Posted on 02/03/2009 4:52:11 AM PST by BBell
Francisco Galicia had to laugh when he noticed that his city tax bill this year included a new line item: $200 for enhanced police protection.
In the past 13 months, Galicia has been burglarized five times, each crime dealing a fresh blow to the longtime New Orleans resident's ambition to restore his flooded rental property on South Gayoso Street in Mid-City.
He has invested more than half of an $85,000 loan in the property, hoping to turn a profit and pay off Hurricane Katrina-related repairs to his primary residence on Banks Street. But 20 months in, his South Gayoso home remains gutted and without power. And his own home sits half-renovated. Burglars are to blame, he said: Because of them, he can't reap income from his rental property to spend on his own house or to pay down his loan.
Defeated, Galicia plans to leave a city that he has called home for three decades and move his family to Austin, Texas, even though he has no roots there. Leaving New Orleans, he said, is his only option to make a living, settle his debts and feel protected.
City officials "told me they were ready for me to come back and rebuild, " he said. "But I don't believe they were."
'No shame'
His troubles started the morning of Dec. 23, 2007, when someone broke into his home and stole $1,000 worth of construction tools. But he forged on, paying a contractor nearly $28,000 to install copper plumbing tubes under his home and electrical wires in the walls.
But burglars struck on May 28, 2008, and again on June 11 and June 17, snipping and stealing the tubes and wires.
Galicia reported each incident, and his diligence initially appeared to have paid off. The Orleans Parish district attorney's office wrote to inform
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
I think New Orleans should give up and move to Austin, too.
Of course, this story will NOT be on the evening news.
He should move to Tulsa. We’re getting rid of the illegals so jobs are plentiful and crime is low.
Welcome to Chocolate City! Home of the Chocolate Mayor! Here’s some free chocol...sorry. It’s been stolen.
I would expect nothing less when living in a “chocolate city”. Call me racist if you want...
But burglars struck on May 28, 2008, and again on June 11 and June 17, snipping and stealing the tubes and wires.
That's the illegals. It was a big thing for a while in Phoenix for illegals to steal whatever copper they could get their hands on, because scrap copper prices were so high. They'd even steal the exposed pipes from outdoor A/C units.
No thanks. We hosted a lot of the welfare parasites from NOLA after Katrina; many of them decided to stay to continue their criminal ways in a “fresh” environment. We don’t need any more of ‘em.
Why would he install copper, with copper at $4.00 a pound last summer, and nearly $30 for a 20’ length of 1/2 pipe, instead of PEX or CPVC? Seems foolish.
I don’t know enough about the building codes in New Orleans but PEX and CPVC not be allowed. I’ll ask the next plumber I see.
New Orleans used to have some charm, but that disappeared long before Katrina arrived.
Some well placed shots from a 38 special or random shots from a 12 gauge would have stopped this pretty quickly....
He would feel more at home if he moved to Houston but then, Houston is not hurricane proof.
I gotcha, I’d surmise that the locals learned something from the illegals, but suspect that they had nothing to learn!
Don’t expect liberals to try to stop burglaries. Burglaries are just the “have nots” taking what’s rightfully theirs from the “haves”
“Travis County is one of only three or four blue Counties in Texas.”
That should read “one of only three or four blue Counties outside of the Border Counties in Texas.
Burglaries in the district fell by 25 percent in 2008, from about 650 to 490. Thefts dropped 15 percent, from about 450 to 380, according to department figures."
He must be a malcontent, dissin' on the cops and Mayor.
Everyone knows that crime is down, down, down. It says so in the newspaper and in a press release from the police dept.
Just don't go trusting something you read on the Internet ... especially from the Times-Picaninny
Check out this helpful map of crime in N.O.
The police even tell where not to live - anywhere in N.O.
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