Dec. 9, 2005
 
BAYHAM ON POLITICS: The Case for Mardi Gras
 
By Mike Bayham
 
South Louisiana (Special to HNN) -- After putting together a plan to make the Mardi Gras show go on for 2006, voices have been raised questioning the wisdom and appropriateness of holding the annual celebration in a city that is only beginning to crawl out from the ruins of Hurricane Katrina.
 
A protest of yet undetermined size is aimed at the up coming Saints-Falcons game in Atlanta and the Times-Picayune on Wednesday, Dec. 7 ran an editorial penned by a former New Orleanian arguing against celebrating Fat Tuesday this February, claiming that it would send the country the wrong message about the city and the priorities of its leaders.
 
Not counting a certain day in April, Mardi Gras is my favorite holiday as it combines music, pageantry, art, and satire. Sure it has many other low-brow attributes, but that generally requires a trip to the French Quarter for "bead bartering."
 
And besides, visitors who come for Mardi Gras' more tasteful aspects and those attracted to its bawdier side have one important thing in common: they both spend money, something hard-hit businesses and the local governments desperately need.
 
The sad reality of New Orleans is that we are an entertainment town. There's little manufacturing and industry in the area. The city's lone Fortune 500 company is a utility, Entergy. Those reasonably tall buildings sandwiched between Poydras and Canal streets are crammed with more lawyers than entrepreneurs as the true economic base of the city is tourism.
 
If the "anti-Mardi Gras" crowd doesn't like this economic truism, then maybe they should direct their angst towards the very individuals they have been electing and re-electing to public office that have made the business climate about as healthy as the city was during a yellow fever epidemic.
 
Corruption and government mismanagement at the state and local levels have chased out numerous economic development opportunities of substance and have resulted in the city's over-reliance on the service industry, whose only shake-down threats come from hustlers betting where naive visitors "got them shoes."
 
Why should hotel workers and waitresses suffer because of the bitterness of the city's exiles?
 
Wouldn't canceling Mardi Gras deny the New Orleans city government badly needed revenue at such a critical time?
 
The economic impact of Mardi Gras is considerable in any given year. With the New Orleans Bowl, the Saints, the Hornets, and the Sugar Bowl removed from the city, Mardi Gras is all we have. Mardi Gras might be a party for thousands of tourists, but it means money for hundreds of workers in the service industry.
 
Almost as laughable as the unreasonable demand to nix Mardi Gras is Mayor Ray Nagin's latest attempt at window-dressing his way out of standing up to ornery evacuees by asking businesses profiting off Carnival to donate 25 percent of their proceeds towards the resettlement of New Orleans.
 
There's a better chance of catching a coconut from Rex than there is of that "robbing Sheraton to pay Bob's RV City" policy being implemented.
 
Mardi Gras is an integral part of south Louisiana's culture and economy. The people who have come back to rebuild their homes and lives deserve a morale boost and a brief escape from their toil and losses.
 
What one sees on the flamboyant side of St. Ann Street on the afternoon of Fat Tuesday might not appear normal for most people, but damn it, that's what passes for normalcy on that place, day, and time.
 
The city government and NOPD should be commended for going through great lengths to make Mardi Gras 2006 happen. Holding Mardi Gras won't send nearly as bad of a message to the nation than crooked levee boards, sweetheart contracts, looting cops, and incompetent governmental leadership have already done.
 
Besides, the city is already known for the seemingly paradoxical jazz funerals. What could be more appropriate than for New Orleans to "second-line" its way out from under the rubble?
 
Expect New Orleans to get a helping hand from a financial source far more reliable than FEMA when tens of thousands of tourists from around the world make their way to Louisiana to drink, party, and eat, thus directly contribute to the rebuilding of New Orleans.
 
Mike Bayham is a former St. Bernard Parish councilman and a long-time HNN contributor who can be reached at MikeBayham@yahoo.com.