New Orleans Needs to Grow Up!

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 city 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.  And once the new projects are completed,  there are seldom any funds available to maintain them, which eventually leads to their disrepair.  It is a cycle that is repeated over and over.

The latest debacle raging about the New Orleans mayor’s legal maneuvers to cancel the Justice Department's mandated consent decree for  police and jail improvements, which he initially supported, simply serves to amplify this ward status.  The mayor suddenly came to the realization that the city would have to pony up approximately 17 million a year of its own money to fix the jail problems in addition to the 55 million over the next 5 years to fix the police department.  Now he wants to cancel the  entire process.  No federal monies, no improvements.

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

 One would think its Republican residents, in particular, would 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 and it major tourists’ events like the Super Bowl, college bowl games, 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 they end their economic T-shirt mentality and start to figure out how to maintain and repair the city’s infrastructures 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!