Good-bye, Mardi Gras
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Nah...
The threat of a New Orleans without Mardi Gras didn't last as long as most Mardi Gras hangovers.
On Thursday night, at a community meeting held at the Lakeview Christian Center, a question submitted to Mayor LaToya Cantrell asked what Mardi Gras might look like next year if the New Orleans Police Department continues to rapidly shed officers.
“If you don't have adequate police, it could mean there will be no Mardi Gras. That’s a fact,” Cantrell said.
“Look, you know I don’t want to cancel no Mardi Gras, no not at all,” Cantrell added soon after. “But when it comes to jeopardizing the safety of the men and women who make that ultimate sacrifice and kiss their families when they leave every day and hope to come home at night or in the morning, they are the priority.”
The comments flew across New Orleans. Residents lit up social media. Texts were exchanged. By the next morning, the question of whether parades would be canceled buzzed through offices and across lunch tables.
The statement suggested Cantrell was considering a repeat of the drastic step taken in 2021, when she canceled all parades and other public Carnival events to slow the spread of COVID-19. But this time, it was due to the struggles of the NOPD in recruiting and retaining officers.
By Friday afternoon, however, whatever Cantrell had meant to say, she had unsaid it.
"We ARE NOT canceling Mardi Gras,” the mayor said in a prepared statement.
But...
Mardi Gras is even farther away than November, LOL.
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What manipulative bullshit. Has she never heard of . . . I don't recall the term, but importing police on a temporary basis for special events or unusual level of unrest?
Mardi Gras is New Orleans for a fact, but it's America, too. It's like the ball dropping on New Years in New York.
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I don’t think the public, the tourists, and the businesses really care what she says about cancelling Mardis Gras…
In fact, the fewer police, the more people will want to attend… Saying you don’t have enough may have accomplished the opposite of what she intended…
