No New Orleanian left behind!

Like a skipping record, over and over I am sickened by the tales I encounter of the day to day life in New Orleans "business as usual" for it's citizens and it's community.
No one can argue that unlike most American cities, New Orleans IS the sum of it's inhabitants. With out us, there is no tourism. With out tourism, there is little economy. With out an economy, there is no New Orleans. With out New Orleans....
A woman heads to work in her Chevrolet truck as she does 5-6 days week only this day she has brought her dog with her because he has an appointment to get a summer cut, Mohawk in fact. She stops at a vet's office to pick up eye drops for the kittens she has been nursing at work. She parks the truck, leaving her purse in the cab and her dog in the back and is gone for 5 minutes only to return and find that the truck has been towed.... the purse and the dog as well. Another man is confused because he too had been gone a matter of minutes only to return and have his car towed. The woman calls her boss for a ride to rescue her dog and her purse from the impound lot. The man does the same. As they are waiting a bartender steps outside shaking his head and says, "you know, the sign is obscure, they cleaned the street already at 9am, yet this is the second or third time they have towed cars". The woman arrives at the impound hysterically inquiring about her dog. They ask her for her drivers license. She says it is in the truck. She begs for them to let her get her dog and then she can get her purse and then she can take care of this. After threatening to call the LASPCA first and wasting 30 more minutes of her time, they finally release her dog and truck for $125. She leaves and heads to take the dog to his appointment and while dropping him off receives a ticket (once again, "legit" but obscure). Finally, she arrives at work and 30 minutes later there is a crash outside. An elderly woman had obviously stopped for the train which had it's lights on but was not moving and a car had slammed into her. The elderly lady was being cursed at and threatened by the hoodlums in the car that rear ended her and the woman's boss had come to call 911 and ensure this womans safety. 10 minutes after the 911 call a cop showed up, asked them to move the cars to the side and then said another cop was on his way. The boss called 911 again and said a cop came and left. 911 told him that the original cop who was dispatched to the call was on his way. An hour later, the other cop arrived.

On a personal note, I walked into work the next day and my boss pushed a letter from the City of New Orleans printed on fancy paper towards me and said "Check this out!" The letter was to inform his local, well respected and decorated web development company that the City of New Orleans had chosen another company to design their site. The other company not only has a horrible web site to represent themselves but they are also located in Colorado.

A tenant of a friend of mine woke up the other day to the boot on her car in front of her house. She new she had a ticket but it was recent and in no way delinquent. When she called the city to inquire, they informed her that she had several "delinquent" tickets from the block of Constance behind Whole Foods (where she is employed). Funny thing is, I ride my bike past that exact block frequently to and from my job and just the other day I saw someone ticketing cars and stopped to ask "Why?". There is no sign stating no parking anywhere. When I asked the meter maid why she was ticketing and where the no parking sign was, she replied "I'm doing my job. Don't talk to me". Back to the boot. So, the woman is on the phone with the city inquiring about the boot and she is asked for her credit card info. in order to pay the fines. She is given a code to unlock the boot AND then she has 48 hours to return the boot HERSELF or she will be charged $50/day in fines.

In conclusion, (because I could keep going and going with similar tales but need to get back to work)
It seems to me that the City of New Orleans is doing it's best to drive the local's out of the city by enforcing the wrong rules and justifying their deficiency in what really matters by claiming that they "don't have the means". If the City of New Orleans can dispatch a tow truck to tow a car in less than 5 minutes yet can't get anyone to the scene of crime or they continually deny local businesses a chance to work in their own city then we are in for a long downward spiral..... This city is nothing without those of us who live, breathe, and color it!