Pondering and proximity
….so here I am, 400 miles away in Dallas for another several days taking care of my mother. TBK is at home in New Orleans and in the company of my oldest son, who is nearly 21 and in charge of the kitchen at Alexander’s (Third and Magazine). It’s only a couple of blocks from the house and, as I’ve posted so many times here, we truly, truly do have a great neighborhood.
But as both Chris Rose and Jarvis DeBerry point out today, the city is at a very scary place right now. Meanwhile, our po-leese chief meets with leaders of the SCLC, as if any of the city’s gun-toting teenagers give a rat’s ass about anything Ralph Abernathy had to say.
So what brings this to mind? Last night about 10:30 (before any would-be curfew would be in effect), across the street from my house, some drive-by derelict uses a shotgun to blow out the windshield of a car. The cops show up fast enough, but 1) those who might be willing to talk were inside and didn’t see anything or 2) those who might know something act like they have no clue. Then, in the middle of it, the cops run off to a reported armed robbery at the Sake Cafe, which is about two blocks away on Magazine.
…and here I am, 400 miles away. Not like I could actually DO anything even if I was there. But y’know.
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.
I was raised with guns. My dad sold them — and from age 8 or so, hunting with various weapons was simply a part of my life. I am a firm believer in the right to own firearms (once one has demonstrated themselves to be trained in their care and use). When we returned to the city after Katrina, I made damn sure I had ammunition (with good stopping power) for the weapons I have. I will not hesitate to use these weapons and I will not fire a warning shot. I will not shoot to maim. But I deplore the very idea.
…and I will not sell my house. I still feel safe in my neighborhood — or at least as safe as anyone in a major city can feel. But I hate the idea that it’s apparently coming down to Just Me and a few other well-armed neighbors to enforce it. Just like everything else in this city since The Flood — we can’t depend on help from anyone else.
Related posts:
We are so terribly on our own.
It truly is everywhere.
I’m in nashville and in the past week or so there have been a couple of drive by shootings and a murder/suicide within maybe 20 blocks of my house.
Just yesterday in the news, a story of how city police are complaining that the chief keeps them so busy making traffic stops ( ie: writing tickets, generating income) , that 911 calls are not able to be responded to in a timely manner.
All part of big city living, it is up to the citizens to raise enough stink to get city hall’s attention and increase patrols in our areas.
( side question… I thought NO still had the national guard helping the police?)
Yes, the Guard is still in town, enforcing the law in the mostly unoccupied areas of town so police can focus on crime in the more populated areas. In theory, at least.
I miss the Humvees driving through my neighborhood.
“All part of big city living, it is up to the citizens to raise enough stink to get city hall’s attention and increase patrols in our areas.”
I agree with REBYJ. Now this is easy for me to say, I don’t live there. But it breaks my heart to see this happening to a city I absolutely adore. What I don’t understand is that I would think the citizens would eventually say “enough already”. The biggest problem is that you have a mayor which simply doesn’t give a rat’s ass. He only pulls his head out of the sand long enough to attend his next social event. Not because he thinks it’s good for the city, but because he’s a media whore who’s too inept to create his own media footprint and has to rely on other people to do it for him.
But I digress…
This seems to me that it’s the perfect time for an old fashioned, steps of city hall protest. With signs and everything. Too many years of being “The city that care forgot” has created some rather deep fucking rooted apathy. Sounds like most citizens are taking after “Hizzoner” and burying their heads in the sand hoping it will just magically go away. Please note that I said “most”, not all.
As much as I’d like to see it happen, I pray The Saints DON’T win the Super Bowl because all those punk ass murdering cowards are going to set that city ablaze in so-called drunken revelry. We’ve all seen it happen and with the penchant for fires in that beautiful city, it could go up like a tinderbox. If the Saints do win the big game, I want to see the french quarter on CNN for all the right reasons, not because cop cars are overturned and Pat O’Briens is burning to the ground.
This is all rambling and I apologize for that but it just seems to me that there should be less complaining and more people willing to want to MAKE a change instead of waiting for change to happen. Because it sure as hell don’t happen by itself.
There is, actually, just such a march set for this Thursday — culminating with a rally at City Hall. I am sure it will be well-attended and there will be much outrage expressed.
…its actual effect, however, is debatable.
The columnist doesn’t know better than to go to a gas station on Broad and Canal at dark, not to mention on a foggy night? Is he on glue? Or did he just do that so’s he’d have a column?
These days, I’d feel more comfortable at Broad and Canal than at that Shell at Jackson and Magazine or about anyplace on Claiborne.
If you say so … But the areas in and around Broad are still quite dangerous post-Katrina. If the columnist is familiar with the area in which he’s traveling, and it’s only 7:30 or so, he knows he could wait and go to the Shell further up Canal, or, far better yet, Esplanade at East Bell near Bayou St. John. I doubt there’s much of a price differential, and he could calm his ass down.
Four week burglary map from NOPD. Check out Broad and Canal.
http://secure.cityofno.com/Resources/Portal50/4wkbur.jpg
I think we’ll agree that, after dark, “safety” is a very relative term these days. It seems we’re all exposed, no matter where we happen to be. We can try to minimize it, but even Deep Uptown has had some problems.