NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Ashley Chriss had her car for only six months before she says it was broken into and severely damaged early Monday morning by several teens.
“When I came outside, I saw they broke the steering column to my car and they didn’t touch anything else. I had money sitting there and they didn’t even touch it. They wanted my car,” said Chriss.
Chriss, a single mother of four young children, now has to figure out how she’s going to get around and afford the repairs.
“It’s devastating. I work hard for everything I have. I don’t have any help with anything. It’s just sad that we have to go through this in this area,” said Chirss.
Chriss is one of dozens of residents in District E that’s looking for solutions and a plan from city leaders.
Monday night, Mayor LaToya Cantrell and Councilman Oliver Thomas addressed various issues in District E with crime and youth offenders a main topic of conversation.
“I know one of the things in the beginning of the school year is that we’re going to partner with some of the schools start conflict resolution programs, do some mentoring programs. Right now in the summer, we have to begin rounding up kids in a positive way,” said Thomas.
The meeting at times was emotional as residents pleaded for solutions from Mayor Cantrell and Thomas.
“We need resources. That’s going to point these troubled youth to places where they can find themselves on the job training,” said one District E resident.
Another hot topic at the meeting was garbage collection, an issue many residents say they’ve been dealing with for a year.
“We have identified a contractor, we are in negotiations of the contract right now,” said Mayor Cantrell.
We asked folks after the nearly two hour town hall if they thought it was productive, and their answers varied.
“I was pleasantly surprised. It was actually nice and it was very informative,” said District E resident Kim Ford
“There were a lot of generalities, wallowing nostalgia, talking circles around problems without offering specifics or hard figures. Basically, it was New Orleans politics par for the course,” said District E resident Elizabeth Elmwood.
Mayor Cantrell says anyone who had a question that was not answered can email her office and that her staff will work on getting them a response.