There's been a rather ridiculous problem going on in New Orleans lately. The city council and the mayor have been fighting over the budget. That's not really the problem. If there wasn't a fight I would be worried. The problem is the subject that has caused more debate lately than our murder statistics - trash pickup in the French Quarter.
If you visited New Orleans pre-Katrina and spent any time at all in the French Quarter, you will probably remember it for the architecture, strip clubs, alcohol and stench (not necessarily in that order.) The New Orleans economy has been tourist-based for some time now. Not since the early 70s, when oil left here for Houston, have we had much of anything else to hang our hats on. We still have the port which brings the rest of the country seafood, coffee and other taken-for-granted goods, but for New Orleans, tourism is where the money's at.
When entrepreneur Sidney Torres couldn't find a decent debris hauler after Katrina, this businessman/developer started his own company. That company (SDT Waste and Debris) and Sidney himself have turned into heroes for the city. We have something to be proud of - something that was done right. The French Quarter didn't smell like a giant garbage can. It smelled fresh and it was clean. You could look at the beauty of the Quarter without holding your nose. Locals started going to the Quarter again. We're talking big changes.
So the city council started discussing the budget and made some poor choices on where money would come from for certain things. I'm not denying that some bad decisions were made while trying to even things out. The budget was rejected by the mayor, reworked by the council, then seemingly accepted by the mayor and then, he told SDT to stop doing the fantastic job that they've been doing.
Okay, so I have a little spin on it, but our mayor is smug. He made people think that things were worked out on one side and then flipped and cancelled a lot of services. He doesn't want to get rid of all the vehicles that city employees are allowed to take home, but clean streets? They have to go!
The mayor made statements suggesting that Orleanians found it unfair that the French Quarter should get a larger piece of the waste disposal budget than the rest of the city. Now, I wouldn't call myself a supporter of Nagin so I would appreciate if, when he says he's speaking for New Orleanians, he checks with us.
I don't live in an area of town that triples in population (or more) every weekend. People don't drink all day on my street and then throw their beer bottles down before they vomit. I'm not saying everyone who hangs out in the Quarter does this, but our visitors tend to not treat our historical district very well. So do I think the French Quarter should get a bigger piece of the pie? Absolutely. This is our bread and butter. This is our calling card to most visitors. It should look as good as we can possibly make it.
The mayor has accused Mr. Torres of political posturing. You know, maybe he is, but he has a contract with the city that the city wanted to violate. Maybe that posturing is what he needed to do so that we heard the other side of the story. Otherwise, we would only have heard the bickering between the mayor and council. I will tell you this, after leaving Jackson Square one Sunday afternoon, I stepped over a pile of poop left by one of the carriage donkeys. Sidney pulled up in one of the little SDT trucks and shoveled the poop up himself. Let me repeat this - On a non-special-event Sunday, the owner of a large waste disposal company (not to mention a hotel on Royal Street and other investment properties) was driving around making sure that everything was neat and shoveled crap off the street. He didn't call someone to do it. He didn't just drive past. He took care of the problem. I think that says something about the man and his commitment to the city.
Following the agreement to restore services, the mayor actually said (and I'm paraphrasing here) "I knew we could let the trash sit for three days or so before rodents and roaches became a problem." Excuse me? Is it even possible to say this with a straight face? Oh, I'm sorry. He was flashing his usual smarmy smirk. Yesterday he made a statement indicating he didn't expect to face this much heat for being fiscally responsible. That statement only proves that he still doesn't get.
Like many other Orleanians, I'm counting down the days until the mayoral election. I'm not saying that the man didn't try, but something snapped when Katrina blew in. He was never the same after that. Let's hope the next person doesn't find the need to be right all of the time. Let's hope that he puts the needs of the city and her citizens before his need to prove a point. We have to fight enough with insurance companies and thugs to make our lives here better. We don't need to fight with city leaders while they break things that were fixed. It's exhausting.
So I can say to those thinking of coming to visit - Please come. It's a beautiful place with wonderful people. The Quarter is clean and we're getting ready to throw a huge party. Stay on well-lit streets in well-populated areas. Don't walk through areas you don't know when you can easily catch a cab. Be smart and you'll be fine.
Come on down. The weather is great and the air is clean. As it turns out, so are our streets.
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