I’ve been talking about the challenges in the French Quarter for a long time. I’ve spoken about living in this culture of non-compliance, what we prioritize, what we actually think the culture of New Orleans is, and how that all translates into law enforcement challenges. That culture revealed its ugly head again over the weekend - two teenagers are shot on Bourbon Street and multiple witnesses describe it as the ‘wild wild West.’ One witness says literally a thousand people or more started running down the street and screaming and a reporter asked him, “what was going through your mind?’ And that individual said, ‘get the hell off of Bourbon Street!”
It turns out a lot of folks speaking with the media are asking for anonymity, because now we fear the cancel culture as well. We're afraid of saying something as it relates to this conduct. There was one bar manager that said that this has become the new normal, that fist fights break out regularly among crowds that gather in the 500 block of Bourbon to listen to bands made up of young people playing percussion instruments. He says they've been out there every weekend for months.
These musical groups that are playing out there - I guess they have a permit? I don't know. I'm assuming that you need to get a permit because I mean, what's to stop having a hundred groups just show up and start having a battle of the bands? If you're not required to get a permit, you should. Because obviously what they’re trying to do is entertain the public and solicit donations but it needs to be done in an orderly, structured way. How many weekends do you have to have fights break out before somebody takes some kind of action? The response from the city was weak at best, I can't even believe it. They say according to the city's coronavirus mitigation guidelines, street performers are allowed to perform, but they need to be masked. And guess what? Folks, the street performers are encouraged to maintain small audiences. Really? They're out there trying to solicit donations and solicit money! Do you really believe that they want a small audience? We are going to leave that responsibility to them?
It goes on - they're encouraged to maintain small audiences that are wearing face coverings and social distancing. I got it. I can see the guy beating on the drum or playing the sax, stopping and saying, “you're going to have to leave because you're not wearing a mask.” Or, “you're cozying up too much to these people, and I don't know if you're related to them or not, so we're going to have to ask you to move on.” It is the most ridiculous response that I have ever heard that we're going to shift that responsibility to these street performers.
They also said that there's a police presence and officers keep the drum line moving. Well, that's not what witnesses are saying. The irony here is that we can't have live music inside businesses in the French Quarter, so they just gather outside in the street. Why wouldn't we allow that business owner to have the band play on a sidewalk or something else so that they're making the money?
You've heard me mention this before - we have this new part of our culture where it's okay for people to pull wagons selling alcohol, a moving bar. Now I know these people are not permitted, but this is fine in the French Quarter. Some of the more creative entrepreneurs have marijuana edibles for sale, others are actually pulling wagons with little bitty barbecue pits there so that you don't have to be inconvenienced actually going into a restaurant. It's right there, It will come to you.
This goes on every weekend. I've been down there. I've seen it with my own eyes. Meanwhile, when you talk to some of the police officers, they say that they've been instructed not to confront street performers. Now we're going to have the stain of multiple shots fired on Bourbon. We're not actually enforcing the law, because you just can't set up a bar anywhere. Why don't we give the bar owners down there an opportunity to do that and try to save those businesses? Pull days from a hat and let them set up miniature wagons and walk around and sell alcohol, since they are paying a sales tax, occupational tax, license taxes, property taxes, rent, and otherwise.
If that's the culture and the environment that we're trying to promote and support, then why not let the legit business owners in the French Quarter take advantage of it. To the contrary, we're actually shutting them down. I'm not being critical of the shutdown, what I'm critical of is the duplicity in our approach. There's no reasonable explanation for it - none whatsoever. And if this weak and lax approach continues, more and more people will get hurt in the French Quarter, Warehouse District, Bywater and neighborhoods beyond.
