MaCCNO STATEMENT: ROYAL STREET PERFORMERS DESERVE SAFETY, RESPECT FROM CITY GOVERNMENT

Fifty-two years ago, the City of New Orleans passed an ordinance creating the Royal Street Pedestrian Mall, mandating that Royal Street “be closed to vehicular traffic from the northern curb of Bienville Street to the southern curb of Orleans Street between the hours of 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. weekdays and 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.” Since that time, the Mall has proven to be a showcase and incubator for hundreds of celebrated musicians and performers, from Frank Minyard’s French Market Jazz Band to Tuba Skinny and the incomparable Doreen Ketchens—even recent America’s Got Talent favorites Chapel Hart credit their time busking on Royal as helping to launch their career. The Pedestrian Mall and it’s performers are heavily featured on tourism websites and most visitors both look forward to and expect to see New Orleans’ music ‘bubbling up from the streets’ as advertised. It’s no exaggeration to say that Royal Street performers bring millions of dollars of visitor revenue to the city each year—even though they, themselves, are generally compensated only with tips.

Three weeks ago, Verite News published an article by Richard Webster and Michael Isaac Stein detailing the ongoing struggles of these same performers as, for nearly the past year, the city failed to provide even the most basic protections for them. Despite a public announcement in April that the Pedestrian Mall had been reinstated (following an extended shut down due to the Hard Rock Hotel collapse and COVID-19 restrictions) the city almost immediately stopped deploying the five barricades that would have closed the street to traffic—forcing both performers and audiences to contend with a constant flow of automobiles and delivery trucks, putting their safety at risk. When performers tried to place barricades themselves, they were sometimes harassed and threatened with citation and arrest from law enforcement agencies—most frequently the Upper Quarter Patrol, which is supervised by the French Quarter Management District and funded by tourism dollars—the very dollars the performers being harassed help generate. The end result was a rigged system where the performers always came last.

Last week, Verite published a second story revealing that, while the City of New Orleans claimed to not have the capacity to spend the roughly 10 minutes per day it would take to deploy barricades on Royal Street (as required by the City Code), since the April announcement the Department of Public Works still issued nearly 800 parking tickets to cars parked on the mall--despite the fact that it was open to traffic--generating nearly $60,000 for the city’s general fund. Before the release of the story, when we met with Public Works they suggested that the Office of Homeland Security, though the ‘Grounds Patrol’ program, be tasked with placing the barricades on Royal Street, as some of the patrol’s stated duties are to ‘operate the French Quarter bollard system’ and provide ‘physical security at municipal properties or events to include access control, screening and other security services’. The Grounds Patrol declined, stating their jurisdiction did not extend to Royal Street. In fact, for nearly a year we could not find a government entity that would step up to resolve the untenable and unsafe situation performers, musicians, and visitors were being placed in.

Around the world, cities invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to build walkable, multipurpose streets and on ‘creative placemaking’ initiatives— activating public spaces with music, art, and other cultural activities to spur economic development and social cohesion. Of all cities, New Orleans should know the importance of this—residents have been using music and culture to ‘create place’ since before the city was founded. And yet, on one of the most famous streets in one of the most iconic neighborhoods in the world, no government department or agency was willing to take action—at virtually no cost—to protect the vitality of the cultural space and physical safety of the musicians that city officials say they celebrate. The treatment of performers is also a perfect example of why New Orleans needs to take a fully non-carceral approach when dealing with cultural activity—no one should ever be threatened with jail for playing music, nor should performers have to deal with multiple enforcement agencies harassing them for stepping up to protect themselves when the city was not meeting its obligation to do so.

As of this writing, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel, at least for now. After the Verite articles were published, NOPD began placing barricades out at the designated Royal St intersections, and we have not heard of any further incidents of performer harassment. For the past few months, New Orleans and Company has also been working with us and other stakeholders to find a solution, and while things are developing, nothing is definite yet.  But continued public vigilance and pressure will be needed. While short term action to place barricades and ensure the safety of performers is both welcome and necessary, it is crucial that all long-term solutions or potential changes to the Pedestrian Mall be undertaken with the performers themselves as full and equal participants in the process.  

Please continue to follow us for more information about how you can advocate for the Royal Street Pedestrian Mall and just treatment of our celebrated street musicians and performers, and if you have any questions, e-mail us at mailings@maccno.com.