New Orleans and the Allstar Game

[conversekid]

Heard negative talk that New Orleans ins't ready to host an allstar game. As someone who's been in New Orleans since last Thursday, I say they are ready. They have done a remarkable job rebuilding the tourist portion of the city. The streets are clean and the people are friendly. Some of the neighborhoods are just depressing; however, the attraction portion of the city is in full bloom. Thoughts?

Here's to a bourbon street that never sleeps

[Kori Ellis]

I think the negativity about N.O. and the All-Star game is that some people are freaking out about the "chaos" that happened in Vegas and they think N.O. will be even worse.

I posted this in the NBA forum about it earlier today:

They are making the Vegas situation seem worse than it really was.

I took the Monorail alone at night after the All-Star game. I wasn't fearful at all. If you have ever been to Vegas on New Year's Eve or any major holiday, the crowd "chaos" was pretty similar. Sure - some bad stuff happened, but I think it happens anytime there's that big of a crowd somewhere.

I honestly think that some people were just freaked out by so many black people.

[T Park]

I honestly think that some people were just freaked out by so many black people.

how come they don't freak out during the superbowl then.

[Kori Ellis]

how come they don't freak out during the superbowl then.

Way more black people go to the All-Star game festivities than the Super Bowl.

[Kori Ellis]

At All-Star weekend, scared white people were running around claiming "there are crips and bloods everywhere". When that wasn't really the case at all.

Cab drivers were basically saying they didn't want to pick up black people because they were 1) rude 2) dangerous 3) didn't tip etc. It was a very weird situation.

I'm not denying that there were incidents there - PacMan, the other shooting, etc. But when you mob that many people in one area, there's always going to be something. I was in Vegas five or six years ago for NYE and people were getting stabbed right and left. Stuff happens when there's big crowds.

[ShoogarBear]

I honestly think that some people were just freaked out by so many black people.

Won't be a problem in New Orleans.

All-Star weekend there will be somewhat of a bigger deal than the Bayou Classic, but not much more.

[ShoogarBear]

At All-Star weekend, scared white people were running around claiming "there are crips and bloods everywhere".

Funny, that's the same thing that happens when I take a drive through Stone Oak.

[Kori Ellis]

Funny, that's the same thing that happens when I take a drive through Stone Oak.

Seriously, white people were whispering to me about gang members. And I was like ... umm, they are just some black kids in throwbacks.

[mikejones99]

New Orleans is very dangerous and people will die.

[ShoogarBear]

Concrete is very hard and birds will fly.

[01Snake]

The French Quarter was basically untouched by Katrina. This is why it looks like it always has. The problem is once outside the Quarter, you begin to see all the damage. Like you, I was there a few weeks ago and you would never know the extent of the damage if you did not venture out of the Quarter.

As far as the All-Star Game goes, I think it's a bad idea. You are going to have a TON of people there due to New Orleans location on the map. A lot of people are simply going to drive there to party that weekend. Its going to be a zoo and if you have ever been to Mardi Gras (pre-Katrina), you know what I'm talking about.

[bdictjames]

Hope they get better acts, Wayne Newton is lame.

[mikejones99]

AS For the music,Vegas = Wayne Newton, New Orleans = Cash Money

[ChumpDumper]

I just wonder if they'll have enough hotel rooms. The violence angle is overblown for both Vegas and NOLA. I went to Vegas New Years three years in a row, and learned just to stay away from the South Strip and Fremont Street. Crowds are crowds and happens when you have that many people thrown together and drinking. The North Strip is where it's at, or in this case, where it isn't.

[exstatic]

NOLA is, and has always been a dangerous city. It's just getting run in the national media in the post Katrina era that the locals can't suppress. You read like the couple who were held up at gunpoint outside their house in The Quarter...in broad daylight, and it makes you not want to go there. They left the city, BTW, and moved out somewhere like Metarie or Slidell.

[Bruno]

They should do it at the "old" Orléans.

[miss paxton]

NOLA is, and has always been a dangerous city. It's just getting run in the national media in the post Katrina era that the locals can't suppress. You read like the couple who were held up at gunpoint outside their house in The Quarter...in broad daylight, and it makes you not want to go there. They left the city, BTW, and moved out somewhere like Metarie or Slidell.

I don't think it's only post-Katrina that New Orleans has gotten press for being dangerous. When I lived in Baton Rouge in the 1990s I had to go to NO for work a lot, and I knew it had a high crime rate (I'm aware that knowing something in Baton Rouge is not equivalent to it being advertised in the national media, but I felt it was pretty widely known). I never had any problems, and I certainly wasn't limited to the Quarter. (The only city I've ever had anything truly scary happen to me was Vienna, Austria, of all places--no problems in NYC, Boston, Washington, D.C., Oakland, Las Vegas). Granted, things are probably worse now, but NO has started hosting events again--the Sugar Bowl, for example. I think, as ChumpDumper mentioned, available hotel rooms might be the bigger problem.

[conversekid]

Outside of the Frenchquarters isn't that bad. My hotel is right on bourbon street and it's been a blast - and it's been safe. I've been out of the quarters as well and it looks really great. The media is making it worst than it is. So someone got robbed... wasn't there a home invasion in SA this week? If you haven't been here post-katrina, you can't comment on it.

[ShoogarBear]

I'll be there the week of March 14th for the first round of the NCAAs.

[exstatic]

Outside of the Frenchquarters isn't that bad. My hotel is right on bourbon street and it's been a blast - and it's been safe. I've been out of the quarters as well and it looks really great. The media is making it worst than it is. So someone got robbed... wasn't there a home invasion in SA this week? If you haven't been here post-katrina, you can't comment on it.

CK, I can comment on anything I want, thank you. I also believe the crime statistics that state that NOLA is the murder capital by a WIDE margin over your short experience there.

[IX_Equilibrium]

Tourist area is ok, but go only one block in the wrong direction, and you're in trouble. , it was that way before Katrina. Off of St. Charles in the Garden District, you'll have one street of multi million dollar homes, and on the very next block is a row of crackhouses.

[IX_Equilibrium]

The media is making it worst than it is.

WRONG.

The French Quarter is a safe island in a sea of crime. Venture out and go east towards St. Bernard Parish from the French Quarter, and you will see that the crime situation is not overblown by any means.

[Trainwreck2100]

Seriously, white people were whispering to me about gang members. And I was like ... umm, they are just some black kids in throwbacks.

i.e. gangmembers

[SequSpur]

Las Vegas? Dude, the only problem at Las Vegas was Pac Man Jones. The only reason NO is getting this game is for sentimental reasons.

[Kori Ellis]

Las Vegas? Dude, the only problem at Las Vegas was Pac Man Jones. The only reason NO is getting this game is for sentimental reasons.

No it wasn't. There were a few shootings and numerous fights. But my point was that there's always incidents in large crowded areas, it wasn't a war zone and chaos on the streets like some NBA columnists are trying to insinuate.