Crime and New Orleans, the real story

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tulane University
1

<p>As a (somewhat) native New Orleanian, I think there has been a huge misconception about how bad the crime is in the city of New Orleans and around Tulane in general. Is it too much? Yes. Is it worse than most US cities? No. I came across this today on Forbes.com</p>

<p>America’s Most Dangerous Cities (from Forbes Magazine 2009)</p>

<p>15) Philadelphia, PA ----University of Pennsylvania and Temple and Drexel
14)Charlotte, NC ----Davidson College
13)West Palm Beach, Fla
12)Baton Rouge, La ----LSU
11)New Orleans, La ----Tulane University and Loyola New Orleans
10)Baltimore, Md ----Johns Hopkins University
9) Nashville, Tenn ----Vanderbilt University
8)Charleston, SC ----College of Charleston and The Citadel
7)Little Rock, Ark
6)Orlando, Fla ----University of Central Florida
5)Stockton, Cali
4)Las Vegas, Nev ----UNLV
3)Miami, Fla ----University of Miami
2)Memphis, Tenn ----Rhodes College
1)Detroit, Mich</p>

<p>*The stats used were defined as Violent Crimes by the FBI (murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault) </p>

<p>I placed the names of schools located in those cities to show that Tulane is no more dangerous than a lot of other universities in urban areas. Keep in mind that Forbes was not ranking the most dangerous college towns but instead just the most dangerous cities. If you wouldn't send your kid to Penn or Vandy or Johns Hopkins due to crime then I understand avoiding New Orleans. Otherwise, I think this puts the city into perspective and shows that New Orleans, for all its problems, is sadly only following a national trend. New Orleans did not even make their top 10. Hope this helps. :)</p>

2

<p>Benetode - Thanks very much for this. I will add that Vanderbilt is in a nice part of Nashville (as I recall, but it has been about 5 years since I have been there), Tulane is in the nicest part of New Orleans, very upscale, while Johns Hopkins, Penn and Temple are in much seedier areas. So while the crime statistics are for the whole city, it applies much less to Tulane and (I presume) Vanderbilt, while it is very applicable to JHU, Penn and Temple. I don’t know anything about the locations of the schools I didn’t mention. Well Loyola of course is right next to Tulane, so we know that is the same. I have to admit I am surprised to see Charleston so high on this list, I just had no idea.</p>

3

<p>I was very surprised as well. I was also surprised that St. Louis didn’t make their list. Hopefully they’re just getting safer and it’s not just that everyone else is getting worse off.</p>

4

<p>I dont see a point.</p>

5

<p>diontechristmas - I thought you were kidding, but I will give you a serious answer. The point is that people have a perception of New Orleans as being perhaps the most dangerous city in America, especially after all the misleading (and as was later shown to be the case, outright false) reporting after Katrina. So this is just to put things in perspective. There have been a few threads on here from concerned parents about their child’s safety at Tulane, and understandably so. We have often pointed out that Tulane is in a really nice area, that they can see crime stats for the Tulane and immediately surrounding area on the TU website, etc. etc. Benetode’s post and my addendum reinforces all that, and brings some needed perspective.</p>

6

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<p>Well to bring me into this discussion, I go to Temple, which is apparently in a very dangerous city. Ok, great, now what?</p>

<p>As far as New Orleans goes, the majority of the city is unfortunately a total dump. The FQ is very very nice, and I know nothing about where Tulane is, but I wouldn’t want to wander around New Orleans.</p>

7

<p>“…the majority of the city is unfortunately a total dump. The FQ is very very nice…” Um…what? If there is one area of the city full of drunken tourists and loaded with bars and strip clubs, it’s the French Quarter. Have even been to New Orleans? Ever? Tulane is on the complete opposite side of the city. You apparently have no idea what you are talking about (with regards to New Orleans) and have completely missed the point of this thread. The point is to dispel some of the rumors and perceptions of New Orleans that are being posted on this site repeatedly by people (such as yourself) who clearly have no knowledge about what they are typing.</p>

<p>I included the other schools listed because they were in or near the cities listed in Forbes ranking of the most dangerous (per FBI figures) cities in the US. It’s a point of reference for those who are concerned about sending their kids to school in New Orleans versus somewhere else that they perceive to be safer. I didn’t mention every college and university, only the ones with national ‘pull.’</p>

<p>I’m not entirely sure if you’re confused, bored, or offended by this thread. :slight_smile: Perhaps some of all three.</p>

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<p>By the way, I in no way meant to insult drunken tourists, bar patrons, or strippers by my last post.</p>

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<p>I dont know what was so difficult to understand. Yes, I was in New Orleans a few months ago, and while I very much enjoyed it, it’s flat-out not a nice city outside of the Quarter. I think I have a pretty good idea as to what I’m talking about, thank you very much.</p>

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<p>Well, I guess the city isn’t up to your standards then. Also, Mardi Gras, if that’s when you came down, is not a good time to judge the city. Actually we rate our Mardi Gras’s not by the money generated by tourists and such but by the gross tonnage of trash that is generated. The more trash collected, the better the Mardi Gras was. If Mardi Gras was your point of reference, then you are actually quite right. The Big Easy is a ‘total dump’ during Mardi Gras. </p>

<p><a href=“http://media.www.marshallparthenon.com/media/storage/paper534/news/2002/02/22/Life/Mardi.Gras-189858.shtml[/url]”>http://media.www.marshallparthenon.com/media/storage/paper534/news/2002/02/22/Life/Mardi.Gras-189858.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I’m glad to hear you had a good time in our dump. Try venturing into the Uptown/Carrolton Area next time. And you’re welcome very much.</p>

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<p>With regard to diontechristmas and his posts, it is clear that Temple has lowered its standards more than I realized. Makes you wonder why he is even looking at these posts. It really isn’t worth discussing this with him, since he admits he has no idea where Tulane is and the whole point of this and related threads is to explain to people who also don’t know that fact how different the Tulane area is relative to the high crime areas of New Orleans. And with this post in particular, how similar the situation can be for many cities. They all have their good areas and their terrible areas. But you have to look at all the posts related to Tulane and safety, as any parent or student considering Tulane would. It would be nice if you did a little more than superficial skimming first, diontechristmas.</p>

<p>Also you have to wonder about someone that makes one trip to New Orleans, possibly during Mardi Gras since he said it was in the last few months, gets drunk and thinks the FQ is nice (LOL LOL anyone that goes to Tulane is LTFAO at that one), and then comes on here and acts like an expert on the whole subject. Sure diontechristmas, you know way more about New Orleans and the whole situation than those of us that lived there and go back frequently. I do know where Temple is, as well as Penn, and therefore I also know that the area immediately surrounding them is a true poverty stricken, drug infested, high crime dump. It would be like taking Tulane and putting it in the Lower Ninth Ward, or just north of the FQ. If that were true I would probably never let my kid go there. But it is not remotely the case.</p>

<p>Since you are into long quotes:</p>

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<p>OK, the “now what” is threefold (this really isn’t that hard, terrible that I have to explain it to you): #1 is that if someone reading this would feel safe sending their child to Temple, Penn, Johns Hopkins, Miami, etc., then based on these statistics they shouldn’t worry about sending their child to Tulane either. Parents do worry about this sort of thing so it needs to be discussed. #2 is that besides #1, people need to understand the relationship geographically of Tulane to the higher crime areas of New Orleans. I could name dozens of other schools for which the same would be true. Move them a few miles and the situation changes dramatically. Finally #3 is that if someone was considering going to or sending their child to, say Temple, and saw Philadelphia on that list, it might prompt them to do some research and see how much the crime that led to that ranking affects people in the area where Temple is located. True rocket science.</p>

<p>So not only has diontechristmas made himself look rather weak by his uninformed and ludicrous posts, but also embarrasses Temple (by association) by not even understanding what this thread was about, which really wasn’t that tough to understand in the first place. You have humiliated yourself enough, diontechristmas, give it up. I am sure you will feel free to quote and respond again, but I for one am done with you.</p>

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<p>We live in the Charlotte area (#14). Are there drive by shootings, drug murders, etc., yes. Are they any where near we live, no. Do I think about my surroundings even in the nice areas at night, yes (shouldn’t everyone?). Are most of the crimes, criminal on criminal, yes. Beautiful place. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. Good comparison though.</p>

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<p>Now, now everyone. The French Quarter looks just fine to those who are waking up from a serious hangover ;)</p>

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<p>I think “I know nothing” was the operative statement in dionxmas’ post. Although, I would tend to defer to the expertise of a Philadelphian in what constitutes a “total dump”. ;)</p>

15

<p>I have to agree that deontechristmas comments appear to be those of the ill-informed. There are many great areas of New Orleans (Upper Garden district where Tulane is situated being one of them) and many seedier areas where it is a very bad idea to venture into. The French Quarter is not the highlight of New Orleans and unfortunately most people who never venture beyond that area have spent precious little time inthe city. So back to the point of this thread, which was to gain perspective on crime --I found the rankings to be a refreshing, unbiased way to look at what is going on these big cities. Benetode, thatnks for sharing.</p>

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<p>As a technicality, Tulane is in the Audubon District. Although you will hear people say Uptown a lot too, that is technically wrong also, that is a separate district. I think without question together these are the nicest parts of New Orleans, with the Garden District being very special also. Credit to giddey_up for the following link:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.gnocdc.org/mapping/docs/neighborhood.pdf[/url]”>http://www.gnocdc.org/mapping/docs/neighborhood.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;