How many cops does it take to go move five barricades?

This turns out to be a very complicated question! 

Part of the problem, according to officials, is that the 1971 ordinance that created the mall does not specify which agency is in charge of blockading the streets. The ordinance only states that Royal Street is to be closed to traffic from Bienville to Orleans streets on weekdays between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. and weekends between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. It provides no other instructions.

At an April 25 City Council committee meeting, which coincided with the reopening of the mall, NOPD Deputy Chief Hans Ganthier said in the past his officers, musicians, and even sanitation workers took it upon themselves to erect and take down the barricades, but there was never an official policy. At the time, Ganthier was commander of the 8th District, which includes the French Quarter.

NOPD Lt. Samuel Palumbo told council members that going forward his community liaison officers would be in charge of the barricades during the week and a traffic officer from the supplemental police patrol program might move them on the weekends. Neither has happened. 

When Ellestad asked Ganthier for an update at the end of last year, he said the deputy chief sounded less willing to help than he did at the council meeting. 

Even some of us old heads might not remember all the way back to 2019. So this article helpfully reminds us that the city took advantage of the Hard Rock hotel collapse to "temporarily" shut down the pedestrian mall and kept it that way for a few years because of... something something pandemic. The reasons given for all of that were vague. Who knew the lower five blocks of Royal was such a critical artery for emergency response?  

Well now that the emergencies are over.. or at least now that they have been allowed to fade into the background with all the other noise.. the pedestrian mall was supposed to be back.  But, for some reason, nobody remembers how to move the barricades or who is supposed to move them. 

But Ellestad, who was at the managment district meeting, said the issue was not just about the city’s failure to put of barricades, but the fact that performers are harassed when they try to do it themselves. Ellestad said that often comes from a private security patrol that is managed by FQMD itself, called the Upper Quarter Patrol. 

“A lot of these problems actually come from the Upper Quarter Patrol enforcing,” Ellestad said. “The barricades aren’t there. Performers try to set up the barricades and then the private enforcement will tell them that if they move the barricades they will be in jeopardy for citation or arrest. So if FQMD is not going to be part of the process in creating a plan, is it possible then to make sure they’re not involved in the enforcement?”

The French Quarter is crawling with cops. NOPD cops, Harbor Police cops, State Police cops, the private cops who work for various businesses as well as those contracted to FQMD.  None of them can figure out how to move a barricade, although they are available to stop you from doing it. 

What we don't see addressed with much depth in this article is the matter of why this situation persists. All we are told is that Councilman King hasn't taken any action and the mayor's office didn't comment for the story. Obviously it isn't happening just by accident.

There are plenty of comments in the story from the street performers who have been affected by the mall closure but nothing from anyone who might be opposed to reopening it.  Which is strange because such comments do exist on record. Of course, it's perhaps expecting a lot of old heads to remember all the way back to 2015... even if those old heads are the very same reporter writing this week's story who also wrote this back then. 

A coalition of French Quarter businesses led by Brennan's restaurant has asked that the New Orleans Police Department permanently close the Royal Street pedestrian mall and reopen the street to vehicles during the day. The request reignites an almost 40-year-old debate over access to Royal Street and whether pedestrian-only hours hurt or help the Vieux Carre.

Brennan's general manager Christian Pendleton cited the recent terrorist attacks in San Bernadino, Calif., and Paris, as well as last month's mass shooting in Bunny Friend Park in New Orleans' 9^th Ward, in making the request.

Hey there's always an emergency somewhere that might justify the policy change you want. The Brennan's cabal had to throw a bunch of them out there before the right ones came along. Anyway let's see who else was in on that.

The letter was signed by representatives of every business in the 400 block of Royal Street, including Latrobe's, Brass Monkey Antiques, Ida Manheim & Pugh, Moss Antiques, LolaNOLA, the Martin Lawrence Gallery and James H. Cohen antique weapons and rare coins. Pendleton asked that City Hall "leave Royal Street open every day, and at all times."

You think maybe some of them are available for comment now?  Might be worth an ask.  There are some choice quotes some of them delivered the last time around.

Rosemary James, co-owner of Faulkner House Books on nearby Pirate's Alley, said the mall "should never have been enacted in the first place," that it "serves no useful purpose whatsoever," causes "terrible traffic problems" and "poses a threat to (the) safety and security of those who own property and businesses in the French Quarter and who actually pay taxes."

Yesterday, MACCNO tweeted an acknowledgement of people "working behind the scenes to find a compromise." I guess these business and property owners must be the side that is being compromised with?  Maybe someone will check back in with them to see.