The City of New Orleans Continues Its Progress In Lowering The Homicide Rate

And it all began under the administration of Mayor Mitch Landrieu who was the first Mayor to acknowledge the problem and make a commitment to do something about it.  The Mayor knew the police force was under staffed for a city the size of New Orleans and had a plan to add additional officers, and to her credit, Mayor Cantrell has continued to take the crime issue as a serious problem to address.

And now we learn that the homicide rate in New Orleans for 2019 was at the lowest level in five decades and on a downward slope the last three years.  New Orleans police superintendent Shaun Ferguson said there is much more work to be done to ensure the safety of everyone.  Any one homicide, any one shooting, any one robbery is one too many.  That approach is welcome and indicates our city leaders will do what is necessary to keep the downward trend alive.

So we say a job well done to former Mayor Landrieu, his successor Mayor Cantrell and Chief Ferguson for their actions, leadership and the hope of a future New Orleans where crime is the very least of the city's problems.  Vigilance is needed now to keep the city on a steady course in the fight against crime.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

The Berlin Wall and President Trump's Mexico Wall Shares A Related Issue

President John F. Kennedy traveled to West Berlin in 1963 to deliver a major address to the people of that city and to Europe.  The city, divided by a wall that separated communist controlled East Berlin and democratic West Berlin during the cold war to stop the flow of people from East Berlin to the West Berlin who sought a better life with freedom and democracy.  President Kennedy's speech before millions of Berliners was embraced by the people.

The President said it was obvious that the Wall represented the failure of the communist system.  We can flash forward to the present concerning President  Trump's Mexico Wall and it should be obvious that Trump's Wall represents his failure to send immigration reform legislation to the U.S. Congress to be acted on even though both houses of Congress were controlled by the republican party for Trump's first 24 months in office.  And after 34 months in office, his own party still has no immigration reform legislation agenda.

And we know according to Trump's own words he intends to make immigration a major theme of his re-election campaign in 2020.  Never mind that candidate Trump made immigration a top priority in the 2016 campaign but once elected, all America heard was Trump's rhetoric.  America needs immigration reform legislation to address the broad issues that are related to the problem and a good place to start would be the immigration reform passed by the democratic controlled U.S. Senate in 2013.

Brace yourself my fellow Americans because all you will hear from Trump this election year is what he said in the 2016 campaign and never accomplished if he is not convicted by the impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio