This morning, someone posted to the MCNO Yahoo! Group about a “shooting” in the 3500 block of Palmyra. From the comments, it appeared to be a question of something that sounded like shots being fired, not necessarily a shooting. This opened up a dialogue about the relative merits of continuing to live in the city. I welcome anyone else’s thoughts. Here are mine, and they come down firmly on the side of staying.
Living in New Orleans today comes down to an issue of risk tolerance. Those with little risk tolerance may have a hard time justifying their continued residence here. However, there has never been a better time in New Orleans’ history to exercise risk tolerance, because we are slowly, incrementally, but assuredly making strides in the way this city is run and the recovery managed.
I believe the next administration will only accelerate the progress, provided that we are very, very careful to support a citizen-friendly candidate who respects transparency and accountability and has zero tolerance for corruption and graft.
Someone may prefer Cedar Rapids to New Orleans. If that is the case, I would say that person’s risk aversion far surpasses their sense of joie de vivre. And that is their right and their decision.
With that in mind, we need every able-bodied person on board for this train ride, so if you can raise your risk tolerance a bit, I would hope you stay. Consider that Outdoor Magazine named New Orleans #3 in its list of best places to begin a rewarding new adventure (by moving here to live and help rebuild.)
New Orleans has long been a city of adventurers with high risk tolerance. In the mid 1800s, the city lost a third of its population on several occasions to yellow fever, something we no longer have to worry about. Yet, the city endured and thrived, because the people who lived here felt the rewards of staying outweighed the risk.
To me, that makes today’s risks seem negligible in comparison. As a local architect told me in an interview, “We will not go quietly into the night.” Neither will our city.
