NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans East has been marked as a crime hot spot by the community for years. Councilman Oliver Thomas and business owners are fighting to change that.
Ray Bender owns The Hangout in New Orleans East, a space for pre-teens and teens to express themselves.
“I wanted to make sure I could be a part of the solution to New Orleans East,” he said. “One of the first things people ask me when they hear about The Hangout, the first thing they say, is there security there?”
A New Orleans East native and a father Bender loves his community, but he says the stereotype makes owning a business hard.
“It’s the black eye, the stigma that seems to be in New Orleans East that is unfair to community residents as well as business owners because it definitely has an impact, I have to push a little harder," he said.
Councilman Oliver Thomas is fighting for the reputation of his district, telling Eyewitness News, “We can’t stereotype a community so people won’t only not invest but they disinvest.”
He went on to say, “It’s not fair if we’re going to continue to report or stigmatize a community when we know that if you compare that area versus everything else collectively it’s not the worst.”
What Councilman Thomas means is the city’s crime dashboard show’s 73 murders in the East this year. If you add the murders in all the other districts together you get 145.
Councilman Thomas saying, “When you compare it to the natural land mass of the demographics across the city then it's unfair to that area.”
The Metropolitan Crime Commission found in the four violent crime categories, homicides, shootings, armed robberies and carjackings, the East ranked first.
“We had three homicides last night, all in the 7th district," said Rafael Goyenche from the agency.
He went on to say, “One third of the homicides are in the 7th district, 25% of the carjackings, citywide are in the East.”
He says the East needs help, "The 7th district has an acute need for more officers.”