Hurricane Katrina didn't destroy Bourbon Street but will Bourbon Street survive New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu after he announced that he wants to make some changes to the Bourbon Street scene? The New Orleans Morning Advocate reported:
An unprecedented number of electronic eyes will soon be deployed throughout New Orleans, watching over 20 different neighborhoods, tracking vehicles to assist police as they search for suspects and scanning French Quarter revelers to look for hidden weapons.
The massive security deployment, part of a $40 million crime-prevention plan unveiled Monday, includes pumping public and private video feeds into a centralized New Orleans Police Department command center that will be monitored around the clock.
“Here’s the first thing I want everyone to know: When you go on Bourbon Street now, everything you do will be seen,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu said.
The proposal, drafted in the wake of a shooting on Bourbon Street on Thanksgiving weekend that left one person dead and nine wounded, also calls for efforts to tamp down on the atmosphere of street partying and entertainment that often overtakes areas of the Quarter into the early morning hours.
While no closing times will be imposed, bars across the city will be required to keep their doors closed after 3 a.m. to discourage patrons from spilling outside, and an early morning spraying of Bourbon Street will further discourage revelry there.....
On Bourbon Street, a 3 a.m. cleaning that “flushes” the street is planned — apparently similar to the sweep that formally ends Fat Tuesday — with a police escort that could make some consider going inside.
The new rules for bars and some other provisions will have to be approved by the City Council. Those rules would apply citywide and, in addition to crime concerns, are aimed at addressing neighborhood complaints about loud bars and music.... Rest of article.
Vehicles will be barred from the first eight blocks of Bourbon Street; movable bollards will allow emergency vehicles and delivery trucks through when needed.
The plan also calls for increasing regulations on strip clubs and live entertainment venues in the French Quarter and further restricting performers at Jackson Square, while “rebranding the French Quarter and Bourbon Street’s image as a cultural destination.”
Enjoy it while you can.
23 comments:
New Orleans is a sewer.
Las Vegas has made extreme efforts to rebrand itself as "family friendly" while still maintaining the sin city mantra. They realized that a reputation for safety and broad based entertainment venues will only increase their already huge profits. New Orleans has a tougher time branding the French Quarter as "family friendly" but at least they can put an emphasis on safety, which is still probably a tough sell. But at least they're trying.
Every city in the south over 100,000 people is a sewer. Think about it. But at least New Orleans is fun, has deep culture and great food.
But New Orleans is the biggest sewer in the south.
This, is an unfortunate response for the safety of the patrons. Probably should have been proposed years ago.
The idea here is to make criminals uneasy. Everybody already knows what all the revelers are doing so there are no hidden surprises or efforts there to change their behavior. The income of that region of the state depends on the revelers, not the criminals.
Hopefully that late night spraying of the streets will do something to ease that maggot-gagging stench that always fills the air in the late night/early morning hours.
Leave the strip clubs alone.
Can't flush the smell of piss and regret off that street; it's in the soil by now.
The city council has to approve such an ordinance which will never happen.
And LAs Vegas wishes it had never spent a dime trying to attract broke kids and wives....lament it daily.
Dudes with hard legs and dollars drive those towns.
Funny thing is when banks got robbed we didn't close the banks.....we made them harder to rob.
Somebody will institute mobile metal detectors and random frisks....which will deter crime.....but the bars are not about to close their doors or stop selling booze at 3 am.......
Where you have horses, you have the smell of piss. Get over it 8:41 and 9:05. If you don't want to smell poontang stay out of the whore house.
@10:08. Closing the doors does not equal closing the bar and last call. The flawed logic is that the drunk tourist will not walk through an open door. Neither will a bad guy storming the bar with guns blazing. He would have to open the door first.
Big Brother will be watching and Alternate Facts and silencing government employees from providing information will give us an alternate reality.
Crime is the lowest it's been in decades but Big Brother will eliminate crime and redefine what is criminal.
Perhaps we'll all have uniforms soon as well with badges indicating what our status is in society.
Orwell was off 100 years but by 2024 we should all be walking in lock step and the Wall to keep others out will keep us in.
I guess the homeless people begging for change, passed out on every corner will now get a daily shower at 3am
oh yeah? I remember when cameras were installed in the Bold New City in an effort to save lives at major intersections and curtail speeders (Lakeland Dr. @ Ridgewood as an example) When the good peoples of Jackson whined and bitched about being held accountable for their reckless driving habits by said carmeras the esteemed "leaders" trotted out and ordered them removed or disconnected and pointed skyward.
6:18
Impeding flow of drunks to more drink is the same thing as stopping them from serving at 3 am.
Don't think this wasn't contemplated.
Bourbon at 3 am is a zombie fest and if you make the place "look" like it's closed...well people go to bed.
That's why even on hot days the doors are wide open.
If you have any questions as to if this is a good or bad idea, follow NOLA news on facebook. Post Katrina bourbon street has gotten bad, especially in warmer weather. So what, they have cameras. If you're afraid your tits will show up, or you'll get caught with your mistress down there, then don't do it. Other than that, most law abiding citizens should want these. These cops aren't worried about a little partying, they are worried about some hood rats doing hood rat stuff. On the cars, have you seen how many "donks" are parked with ood rats posted up cat calling and harassing every decent looking woman around? The place has gone downhill drastically since Katrina. Even the strip club hustlers in the streets have gotten sleazier(and that's saying something).
9:03am is an example of the ignorance that so pervasive in modern Americans.
If my tits show up or I'm caught with my mistress, are not legal issues for the city of New Orleans or any government entity. If I pick my nose and eat the fruit, it's no one's business. Just because one is in public, does not mean that their right to privacy is removed.
The fence of privacy is obviously smaller in public, but not removed.... except for modern Americans' sense of riding that sled down the slippery slope of "most law abiding citizens should want their rights removed or violated".
If you're afraid of some hood rats doing hood rats stuff, donks parked with hood rats or sleazy strip club hustlers, then don't visit. Your perceptions does not trump others' rights.
I haven't been there since it was flushed a few years ago. The last time it was flushed it spread crap all over the U.S. If it is worse now imagine what will happen the next time it is flushed.
9:03
You disgust me. You probably call yourself a "conservative" as well.
“Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
― Benjamin Franklin
Not even trying to break down your idiotic circumstantial based argument, of course the probably / risk is greater if there are no cameras tracking your every move. That's the definition of freedom.
You need to look at absolute percentages-- if the chance of an event occurring on Bourbon is currently 1.7% and it is reduced to 1.3%--that's worth giving up your privacy for? You're crazy.
We can walk around with guns on our hips and get arrested for a beer in our hands.
Anyone know what those little white trailers are sitting around the quarter?
Oh, you mean the ones with the blue AT&T logos. AT&T generator/work trailers. The little yellow light on top is a dead give-away.
Having been in New Orleans when National Championships were won, the celebrations on Bourbon Street were glorious and went on all night without any incident of significance. Hate to think what the closed doors at 3am would signal to out of state fans. I suspect they'd assume the joint was closed.
When I go as a tourist, I've more sense than to be on Bourbon Street that late and am vigilant.
I've loved and enjoyed NOLA before and after Katrina. But, the bottom line is that the Governor should not be dictating to the city.
Ironic that those who don't want a heavy handed federal government can't see why a heavy handed State is just as bad.
More ironic still is that Landrieu's playing to the paranoia of his base about crime isn't an obvious hint of his national ambitions. Crime is at it's lowest in decades inside and outside of NOLA. But, if all you do is watch/read sensationalism and politicized BS that passes as news, I guess you don't know that.
PS, in the glorious past, you didn't hear much about crimes in other states and cities. It had to be a major crime with national implications to make national headlines as there just wasn't time until news was 24 hours and reporters had to fill time.
Frankly, life was better when we minded our own business and didn't panic about everyone else's business! NOLA should get to decide their way to do things and if I don't like what they decide, I don't have to go.
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