to offer.

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I know people who are deciding whether to sell their homes because homeowners insurance is so high. I have another friend who moved to Houston for a job — and to be near his family. He said Houston "has no soul, no sense of self."

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I'm certain Nolan will enjoy his new home near his adult children, extended family and former New Orleans neighbors. I'm equally certain he'll miss New Orleans' culture, entertainment, food and people — all the things I enjoy regularly.

He made his choice. I made mine. I'm betting on New Orleans.

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