Demons are real

On Tuesday, I went down to City Hall and sat through this whole 4 hour plus City Planning Commission meeting on short term rentals.  More on that to come later. But one thing I did want to point out here is, perhaps the most commonly touched on subject by commenters both for and against STR regulations was the supposed futility of enforcement.  This exchange was a representative example.

Residents on both sides, as well as the commissioners, agreed enforcement — what Janet Howard called the "mythical creature called enforcement in New Orleans" — will be key. Commissioner Royce Duplessis wasn't optimistic.

"I have no reason whatsoever to believe anything is going to be different," Duplessis said. "I hope some real enforcement is done, because without that we’re spending a lot of time and emotion with something that’s going to go forward, regardless."

It's funny, though. The "mythical creature" can be awfully efficient when it wants to. 

More than 354,000 parking tickets were issued in New Orleans last year. That's enough 6.5-inch by 3.5-inch "violation" envelopes to nearly cover a football field. Laid end to end, they would make 36 laps around the one-mile dirt track at the Fair Grounds. Stacked vertically, they would reach the top of One Shell Square -- a total of 268 times.

These numbers fuel the arguments of those who believe parking citations are nothing more than a money grab by the city. They say the city knows when and where violations are most likely to occur and allocate enforcement resources accordingly.

So can NOLA.com, I guess. They made somebody work real hard on this map. You might as well click on it.