Ladders in the news!

From yesterday's idiot page:

Parade patrols are inconsistent
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

While I realize the Orleans Police Department has bigger fish to fry and that this rant may sound trivial, I made some observations this weekend of enforcement of our ordinances.

At one intersection, there was a police officer diligently enforcing the rules against ladders or chairs in the intersection and dogs at parades. Meanwhile, around the block there were six or seven dogs at the street line and chairs and ladders in the intersection.

Doesn't this lax enforcement at one corner make it harder for more vigilant police officers at the next corner?

Surely if the police expect respect from us they should begin by uniformly enforcing the laws.

Maria Huete

New Orleans

Actually, I find the news that police were enforcing the rules at all quite encouraging. I think the best thing NOPD can do is get out there and inform people. A major cause of ladder misuse is lack of public awareness.

The dog issue mentioned by the letter writer provides an excellent example of responsible enforcement. As I've said before, most dogs love Mardi Gras. Unfortunately, it is illegal to walk your dog within 50 feet of the parade route. It has been my experience, however, that NOPD exercises excellent discretion in enforcing this rule. They are usually more lax during the early parades with smaller and calmer crowds and are pretty good at laying off the better behaved animals.

Last night, a neighbor of mine brought her dog out to see the parade formerly known as "Ancient Druids" but now calling itself "Mystick Krewe of Druids". An officer came over to us and politely told us that the rule was 50 ft. We retreated about 20 ft, and that seemed to work out fine for everyone.



If the police can courteously help dogs to enjoy the parade safely, surely they can remind people to be respectful of one another as well. Mark Folse gets to the heart of the problem here.

But on that same neutral ground every year, people (mostly not from our neighborhood) show up and spray paint themselves blocks of neutral ground larger than some homes in our neighborhood, and if you want to challenge their right to do so you had best be ready for fisticuffs. This is insane. Parades are supposed to be for everyone. That is why we allow them to roll down the city’s public streets, rather than having them circle the floor of the Superdome for ticket buyers. But try telling that to the neutral ground Nazi’s.

It is simply another example of the continued crumbling of the basic social contract, and the tendency of some in the greater world to privatize the commons for their own benefit to the greater society’s detriment. When Washington and Baton Rouge are run on this basis, why not grab your own piece of public property for your private party?

People need to be reminded they are there to share the parade experience not to hoard their private piece. Simply put, if you don't want to interact with other people, you should probably stay inside. The police are quite capable of communicating this to folks in a completely benign way with little or no risk of Mark's above-mentioned fisticuffs.

Notes on Druids:

• Before I say what I want to say here, let's be clear on one thing. Last night was a great night for a parade and I enjoyed it very much. I am always happy to walk around outside drinking beer and talking to people under any pretense and this was as good a night for it as any. The dreaded thunderstorm never materialized. A lot of people were out. It was nice.



• Having said that, I think we can all agree that Druids put on a pretty crappy parade. The floats were ho-hum, the riders were the stingiest so far this year, and the theme was unbelievably lame.
  
  One would expect the theme, "Why?" would have lent itself to all manner of mischievous satire but Druids dropped that ball pretty quickly. One of the first floats was entitled, "Why, Archbishop, Why?" in reference to the recent local controversy over church closings. Not a terrible start, but it was the last float of any topical relevance in the procession.
  
  Subsequent floats titled, "Why don't snakes have legs?" and "Why is the ocean salty?" didn't seem to have anything to do with anything. Reading these float titles was sort of like manning the reference desk... at a library for 4 year olds. I got the impression that the Krewe members either couldn't decide what to do with their theme or maybe had disagreements over how to handle controversial topics other than the church closings. In any event, they just seemed to have given up. This float, titled "K Why" was the low point in the lame progress of puns and inanities.
  
  



• On a more encouraging note, I am happy to report that affordable parade food is not quite a thing of the past.
  
  
  
  This little truck on Josephine Street was selling pretty decent tacos for $2.00 each as well as Polish Sausage for $4.00. Just down the block nearer Felicity the Polishes were going for $8.00. I didn't try the Boudin Balls but there is plenty Carnival left.



• And, finally, my neighbors are back with their head-mounted target contraption.
  
  
  
  He calls it the "Beadmaster 2009" (The name changes every year). And, yes, it works. Just don't stand between it and enthusiastic riders trying to nail the target.

One more note for anyone reading who may be new to all of this. DO NOT MISS tonight's Krewe of Muses. Nothing else in Carnival achieves Muses' mix of the traditional feel of a neighborhood-style parade, the bombast of the Super-Krewes, and the cleverness of a satirical theme... not to mention the odd surprise. It really has become the highlight of the season.