Crazy Ray Nagin's at it again

[editor]

Some people never learn -- when you're a public figure, there's ALWAYS a camera around. Welcome to the 90's.

http://cbs3.com/topstories/local_story_111234817.html

[musicman]

NOLA is clean? LOL

[HtownWxBoy]

Is he f'ing kidding?? I lived in Philly before moving to Houston, and it's extremely clean... especially compared to Chocolate City U.S.A. ... a.k.a. New Orleans! I mean... Houston is cleaner than Philly... but that's only b/c Philly is more "urban"... kind of makes it seem more gritty and a bit less clean. It's less clean in a good way compared to Houston (if you think that "urban" is good, which I do). But wow, compared to New Orleans... Philly is Beverly Hills. If anything is disgusting and dirty, it's Nagin. What a racist piece of you know what.

[Talbot]

He's on a roll eh? First NYC now Philly.

[HtownWxBoy]

He apologized saying he meant no disrespect... how do you call a city dirty and mean no disrespect! What a scumbag.

[Talbot]

Just like he meant no disrespect to all other races besides black that he wants NOLA to be the "chocolate" city or to NYC because they have a huge "hole" in the ground. What a jackass.

[Vertigo58]

Here is the funniest part. There was a great documentary on PBS a few months ago. It told the history of how so many people from Lousiana left in droves to go live in Philly and Chicago shortly after abolishment in the south. Many long time generations of Philly residents came from big cities like New Orleans.

Train was the main source of transportation and they showed great historical footage of Lousiana families boarding and heading for a promised land that was more lenient on minorities, unlike the deep south.

So the foot is in the mouth again.

[HtownWxBoy]

Just like he meant no disrespect to all other races besides black that he wants NOLA to be the "chocolate" city or to NYC because they have a huge "hole" in the ground. What a jackass.

Exactly!

[DJ V Lawrence]

I'm happy for Nagin, actually. NOLA is now cleaner than Philly. Great job. Now we don't have to worry about rebuilding their city anymore now that it's all cleaned up, right?

Mission Accomplished

[The Great Hizzy!]

I realize that Philly has a growing number of communities in an "at risk" status and those are usually harbingers of lots of grit, decay and filfth, but on my last visit to new Orleans a few months ago, I saw too much of the same stuff still sitting on the ground since a few weeks after Katrina, and I don't recall Philly looking like that.

I'd be interested to know how Mayor Nagin came to such a conclusion that Philadelphia is "dirtier" than the New Orleans we currently know. Is he comparing the areas near Center City to the areas around Downtown, Uptown and the Quarter?

[Vertigo58]

I would want to live in a double dip Strawberry city with a little whipped cream and cheeries on top.

[scarface]

You know this is really starting piss me off. Just because someone says that a city is dirty shouldn't spark a fued. People say way worse things about Houston all the time and are they slammed to death?

I know what it is and i don't want to say it

**COUGH** Because he's black! ***COUGH***

[sevfiv]

it's probably because he's a mayor, and not just someone mouthing off incognito

[MidtownCoog]

**COUGH** Because he's black! ***COUGH***

He ain't black, he's chocolate (pronounced "choco"-"latte").

Say it with me now! Choco-latte!

[editor]

it's probably because he's a mayor, and not just someone mouthing off incognito

Exactly. He's a public figure. An elected public official. He is held to a higher standard, regardless of his race.

Also, his words are very uncommon for the mayor of a large city. You should have seen the mayor of Los Angeles falling all over himself with praise for the mayor of Chicago both before and after the 2016 Olympics announcement, and vice versa.

This just illustrates how Nagin is a poor leader with no class. You have to act like a leader if you're going to be a leader. He might be excused if New Orleans was going through some sort of amazing solidarity and recovery under his leadership (the Giulianai effect), but it isn't. Nagin's just shooting off his mouth again to rally his base around him.

[tierwestah]

I'm somewhat inclined to agree with scarface. I don't want to throw out the race card and have this thread turn this into a black vs. white thing, but it does seem that people are unnecessarily harder on what he says and most of the time, its the truth.

[musicman]

I'm somewhat inclined to agree with scarface. I don't want to throw out the race card and have this thread turn this into a black vs. white thing, but it does seem that people are unnecessarily harder on what he says and most of the time, its the truth.

Please reread Mayor Nagin's comments. As a person, are you offended by them? Would you say them if you were in his position?

[editor]

I'm somewhat inclined to agree with scarface. I don't want to throw out the race card and have this thread turn this into a black vs. white thing, but it does seem that people are unnecessarily harder on what he says and most of the time, its the truth.

It's hard to shake your history. If it was the first time he'd done it, it would be a 15-hour blurb and then forgotten. But it's another swatch in a pattern of behavior.

