Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick
Consultants hired by the City of New Orleans have recommended that Bourbon Street be permanently closed to vehicular traffic. Now, the question is: Will the city heed that recommendation? In a news conference this morning, Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick seemed non-committal.
“NOPD, this chief, this superintendent, works for the city of New Orleans. That means the community needs to give direction as to what the community wants,” Kirkpatrick said.
The city hired Teneo, led by former New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, to make a recommendation in the wake of the New Year’s Day terror attack, in which a man plowed into a crowd with a pickup truck, killing 14 people. Superintendent Kirkpatrick says Teneo’s recommendation to turn Bourbon Street into a permanent pedestrian mall only addresses ramming.
“Keep in mind, that even on New Year’s Day, this particular evil-minded man had placed bombs along the Bourbon. No barrier would have prevented that,” Kirkpatrick explained.
The subject of closing off Bourbon Street to vehicular traffic has come up in the past, but businesses had previously pushed back on that notion. Teneo also recommended that St. Charles Street be closed to vehicular traffic as well. But Kirkpatrick says that’s a little more problematic.
“The reality is too residential. What are you going to do with the people who live on St. Charles? How do they get out, how do they get in? Think about even our elderly people, who can’t walk a couple of blocks to their homes,” Kirkpatrick said.
Kirkpatrick says it will be up to the City Council to decide which of Teneo’s recommendations to ultimately implement.
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