Letter: New Orleans must pay its own way

Re: “City seeks halt to NOPD consent decree,” published Feb. 1.

When will the citizens of New Orleans come to the realization that their fine city is simply a ward of the federal government? Few, if any, major improvement projects are funded by the city itself. Federally funded projects range from massive street improvements all the way to minuscule projects like the planting of vegetation on the neutral grounds.

The latest debacle raging about the New Orleans mayor’s legal maneuvers to cancel the mandated consent decree for police and jail improvements, which he initially supported, simply serves to amplify this ward status. No federal monies, no improvements.

New Orleans residents need to grow up and start paying their fair share of the costs to maintain the city in which they choose to live.

One would think its Republican residents, in particular, will be quite vocal on this issue, since it is their party’s main political theme to curb entitlement spending.

New Orleans supposedly receives tons of money from Harrah’s Casino and major tourist events like the Super Bowl, Mardi Gras, Essence, Jazz Fest etc.

However, just how much income it receives from these events, and where it is spent, still remains a mystery to most of its citizenry.

New Orleans residents need to take their heads out of the sand and look at the tenor of the political climate nationwide. The federal money free ride is over, for these funds are going to be more and more reduced.

It’s time to end the economic T-shirt mentality and start to figure out how to maintain and repair the city’s infrastructure with the money it takes in from its main industry: tourism.

If those funds are not sufficient to pay for the city, then it needs to find additional revenue industries, as has been suggested by many city manager economists over the years, but ignored.

The gravy train has left the station!

Jim Anderson

retired educational administrator

Ponchatoula

Comments

1) Comment by Attila - 09/02/2013

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2) Comment by bourbon-soda - 08/02/2013

People responsible for maintenance and supervision were working for and running the Corps and various levee boards up to the time of Katrina. Some are probably still there. The essence of the problem of flood-proneness in New Orleans, was not esoteric, but was prominently covered in, and maybe a cover story, of _Scientific American_. The problems with the Corps and levee boards are not likely to be limited to those two entities.

3) Comment by mh1949 - 08/02/2013

Instead of holding one hand out to be filled I guess the people of N.O. should extend the other hand also.

4) Comment by DMJ - 08/02/2013

Bourbon-soda, the levees and canals were built a while ago. I doubt anyone responsible even works there anymore, if they're even still alive. And no, it won't be the same people taking over health care and education. First of all, because the government's not taking over health care and education and secondly, because the Army Corps of Engineers doesn't deal with health care or education.

5) Comment by bourbon-soda - 08/02/2013

Thanks, DMJ. I seldom see the Katrina disaster attributed (accurately) to government failure at all levels; over decades, I might add. It was not really a natural disaster, at least for New Orleans. Now, let's get the same same people who brought us that and Vietnam to take over health care, education, and everything else. Did anyone lose so much as a parking place over Katrina, other than the doctors who were prosecuted?

6) Comment by DMJ - 08/02/2013

This rant conveniently leaves out the hand the federal government had in the engineering fiascos that led to the city's flooding after Katrina. And let's not forget the coastal erosion that is the result of river diversion and rising sea levels. Also, unlike Ponchatoula, New Orleans is important to the rest of the country. Just how much $$ in imports and oil come through the port of New Orleans, do you think? And, thanks to the rest of the country's agricultural industry, there is a giant dead zone in the Gulf resulting from nitrogen-based fertilizer run-off. New Orleans has been the nation's red-headed stepchild for decades. It's not unreasonable to expect and ask for help from the federal government.

7) Comment by A_Sustainable_BR - 08/02/2013

This is particularly troubling since N.O. Metro is about to lose it's largest private employer in Avondale. I think Michoud is on its last leg as well. I hope the city and region can get creative very quickly and find new revenue sources to maintain all of its federally funded shiny new infrastructure.

8) Comment by Chucky - 08/02/2013

Baton Rouge is in line.