In his speech Monday morning, Mayor Mitch Landrieu mostly talked about his aspirations for his second term. He also talked about how the city has improved under his watch — the city’s finances are stronger, schools are better, and homicides are down.
Many of those statements can be fact-checked, and that’s what The Lens will do in the coming days.
First, we want your input. We’ve picked several factual assertions Landrieu made in his speech. Which one do you want us to fact-check? You can vote on our Facebook page.
Here are the statements, taken directly from the text of Landrieu’s speech.
Historic drop in homicide rate
In 2010, New Orleans was America’s murder capital. But no more — murder is at a historic near-30-year low.
Expansion and construction at the airport and port
Thousands of construction jobs at the new airport, $1 billion being invested to expand the Port and New Orleans has become a vibrant hub for young entrepreneurs.
Schools have improved
Graduation rates are up, test scores are up and dropout rates are down.
City leading the fight against blight
In four short years, we went from having the worst blight problem in America to tearing down or fixing up blight faster than anywhere else in the country.
City finances improved
In four short years, we went from being a city on the financial brink — $100 million in the red and spending $5 for every $4 we took in. Now we have a city with a balanced budget.
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