MARDI GRAS MADNESS: The mayor said come to New Orleans, then the parades were canceled.
For the first time since 1979, there are no parades rolling through the streets and no stories of craziness from the parade-goers this year. In 1979, the reason was a new mayor and a police department that didn’t want to be led by his newly appointed police chief. A police strike was involved and the krewe captains canceled the parades themselves rather than be used as a pawn in the strike negotiations. It was a political battle. Now it’s a health issue.
Up until now, Mayor LaToya Cantrell and other city officials have welcomed tourists and encouraged visitors to the city. The welcome came with a request to respect the restrictions in place due to the plague. However, there is criticism that city hall has done little to enforce the restrictions. With Mardi Gras rapidly approaching – next Tuesday, February 16 – the mayor is cracking down. On Saturday she issued new restrictions to remain in place for five days, from Feb. 12 through Fat Tuesday, besides the other Phase 2 restrictions already in place.
On Saturday the mayor announced that the city shut down four bars that were violating coronavirus restrictions. Calls were made to city hall, alerting officials to the bad behavior. This came one day after her administration will ban all bar services and limit access to popular streets in the final days of Carnival beginning late this week. The big day is coming and they have to get serious about public safety.
Making a hash of Mardi Gras during the pandemic seems to be what Cantrell does. Though unlike last year, she can’t blame the Bad Orange Man for whatever happens. Flashback to last March: “Just so we are clear, the Mayor of New Orleans is blaming the president for her not acting as the Mayor of New Orleans. The amazing part of her delusion is how she launches into a long diatribe about ‘leadership’, all while discussing something that transpired as a result of her lack of leadership.”
As I wrote back then, “Mardi Gras was on February 25, and the partying starts at least two weeks earlier in New Orleans, a period when Trump’s travel ban was still considered racist and xenophobic by the news media. Oh, and speaking of which: [Local] ‘Health official says risk of coronavirus in New Orleans is ‘very, very low’ but warns of flu cases,’ the New Orleans Gambit, part of the Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate group of publications, reported on February 26th.”