[editor]

From the AP:

On Sunday night, WPVI-TV in Philadelphia reported that a spokesman for Philadelphia Mayor John Street said Nagin apologized.

Nagin told the television station that he was trying to focus on the positive in New Orleans and its rebuilding efforts.

"I intended no disrespect to the City of Philadelphia," Nagin said. "We are truly thankful for the generosity of our hosts and look forward to a long, positive working relationship between our cities."

[HtownWxBoy]

You know this is really starting piss me off. Just because someone says that a city is dirty shouldn't spark a fued. People say way worse things about Houston all the time and are they slammed to death.

I know what it is and i don't want to say it.

**COUGH** Because he's black! ***COUGH***

I don't like Ray Nagin... and it's not b/c he's black... it's b/c he's a racist. I don't like racist people, no matter what color they are.

[musicman]

From the AP:

On Sunday night, WPVI-TV in Philadelphia reported that a spokesman for Philadelphia Mayor John Street said Nagin apologized.

Nagin told the television station that he was trying to focus on the positive in New Orleans and its rebuilding efforts.

"I intended no disrespect to the City of Philadelphia," Nagin said. "We are truly thankful for the generosity of our hosts and look forward to a long, positive working relationship between our cities."

scarface, any comments?

[scarface]

scarface, any comments?

No not really. I still stand by my statement before. I think the apology was no more than a political move.

[WesternGulf]

You know this is really starting piss me off. Just because someone says that a city is dirty shouldn't spark a fued. People say way worse things about Houston all the time and are they slammed to death.

I know what it is and i don't want to say it.

**COUGH** Because he's black! ***COUGH***

Let me be the first to say this is a story that would be buried in the newspaper in my view, but I seriously do not get this statement.

Philadelphia does Mayor Nagin a favor to show how former blighted areas were turned around in urban areas, but his main gripe, don't know if he should have one at all, is how ugly Philadelphia is. How many situations have you ran across where public officials have done this? Specifically about Houston? He has a right to his opinion but you do not see anything barren about this situation? How race was brought up is beyond me in this particular case.

[musicman]

No not really. I still stand by my statement before. I think the apology was no more than a political move.

And the apology was made to appease whom?

[The Great Hizzy!]

While I won't just whip out "He's a racist" like so many are wont to do just because of his comments about maintaining the strong African-American identity and history of New Orleans, Nagin does need to learn to better consider what he's about to say and where he's saying it.

Nagins comments simply weren't well-considered, given who he is and what he represents.

[NCB]

Not here to argue about Nagin; the guy is a moron, and that's coming from someone who knew of him long before Katrina. However, I did want to let some of you know that New Orleans, especially the CBD and the Quarter, are practically spotless now. The days of trash all over New Orleans are long gone, thanks to a new and locally owned waste removal company in the city. The French Quarter, which has historically (I'm talking 300 years back) always been very dirty, is cleaner now than it has ever been according to city historians. For decades, Mardi Gras attendance in New Orleans has been estimated based off of the amount of trash in the city, however, those days are gone as well.

And as someone who lived in the Quarter for 18 years, I can tell you, it's much cleaner now than I have ever seen it, especially on Bourbon Street, which is almost a miracle!

[ricco67]

Probably because hardly anyone goes there to leave scene markers.

Glad to hear it's cleaned up, though. Now if the rest of the population would return, except for the cooks, everything would be gravy again.

[HtownWxBoy]

Not here to argue about Nagin; the guy is a moron, and that's coming from someone who knew of him long before Katrina. However, I did want to let some of you know that New Orleans, especially the CBD and the Quarter, are practically spotless now. The days of trash all over New Orleans are long gone, thanks to a new and locally owned waste removal company in the city. The French Quarter, which has historically (I'm talking 300 years back) always been very dirty, is cleaner now than it has ever been according to city historians. For decades, Mardi Gras attendance in New Orleans has been estimated based off of the amount of trash in the city, however, those days are gone as well.

And as someone who lived in the Quarter for 18 years, I can tell you, it's much cleaner now than I have ever seen it, especially on Bourbon Street, which is almost a miracle!

But are the crowds and tourists back? I know some are, but how much compared to before Katrina?

[NCB]

But are the crowds and tourists back? I know some are, but how much compared to before Katrina?

Quite a few of them, to say the least. New Orleans is "back in the swing" with things like conventions, and festivals such as Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, French Quarter Fest, etc. The days of constant flows of tourists from conventions are back now, for the most part.

[Houston1stWordOnTheMoon]

I can totally see some racism in Nagin through his silly statements. I am no fan of racism!

As for Philadelphia, i used to call it Filth-A-Delphia. That place was nasty. Did brother Powell, Colin Powell, follow through with his clean up iniative in Philly that he started a few yrs ago and clean the place up?