Those in favor of this increase on my rent via a tax that French Quarter residents will vote on this weekend call it a "security" tax. I have a real problem with calling it this. The "officers" this tax proposes to pay for are not authorized to enforce the law in any way. They cannot draw their guns, or use pepper spray except in their own self defense (something I can also legally do), and they cannot even issue citations. At the public meeting to "discuss" the issue (which was mainly a panel of proponents with microphones and inaccurate power-point presentations) even those in favor of the tax spoke mainly of "quality of life" issues, using that phrase numerous times. 

These cops will have GPS, they said. And cameras. And a database. These are not primarily law enforcement tools. Call me crazy, but I like my cops to have guns. And training. And authority to stop real crimes. But real crime isn't the focus of this "patrol." This patrol is about "quality of life." 

So why call it a "security" tax?

Oh, because a beloved French Quarter bartender was shot in the back last year and everyone's upset about it.

Opportunity knocks. 

But how can they justify calling it a "security" tax when there's no actual law enforcement going on? 

Oh, because they lied about the numbers. 

Proponents of this tax created a flyer and a power-point presentation. That's all it takes, apparently, to get the Times-Picayune to repeat your fantasy without even a modicum of fact checking. The TP, or as @yatpundit would say, Da Paper, printed the erroneous "information" that there have been 24 murders in the French Quarter since 2007. [UPDATE: WDSU also doesn't do fact-checking.]

I knew that was outrageously wrong the minute I saw it. We moved here in 2008 and used the NOPD's own database to study crime in New Orleans. For months. We concluded that the absolute SAFEST place to live in an admittedly unsafe city is the French Quarter. In all my elbow-rubbings over these last two years with French Quarter people, I have never heard an opposing opinion. 

The paper admitted its mistake today:

Murder total corrected: An article in Monday's newspaper about a proposed security district in the French Quarter said the Quarter has been the scene of 24 killings since January 2007. New Orleans Police Department spokesman Bob Young said there have been 24 killings in the 8th Police District, but only seven in the French Quarter. The 8th District includes the Quarter as well as the Central Business District, Warehouse District and adjacent areas.

This admission was buried on the "Corrections and Clarifications" page. So, the original story warranted a reporter's time & effort, but a consulting firm blatantly misrepresenting murder statistics to the public in an effort to push forward a tax doesn't merit a real story?

The TP does not ask questions. But if it did, here are a few off the top of my head. For free:

1. Why is it necessary to spend a third of the budget for this patrol on administrative costs when the NOPD already has a bureaucracy in place?

2. Who's really pushing this? Does the fact that the majority of the "board" are business owners offer a clue?

3. Were the musicians who were arrested  "warned" a couple of months ago around Bourbon and Canal pawns in this game? A prelude, perhaps, designed to show us how lacking our quality of life is?

4.  If these officers are "security" officers, why not hire off-duty NOPD officers, who are actually authorized to make arrests?

5. If they are "quality of life" officers, whose quality of life are we talking about? And if, as the make-up of the panel suggests, it is mainly businesses who benefit, why are residents paying the tax?

6. If this "patrol" makes the French Quarter more attractive to tourists, then the whole city benefits. Why not tax the whole city? (The NFL debacle has already shown FQ residents where they stand when it comes to using the Quarter to promote the city as a whole.)

7. Why does Senator Ed Murray concern himself with this? Why's he so into this thing that he put the money for this bureaucracy in two different bills hoping for one to pass, and failing that show up to speak at the public meeting to support passing his project on to taxpayers?

8. Who's to say that these patrols will not cause NOPD to take a "French Quarter Lite" approach when doing the jobs we already pay them to do? NOPD is overwhelmed, and it would be easy to, say, concentrate on the other areas on the 8th district and view the Quarter as "covered" by these non-officers. And how can we trust the "assurances" of a panel so clearly given over to its agenda that it would lie about something as basic as murder? 

As a French Quarter resident, believe me, I'm well aware when there are murders in my neighborhood. An error as blatant as reporting THREE TIMES more murders than actually happened struck me immediately. The outsiders who created this proposal are either not as aware as I am, or they are unconcerned about facts. 

Or maybe they did it on purpose. 

The French Quarter is already safe, relatively speaking. To the extent that it is not safe, emasculated officers will not fix the problem. These "officers" are tattle-tale patrols who will not make the French Quarter safer. They are "Quality of Life" officers. 

You know what would improve the quality of my life? Keeping my eight bucks a month. *

* Eight bucks a month is the figure I *personally* will pay. There's a tier schedule, and each property owner will pay according to the number of units he or she owns. Businesses pay considerably more. If you're the only renter, your price is double mine. If your landlord owns lots of property, it's even more than that. 

If you're thinking "what's the big deal about 8 bucks a month?" I'll tell ya: It's *my* eight bucks. I am unmoved by the elite of the French Quarter telling me, from a raised podium with a microphone, that 8 bucks isn't much.  Times are hard. I have a Master's Degree, and guess what I make an hour? Eight bucks. So forgive me if I don't want to work an extra hour a month to pay for these peoples' pet project. Particularly when it's a BADLY conceived project in a city known for wasting money & bilking taxpayers.