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It would have been, perhaps, better -- and much less painful, ultimately . . . and much less deadly, ultimately -- if New Orleans had just been finished off once and for all by the Federal Flood in the wake of Katrina.

La Nouvelle Orleans, elle est mort. But the corpse is still twitching -- some. I'm told that sometimes happens, but the decedent is still quite dead.

I had held out some faint hope that what's left of the once-grand city would avoid becoming another Camden -- or Gary -- only much, much worse. But you know it's over when the cops are saying stuff like this without the faintest hint of irony or black humor:

"I think people can take some comfort in knowing that it was a random act of violence," said Sgt. Joe Narcisse, and NOPD spokesman. "I think the residents will tell you that the neighborhood is pretty safe, it's rare to have crime in this neighborhood, especially violent crime."

WHAT NEW ORLEANIANS are supposed to "take some comfort" in is that a Colorado contractor who moved to the city to help in the rebuilding got himself carjacked, shot in the face and killed in one of its "pretty safe" neighborhoods. I think you would call that "cold comfort" -- as in, "A hell of a guy who was minding his own business now lies on a shelf that slides into a big refrigerator in the Orleans Parish morgue."

If the cops ever catch who put Tony White on that shelf, in the fridge, in the morgue -- and that's pretty damned unlikely, given it's the New Orleans Police Department we're talking about, here -- you can run down to Harrah's down by the river off of Canal Street and make book that District Attorney Eddie Jordan will never convict the SOB.

And when that becomes the daily reality of an already poor, already devastated city, who the hell will want to move there? Who the hell already there and in their right mind will stick it out?

NOT MANY PEOPLE any sane city planner would covet having there, that's for damn sure.

Here's the sad, sad story from WWL television:

The murder of a man who had relocated to New Orleans to help the city rebuild is the city’s 108th of the year and it’s the final straw for his wife and some of his friends, who say they are headed out, driven from a city they love by out of control crime.

Tony White, a contractor who moved from Colorado after Katrina, was killed early Thursday morning while returning from work. Police believe he was the victim of a random carjacking.

"He'd come home about 2 in the morning, minding his own business,” said his wife Tammy. “He was the nicest guy. If they wanted his wallet, he would have given it to him. But they took our jeep and killed him. That's the call I got."

Tammy White said her husband was planning to get out of the construction management business and the couple was going to open a photography studio.

His wife said Tony often worried about crime. Authorities say he was coming home from a job around 3 a.m. when he was shot once in the face in a neighborhood that is normally considered a safe one.

“He was the greatest man,” said his wife. “He was my best friend. The kids and grandkids just idolized him. He was it, and for those guys to snuff out a life like that is pitiful.”

Tammy White says she is leaving as soon as she can.

Brad Robinson, who is White’s friend and landlord, said he is also going to move from a city he no longer considers safe.

“I’m finished. I’m finished with the city of New Orleans,” he said. “As soon as me and my wife can liquidate our assets, our rental properties and our businesses, we’re leaving.”

Detectives believe it was a carjacking and said the murder appeared to be random.

"I think people can take some comfort in knowing that it was a random act of violence," said Sgt. Joe Narcisse, and NOPD spokesman. "I think the residents will tell you that the neighborhood is pretty safe, it's rare to have crime in this neighborhood, especially violent crime."