Less than 24 hours after Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced that the New Orleans Police Department's staffing shortage could lead to Mardi Gras festivities being canceled next year, New Orleanians are reacting with shock and surprise. Even those close to the mayor didn't see the announcement coming.
"Everybody's blindsided by this," said Mardi Gras Guide publisher Arthur Hardy.
Hardy is a member of Mayor LaToya Cantrell's Mardi Gras advisory committee. He says Cantrell's announcment was news to him and the other committee members.
"We had a meeting last week," Hardy said. "Nothing was mentioned that this was even under consideration."
Hardy says what makes the announcment more shocking is that the committee had discussed the NOPD's officer shortage.
"It was expected that parade routes would remain shortened again," Hardy said. "Although no one was happy with that, I think it was a forgone conclusion that we didn't have the manpower to maintain the traditional routes."
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Is there a way to get around that staffing shortage? Hardy says bringing in the National Guard as the city did during the 1979 police strike might not be an option.
"I think it would work on paper, but my understanding is that you can only bring the National Guard in in some kind of emergency," Hardy said, noting a difference between then and now. "In '79, it was because there was no police presence. Zero."
Hardy says if Mardi Gras is canceled, it will create a different type of emergency.
"I can tell you it's an economic emergency if we don't have Mardi Gras," Hardy said. "It's going to hurt a lot of people.
"It would be a devastating blow. You know, we're just recovering now, and there are so many people touched by this celebration. And again, we're talking about canceling parades. Now, you would still have Mardi Gras. You'd have balls, we assume, and other things because Mardi Gras is more than just the parades, but let's face it. Parades are the public presence of it and the most central ingredient and the one that draws in the tourists."
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