Congratulations to everyone who worked to make this reality. I’m sure Mitch Landrieu will find a way to make the fact that New Orleans has a higher murder rate than Chicago some kind of selling point soon enough.

From WWL-TV:

In the first four months of 2017, there were 71 murders in New Orleans. 

Jeff Asher, a New Orleans crime analyst, said he believes the current homicide rate trend started in summer of 2016 and has continued into 2017.

“Over the last 365 days, we’re looking at 205 murders, which if were a full year it would be the worst single calendar year post-Katrina other than 2007 when we had 207 murders,” Asher said.

That number sets New Orleans ahead of major cities like Chicago, where the murder rate is considerably below the Crescent City largely because shootings in Chicago tend to be less fatal.

Don’t worry, though the New Orleans police are hard on the real criminals. They’re also tough on speeders, parking violators, and the occasional French Quarter bar owner.

The murder spike in New Orleans is the result of a city that does not prioritize making the city liveable. One of the things that make a city livable is not getting killed in it. The murder rate, along with crime in general, is not among the top priorities of Mitch Landrieu.

But the murder rate is not the only thing that is being neglected by the Landrieu administration. The city’s infrastructure has gone to hell under Landrieu. Potholes and other structural decay are more commonplace in the city.

The rise in the murder rate is the result of a mayor that is not concerned about crime. After all, these are mostly poor black men who are killing themselves off. This is something to keep in mind if Mitch Landrieu decides to run for something else.