HumidCity

I got this from mominem, not sure of the sourcing as yet, but it made me stand up and cheer!

Dear Mr. Jordan:

I am writing to you today to respectfully request that you resign from the office of Orleans Parish District Attorney.

I have no doubts about your intentions or your dedication or your character.  By all accounts you are a fine man.  But the job of District Attorney is an admittedly difficult one with heavy responsibility and requires more than most fine men are capable of.  After the events of the last 48 hours, which have eroded the public’s confidence in your ability to carry out the responsibilities of the District Attorney, I am asking that you resign from office.  An elected official’s legitimacy and moral authority to govern is derived from the consent of the governed.  I no longer believe you have the consent and support from the public required to perform your duties adequately.

I do not know that there is any excuse for dropping charges against a quintuple murderer without a thorough exhaustion of all possibilities to prevent such a thing from happening.  Months ago you and Superintendent Riley pledged to the City Council several reforms and improvements in your lines of communication to ensure that lack of coordination between your offices would no longer lead to dropped cases against those who pose serious threats to our public safety.  It has become all too clear that you have been unable to hold up your end of this bargain.  Mr. Jordan, you must know as well as any of your fellow New Orleanians the great urgency our city feels in combating the violent crime problem.  We have lost the room for these kinds of error.  I thank you for your service and your efforts as District Attorney, yet I maintain my request on behalf of my constituents that you resign your office as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
Shelley Midura

cc:        Mayor C. Ray Nagin

New Orleans City Council

This is a statement from the Hot 8 Brass Band, for whom Dinerral played snare.

We were disappointed and shocked to hear this morning that the murder case against David Bonds, accused of shooting our snare drummer Dinerral Shavers, has been dismissed. We are currently on the road, trying to spread the music and culture of New Orleans and to broadcast a positive message about the city across the nation. Dinerral’s death, and now the dismissal of his case, only prove to us how important this work is. We will continue to fight for New Orleans, at home and away. We will continue to honor the generous spirit of Dinerral, who gave so much to our music and to our city.

The Hot 8 Brass Band

Disappointed? That hardly covers it. This is a shame and a disgrace.

I am crossposting this for a fellow cyclist. I think it speaks well to the state of affairs here:

i figure the least i can do is ask around…i know it’s pretty useless, but here goes.

i borrowed my roommate’s bike to attend a social work conference and it was stolen in front of the Holiday Inn downtown. yup, right in front of the National Guard Post.  Oh, and directly across the street from City Hall. There were police parked along the street throughout the morning too.  Safe, i thought.  It had to be dismantled to be stolen (i.e. seat taken off and tire removed).  Actually, i’m not really sure how the heck they got it off the pole, but the kryptonite U-lock is all that was left.  I’m assuming someone noticed the person doing this…or maybe not. Today’s been fabulous, to say the least.

It was a gold-ish colored Trek with an NOPD tag below the seat. It was a smaller framed bike with gear shifts on the handles that twist. I don’t even recall much more about it.  But if you happen to be the person who took it or you see it/know who took it, i’ll give you 50 bucks to return it.  I don’t even wish physical harm to the rider, not much anyway. I just want the bike back.  Please! It’s my only transportation since my car flooded plus i’m going to have one really pissed off roommate.

I think more than any other emotion, I’m feeling a little annoyed that it happened in such an obvious location with many uniformed people hanging around. anyway, thanks for reading. happy biking.

If you have any info please leave a comment on the original post here.

Welcome to the hothouse. New Orleans is slipping into summertime and the heat is rocketing. The past several days have been oppressive and sweat saturated as the Hammer of Ra pounds down upon us. It s the type of weather that makes one want to hde in the AC and pretend the outside world does not exist.

Of course it could also be that the violence is what makes many people want to hide. Every New Orleanian knows that once the heat really begins the murder rate rises with the tempreature. Look at the statistics, May almost always denotes an upswing of violent crime and loss of life. Hell, we are already the murder capital of the US with only 50% of our people back, the summer spike should put us in a position where no one can take that title away!
Dan,over at NOLA Metroblogging is of the same mind. Beaten by the heat and baffled by the violence he notes a disturbing report:

It doesn’t help any when the Metro Crime Commission releases a report stating what has been obvious to us who live here now. The NOPD is focusing too much on trivial traffic and “misdemeanor” offenses. What that means is the NOPD is more focused on stopping you and I for driving a vehicle without a brake tag. Instead of focusing on the killers killing each other. Or the killers killing innocent business owners. I’ve known and written about the city’s efforts on raising cash. Why focus on stopping murders when there are dollar bill’s driving around the city, waiting to be pulled over and taken to jail. It’s a money making scheme and just validates my belief that the city government sees EVERYONE who is back as a walking/talking/driving dollar bill.

