The tragedy on Bourbon Street is going to reignite talk about turning that street into a permanent pedestrian mall. New Orleans Councilman J.P. Morrell says that conversation will now be taking place very soon.
“There was a lot of pushback at the time for that. A lot of businesses were concerned about it. We’ve always known that Bourbon Street is a soft target. Substantial things are going to have to change with the way we deal with the French Quarter,” Morrell said.
Morrell says whatever security measures had been in place to protect the people visiting the French Quarter have been proven to be ineffective.
“There’s going to have, after it’s all said and done, be a conversation on what steps were taken to make sure Bourbon Street was not easily accessible to vehicles. Obviously, based on upon what we saw, there weren’t enough steps to make sure that Bourbon Street was not easily accessible to vehicles,” Morrell explained.
Morrell says what’s frustrating is that officials knew a long time ago that Bourbon Street is a prime target for terrorists to carry out mass casualty attacks.
In a little more than a month from now, New Orleans will be hosting Super Bowl 59. The event was already designated a Homeland Security event, with law enforcement already being beefed up. Councilman Morrell says that’s the way it’s going to be for other major events, like Mardi Gras, moving forward.
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