Posted on 03/29/2015 7:29:43 AM PDT by SeafoodGumbo
NEW ORLEANS - There will be no more Domino's deliveries in the Lower 9th Ward after dark.
It is one of the changes the pizza company is making after another one of its drivers was murdered in the Lower 9th Ward while on the job, but residents and one city leader say the policy change is a knee-jerk reaction that is singling out their community.
"It just, again, puts a black eye on this community," said Vanessa Gueringer, a life-long resident of the Lower 9th Ward.
Michael Price, a 36-year-old father of three, is the second Domino's delivery driver murdered on the job in the last six months. In September, Richard Yeager was murdered in Mid-City while also delivering pizzas.
In response, Domino's now says it will not deliver to the Lower 9th Ward after dark.
"It marginalizes us and it disenfranchise us from the rest of the city," Gueringer said.
Councilman James Gray, who represents the Lower 9th Ward, agrees. He said the policy change is one driven by emotion and not the facts.
"The facts are this is the first murder in the Lower 9th Ward this year," Gray said. "It's a tragedy what happened to the driver, but incidentally that is the second driver killed this year. The other was killed in Mid-City."
Domino's is also making changes that will impact deliveries citywide. During the robbery, Price was carrying less than $30, which is why the company say it will not take cash during late-night hours.
"Credit cards only after 10 p.m. So, the driver won't be carrying any cash back to the store. As well as curbside delivery where we won't be getting out of vehicles and we'll pass the products through the window and we'll have surveillance in the vehicle," said Domino's Regional Vice President Robert Tedesco.
Residents like Kim Ford, whose nephew works as a Domino's delivery driver, said no worker should have to risk their life to make an honest living. She said Domino's should make changes that keep all of its drivers safe regardless of where they work.
"It's not just the French Quarter and the CBD that have crime issues. We all do," Ford said. "Every time we are singled out, yet we get nothing in return. No resources to help improve the police presence here."
"This was a crime of opportunity, as all of these were all over the city," Gueringer said. "That should be the status quo for every neighborhood."
The total Crimestoppers reward for information that leads to an arrest is now up to $10,000.
Sorry, only one tub of slaw per family. But Ed Aims to please and so does Louise so don’t hide arms get sidearms - at Aims guns!
Be Cool to the Pizza Dude
If I have one operating philosophy about life it is this: “Be cool to the pizza delivery dude; it’s good luck.” Four principles guide the pizza dude philosophy.
Principle 1: Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in humility and forgiveness. I let him cut me off in traffic, let him safely hit the exit ramp from the left lane, let him forget to use his blinker without extending any of my digits out the window or towards my horn because there should be one moment in my harried life when a car may encroach or cut off or pass and I let it go. Sometimes when I have become so certain of my ownership of my lane, daring anyone to challenge me, the pizza dude speeds by me in his rusted Chevette. His pizza light atop his car glowing like a beacon reminds me to check myself as I flow through the world. After all, the dude is delivering pizza to young and old, families and singletons, gays and straights, blacks, whites and browns, rich and poor, vegetarians and meat lovers alike. As he journeys, I give safe passage, practice restraint, show courtesy, and contain my anger.
Principle 2: Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in empathy. Let’s face it: We’ve all taken jobs just to have a job because some money is better than none. I’ve held an assortment of these jobs and was grateful for the paycheck that meant I didn’t have to share my Cheerios with my cats. In the big pizza wheel of life, sometimes you’re the hot bubbly cheese and sometimes you’re the burnt crust. It’s good to remember the fickle spinning of that wheel.
Principle 3: Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in honor and it reminds me to honor honest work. Let me tell you something about these dudes: They never took over a company and, as CEO, artificially inflated the value of the stock and cashed out their own shares, bringing the company to the brink of bankruptcy, resulting in 20,000 people losing their jobs while the CEO builds a home the size of a luxury hotel. Rather, the dudes sleep the sleep of the just.
Principle 4: Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in equality. My measurement as a human being, my worth, is the pride I take in performing my job — any job — and the respect with which I treat others. I am the equal of the world not because of the car I drive, the size of the TV I own, the weight I can bench press, or the calculus equations I can solve. I am the equal to all I meet because of the kindness in my heart. And it all starts here — with the pizza delivery dude.
Tip him well, friends and brethren, for that which you bestow freely and willingly will bring you all the happy luck that a grateful universe knows how to return.
And who is creating the black eye?
Are you kidding?
Work?
There is only one privileged victim group that orders pizza or Chinese and then kills the driver so they won’t have to pay. The group that thinks that normal people owe them everything.
The same group that does flash mobs and flash robs and knockout “game”.
If you lived here, you'd be home by now.
Any volunteer pizza delivery guys in the crowd?
That’s similar to what they are going to do. Curbside delivery, with the pizza being delivered through the window. Surveillance cameras in the vehicle. Only credit cards after 10pm.
Vanessa probably expects Dominos to process EBT cards for deliveries as well.
Orange Mound in Memphis is another such area. Both day and night. Not even the ER team or PD like to go there.
Michael Price, a 36-year-old father of three, is the second Domino's delivery driver murdered on the job in the last six months. In September, Richard Yeager was murdered in Mid-City while also delivering pizzas.
That guy Dave on the radio always says to get a job delivering Pizzas to get back on financial track. But he likely never had to do it where his life was on the line continually. Schtick, IMO
I’m sure that once she gets over her initial anger, Vanessa Gueringer will start coming up with a business plan to tap this now-open niche market and open up her own business that delivers pizza to the hood at all hours.
"It just, again, puts a black eye on this community," said Vanessa Gueringer, a life-long resident of the Lower 9th Ward... "It marginalizes us and it disenfranchise us from the rest of the city," ..."This was a crime of opportunity, as all of these were all over the city," Gueringer said. "That should be the status quo for every neighborhood."Catch that one? The entire city should be a hotbed for 'crimes of opportunity'.
The topic has long since passed the boundaries of ridicule and common sense.
Open a Black owned and manned Pizza parlor, deliver to your neighborhood.
Problem solved.
Except for the bodies....
That bit was classic.
Seems like there could be a “middle ground” on something like this. Perhaps the honest people there (which are most are) that are interested in home delivery pass some kind of background check that looks at who lives in the house and assess their level of threat (if they have high school ‘youths’ living there, high level of threat, if little kids or no kids, low level).
I realize it sounds “big brother”, but it would be voluntary. I just have a problem with denying service to a 70 year old black couple because there might be a rapper living 2 doors down.
They are living in a chocolate city and a pizza desert. Maybe more corrupt Democrat politicians can grease the pan and make pizza a reality in the lower 9th ward by opening a walk up shop.
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