No reliable flood control (See Fix The Pumps for doumentation and details), no progress on crime, the fear of hurricane season, no mental health infrastructure….

The climate of fear has become a standard one for local residents. “Will I get washed away or blown away before summer ends?” is a question I have heard in varying permutations throughout the city. The heat, fear, and mental unease cook down like a roux, ready to thicken the gumbo of tragedies we already sup.
Robin Malta is simply the latest victim of this assinine crime rate. A community activist, small business owner, former Grand Marshall of Southern Decadence, and truly good natured human being who was bludgeoned to death Monday night. He was also someone I knew. The third person I know to be murdered (not just die, but get murdered) over the last six months. Another local character reduced to a statistic. He was only 3 years my senior, not even 45 yet.

I have lost my focus, the accumulation of bad news has me nearly numb so rather than try to come to coherent conclusion I will leave you hanging.  Like the crime there is no resolution forthcoming….

I have just found out that someone I know was murdered Monday night.

Goodby Robin, you will be missed. I will write more on this when my fury abates.

“The president cannot eliminate constitutional protections with the stroke of a pen by proclaiming a civilian, even a criminal civilian, an enemy combatant subject to indefinite military detention.”
JUDGE DIANA GRIBBON MOTZ, writing for the majority in a ruling by the federal appeals court in Richmond, Va.

Now that is a refreshing breath of air. Now the question is whether it will get struck down or not.

Well, immediately after receiving the last bit of ill news a bit of clarification has appeared. Evidently it was a fight between two waiters, one smashed a wine bottle over the other’s head and somebody reported it as a gunshot.

I feel marginally better. The sad fact is that the initial report was so believable.

Evidently a few bare minutes ago there was a shooting at Antoine’s restaurant here in the French Quarter. To use a classic internet acronym, WTF? One of the oldest and poshest restaurants in town, in the middle of the most heavily trafficed part of the city and there is a shooting in broad daylight?

Obviously the marching and ranting against crime has resulted in no real net gain. This is bloody horrible, not only because someone may well be dead now, but also because the day to day killings in impoverished parts of the city do not get the attention lavished upon them that this will. Nauseating.
To steal a line from Joeseph Conrad, “The Horror, The Horror…”

More to come as I get info

This person needs to be found and removed. Interesting stance being taken in the article as well, note how it is cast as aggravated burglary even though he “lifted her dress,” and, “fled the location in possession of the victim’s underwear?”

SUBJECT: Aggravated Burglary Warning

The New Orleans Police Department is currently investigating an
aggravated burglary that occurred on 03-27-07 at about 4:24 am, in the
2400 block of Calhoun Street. In this incident a female was inside of
her residence and heard glass breakage, she went to investigate by
opening her back door and observed an unknown black male standing at the
door. The subject forced his way in the residence and tied the victim’s
hands with rope and when she began to scream he produced a knife and
told the victim “I HAVE THIS AND I’AM NOT GOING TO USE IT, BUT IF YOU
MAKE NOISE I’M GOING TO!” The unknown black male lifted the victim’s
dress, at which time a struggle ensued, causing a disturbance and the
unknown subject fled the location in possession of the victim’s
underwear.

The suspect is described as being a black male in his late
twenties, approximately 5′11″, medium build, medium complexion, short
twist hairstyle, wearing a navy blue t-shirt, blue baggy jeans with the
carpenter hook on the side, and black tennis, with possibly an upper
gold tooth.

As attempts continue to derail the lawsuits against the Corps I think the following info is extremely important. Please pass this along to anyone and everyone you know in the New Orleans area.

Please let everyone know that the previous forms that were filled out in reference to the Corp of Engineers lawsuit are invalid. The new forms which are (2) pages can be obtained and printed from the wwltv.com website. http://www.wwltv.com/suit1.pdf and http://www.wwltv.com/suit2.pdf These forms must be mailed in by Wednesday, February 28, 2007.

You can also download a copy of Form 95 & necessary instructions at www.leveelaw. com

If anyone is interested in signing on to the class action against the Corps, Murphy Law Firm has people in town today to do the paperwork. The deadline for filing was moved up yesterday, and the new deadline is Wednesday. If you want to find out more, call Nicole at 225 773 4206. All of the law firms involved, and there are many, are scrambling to comply with this latest effort of the corps to derail the suit.

A very interesting new site (new to me anyway). In their own words:

Welcome to Signal26, where a New Orleans policeman can speak the truth freely without fear of retribution. Are you a New Orleans citizen? Read about how your police department is really run by the mayor’s office and command staff. See what everyday police must overcome just
to keep you safe.

