Ask him

A Vieux From Toulouse

Art by Eric T. Styles

Does anyone who endorses this closure realize that if it continues for much longer, we won’t have any jobs to go back to?

Each business is still paying tens of thousands in rent every month. Commercial landlords are not cutting any breaks to our employers, the water bills are still ridiculously high for empty buildings and there is still insurance, taxes and 12-month licenses that need to be paid for.

The only aid the Federal Government is offering to small businesses is to cover payroll for employees not laid off. That won’t help if your rent is $20,000 a month. The big bankrolls made by local businesses during Mardi Gras are eaten up by staying afloat over the long, slow summer months.

Now, that money is quickly being depleted before we even hit June. We now have a number of establishments that are gone and will never reopen. Every week that ticks by will add to that number.

“Let me sit out the summer collecting unemployment and stimulus checks, COOL!!

A short-sighted, selfish and stupid objective. We in the service industry struggle over the course of the summer; it’s the nature of the beast. A smart Quarter Rat does the same as their employers, saving up money from the busy times for the slow times. Longtime service workers down here know that simple strategy. Any one who wants to see the closure to continue probably is hoping for a permanent universal basic income to result from all of this. A complete lack of understanding for simple economics will place them back in their parent’s basements.

FUCK TRUMP!
Let’s not ignore the effect of a heated and wide chasm of political divide in all of this. “The worst the economy gets, the worst Trump’s chances are for re-election. If he tweets open it up, I’ll scream keep it closed.” I hate the Captain of this ship, I hope it sinks. In fact, let me poke holes in all of the life rafts so he’ll look even worst. I would expect that from his political adversaries, Governors and Mayors whose lives really won’t be impacted very much by an economic collapse. They can exploit such hardships for political gain. It’s easy for a Hollywood celebrity to say keep the world closed from their $20 million mansion. It’s not a rational idea from the vast majority of paycheck-to-paycheck Americans.

The big corporate places may have the capital to tie them over for several months, but the mom and pop places WILL go under. We see the crowds and we ring up thousands of dollars every night for our bosses believing that they are rolling around in piles of money in the back office.

Rent, payroll, insurance, utility and supply costs per month is more than most of us make in a year. So when all of the free stimulus money from the government goes away, go look for your next job. All that will be available will be the huge corporate establishments who will treat you like shit and be able to do so because there are two dozen other Quarter Rats wanting your job.

Please spare us the posts about how much you can’t wait to return to work and then post later about how dangerous the virus supposedly is. Every time you share a hyperbolic fear meme about COVID-19 is, or an orange man bad narrative, you are digging your own graves.

Bourbon Street’s cowboy Joelee dances in Franklin; police chief takes matter into his own hands

(Photo: Joelee, left. | Twitter)
A Bourbon Street cowboy known for his gregariousness and dance moves was accosted by a Louisiana police chief earlier this week after receiving several complaints of dancing in public.

In a video posted to social media on May 7, cowboy Joe Lee (“Joelee”) is confronted Thursday by Franklin Police Chief Morris Beverly. Referring to Lee as “Mr. Seguro,” Beverly said several people phoned in to complain that his dancing on the side of the road was distracting drivers.

Beverly asked Lee to stop or else he would work on getting an ordinance written and passed, giving police officers the power to arrest the cowboy for dancing on the side of the road.

“What I don’t want you to do is do all of that jumping and dancing around and stuff like that if you’re going to be dressed like that because some people take offense to that,” Beverly said in the video.

“What am I doing?” Lee said. “What am I doing? I’m exercising.”

“You’re not exercising sir,” Beverly said. “If we have a collision or anything, [we’re going] to put you down and you’re going to be civilly liable.”

Beverly did not respond to a request for comment.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Lee was a regular presence on Bourbon Street. He was often seen wearing a crop top and Daisy Duke shorts, mingling with crowds of tourists and appearing in selfies. After coronavirus restrictions closed the French Quarter, Lee relocated to Franklin.

Lee did not respond to a request for comment.

“It’s distracting when Mardi Gras is in the air and people are painting their boobs instead of covering them,” Lee said in a Facebook post May 9. “So just because we all don’t like it does it give Beverly the right to take his [First Amendment] away?”

Watch the full video of the encounter here.

NOFD orders demolition of Hard Rock Hotel, adjacent structures

An order to demolish the Hard Rock Hotel and several historic buildings adjacent structures was issued Tuesday by New Orleans Fire Superintendent Tim McConnell.

The order comes as the June 1 start of hurricane season approaches and amid public pressure towards city officials to take immediate action to retrieve two dead bodies still trapped inside the collapsed hotel.

The hotel’s upper floors collapsed on the morning of Oct. 12, killing three construction workers Jose Ponce Arreola, Quinnyon Wimberly and Anthony Magrette.

The bodies of Arreola and Wimberly have remain trapped inside the condemned structure for more than six months as the city and 1031 Canal St., the hotel’s developers, have deferred responsibility to each other for the demolition of the building.

Hard Rock Hotel New Orleans construction crane collapses, killing at least one person

“These orders were posted under the authority of our Superintendent with my support, clearing the way for the Hard Rock site to be demolished,” said New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. “We have issued a conditional permit which gives 1031 what they need to move forward.

“I do not want to take the families of the victims through any more obstacles to get this building taken down,” she said. “At the end of the day, the most important thing is to retrieve the remains of our people.”

An independent analysis submitted by the developers confirmed the need to demolish the adjacent structures at 1022 Iberville Street and 1019, 1027 and 1027 Canal streets in order to safely level the Hard Rock Hotel, according to city spokeswoman LaTonya Norton.

Applications to demolish the adjacent structures were filed by the developers for consideration before the Central Business District Historic District Landmarks Commission on Wednesday, but the applications were withdrawn due to McConnell’s order.

HDLC staff previously recommended the commission deny the demo applcations for the buildings located at 1019-1025 and 1027 Canal streets due to their historical significance, but the emergency order declared on the Hard Rock structure allows McConnell to override the commission’s decision.

The demolition plans call for the Hard Rock to be demolished piecemeal using cranes and the bodies could be retrieved in about 30 days, according to The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate.

“The proximity of the nearby historic structures, narrowness of Iberville Street and distance of the collapsed building from Burgundy Street require precise positioning of demolition cranes within the footprint of the four adjacent structures if the collapsed building is to be safety demolished,” McConnell wrote in his order.

“Should a major storm strike the city during the upcoming hurricane season, the risk of further collapse of the unsafe and unstable structure would be greatly exacerbated,” McConnell said.

Read the full order: