'A disservice to New Orleans, America and the truth'

A conversation between Fox News pundits Geraldo Rivera and Bill O'Reilly -- containing a couple of prominent inaccuracies and the assertion that everything outside the French Quarter in New Orleans is a "vast urban wasteland" -- drew an angry letter from a collection of local civic groups on Monday.The segment aired last Friday after video clips emerged in court showing prisoners at the Orleans Parish jail complex drinking, using drugs and brandishing a gun while behind bars. After running the clip, Rivera and O'Reilly discussed the city's crime and corruption problems in the same astonished tones that many locals have, but fired off sweeping generalizations about how New Orleans has been corrupt for "hundreds of years," and how problems plaguing the criminal justice system look solvable if enough residents would just demand some tougher police tactics."As you may know, that city has been corrupt ever since Andrew Jackson defeated the British down there in the Battle of New Orleans," O'Reilly said in introducing the report.

Dear Mr. O’Reilly and Mr. Rivera:Your April 5 “Fridays with Geraldo” segment, “New Orleans prisoners gone wild,” was adisservice to New Orleans, America and the truth. Its broadly dismissive tone was all themore disconcerting because as recently as February 4 you had proclaimed, “New Orleanshas come back big time from Katrina. It’s once again a great American destination.”Now let us be clear: the truth is that the prison video is shocking. But it is also true thatthe video is four years old, and that the prison has been closed. There will beconsequences. And we are confident that we will fix this problem, because as you willsee below, the truth is that New Orleans has confronted and defeated an extraordinaryrange of other challenges over the past five years.On this theme, The Wall Street Journal recently ran a much broader, more balanced andmore accurate story – “The Real Super Bowl Winner: Why New Orleans Came Backfrom Katrina Better than Ever” (attached). In this piece, the Journal describes how NewOrleans is now a national model for reform, suggesting “Other troubled cities andWashington, take note.”For the truth is, in the few years since the devastation of Katrina, the largest manmadedisaster in the history of the United States, New Orleans has addressed long-standingchallenges with a speed and efficacy unprecedented in the history of our great nation.* * *In your segment you asked two basic questions about New Orleans: “Why can’t itimprove?” and “Why doesn’t it get better?” The truth is, it can and it does, dramatically.There is a preponderance of evidence:Education – Previously burdened with some of the worst schools in the country, NewOrleans was recently named “America’s Best City for School Reform,” and thegraduation rate has now passed the national average. Our universities are booming too,(2)with Tulane recently attracting more applications – 44,000 – than any other privateschool, of any size, in the country.Civic Reform – With diverse civic and business groups working in partnership withpolitical leadership, New Orleans has “enacted more major reforms simultaneously thanany other modern city” (Brookings Institution).These include:• Establishment of Office of Inspector General - now a national model• Establishment of Independent Police Monitor - also a national model• Consolidation and Reform of Levee Boards - providing oversight to make post-Katrina Army Corps projects the most efficient and effective in modern history• Consolidation of Property Assessors – breaking up century-old political dynasties• Implementation of Master Zoning Plan with Force of Law – to guide planning forthe next 20 years of New Orleans• Development of Public/Private Partnerships – based on national best practicemodels for economic development and youth recreation• Implementation of State Ethics Reform – taking Louisiana to #1 in the USA inethics disclosure laws (Center for Public Integrity)Economic Development – Buoyed by business-friendly leadership, New Orleans hasbeen described as “the greatest turnaround of our lifetime” by Richard Karlgaard, thepublisher of Forbes. Over the past two years we have been named #1 in the USA for:• Improved City for Business (Wall Street Journal)• Employment Growth (Brookings)• Technology Job Growth (Forbes)The fact that global companies like GE Capital are choosing New Orleans for expansion(300 new jobs announced in 2012) is hard evidence of this improvement.Entrepreneurism – Post-Katrina New Orleans is also one of the most entrepreneurialplaces in America, and now leads the USA by 30% in number of start-ups per capita.Underscoring this, the Tax Foundation ranked Louisiana as the #2 state in the country tostart a business.Talent – After decades of out-migration, people are coming back in record numbers.New Orleans is the fastest growing city in the USA since the 2010 census, and wasnamed “America’s Biggest Brain Magnet” by Forbes for attracting people under 25 withcollege degrees.Flood Protection – From $15 billion of new investment, to a consolidation of leveemanagement, New Orleans now has the most advanced flood protection in the nation, andis in fact actively involved in the new task force to assist post-Sandy New York and NewJersey.Tourism – Recently voted America’s Favorite by Travel + Leisure, a record number oftourists visited New Orleans in 2012, over nine million, and New Orleans led the USA in(3)RevPAR (room rate) growth, at a remarkable 33% year-on-year.In the name of truth we should also clarify some false statements from the April 5segment:• Our government is no longer dysfunctional. It is so good, in fact, from theGovernor down to the Mayor, that we were voted #1 Most Business FriendlyGovernment in the USA in a recent national economic development survey (AreaDevelopment).• Your assertion that 60,000 out of 320,000 New Orleanians are in jail is simplywrong. The truth is, the prison population is about 2,000 out of a population of360,000. Your number is such a misstatement that it best belongs in Mr.O’Reilly’s “Hall of Shame” for distributing “defamatory, false…information.”• Our murder rate is unacceptable. But it is not 14 times New York City. And yourcomparison to the remarkable turnaround of Times Square in NYC neglects thefact that that process began with Mayor Koch in the 70’s and took over 30 years –and we have been at ours for about five.• The notion that “everything outside of the French Quarter” is an urban wastelandis simply slanderous, and is utterly refuted by all of the preceding truths in thisletter.• Finally, perhaps the greatest inaccuracy in your entire story is the ending, whenyou say that nothing changes in New Orleans because “folks aren’t demandingit.” Things are changing more dramatically in New Orleans than they have inany urban environment in recent American history - because we are demanding it,and because we are doing it.* * *But don’t take our word for it – please come back and see for yourselves. On behalf ofthe business and civic community of New Orleans, we invite you to come visit us in NewOrleans, so you can witness firsthand the extraordinary people and organizations that aredriving, in the words of Mayor Landrieu, “a story about the resurrection and redemptionof a great American city.”This is the truth about New Orleans.Yours truly,Business Council of New Orleans and River RegionCitizens for 1 Greater New OrleansCommon GoodGreater New Orleans, Inc.