Evidently written by an officer. Give it a read through and don’t miss the comments. It seems the public are not the only ones to be fed up with the antics of the Nagin/Reilly circus act.

Hat Tip to Slate

EDIT: This Signal26 posting talks about what the site is all about in response to a piece Garland Robinette did on WWL Radio. Personally I really like the idea of an unfiltered voice from the rank and file of our law enforcement. The view of NOPD as either all good or all bad is not in tune with reality. I’m a native, I have my share of both good cop and bad cop stories. I will be aproaching 103-M, the blogger for a virtual interview in the near future, keep your eyes peeled.

NOLA.com: Times-Picayune Updates
FBI agents will hit the streets with NOPD patrols, knocking on doors in order to build relationships with residents, he added, determined to end the days when citizens distrust police to the point where they neither want to cooperate with investigations or testify at trials.

Am I the only one a bit unnerved by the idea of Feds knocking on my door? With NOPD in tow? Even for someone with nothing to hide that is a bit on the disturbing side. There are definetly leanings towards a police state mentality here. One could speculate about violence being allowed to get out of hand in order to facillitate federalizing the city, but that would be absurd.

Makes you think. Better be good out there.

Oh yeah, the chocolate ration has been increased.

EDIT: This post and the prior one were read in their entirety on the nationally syndicated Jack Blood’s Deadline Live tonight. Thanks Jack!

so the saints are in the NFC championship game… but does that fix anything? maybe delays a murder? or makes us forget about the mess for a few hours? football the new opiate of the people? call me crazy but i think the grand distraction is just a distraction, none too grand…

maybe if the FEMA trailer were bigger… maybe if the gov’t had not lost my mom’s body for six weeks… maybe if the insurance companies, police dept, criminal justice system, and other institutions we relied on were more reliable… maybe if i felt like this post katrina new orleans was part of america…. then perhaps then i could get caught up in the hoopla of america’s team…. but would this happen in america? maybe hell has frozen over… check the weather channel and then BLOG THIS!

p.h. fred
notthat.com

I would like to share a piece of mail I received today. It was forwarded to me by my editor Nathan Morrison and I think it is indicative of the questions being asked in other parts of the country. After all, there is not much beyond soundbites and highly condensed (and usually ill informed) mainstream media on the subject.

This is probably the way that most people outside of NOLA see the situation. I hope I have done some justice to these questions. The original author’s name has been removed along with the headers.

Alright, I will start by admitting that family matters are keeping me from posting for a day or two and I do not have much time to write now. I do, however, have two things to present that will help convey it.

First comes the amazing video offering from American Zombie. Watch, rinse, repeat! He presents a wonderfully balanced mini-documentary of the day including interviews with several local bloggers including myself, Maitri, Adrastos, Blake Haney, and more. Absolutely fantastic, a must see! (And yes, this will dispel all rumors, I really am that loud)

Second is a piece from the Institute for Southern Studies entitled Concerns Grow Over Expanded Police Power in New Orleans. It documents and addresses some of the concerns brought up over at Library Chronicles. As I have commented there, these are aspects of the situation that need to be watched for, especialy in the current national climate of civil liberties violations. While I do not agree with his presentation a lot of the time, there are those elements of truth to it.

I think those two should hold y’all until around Monday when I will have time to post more in depth thoughts. In the meantime I highly advise that you check out the NOLAbloggers in my links bar. They will give you a variety of opinions, facts, factoids, pictures, video and good wholesome (?) New Orleans attitude.

As the Zombie himself would say, Ashe!

There is little I can say as I sit and listen to the sirens (7 since returning home now) so I will be brief.

Bart and Karen are my new heroes, brilliant job giving them what for.

I will leave it to someone far more talented than I to state:

Marvin Gaye: What’s Going On

Mother, mother
There’s too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There’s far too many of you dying
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today

Father, father
We don’t need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today

Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what’s going on
What’s going on
Yeah, what’s going on
Ah, what’s going on

(lyric courtesy of bifemmefatale, former HumidCity writer)

This is why we march: Silence IS Violence, it is the tacit acceptance of the unacceptable. It is the aknowledgement that we, as a community are beaten. Silence and inaction are not an option, do you hear me Ray? While lackwit Reilly tells us that the crime has gotten better people are shot down in cold blood, and in their own homes no less.If I believed in silence I would not write, I would not blog, I would not run my mouth in the face of injustice. Silence IS Violence.

