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The most recent political battles have centered around the city's newest (if oldest) industry: gambling. Video poker machines occupy dark corners in most smoky bars, several riverboat casinos dock in large and small bodies of water, and a land-based casino is scheduled to open soon. Nobody knows quite what to expect of the gambling scene, but everyone has ideas: increased crime, increased congestion, increased hassle.

Crime is the other hot topic in the city, and lately, it's been gaining national attention. There seems no end to the scandals, from a few unbelievably corrupt city cops to a widespread (and this year, deadly) tradition of shooting bullets in the air to celebrate New Year's Eve. In 1994 New Orleans hired a new chief of police, and he's beginning to toughen recruiting standards and increase the number of street patrols. But as in any city, the best way to avoid crime is to act smart: don't walk around at night, especially not alone; don't leave anything visible in your car; at midnight on New Year's, stay indoors.

When it comes down to it, crime is a problem that plagues most American cities, and racism is another. New Orleans isn't immune to either. The majority of New Orleans's population is black, and a disproportionate number lives in one of several sprawling housing projects. Outside the projects, the city is a checkerboard; the character and racial composition of the neighborhoods sometimes change from block to block. While most streets themselves are segregated, proximity leads to a fair amount of daily contact among blacks and whites, at supermarkets and drugstores and street corners. It's hardly integration, but it's contact, and that's a start.