New Orleans "Street Scams"

[infested999]

Never have I seen a city that only has negative reviews online. Every single post is only complaining about homeless people:

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/North_America/United_States_of_America/Louisiana/New_Orleans-793014/Warnings_or_Dangers-New_Orleans-Betcha_I_can_tell_ya_where_ya_got_dem_shoes-BR-1.html

Person on street: I bet you $20 I know where you got them shoes!

Tourist: ...Okay <shakes>

Person on street: You got them shoes on your feet!

Tourist: Incorrect! I got them at a store, but I have them on my feet. English has thwarted you yet again my noble friend!

then you get stabbed.

Ready to lose more money? The question after the famous 'shoes' trick is this "Double or nothing, guvner. Give me your last name and I will spell your first name."
Which you, being afraid to walk away from a smiling black guy, then do - shaking his hand and sealing the bet.
He spells "y-o-u-r-l-a-s-t-n-a-m-e"

Someone stopped us acting all friendly and before we knew it we were hit with the "I bet I can tell you where you got 'dem shoes" scam. Of course I knew that the answer was "On my feet on Bourbon St" but instead of just walking away immediately as we should have, we stood there and let her (yes...HER) pull the "I bet I can spell your last name" scam out of the bag. When I didn't respond she drooped down and "shined" my tennis shoes and demanded money. I gave her a dollar and she got up in my face and said that wasn't enough. She was kinda scary so my husband gave her another dollar and she walked on. We learned a big lesson from this. Do not allow yourself to be put in this situation. If someone you don't know tries to stop you or talk to you...don't let them. Act like you don't speak English if you have to...just don't give them an opportunity to do this to you.

That city is worse than Detroit. In Detroit they are at least trying to build up an economy again with new industry. This city was hit by Katrina and they didn't even try to fix it after that!

[infested999]

They do not fuck around!

If you are American, carry a gun and be prepared to use it. If you are a foreign tourist, carry a big metal flaslight and walk in large groups.

- http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/North_America/United_States_of_America/Louisiana/New_Orleans-793014/Warnings_or_Dangers-New_Orleans-Bad_Neighborhoods-BR-1.html

[Benjig]

Stick to well lit areas. Travel in groups. Don't let anyone in the quarter that you don't know stop you, they are probably scam artists. The most common scam is for a person to bet you an amount of money they know where you got your shoes and when. Answer: 'On yo feet, and in Nawlins.' Just be aware of your surroundings and you'll be fine.

[Honeypot]

Carry or at least get a knife, and if not just be ready to fight. Travel in groups. Have a phone handy just in case.

Most of all, carry yourself straight and with confidence. Be aware of your surroundings. Hustlers and punks know in the first glance which ones to avoid and which ones are easy marks.

From a racial angle, non-blacks of any color should be fully prepared to fight against blacks in new orleans. To be unprepared otherwise or pretend you are down with em because you happened to be a bit tan is first ticket to being seen as their bitch.

[Omikifuse]

What expect from the vodoo city?


Just avoid the city if you can, otherwise carry a gun or hire some security team.

But I would stick with the don't go to New Orleans option.

[Spendulus]

What expect from the vodoo city?


Just avoid the city if you can, otherwise carry a gun or hire some security team.

But I would stick with the don't go to New Orleans option.

I have never had a unpleasant encounter with any person or group in a huge number of times in and out of NO.  Maybe 50-75. 

Of course any number of things could influence this, maybe they prey on people that look a certain way.  No clue about that.....

[hua_hui]

Never go there for travel! If have to, alway go to some public places with a lot people around in the day time!

[Bitsaurus]

The closest I've ever been and would ever want to go to New Orleans was watching "The Princess and the Frog".  The way the city carried itself leading up to Katrina shows why it shouldn't have been rebuilt.  Chocolate mayor is now behind chocolate bars 

[REDoctober]

'Nawlins has ALWAYS been a "brawling" town.

Its got trouble and alot of it. Lots of history, old buildings, the French Armory.

On Bourbon Street, it smells like garbage/shit with a blast of air conditioning.

I thought it was weird they put their garbage cans underground with metal lids.

It was a rundown place before Katrina, its probably worse now.

That was its charm and still is.

[infested999]

How can something like this happen in the US?

[Chef Ramsay]

Let's face it, any inner city can look like this when they get overran by ghetto type people. The war on drugs gives them something to do outside the legal boundries and the war on poverty keeps these types having kids w/o fathers and thus the cycle goes on.

[doggieTattoo]

Let's face it, any inner city can look like this when they get overran by ghetto type people. The war on drugs gives them something to do outside the legal boundries and the war on poverty keeps these types having kids w/o fathers and thus the cycle goes on.

This is true. Many "inner city" people have very few morals.

[practicaldreamer]

I know an old man that spent his entire working life in the merchant navy. He's travelled the world, many times over. Tells some great stories. And of all the places he's been to he reckons that it was in New Orleans that he felt most in danger.

Many "inner city" people have very few morals.

   That doesn't add much does it ?


Can't speak of New Orleans, but in the UK I have seen communities devastated by the loss of industry - and all of a sudden (within 10 years), a population grows up with no vested interest in wider society and no hope of work. The loss of jobs/industry and the decimation in communities is matched in its magnitude only by the increase in the size of the supply of class A drugs.

    And la voila, you have the seeds of a Hell on earth.


Give people some hope - share out the fruits of technological prosperity. Share the wealth of the nation.

[Honeypot]

I know an old man that spent his entire working life in the merchant navy. He's travelled the world, many times over. Tells some great stories. And of all the places he's been to he reckons that it was in New Orleans that he felt most in danger.

