Mayor Landrieu sublty tips his hand on the Tucks TP controversy

From The Advocate's political roundup:

The tagline on the latest ad is slightly different from the previous one: “Let’s keep it rolling” has given way to “Let’s keep it going.”

Update:

Meanwhile, in the most depressing election ever, Mitch's lame opponent offers some terrible ideas.

In his second TV ad of the campaign, Bagneris has a narrator refer to the attrition rate at the New Orleans Police Department as the “blue hemorrhage,” with images of disappearing officers and squad cars.

The ad says Bagneris plans to bring the force up to 1,600 officers — it’s fewer than 1,200 right now — as well as to hire a “more proactive” police chief and institute “community engagement stops,” in which officers “get to know their community.”

Bagneris believes we need a "more proactive" police force practicing... a new euphemism for stop-and-frisk.  Good grief.  This is a losing argument for Bagneris.

First, it takes as its premise that crime is out of control in New Orleans.  This may be true.  Or, at least, it may be fair to say New Orleans has a crime problem.  But the current perception is that Mitch and Serpas (whatever we may think of them) are being "productive assholes" in this area.  According to recent reports, the murder rate is the "lowest in decades." Bagneris can argue that "the books are cooked" (and he has) but already he's been reduced to splitting hairs rather than tapping into a motivating source of voter dissaffection.

The stronger play would be to attack Mitch over police conduct, resistance to consent decree reforms, and the perception that Mitch and Serpas are defending the culture that may allow the Danziger shootings and the Henry Glover murder to go unpunished.  By arguing, instead, that crime is worse than you think it is and the police need more teeth, Bagneris could not possibly be more out of touch. Maybe he really is running a "campaign about nothing."

Maritime law

Bayou St. John during Greek Festival 2008

Apparently there are Uptown Ladies^TM in Mid City too.

Most importantly, Lichtfuss says, the city should reduce the number of festivals being held on the bayou, from the summer boat races to Praise Fest NOLA, a three-day gospel festival that attracted as many as 50 gospel artists and up to 5,000 attendees in 2013, its third year. As many as 35,000 people at a time come to other festivals, like the longstanding Bayou Boogaloo.

“When you’re going to make festival grounds on property across from gorgeous historic homes, I do think the neighborhood should have something to say about that,” Lichtfuss says. “These are our homes along the bayou. We’re the ones who are affected by everything going on.”

Lichtfuss wants residents to come up with ideas about how to restrict use of the bayou and present them to the New Orleans City Council, in hopes of getting stricter zoning laws established for the waterway — at least for the parameters from where Carrollton Avenue meets Wisner Boulevard to the end of the bayou at Lafitte Street.

Ultimately, Lichtfuss says, she’d like to see the bayou be more like Lakeview, and have special zoning designation preventing large-scale events and other activities.

As usual, the owners of nearby "gorgeous historic homes" have more important things to say about what happens in the public spaces than the public does. 

Probably this should be made part of the noise ordinance debate. Canoes gently rippling over placid bayou waters are sure to generate some nuisance decibels. We've got to get these monsters off of the bayou so we can go back to quietly dumping stolen cars and dead bodies there.

At least no one is trying to throw biodegradable paper anywhere for fun.  That is apparently still going to be a no-no.

A proposed ban on tossing open rolls of toilet paper during Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans has been dropped for now, but some sort of regulation isn't out of the question for Carnival 2015, according to Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell, who is sponsoring a new set of rules for parades.

Cantrell said in an email that the toilet-paper ban was initially proposed in response to complaints from the Department of Sanitation and clean-up crews. However, she said, "Toilet paper wasn't a top safety issue, so we took it off the table ... we did not want the Krewe of Tucks to take a financial loss this Carnival season, having purchased their 2014 throws. It has been voiced as a concern in terms of the mess and cleanup, so we will work with the Department of Sanitation and the Krewe of Tucks to hopefully come to a resolution for next year. Representatives from the administration and the Tucks are amenable to future discussions."

When interviewed by WWLTV last week, Cantrell didn't say anything about complaints from Sanitation.  Instead she said the T-P ban was  "something that came up from the community." Not sure which "community"  she listens to. I continue to suspect that there are some Uptowners who don't want the T-P rolls being thrown near their "gorgeous historic homes." In any case they don't make a lot of sense.

It may be time to think about scrapping this Carnival ordinance altogether. Already it's become less about helping people enjoy Carnival and more about telling them what they can't do.

Rolling on

Tucks parade St. Charles Avenue 2010

The Tucks toilet paper ban has been removed from the council's proposed Carnival ordinance. The city council will take up the matter no earlier than January 23.

So. At least that's over with. But hey, isn't now a great time to catch up on the old King Cake Vodka Price index, then? Already there's been movement!



In the space of just a week or so, the Pinnacle brand King Cake Vodka is up one dollar to $9.99. Its entry into the market has the "top shelf" brand Lucky Player at $21.99 which is the lowest price we've ever seen it displayed at.  Taaka remains the bargain at $6.59 for 750ml or $13.79 for the family sized liter bottle. Now might be the time to stock up. 

Clueless or lying

Tonight WWLTV followed up on that surprise bit in Latoya Cantrell's Carnival ordinance we mentioned this morning about banning the Krewe of Tucks' signature throw.

NEW ORLEANS - Known for its light-hearted, unique throws, the Krewe of Tucks aims to poke fun at the old line krewes. For 35 years, toilet paper has been its signature throw.

“If you ask anyone, Krewe of Tucks, they think, ‘Oh, the parade that throws the toilet paper,” said float captain Marc Frischhertz.

But you may no longer see that signature toilet tissue flying from floats. The City Council is considering banning it.

“It was something that came up from the community, the krewes and the administration as something we needed to clean up and address,” said Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell, District B.

When she says, "came up from the community," Cantrell may be referring to the series of afternoon meetings she held with Uptown residents back in the fall. Uptown Messenger's coverage of these events lists all sorts of terrible ideas thrown about but doesn't mention the Tucks TP.   Where, down in the community, did this idea come up from? And regardless of where it came from, how did such an absurdity make it into the draft of the ordinance? 

As of now my working theory is that some important but stupid person (or people) Cantrell feels obliged to placate said something to her about the TP offending their sensibilities or something.  It certainly can't have anything to do with it being too messy.  That argument falls apart in five seconds.

The toilet paper is biodegradable and American-made. The krewe says it disappears with the first rainfall, while beads stay in trees for years.

Anyone who spends any time along the parade route can confirm this. The toilet paper streamers are everywhere on the day Tucks rolls.  After a few days in the weather, it's like they were never there.  Beads (and practically any other kind of throw you see out there for that matter) stick around considerably longer.



Of all the throws in all the parades, Tucks' disintegrating paper is probably the most eco-friendly and least damaging of them all.  So any person who spends more than a few minutes with this question, as Latoya Cantrell certainly has, and concludes that the T-P presents some special hazard is either completely clueless or just plain lying on purpose.

“The toilet paper is our coconut,” said Frischhertz. “From our  perspective, it's akin to going to [the Krewe of] Zulu and telling them  they can't throw out their [signature] coconuts any longer."

“It is not the same as a coconut in terms of it doesn't create litter into the community,” said Cantrell.

I realize that is some City Council level elocution Ms Cantrell is employing so let me clarify. She is saying that the least litter-like thing that gets thrown is the thing that "creates litter into the community." No idea whether she is lying or clueless here but either way this is an absurd position for her to take.   If anyone has any ideas as to why she's doing that, I'm willing to listen.