Big Easy Mayor Mitch Landrieu Wants Looks To Curb Street Crowds
Can you imagine begin locked in a Bourbon Street bar!?
It could happen if you’re in one after 3 a.m., and a proposal from New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu passes City Council.
Landrieu wants to find a solution to a couple of early-morning shootings that have occurred fairly recently on and around Bourbon Street and figures getting people off the street is a good way to do it. So he’s proposing that bars close their doors starting at 3 a.m.
That doesn’t mean the bars have to close – New Orleans French Quarter bars have no real closing time although the Lucky Dogs street vendors and the Krystal burger do a booming business from 2-3:30-ish – but that they would have to close their doors.
They can let in new patrons, and the ones in the bars don’t have to leave. The doors would just have to be shut to the street.
Under this new policy – which is not fully defined – the places selling drinks on the street may have to close at 3. But there’s no way officials can tell the tourists that they can’t drink in the streets. Heck, those tourists may be stumbling out of a bar at 3 a.m., with a new friend under their arm for a final few gulps of their beer or cocktail before heading for a wonderful night at their hotel room.
Especially during Mardi Gras and JazzFest.
Part of the proposal includes something that should have been in effect years ago, and that is closing off Bourbon Street to traffic. Some parts of it are closed on occasion but this needs to be implemented for all events and on weekends. Police cars should be excepted and there should be places close by that the walking buzzed can catch a taxi/Lyft/Uber.
Bourbon Street bars are largely empty by 4 and quite frankly, that’s always been plenty late for PubClub.com for a couple of reasons: we’re been partying either all day at an event, or at least starting by Happy Hour, and staying up any later is not a wise option. Also, it’s important to get at least some sleep in order to do it all again the next day!
After all, the partying in New Orleans and particularly on Bourbon Street never really does stop. It just slows down for a while. Even if the mayor shuts the doors of the barsat 3 in the morning.
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