Many "inner city" people have very few morals.

   That doesn't add much does it ?


Can't speak of New Orleans, but in the UK I have seen communities devastated by the loss of industry - and all of a sudden (within 10 years), a population grows up with no vested interest in wider society and no hope of work. The loss of jobs/industry and the decimation in communities is matched in its magnitude only by the increase in the size of the supply of class A drugs.

    And la voila, you have the seeds of a Hell on earth.


Give people some hope - share out the fruits of technological prosperity. Share the wealth of the nation.

Yours first.

[wasserman99]

The closest I've ever been and would ever want to go to New Orleans was watching "The Princess and the Frog".  The way the city carried itself leading up to Katrina shows why it shouldn't have been rebuilt.  Chocolate mayor is now behind chocolate bars 

I think the liberals would be screaming racism if New Orleans was not rebuilt. I think a lot of these kind of people have very few job skills so they resort to illegal activity, often of which is stealing from the "average joe"

I agree with Ramsey above that the war on drugs likely causes a lot of these kids' fathers to be locked up and without a role model (not that they were that great of a role model in the first place, but was something), causing them to also to resort to stealing and other illegal things.

[practicaldreamer]

I know an old man that spent his entire working life in the merchant navy. He's travelled the world, many times over. Tells some great stories. And of all the places he's been to he reckons that it was in New Orleans that he felt most in danger.

Many "inner city" people have very few morals.

   That doesn't add much does it ?


Can't speak of New Orleans, but in the UK I have seen communities devastated by the loss of industry - and all of a sudden (within 10 years), a population grows up with no vested interest in wider society and no hope of work. The loss of jobs/industry and the decimation in communities is matched in its magnitude only by the increase in the size of the supply of class A drugs.

    And la voila, you have the seeds of a Hell on earth.


Give people some hope - share out the fruits of technological prosperity. Share the wealth of the nation.

Yours first.

I pay tax - and I don't whinge about it. How about you ?

[transient858]

The closest I've ever been and would ever want to go to New Orleans was watching "The Princess and the Frog".  The way the city carried itself leading up to Katrina shows why it shouldn't have been rebuilt.  Chocolate mayor is now behind chocolate bars 

Was a good city to visit stripe club and jazz music. Didn't know the mayor went to jail. You have a news source for what he did?

[Bitsaurus]

The closest I've ever been and would ever want to go to New Orleans was watching "The Princess and the Frog".  The way the city carried itself leading up to Katrina shows why it shouldn't have been rebuilt.  Chocolate mayor is now behind chocolate bars 

Was a good city to visit stripe club and jazz music. Didn't know the mayor went to jail. You have a news source for what he did?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/10/us/ray-nagin-former-new-orleans-mayor.html?_r=0

He basically skimmed money off of each contract that went for repairing the city.  Figure dollars in contracts went in, and took a small cut - he made millions in kickbacks.  The only thing is he got caught.

1/2 of Congress/Senate is doing this and Congress even voted against a bill to punish themselves for insider trading.  Gee, let the crooks vote on laws that would punish them - how could that go wrong 

Republics and Democrats both do this equally - but I think Nancy Pelosi is probably the one who had the best run due to her position as Speaker.

[Justine]

The closest I've ever been and would ever want to go to New Orleans was watching "The Princess and the Frog".  The way the city carried itself leading up to Katrina shows why it shouldn't have been rebuilt.  Chocolate mayor is now behind chocolate bars 

Was a good city to visit stripe club and jazz music. Didn't know the mayor went to jail. You have a news source for what he did?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/10/us/ray-nagin-former-new-orleans-mayor.html?_r=0

He basically skimmed money off of each contract that went for repairing the city.  Figure dollars in contracts went in, and took a small cut - he made millions in kickbacks.  The only thing is he got caught.

1/2 of Congress/Senate is doing this and Congress even voted against a bill to punish themselves for insider trading.  Gee, let the crooks vote on laws that would punish them - how could that go wrong 

Republics and Democrats both do this equally - but I think Nancy Pelosi is probably the one who had the best run due to her position as Speaker.

If the corruption is public knowledge, why didn't the voter kick them out?

[Bitsaurus]

The closest I've ever been and would ever want to go to New Orleans was watching "The Princess and the Frog".  The way the city carried itself leading up to Katrina shows why it shouldn't have been rebuilt.  Chocolate mayor is now behind chocolate bars 

Was a good city to visit stripe club and jazz music. Didn't know the mayor went to jail. You have a news source for what he did?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/10/us/ray-nagin-former-new-orleans-mayor.html?_r=0

He basically skimmed money off of each contract that went for repairing the city.  Figure dollars in contracts went in, and took a small cut - he made millions in kickbacks.  The only thing is he got caught.

1/2 of Congress/Senate is doing this and Congress even voted against a bill to punish themselves for insider trading.  Gee, let the crooks vote on laws that would punish them - how could that go wrong 

Republics and Democrats both do this equally - but I think Nancy Pelosi is probably the one who had the best run due to her position as Speaker.

If the corruption is public knowledge, why didn't the voter kick them out?

The corruption is not printed in large boldface type on the front page of every newspaper (since every newspaper gets special privileges to stay in business from some elected official).  There is no Facebook page or twitter account with 2 million audience listening to political corruption. Everybody knows either Beyonce, Katy Perry or Miley Cyrus but they can't even name their 2 state Senators nor their Congressional district.

Plain and simple - apathy.  Until they see the politician literally stealing the iPad out of their car they don't care.  Out of sight out of mind.