Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen offers apology to New Orleans residents, not city (3 Viewers)

[RockyMtnSaint]

Still waiting for an explanation of the difference between a city and the people who live there.

 

[new city champ]

Not to fuel the fire, but crime stats analyzed in a DOJ report released earlier this year showed that the overall crime rate in New Orleans is lower than in Orlando, FL., home of Disney World, and below the national average for cities of its size. What New Orleans has is murder problem, driven largely by killings among young black guys who know each other and are settling beefs with guns.

As for litter or cleanliness, one I'd suggest getting off Bourbon Street before making that evaluation. Two, I travel a lot and on balance I'd say the "cleaner" a city is the more boring it is. If the first thing you can say about a city is how clean it is, that's a reliable indicator that you wouldn't want to spend much time there.

Allen said two things that were telling. First, that he doesn't really identify with a place, only his family, ergo he'd never understand the bond many of us feel to our city. Second, he cited his faith and to many strict Christians, New Orleans embodies much of what they reject about society. It's a free country. New Orleans isn't for everybody.

 

[Sarcastic]

Still waiting for an explanation of the difference between a city and the people who live there.

I've explained it. You're intentionally being hardheaded.

What I took issue with was the idea that a person automatically must be associated with the worst things in his city. There are a lot of problems in New Orleans that shouldn't be reflected on the entire populace, only on those making decisions (referred to here as the "city").

I'm repeating myself at this point, which tells me that there's nothing more I can say. Keep your head in the sand and keep pretending Nola doesn't have a PR problem, and I'll keep driving home to Mississippi after games instead of spending my money in your hotels because it smells so bad and people get shot by the dozen on Bourbon Street.

It's really a shame, because I love a lot of things about New Orleans. The refusal of many residents to accept problems and work toward changing them is not one of them.

 

[Sarcastic]

As for litter or cleanliness, one I'd suggest getting off Bourbon Street before making that evaluation. Two, I travel a lot and on balance I'd say the "cleaner" a city is the more boring it is. If the first thing you can say about a city is how clean it is, that's a reliable indicator that you wouldn't want to spend much time there.

Ask 10 tourists to name one thing they know in New Orleans.

9 of them will say "Bourbon Street".

When the most well-known tourist destination in your city is filthy, you have a problem.

I've been to a lot of fun places similar, albeit less colorful, to Bourbon Street. Beale Street in Memphis comes to mind. Last weekend I had an absolute blast on Broadway in Nashville. These places are just as busy, tightly packed, full of tourists as Bourbon, and they are generally clean and safe.

So what's different about NO?

 

[Dome50]

I've explained it. You're intentionally being hardheaded.

What I took issue with was the idea that a person automatically must be associated with the worst things in his city. There are a lot of problems in New Orleans that shouldn't be reflected on the entire populace, only on those making decisions (referred to here as the "city").

I'm repeating myself at this point, which tells me that there's nothing more I can say. Keep your head in the sand and keep pretending Nola doesn't have a PR problem, and I'll keep driving home to Mississippi after games instead of spending my money in your hotels because it smells so bad and people get shot by the dozen on Bourbon Street.

It's really a shame, because I love a lot of things about New Orleans. The refusal of many residents to accept problems and work toward changing them is not one of them.

What PR problem? New Orleans is one of the most popular tourist desitinations in America consistently drawing major events year in and year out (can't wait for the Saints to play in a home Superbowl next year). But no one here isn't acknowledging that the place has some problems. Yes, crime is bad. Yes, it stinks after 100,000 people party on a street for 24 hours. New Orleans doesn't appeal to everyone and that is ok. And it sounds like it doesn't appeal to you. The French Quarter has experienced some violence lately and that is terrible, and if you choose to just forever scratch it off your "to do" list that's your prerogative but it sounds like you are the one living with your head in the sand. I've been going to the quarter for years and have never experienced crime. Am I just lucky? I don't know, but I'm not missing out on a really cool thing. So maybe check it out next time before heading back to Missisissippi and before painting with such a broad brush.

 

[Sarcastic]

What PR problem? New Orleans is one of the most popular tourist desitinations in America consistently drawing major events year in and year out (can't wait for the Saints to play in a home Superbowl next year). But no one here isn't acknowledging that the place has some problems. Yes, crime is bad. Yes, it stinks after 100,000 people party on a street for 24 hours. New Orleans doesn't appeal to everyone and that is ok. And it sounds like it doesn't appeal to you. The French Quarter has experienced some violence lately and that is terrible, and if you choose to just forever scratch it off your "to do" list that's your prerogative but it sounds like you are the one living with your head in the sand. I've been going to the quarter for years and have never experienced crime. Am I just lucky? I don't know, but I'm not missing out on a really cool thing. So maybe check it out next time before heading back to Missisissippi and before painting with such a broad brush.

You don't get what I'm saying. It seems like nobody does, that's why you're after me.

I love New Orleans, and I know a lot more of it than Bourbon Street. I don't mind staying there. The "you" was general and so was the "I".

It's the automatic rejection of any opinions of outsiders that's a little annoying about New Orleans. "Take it or leave it" is a bad attitude for a tourist city, plain and simple. I'm not saying you should change your culture or way of life, only that cleaning the place up a little so it doesn't reek at the BEGINNING of the night, and addressing the crime problem, would be a good idea.

Or maybe we should just agree to disagree, because I'm speaking as a person who loves New Orleans, and y'all aren't really getting what I'm trying to tell you.

Perception is reality.

 

[new city champ]

I literally walked down Bourbon Street an hour ago at lunch and noticed no noxious odors, but I agree sometimes it smells. Not sure how much can be done about that. I think it was cleaner for a while under a pretty expensive sanitation contract that cleaned the Quarter twice a day, but budgets being what they are these days...

Anyway, don't doubt you love New Orleans in some fashion but I think the perception and the reality you cite don't always square up. "Perceptions" can be misguided and irrational (as I think they are in Allen's case) and you can exhaust yourself trying to change them. People who love New Orleans tend to do so unconditionally, accepting of its faults. Maybe that's a mistake, but in my experience it's a rare and valuable thing and it doesn't keep you from trying to solve the city's problems. It just means you aren't going to abandon it if they don't get solved. Speaking of perceptions, the city was recently ranked second in the nation for job creation among cities, according to Forbes, and number one for strangest citizens according to Travel + Leisure mag--who also ranked the city number one in civic pride. Accurate on all counts, I'd say.

 

[Patrick_WhoDatFan]

U can suck it Jared Allen !!!!