Why the party busses?

The city of New Orleans, like a lot of American cities, is hard up for money.  State and federal budgets don't offer as much support to cities for infrastructure or transit or social services as they once did. Even the $2 billion in FEMA road work assistance we've been sitting on is insufficient to meet the need.

We're apparently not allowed to take the money we need from the tourism cabal.  We aren't about to stop handing out tax breaks to real estate developers or to movie productions or to industrial concerns in "opportunity zones."  We're definitley not going to tax any property held by any politically important local non-profits.   Instead, we're going to see if we can squeeze more out of poor people and those who aren't on the ball enough to defend themselves.

This is why we're sending your name to a collection agency over your water bill even if we still don't know how to make that bill accurate.  It's why we're playing games with traffic cameras to see how many people we can entrap. It's why we're still saddling defendants with excessive bail even if we have to defy a federal judge's order to do it.  It's why we're taking advantage of legitimate concerns with motorists who obstruct bike lanes by jacking the fine for that up to an absurd $300.  And it's why we're in the process of exploring other concerns over bicycle safety to find excuses for police to also write tickets to bicyclists.

In short, we are governed according to which policy choices are most likely to generate the highest amount of revenue in the shortest amount of time from sources least likely to fight back.  Which is how it came to be that we suddenly wake up one day and discover that "not a single New Orleans party bus in in legal status."

Smith said there are some party buses that could obtain the certificates with proof of proper insurance, registration and “minimal modifications.” According to rules the city issued in 2017, party buses are considered “Charter Party Carriers" and must have working fire extinguishers and display the CPNC number on the back of the vehicle.

No doubt quite a few of these fly by night operators could stand for a little more scrutiny.  But let's not pretend your city leaders are primarily concerned with anybody's safety and well being here.  If that is the motivation in this case, it would certainly be unique.

Mostly this is about punitive enforcement for the sake of revenue generation. To some degree it is also a chance for the mayor and our more right-leaning councilmembers to exercise a favorite hobby horse and pander to the neighborhood association busybodies who comprise a large part of their base.  But, again, mostly it's about making money... not by taking it from those who can spare it but from those who are most vulnerable to coersion.  The party bus operators are one such opportunity. But one among several.