Tomorrow we will join as a community and march on City Hall. 11 am at the foot of Canal St. is where it all begins, although various neighborhood groups will be doing their own marches t this meeting point.
Be there for the sake of the recently dead. Be there for Dinerral Shavers of the Hot 8 Brass Band, Jealina Brown, Steve Blair, Corey Hayes, Eddy Saint Fleur, Don Morgan, Helen Hill, Larry Glover, and Monier Gindy. Be there before it is your name or your wife’s or maybe even your child’s on a list like this.

Two of our number, the NOLABloggers that is, will be speaking once we reach City Hall: the voices of B.Rox, and Squandered Heritage will be raised along with others. Join us, be part of the solution, take our city back!

There is no joy in Mudville, Warren Riley has struck out!

-Loki

Uptown New Orleans

Just got an email from the sign making party. Nagin and Reilly just arrived at the Sound Cafe. What are they going to do, make signs for their own resignations????

More data as soon as I have it.

Elegantly stated:

Metroblogging New Orleans: Pondering and proximity
I love my city. I no longer have small children I feel I need to protect. Even if I entertain thoughts of leaving, where would I go? I could sell the house and (using an honest assessment and not some pie-in-the-sky numbers) do a little better than breaking even, but then what? What’s the freaking answer here? If you’ve read any of my stuff before (including the last entry), then you know I’m a big supporter of block-by-block neighborhood action and unity. But what do you do when the bad guys start blowing out windshields across the street? These are seriously bad dudes who really, really, REALLY don’t care if they die or go to prison. Pragmatism says to load the artillery, wait outside until they do something again and then just kill them. But you know how this works — then one of their homeboys will decide to get even and, before long, it’s me or TBK or my son who gets blown away while going out to our car to get something. It’s our own mini-me version of what’s been going on in the MIddle East for thousands of years and what’s been going on in Central City for several decades. Vigilantism is its own tragic trap.

This is happening in AMERICA, for god’s sake! No wonder everyone I know is on anti-depressants or self medicating! We truly are the lost and forgotten. And to think that my father spent two years in a prison camp to defend this country …

EDIT: Just got an email that makes me aware clarification of my meaning is needed here. I am not saying the rest of the country should do something about the crime here, that is purely due to local incompetence and culpability. What I am trying to state is that it is bitter to think that these conditions exist in the nation that is the self-proclaimed leader of the free world. These circumstances are the result of decades of missteps by the local government and community combined with the chaos and lack of infrastructure created by the Federal Flood. We have created a generation without remorse and given them a Mad Max style wasteland to live out their Lord of the Flies fantasies in.

If any further clarification is needed, leave a comment.

For those fortunate enough to have been invited, The Skull Club is a well known and loved gathering. I have had that good fortune. As a result Lord David, who orchestrates the proceedings and keeps the rolls of membership, has become a friend. I am proud to be able to add his voice to the ongoing dialogue:

Spain & Rampart, Marigny
Sunday, January 7th, 2007

Having just returned from the Ad Hoc town meeting on violence in the Marigny/Bywater neighborhoods, in preparation for a march on City Hall, this Thursday, 1/11/07, I am reviewing the Times Picayune I picked up on the way home.

While I expected some good and bad ideas to arise from today’s meeting, I was not surprised by any in either extreme, pleasantly so, as this gathering was thrown together in the last few days, mostly by friends and neighbors still stricken with grief.

While some of these suggestions meet with sour looks, like disarming all residents as a start for peace, some met without outright booing, like boycotting Mardi Gras until the murders stop. The thought of disarming everyone in the neighborhood sounds reasonable in a TV Land, sing-a-long kind of way, but would leave us all publicly at the hands of those with weapons. I might point out the young couple who, when being robbed at gun point out side the Pheonix, saved their own lives by killing the gunman on the spot. As for canceling Mardi Gras, that sounds like grounding your kid because the bully beat him up. And in that regard, I got the shock of the day…

It seems that Warren Riley is now putting forth the idea of curfew once again.  Since we have a police superintendent who cannot manage his forces, or personnel.  He wants to hold us all prisoners in our homes while the criminals with guns roam the streets. This would not have helped Helen Hill, who had her attacker knock at her door at 5:30 in the morning. The local policeman who web surfs in his cruiser down the block would have seen nothing either way.

I recall being chased down by police for being on my neighbors’ doorstep at 8:30 one night, just over a year ago, for being out after curfew. They threatened my wife, neighbor & I with arrest for Public Intoxication for having a cocktail together on his doorstep. While residents of Uptown New Orleans enjoyed a 2am curfew in the French Quarter, we who live a few blocks across Elysian Fields, and in the Bywater, were herded like cattle, sometimes at gunpoint, into our homes at 8pm. Why? Because of the rubber-stamp curfew of the 70117 designed to protect the lower 9th Ward. Obviously, those of us on this side of the Industrial Canal were not flooded out, returned to our homes & jobs and intended to rebuild our city. We waited months before being allowed out after 8. I haven’t been so restricted since entering Junior High School.

