After reading this article, I have six questions for French Quarter residents:
1.) How does a plastic garbage bin take away from the historic charm of the district but plastic Glad bags out on the street don’t?
2.) How does one solar-powered parking parking meter every block take away from the charm when a metal meter EVERY SPACE does not?
3.) How effective will a campaign of civil disobedience be when it results in you having piles of garbage in front of your house or walking to a nearby bin to dispose of it?
4.) How are you going to attempt to improve your image that you have a legitimate point and aren’t just a bunch of whiners when you are quoted in the local paper stating that a particular city official is being a “bitch.”
5.) You say that you don’t want people to leave bins on the sidewalk for hours but your solution is not to address it with members of your organization but rather to get rid of the garbage cans altogether?
6.) How is your cause going to reflect on your neighborhood when some others can’t even get garbage collection?
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I usually side with residents in disputes like this but it just seems like folks who live in the Quarter always look retarded. Garbage cans don’t take away from the the quaint nature of the neighbor hood, garbage itself does. I wish Algiers Point had garbage pick-up twice a damn day.
The story also says that the garbage cans would hinder pedestrian traffic. That’s funny because I saw something on the local news recently that showed a couple who were afraid to walk around in the Vieux Carre at night for fear of getting robbed. Know what keeps people from walking around at night? shoe-shine scammers and muggers.
From the article comes this statement…
He said he showed photographs of other neighborhoods where the plastic carts are already in use, and where “there appear to be plastic trash bins everywhere, taking away from the beauty of the historic neighborhoods. Do we really want that for the world-famous Vieux Carre?”
Look, I love the French Quarter. I understand its beauty and it character. I also understand there is an establishment called Big Daddy’s there that has a pair of automated legs sticking out of two holes on the exterior wall. I also know where to find the Oriental spa as well as the whereabouts of an awesome blues bar named the Funky Butt. I won’t even begin to talk about The Gold Club, Coyote Ugly or the dozens of T-Shirt shops hawking Katrina-related gear.
The Quarter is beautiful in many ways. Different types of receptacles won’t harm that.
Neon wasn’t around in the 1800s and neither was Hefty.
Sorry French Quarter residents, you look stupid in this one.
EDIT: A discussion on the subject is ongoing at Adrastos as well.
But Varg! The stench of rotting garbage and puddles of pee and vomit are part of the historical ambiance!
Personally, I love how clean the FQ is now….I think Disney-like is good in that respect.
I’m thinking these people have forgotten how horrible the post-K garbage issue was. Or they weren’t here.
I love my new gargantuan garbage can! And I’m very impressed with the service. It’s like we’re a step in the 21st century!
I think they have a legitimate complaint, and we’re probably seeing it raised first in the Quarter because there’s such a strong neighborhood organization there. The issue isn’t exclusive the Quarter – other neighborhood with wider alleys are getting larger receptacles that block the alley, assuming they fit at all. So it sits in the street all week. Walk around St. Roch, the damn things are all over the place.
Given the amount of money that was spent on this contract, you’d think a cursory survey would have spotted this up front. But they didn’t, and there was no public review or method of recourse, so now we’re stuck with it.
Screw it. Just pitch the day’s garbage out the second floor windows and go for REAL historic accuracy. Effete wankers…..
I can picture the trail of spilled trash, trash can lids and cans strewn down the block, broken bags unceremoniously left in the middle of the street to rot, the trash left uncollected at every third of fourth house, hoping that mine was actually picked up and that I can find my can within a few houses, that was the “normal” trash collection in this town for year after year. By all means, lets go back to those glorious days.
While how to deal with the large cans poses a real issue in many parts of the city. But I can’t discern how much of the opposition is due to that issue, simple hatred of the Mayor and the knee jerk reaction to deride anything he does, or the “committee to oppose everything”, particularly change of any kind, attitude that plagues the city.
Personally it was that infernal ‘lectricity that is marring the historic character of the city. Gas lighting was just fine.
I’m pretty sure that the receptacles people received in other parts of the city are much larger than the ones in the Quarter. I’ll need confirmation on this but I think the cans in the Quarter are a little shorter than the others and much less wide.
The cans being left out on the street isn’t a government problem. It’s the responsibility of the populace. If you are down with less government and more personal freedoms of course.
If the alternative is going back to having plastic bags in the street, I can’t see how that’s much in the way of cleanliness, impeding foot traffic or historical accuracy.
Same thing with the parking meters. The Quarter came into existence three hundred years ago. Parking meters came around in the ’30s. There is nothing historic about them. Historic organizations do a lot of good but it is nonsensical situations like these that make them look asinine and cause people not to support them. In the end I am supposing it’s nothing more than a gang of people and their political sway, progress and historical accuracy both be damned in their wake.
OT: I enjoyed seeing the Househunters episode last night.
OMG!! With all the issues there are to be passionate about why are they getting their panties in bunch over this!!
Yes, when you add something new to a historic district it looks different but people get used to it – like the 1930s parking meters!!
Strip clubs, tourist tack are OK but trash cans no??? Maybe they want to really live historically and they can do without electricity, phone service, – running water? indoor plumbing. Get a grip people pleeeese!!
Great post by the way and like your blog!!
Best Wishes
cursedtea
Even with the smaller cans, there are huge storage issues. For example, the shops on the Square have NO space anywhere for any sort of trash cart.
Also, I have more sympathy with ole Doc Lupin because I’ve ACTUALLY dealt with Ms. White who is indeed a major bee-otch. Would I call her one in a public meeting, no. But she’s rude, insulting and patronizing so I know why that happened. She also told a bald faced lie in public and people hate being lied to.
