New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast are still dealing with the after-effects of Hurricane Ida, which swept through the region and headed north in late August to disastrous effect. Cities as far away as Philadelphia and Boston saw storm damage, but New Orleans and Louisiana, in particular, have dealt with lost power, water and tree damage and just generally dealing with a state of emergency amid an already-deadly public health crisis. And as our friend Saz (pictured above) can attest, NOLA is still a bit of a stinky mess right now.
Compounding things in the city is a sanitation strike that’s seen an already-shorthanded city struggle with trash pickup in the weeks before and after the storm. Earlier in the year, workers walked out over being underpaid, leaving the city short on workers to pick up trash even before a debris-creating, power-obliterating mega-storm. With debris and trash overflowing under normal circumstances, the city is now essentially covered in uncollected garbage and created mounting frustrations for residents struggling in the aftermath of the storm, some of whom have actually taken to the streets to protest.
And apparently, one man tried to take things into his own hands to the detriment of his legal record. As the New York Post details, a man was arrested for threatening to kill the mayor over their inaction in the sanitation situation.
Daniel P. Jenkins, 59, called cops from a New York City telephone number Sunday evening and told the operator he planned to go to Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s office on Monday and shoot her if his trash wasn’t picked up or got answers as to when it would, NOLA.com reported.
According to police, they paid a visit to Jenkins who then told them it was him who called the cops about his plans.
Jenkins admitted he was fed up with being charged by the city’s Sewerage & Water Board without being serviced, officers wrote in court documents obtained by the outlet.
Jenkins also confessed to telling a police operator he wanted to shoot someone, but didn’t specify his target during an interview with investigators, cops wrote in a sworn statement filed in criminal court.
It’s a disturbing situation, to say the least, but shows just how stressed out people are amid a pandemic and natural disaster. When your city is suffering through a Hey Arnold episode, it’s hard to expect everyone to keep it together. And Jenkins’ frustration, though not his arrest for “terrorizing,” is certainly shared among many residents there who are frustrated that the mayor reportedly waited weeks to seek emergency bids for trash pickup in the storm’s aftermath. As WDSU notes, the mayor’s office finally responded to backlash by having workers from other departments of the city government going out to collect waste.
Hopefully “Operation Mardi Gras” can ease tensions in the city a bit, and get the rest of it back to smelling a bit less like the French Quarter almost always does regardless of natural disasters.