Progress!

Today is the last day of February and I've still got a Mardi Gras re-cap post in draft which no one will care about when I post.  So I'm glad to see it's still at least slightly topical today.

The use of public space on the Mardi Gras parade routes improved slightly this year, City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell said Wednesday night, but the city laws need to be reviewed starting now to make sure that less of the sidewalks and neutral grounds are unfairly co-opted by furniture, ropes and improperly-placed ladders.


Parade-route conduct has long been a sore spot for some New Orleanians, and the proliferation of living-room furniture and portable toilets definitely seems to have worsened in recent years, said Cantrell, whose City Council district includes almost the entirety of the Uptown route. But her direct involvement as a councilwoman began just before the parades did, when she told a Gambit reporter that she had yet to hear from her new constituents specifically about that issue.

Sure enough, she said, she began to hear from them almost immediately afterward.

“It was a call to action, and then I began to hear from you,” Cantrell told members of the Bouligny Improvement Association, which represents the area just upriver of Napoleon Avenue between Magazine and St. Charles. “By phone, by email — but it was a good thing.”

Good on Councilwoman Cantrell for being one responsive mo-fo. Sure, the Endymion Orleans Avenue situation may seem like the belly of the beast when it comes to this stuff but if we're going to work toward normalizing good behavior the place to work on that is in District B where most of the parading happens. 

Oh by the way, the Gambit article they're talking about can be found here.

As to the "improved slightly" aspect of this, I can confirm that to some degree.  On more than one occasion this year, we witnessed NOPD asking people to move ladders and other obstructions out of the intersection.
That bodes well for everyone's safety since it allows emergency vehicles to cross if needed. But it also makes the intersection a pleasant oasis for parade watchers among a wasteland of tent and ladder hell on the neutral grounds.

But it could still be better. Here are two photographs from Sunday (float rider's perspective) that illustrate the difference pretty well.  This one was taken at Napoleon Avenue.



Because there are no massive obstructions in the street, people can stand 10 or 11 rows deep and all share a pretty nice view of the parade. They also have plenty room to move forward or backward during the day.  Sure a parade is a spectacle, but it's also a street party.  People like to move around rather than be stuck in one specific "seat" the whole time.

Contrast that with this scene on St. Charles Avenue.



The people behind the great wall of ladders and roped-off tent seating are barely participating. Or at least they're having a significantly different experience from that of the people on the other side.  During the second weekend of Carnival, this scene is unchanged all the way through once the parade turns onto Napoleon from Magazine.    It's nice that it gets broken up a little at the intersections but, in order to accommodate the ever-increasing crowds, this needs to be managed better along the neutral grounds as well.