The idea that the lack of police management can be ignored while we, the citizens of this Great City, are locked behind our doors, quivering in fear of any late knock, is absurd beyond all possibility. I’ve lived in Washington DC when it took the Murder Capitol Crown from New Orleans. I lived in New York City’s lower east side during the crack epidemic. No police force ever locked the citizens down because they couldn’t do their job. Let’s find somebody who can. I’m told that New Orleans has a ratio of 600 police officers per every 100,000 citizens, one of the highest in the country. I’ve seen as many as nine at a time, gathered on Bourbon Street, as many as three protecting one single exotic dancer. A shift in management skills is in order.

Our very freedom is at risk by this kind of thinking, Mister Riley. Our very lives.  Better you lose your job then another child loses a mother, another husband, his wife. Do your job, or let us find someone who can. We’re not going to lockdown.

Lord David - Artist
New Orleans

Why march against crime? Isn’t that for the college kids to do while they are all stoned and feeling attention hungry? One of my new favorite NOLABloggers, NOLA-Dishu, gives us documented facts on how it actually has worked before here in New Orleans (HT to American Zombie for turning me on to him)

NOLA-dishu

Next up will be a march on City Hall next Thursday. Now, I’ve heard some people already dissing the idea and calling it a waste, but I strongly disagree and here’s why:

In the mid-90’s, New Orleans was experiencing a crime wave as bad as this city has ever seen. The coup de grace was a horrific murder at the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen. It was the last straw for the citizens of New Orleans. Citizens, both black and white, marched on City Hall. Morial, under severe pressure, gave Pennington Carte Blanche to clean up the NOPD. Officers were given substantial raises. He also instituted CompStat (which I’m trying to replicate in my own improvisational way). Morale amongst the street cops rose. Crime plummeted. Other factors were involved, but the results are undeniable. In 1999, there were only 158 murders. That’s fewer than last year with more than double the population.

That’s why it’s wrong to say it isn’t fixable. IT’S BEEN DONE ONCE BEFORE. WE CAN DO IT AGAIN. APATHY TOWARDS CRIME WILL KILL THIS CITY AS SURELY AS THE THUGS RUNNING AROUND WITH AK’S.

He is dead right. I was working in the service industry in the French Quarter at the time. The shockwaves of the La. Pizza Kitchen murders were immediate and severe. None of us felt safe at work, or leaving work. Many of us knew the victims directly or had friends in common. (when you work in the industry you tend to end up drinking with your fellow waiters and such at partcular bars after work. You tend to know the guys at the various other venues.) It was shocking, barbaric, and as he points out galvanizing.

We need that same level of outrage applied to Wonka The Invisible and dear, adorable Warren. These people purportedly work for us (not that I have seen any evidence of work this term) and need to be reminded of it!

This is not a black issue or a white issue, its a thug issue. We cannot allow predators to thin our numbers. I understand that there are very definite factors that may have led them to this lifestyle. Only the uninformed and unobservant can discount the influence of grotesque poverty, lack of education, racism, and diminished opportunities have played in breeding these criminals. BUT, we are all human and have choices to make. Good or Evil. Right or Wrong. What your childhood was like does not mean shit to me if you have deprived a child of their parent by depriving that parent of their life.

Just to address the comments that I know are coming: This city has been governed by african americans since the 70’s so trying to put everything down to racism is more than a bit disingenuous. I would also like to point out that the NOPD have failed to provide any sort of description in almost all of these cases. How do you know what race the perp was?

I am a native, I know this has always been a violent town. I also know that we have to take it back. The wave of violence that has flooded the city is as dangerous as the waters of the Federal Flood. It is a city killer. This IS the next storm!

Tootie Montana is rolling in his grave.

…because you know that our “leadership,” will do nothing wthout being forced!

Spread the word, crosspost, tell offline people, etc, etc, etc.

American Zombie has penned a beautiful satire of the current situation, unfrtunately it is desperately close to being an accurte representation of our lives. Do we want THIS to be our city?? Get involved and help stop the thugs!

Homicides on the rise in New Orleans - Nightly News with Brian Williams - MSNBC.com
NEW ORLEANS - In the last week more Americans have died in New Orleans than in Iraq. Since Dec. 29, there have been eight military deaths. In the Big Easy, there have been 14 murders.