Times Picayune Opinion by Betty DeCell
Soon I will have been a resident/property owner in the French Quarter for 50 years. The joys of living in this beautiful, historic district are quite wonderful. I would not choose to live any other place in the world.
However, over the years I have observed the tensions between commerce and historic preservation.
Crime, we all agree, we do not want. Otherwise, our interests rarely coincide. Commercial interests think in terms of present day profits. Residents/property owners think in terms of maintaining buildings and preserving a quality of life that will make our neighborhood attractive to residents and tourists for generations to come.
In my opinion individuals devoted to preservation have saved what we have today. Commercial interests have profited from our efforts.
What we need now is enlightened planning for the future. Bigger and bigger crowds every weekend will destroy the French Quarter. Rather than promoting more and more and more tourists, we should be thinking of how we can spread them around to more of our interesting neighborhoods. We should be trying to resolve the problems of traffic, parking, noise, littering. I am very troubled on crowded weekends to see bumper-to- bumper traffic headed in all directions when we might have need for a fire truck or an EM vehicle.
No to the proposed hospitality district being considered by the Legislature.
Betty DeCell
New Orleans
And thanks to Karen Cater Peterson for working with J.P Morrell and others to modify the bill and stand behind representational as opposed to nominated government.
If anyone can explain why New Orleans decisions need to be taken to and managed out of Baton Rouge.... we're listening. It seems this happens when there is a power play in motion.
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