Dangerous Cities

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New Orleans #1

In this series of posts we will show the most dangerous cities in America, but we will not stop there . We will show who is responsible and wherever possible we will try to show key policies which have contributed to the current state of affairs. The posts are regularly updated

Ray Nagin Mayor

Which politician emerged from the mess of Katrina as the biggest bonehead involved? No, it’s not Michael Brown, George W. Bush, or even the bumbling Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco.

The clear winner is New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who made every conceivable mistake during the crisis. With plenty of warning, he delayed the evacuation order, had no drivers ready to operate the school buses that stood idle, failed to stock the Superdome with food and water, and let the looters rampage without any interference from police. The excuse given for the failure to get buses moving was that the mayor wasn’t able to round up enough drivers. One report said most drivers were women and afraid to make the trip. But a competent mayor would have ordered the drivers to report and provided an armed on-boardprotector for each bus….

Previous Mayor, Marc Haydel Morial

In 2005, Morial, his relatives and former associates became the focus of federal investigations into corruption during his administration. Morial’s uncle Glenn Haydel was accused of defrauding the regional transit authority of a half-billion dollars in a fraudulent bond refinancing scheme. Haydel’s wife, Lillian Smith Haydel pleaded guilty to a scheme involving the New Orleans public school system. Three other members of Morial’s circle were accused of fraud, include a former city official accused of skimming hundreds of thousands of dollars in an energy-savings contract.

After leaving the office of mayor, Morial was named President and CEO of the National Urban League, a major African-American advocacy group. His tenure in these two positions began on May 15, 2003.

updated 7:20 p.m. ET, Thurs., Aug 18, 2005

NEW ORLEANS – Last year, university researchers conducted an experiment in which police fired 700 blank rounds in a New Orleans neighborhood in a single afternoon. No one called to report the gunfire. Source

Warren J. Riley

Superintendent of Police New Orleans Police Department

Prior to his appointment as Superintendent, he served as the Assistant Superintendent or the number two position in the Department as the Chief Operations Officer, where he commanded all field and investigative units in the New Orleans Police Department, comprised of 17 divisions and over 2100 commissioned and civilian members. Prior to becoming the Chief Operations Officer, Riley was appointed as a Deputy Chief, in command of the Policy, Planning and Training Bureau.

As a Captain of Police, Riley commanded the 5th Police District, which included the Lower 9th Ward and the largest concentration of low-income residents in the City of New Orleans. He successfully reduced the homicide rate in that area by nine percent.
While a Lieutenant, he served as the commander of the Information Systems and Services Division.

Previous Police Superintendent Eddie Compass

Eddie Compass was forced to resign for ordering the confiscation of firearms from law abiding citizens.

Jena Six

Jean Six are a group of six black teenagers
charged with the beating of Justin Barker, a white student at Jena High School in Jena, Louisiana, United States, on December 4, 2006. Barker was injured, but was released from the emergency room the same day.^[1] He has since brought suit against members of the Jena Six, their parents, the school district, and others allegedly involved.^[2]

Media myths about the Jena 6

I should know. I live in Jena. My wife has taught at Jena High School for many years. And most important, I am probably the only reporter who has covered these events from the very beginning.

The reason the Jena cases have been propelled into the world spotlight is two-fold: First, because local officials did not speak publicly early on about the true events of the past year, the media simply formed their stories based on one-side’s statements – the Jena 6. Second, the media were downright lazy in their efforts to find the truth. Often, they simply reported what they’d read on blogs, which expressed only one side of the issue.

Myth 1: The Whites-Only Tree. There has never been a “whites-only” tree at Jena High School. Students of all races sat underneath this tree. When a student asked during an assembly at the start of school last year if anyone could sit under the tree, it evoked laughter from everyone present – blacks and whites. As reported by students in the assembly, the question was asked to make a joke and to drag out the assembly and avoid class.

read the rest here

Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson (President)	Arnie Fielkow (Vice President)
City Hall, Room 2W50 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, LA 70112Phone: (504) 658-1070 Fax: (504) 658-1077 jbclarkson@cityofno.com	City Hall, Room 2W40 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, LA 70112 Phone: (504) 658-1060 Fax: (504) 658-1068 AFielkow@cityofno.com
Shelley Midura	Stacy S. Head	James Carter
City Hall, Room 2W80 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, LA 70112 Phone: (504) 658-1010 Fax: (504) 658-1016 SMidura@cityofno.com	City Hall, Room 2W10 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, LA 70112 Phone: (504) 658 -1020 Fax: (504) 658-1025 SHead@cityofno.com	City Hall, Room 2W70 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, LA 70112 Phone: (504) 658-1030 Fax: (504) 658-1037 JCarter@cityofno.com
Cynthia Hedge-Morrell	Cynthia Willard-Lewis
City Hall, Room 2W20 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, Louisiana 70112 Phone: (504) 658-1040 Fax: (504) 658-1048 CHMorrell@cityofno.com	City Hall, Room 2W60 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, LA 70112 Phone: (504) 658-1050 Fax: (504) 658-1058 CWLewis@cityofno.com