A Bourbon Street bar repeatedly reprimanded by the Vieux Carre Commission for improperly undertaking construction projects in the historic district received permission from an Orleans Parish judge last week to reopen its doors to customers.
A temporary restraining order was awarded Friday to 711 Entertainment LLC, which operates Bourbon Lights at 711 Bourbon St., by Civil District Court Judge Robin Giarrusso allowing it to serve customers. The move has sparked outrage among members of French Quarter neighborhood groups and the Vieux Carre Commission, who argue that the bar should not be allowed to operate when the owner has been in violation of repeated stop-work orders from the city
I'm less interested in the specifics of this case than I am in the fact that the VC Commission seems so utterly helpless to enforce even the most minor of its regulations against a commercial tourism interest.
Many of us suspect that "historic preservation" districts exist only to give panels of politically connected socialites a quasi-legal means of issuing bullying critiques of the unfashionable roof-tiles chosen by individual homeowners. When we read stories like this we find that suspicion reinforced significantly.
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