Posted on 01/27/2009 4:52:05 PM PST by BBell
The political tug-of-war over New Orleans' 2009 budget continued Monday as Mayor Ray Nagin announced he will make cuts in the level of sanitation services in the French Quarter next week despite steps taken by the City Council to preserve the "Disneylike" cleaning that has won raves from locals and visitors since it debuted two years ago.
To head off what he said would be a $7.5 million budget shortfall, Nagin said he has ordered SDT Waste & Debris Services to stop providing mechanical street and sidewalk sweeping and flushing in the city's premier tourist district beginning Feb. 1.
At the same time, he said, the contractor will halt around-the-clock maintenance of litter cans in the Quarter, which henceforth will be emptied twice a day.
SDT crews will continue to pressure-wash streets and sidewalks and provide manual sweeping in the Quarter. Daily collection of trash from residences and small businesses in the Quarter, Central Business District and Warehouse District will not be affected, the mayor said.
Nagin said his administration was forced to make "hard choices" by reducing sanitation services because council members did not cut enough spending in other areas when they revised the city's spending plan two weeks ago.
"I wanted to kind of set the record straight because I felt as though once the budget was finally passed . . . that there was this impression that everything was worked out, " Nagin said at an afternoon news conference. "But in reality there's no new revenue and there's no significant cuts."
Nagin said the council's latest budget provides nearly $7 million less for the city's emergency reserve fund than he considers necessary.
Council President Jackie Clarkson, who said she and her colleagues were "insulted" that Nagin didn't notify them about the news conference, said she disagrees with
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
BTW, the city council is not happy about this.
No tourists and it will be Detroit!
I’ve been to the Quarter about a dozen times since Katrina, (only an hours drive)
It is better than it has ever been. Most of human debris washed away. The attitude it better, the place is cleaner, it smells better and the crowds are back in spades.
Hiz honor the mayor is stuck on stupid.
A couple of years ago I walked down Bourbon street shortly after a parade went through. The crews were working hard but because the parade had just went through it was nasty. Vomit and urine smells, trash everywhere. However, with in about an hour the cleaning crews had that place cleaned up and smelling nice. I don’t know how they did it, must be a science to getting rid of the stench so quickly.
As long as he keeps Uptown clean everything will be okay.
And they should try to fix a few potholes too.
Two things they can do in New Orleans.
Control a crowd
Clean up the puke, litter and plastic beads from the street.
I never go near the Quarter during Mardi Gras season.
Looks like another storm headed for New Orleans. A s..t storm.
I have a house in Uptown on a busy street and a year or so ago the manhole in the street in front of the house was missing the manhole cover.
I called the city almost daily and all they could do for two months is put an orange cone in front on the open manhole.
As for the streets that are full of potholes you can see patch after patch after patch that has been done over the last 20 years on many streets. But in all of that time they have not resurfaced any of the streets.
Sometimes on major streets you will see huge potholes that have been there for years or big buckles in the street that have been there as long as I can remember.
The problem is that many people in NOLA do not realize the level of disfunction in the city.
A few months ago I was talking to some well educated NOLA residents about the potholes and they told me that “all major cites have streets like New Orleans.”
I laughed and said, “No” and they got all bent out of shape that I was ragging on New Orleans.
Mardi Gras 2005 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mardi Gras 2006 It’s been so nice for the last couple of years. I would say Disney clean. Not a scrap anywhere and they wash the sidewalks with soap and scent. It would be a shame to stop it.
I laughed and said, “No” and they got all bent out of shape that I was ragging on New Orleans.
Oh, other cities get potholes just as bad as those in New Orleans. The difference is, they actually FIX them. In the Dallas area, they actually send crews out in the Spring and Summer to examine streets for new cracks. If they find a crack, the use something that looks like an enormous Dremel tool to grind and widen the crack, then they pump it full of sealer to prevent freeze damage in the coming cold months. Preventive roadway maintenance - I doubt that the idea has ever been discussed in New Orleans.
Did they ever repair that huge pothole / meteor crater on St. Charles avenue, just upriver of the universities on the riverbend-bound side? Seems like it was there for at least two years following Katrina - they just kept dumping clam shells in it.
Nagin is thinking like a true DemocRAT!
Oh, I would hit that one heading from my house to eat at Camilla Grill or Cooter Brown’s. It was still shells the last time I was there.
In 2007 there was a traffic signal on General De Gaulle that was flashing red for three months. The city floated the story that that one traffic signal needed one special part in order to operate and it would take six weeks for the part to arrive.
People in NOLA bought that story.
I am from NOLA and spend 4-5 months a year in the city. I love NOLA but the place in more dysfunctional than half of the third world cites I have been to...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.