I remember the Lake Forest Plaza in eastern New Orleans. It was the largest, nicest mall in the state - for a brief period. Then the area turned into a Section 8 overflow from the old housing projects. One million square feet of retail space, and it only thrived for around fifteen years. The first signs of trouble at the Plaza were on Saturday nights, but the problem spread quickly.
Mainstreaming of Section 8 has become a major blight on suburbia. I’ve been looking for a work-week apartment. You gotta be careful, Section 8 seems to be just about anywhere they want it to be. The school bus stops look like assembly points for gangs and wannabe young thugs.
I don’t go to malls or allow my family to if I know about it. I went once in the last year and they are all powder kegs in my book. I went into a Best Buy in supposedly good area of town yesterday.... sheeeesh. Looked like downtown Harlem, Tijuana, Cairo and Hong Kong all rolled into one. I felt like a sore thumb and not safe at all. Came out to 6 cop cars blocking my lane in the parking lot... drug bust at 1630!
Side note, some greasy, unshaven sales person wanted help me buy a digital TV antenna. I asked him which one worked well. He said, “I like this one.” I asked why and I thought he was going to blow a fuse. Of course he had no idea why it was a good one ‘cept it was the most expensive.
Some white trash kid followed a neighbor from the grocery store last week... stalker or trying to steal the truck or a home invasion. She went to her son’s house and the creep left. This is not a bad neighborhood... or it wasn’t. We have not had anything like that in the last 17 years of living here.
The country is going to hell FAST! Batten down the hatches and buy all the bullets you can. Find out who your reliable friends are.
He said the demise started small. First a ball left out or a garden hose would disappear. Then cars would start getting broken into. From there it went to houses. He told me the last straw was when his kids came home talking ghetto. His wife said that's it, we are moving.
He moved across the Lake before ENOLA went too bad so he was able to get a good price for his house. Of course what started as an trickle became an exodus.
I worry about what may happen where I live. Since the Hurricane we have seen an increase in the number people from NOLA originally moving here and section 8 apartments have been sprouting up. Fortunately the local LEO's have been able to keep the trash in check.
“...I remember the Lake Forest Plaza in eastern New Orleans. It was the largest, nicest mall in the state - for a brief period. Then the area turned into a Section 8 overflow from the old housing projects. One million square feet of retail space, and it only thrived for around fifteen years. The first signs of trouble at the Plaza were on Saturday nights, but the problem spread quickly....”
The same thing has happened twice in Baton Rouge already and is now happening for a 3rd time. First, it was the Bon Marche mall, then the Cortana mall and now the Mall of Louisiana is falling prey to the same crap. It’s the same MO that you described above in every case. First, Saturday nights turned into a war zone, then it spreads to every night, then afternoons. Soon, those with real money that want to shop, won’t go there anymoe if they sense the danger of gangs of “feral urban youth”. Stores lose business to the point they have to close the doors. IF anything is done to prevent it, the sounds of “racism” ring off the walls by local minority politicians. We’ve seen it all before. That’s one of the reasons my wife and I were both packing. We weren’t looking for trouble, just a new pair of shoes for her, but we weren’t gonna take any crap off these vermin either.