New Orleans City Council Vice President J.P. Morrell said he intends to ask the council to yank the Krewe of Nyx's parade permit for Mardi Gras 2025.
During a lengthy and wide-ranging meeting of the New Orleans City Council Carnival Legislative Advisory Committee. Morrell said Wednesday afternoon that Nyx was in violation of the city's Mardi Gras ordinance.
Morrell said Nyx violated the rules on commercials in parades by including in its throws material that advertised for membership.
"If you cannot recruit your krewe in the method that is allowed under the law, that is a problem for you, not a problem of the city of New Orleans," Morrell said.
Mardi Gras costs the city of New Orleans around $1 million per day, said Morrell, and since parade permit fees do not come close to covering that, he says the city is essentially subsidizing carnival parades.
The crowd that the parades, and overall celebration, brings in makes up for it, Morrell said, making it a symbiotic relationship between the city and parade organizations. He said that is why it is important that parade krewes live up to their obligations.
Another area where he says Nyx fell short was in meeting its marching band requirement.
"The marching bands, in particular, are part of how the city, in ordinance, respects the music and cultural heritage of the city," Morrell said. "Its an essential element because part of us giving you that...permit is you have to go find these bands to be in that parade."
Nyx, he said, has missed the minimum number for bands for the last two Mardi Gras.
"If you didn't have the bands the year before, and you don't have the bands this year, that shows you're just not following the law," said Morrell.
Morrell said there is a waiting lost of krewes that would love to get one of the limited number of Mardi Gras parade permits and show it can meet its obligations when other krewes can't.