Then address it on a case-by-case basis and come forth clearly and state that there are certain people and properties that have issues and demand those people be addressed. Instead, they come up with a bunch of nonsense about character and impeding pedestrian traffic while the rest of the city toils in reconstruction woes. I’ve looked at it in different ways and the Quarter org still seems petty.
Now, if this were an isolated incident and it didn’t follow the goofy parking meter shit from before the storm it would be one thing.
It just seems that the Quarter residents and their “don’t mess with us” attitude is about as useful as a rubber crutch.
Frankly, I think the cans out on the sidewalks in the quarter is an ok idea. The cans are not unattractive as cans go, they’re very strong & durable. Most tourist destinations have garbage cans at easy access anyway. I think it shows a city that cares about how it looks and cares about cleanliness. Frankly, I’m glad the days of dodging garbage bags, vomit and pee in the streets are over. It was embarrassing to take visitors there. Just plain nasty.
And don’t these shops have “back rooms”? Storage areas? Where was their garbage before besides on the streets in plastic bags. How is a plastic bag more asthetically pleasing than a can?
As for residents, I’m sorry but they need to get creative. Yes, I live in a “sub division” with more space but let me tell you, we’ve had to do our share of creative garbage storage and sweeping up smelly spillage left behind by WM workers over many years here.
I’m glad those days seem to be over.
Varg, I agree that the folks in the Quarter have problems communicating. The issue that’s being obscured is this: Veronica White both publicly and privately told people that she’d look at their problems on a case by case basis. She is now claiming that she never said any such thing but I know at least 15 people who swear that she did. That’s why everyone is so pissed off at her.
I can’t figured out why he denigrated her personality when it would have been so much easier to impugn her character. Whether somebody is a bitch is a matter of subjective interpretation. He should have called her a liar and a crook so that the facts would have been on his side.
I rarely disagree with the blogging community, but you don’t know what you are talking about on this issue, and revealing a bit of a bias and an angry edge towards FQ residents in the process. But for the “bitch” incident, which was not their doing, the FQ organizations have been discreet in their dealing with Ms White, and circumspect and careful in their commenting about the FQ trash problems.
Then perhaps they need someone else handling public relations MAD. Because they sure look awful in this situation. I’d also like to say that your response was high on contradiction but low on any other content. That is, I invite you to expound on some of your points. What do you mean the “bitch” content was not their doing? How have they been discreet in their dealing with White and the trash? Tell me more. I’ll listen.
Also, feel free to answer the six questions.
The post should probably reflect that I am mostly addressing the VCC and, by extension, the residents of the Quarter. If you disagree with how you are being represented by that Commission, perhaps the Mayor is right in calling for Lupin’s resignation.
Whoa, did I just say that?
Varg:
My comments were referring to the FQ citizen organizations, which represent residents. Dr. Lupin is a political appointment to the VCC from the La. State Museum. He does not live in the FQ, nor does he represent the organizations.
The FQ organizations have attempted for some months now to seek an amicable accomodation with the City on these honestly and legitimately contended issues, your implications to the contrary notwithstanding. They are frustrated by the lack of consideration from the city, which probably gave rise to the unfortunate comments from Dr. Lupin.
As to your 6 questions, I’ll pass at this time. I suspect you would not be satisfied with any answers, since you seem to have your mind and opinions already made up, as suggested by the challenging tone of the questions themselves.
See, now this is what I am getting at in reference to the attitudes coming out of FQ residents. I am asking legitimate questions that I thought (and some responses and discussion on the matter show) average citizens of the city might ask so we can better understand the situation. Let the record show that I said in the comment above that I would listen to your answers. You take the liberty of thinking for me by stating you already know that I wouldn’t be satisfied with the answers but then you deny me the chance to do so.
In the first paragraph of your second post, where you took the time to explain your position, I was at least able to further understand it. Thank you for that.
Your second paragraph just dismissed my questions because they had a challenging tone. Well, yea, are you wanting folks to understand where you are coming from or not? I know I’m just some bald guy from across the river but at least give me a chance rather than ditching my questions and assuming what my thoughts would be. I’m a free-thinker you know.
Fair enough. I do not live in the FQ, but have good friends who do, and I am sympathetic to their cause.
Here is one bald man’s answer to your queries:
1. No plastic adds to the historic charm, but the fear is that the cans may stay out all day (with trash picked up after the residents leave for work), while the black bags go away quicker with less overall impact on the street scene.
2. The big green parking meters are out of scale for the neighborhoods, too large for the narrow sidewalks, and more visually intrusive than the old meters.
3. The civil disobedience is a silly idea and I haven’t heard anyone embrace this as a realistic option.
4. Already explained. No VC citizen called Mrs. White that. The discourse with her has generally been firm, passionate and at times heated, but not inflamatory or uncivil.
5. The FQ organizations cannot control the slovenly among the FQ residents. Their fears that some FQ residents will not care is legitimate.
6. The FQ has always received enhanced trash collection, since it bears the extraordinary burden of hosting millions of visitors each year. They deserve special consideration, which the city is refusing to acknowledge.
I am a Quarterite and here are my answers:
1- Right now, the bags disappear extremely quickly. The main obstacle with the cans are their size.
2- Almost all of the Quarter is 2 hour parking. There are very few meters (old or solar powered).
3- The garbage isn’t going to build up. They are stupid, but they’re not stupid enough to drive the tourists away. The residents have the upper hand. Worst case scenario, the residents will team up and have 4 to a can or something along those lines.
4- The VCC doesn’t represent the residents. The Vieux Carre Property Owners and Association, Inc. represents the residents. The VCC is only there to make sure the developers don’t Disney-fy the Quarter.
5- See #3.
6- Hmmm, how’s it going to reflect on the city when the mayor issues a contract to 3 companies (that just happen to be his largest contributors) for more than double the price of the last contract?