The famous food and spice company Zatarain's, founded in 1889 in New Orleans, has been located in Gretna since 1963.

According to eyewitnesses, some officers threatened to shoot those coming from New Orleans as they attempted to cross into Gretna on foot, shots were fired overhead, and downdraft from a police helicopter was used to help clear refugees from the bridge.

[9][10][11] New Orleans Police Department 911 operator Patryce Jenkins, having walked the city for two days after her dispatch center was flooded, tried to return to her unflooded Gretna apartment via the bridge.

Though she had ID to prove her status as a resident, she said instead of checking it police ordered her to turn back, used racial slurs, and fired a warning shot over her head, leaving her crying in disbelief.

[12] Gretna mayor Ronnie Harris pointed out though the city had not flooded, Gretna had been severely damaged as well, losing power, water, and sewage services, claiming the city had no food, no water, no shelters, and no capacity to take refugees.

Harris said that the city had commandeered buses and been transporting a crowd of about 6,000 refugees to a nearby FEMA facility.

But he said the city enacted the blockade after a spate of door-to-door robberies began in Gretna and stores at the Oakwood Mall were looted and burned.

[14] A fourth federal case, involving Regional Transit Authority workers, was scheduled to go to trial in April 2011.

From 2010 to 2020, the growth of Hispanic or Latino Americans reflected nationwide demographic trends of diversification and identity.

[26] In 2016, press reports indicated that local police made 6,566 adult arrests in 2013, a rate about fourteen times that of a typical city.

[27][28] In July 2019 it was reported that two officers of the Gretna Police were fired for threatening United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

[29] In 2024, Gretna was part of a investigation by ProPublica and WVUE-TV into fines and fees issued by municipalities in southeastern Louisiana, which found that Gretna had the highest number of violations per case as well as the highest average amount levied per case among the seven municipalities studied.

George Cox Elementary School, which also serves a portion of Gretna, is in Timberlane, an unincorporated area of Jefferson Parish.

[40] Previously Kate Middleton Elementary in Terrytown served a portion of Gretna;[41] it closed in 2012.

[46] The German American Cultural Center (GACC), headquartered at 519 Huey P. Long Avenue, was founded in 1988.

It strives to interpret the contribution of German immigrants to Louisiana's history by presenting educational opportunities such as exhibits, lectures and other programs.