Rally for Peace

Please join us at City Hall Monday, February 7th at 2pm.

On Tuesday, our colleague and friend Kelleye Rhein was carjacked while pumping gas at the Costco gas station. She was violently drug by her own car as the carjacker fled the scene. While Kelleye ended up in the ICU, she is now recovering at home. We are so lucky that Kelleye’s severe injuries were not worse. Unfortunately, the crime committed against her is one that is shockingly common in the city of New Orleans. The crime is out of control and we must take a stand before one more person is terrorized, hurt, or even killed. Our goal is to put pressure on the mayor’s office and our elected officials to immediately curb the violence and restore a safer city for our families and our neighbors.

We need to feel safe in our cars, our homes, and in our neighborhoods. We need our city leaders to immediately institute policies that will help temper the dramatic crime wave the city is experiencing. We demand that Madame Mayor and the esteemed City Councilpersons request the following:

• Help from our Governor and the Louisiana State Troopers in patrolling the city of New Orleans, not just the French Quarter but Carrollton to New Orleans East to Algiers, and every neighborhood in between. This is needed until the crime is under control.

• Enact truancy penalties for minors and guardians between 8a-3p. Keeping kids in school and off the streets will not only help to reduce crime but it will offer our youth the chance to get an education and imagine a life for themselves that does not include criminal activity.

• We demand that District Attorney Jason Williams take a more active role in prosecuting violent criminals, ensuring that appropriate bonds are posted, and working with the sheriff to keep criminals in jail. The public perception is that there is a revolving door – criminals are arrested and they are out the next day. This must change. We want to have confidence that the district attorney’s office and the court system will hold violent and repeat felony offenders accountable for their actions.

• The city of New Orleans must enact a plan to attract and retain qualified police officers and EMTs. We recommend the city explore offering soft second mortgages and other housing incentives for Police and EMTs to live and work in our community.

• Police pay raises phased in over 5 years to aid in the recruitment AND retention of officers, with a goal to rebuild the force to 1450 officers.

• Amend the ill-advised technology ordinance passed by the previous Council and provide law enforcement with all available technology tools.

We humbly ask Madame Mayor and our City Councilpersons to make safety in New Orleans the #1 priority. Please engage community leaders and activists, ministers, business owners and all other stakeholders. Without a dramatic reduction in crime, we will see visitors stop coming to our city and our citizens will start to leave. This is not what we want. New Orleans is a magical place and she deserves to shine, untarnished by the plague of violent crime we are experiencing.