Tag: COVID-19

CDC warns public against “aggressive” rats looking for food

(Photo: Matt Baume | CC)
An advisory issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month is warning the public about hungry and “aggressive” rats on the hunt for new sources of food.

COVID-19 lockdown restrictions closed restaurants and businesses in dense commercial districts, including the French Quarter, cutting off rats’ main source of food and leading to the “unusual” behavior of trying to survive, according to a May 21 CDC advisory.

Some jurisdictions reported increased rodent activity following the coronavirus restrictions, according to the CDC.

Days after the coronavirus restrictions took effect in New Orleans, a TV crew filming an empty Bourbon Street captured a congregation of rats, which share a symbiotic relationship with the French Quarter.

Additionally, the CDC warned against a decline, then a resurgence in rat populations due to events such as hurricanes and recommended control measures such as bait stations.

Efforts to eradicate rats in the French Quarter, however, have been unsuccessful in the neighborhood’s 300-year existence.

Read the CDC’s advisory here.

“No cars in the Quarter”: Mayor Cantrell sends team to research turning French Quarter into pedestrian mall

(Photo: JasonParis | CC)
The idea of turning the French Quarter into a pedestrian mall is the focus of a new city task force formed by New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who is considering the elimination of automobile access to the neighborhood.

During a virtual town hall meeting on Thursday, Cantrell said she formed a tiger team, or specialists in a certain field, several weeks ago to research a set of designs that would repurpose French Quarter public space to include broader pedestrian access and allow businesses to expand along streets.

Additionally, the plans would eliminate automobiles from the neighborhood, except for commercial and delivery traffic.

The details came in the social media town hall meeting in which Cantrell answered questions from the public on several topics, including COVID-19, phased reopenings, hurricane evacuations and an out-of-commission water turbine that exploded in December.

Using the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity, Cantrell said it was time to “re-imagine” how public spaces are utilized in the 300-year-old historic district.

“I see it,” Cantrell said. “From that Joan of Arc, I want it all open.

“I call it the no-cars Quarter.”

Officials are also evaluating “policies and procedures” to reduce competition among street performers and musicians and they’re also introduced a proposal to city council for restaurants to provide additional outdoor, curbside seating with “parklets,” according to Cantrell.

Cantrell said her team will put forth several “exciting” recommendations for consideration. Watch the entire town hall below:

A Vieux From Toulouse

(Art by Eric Styles)
If an economy crashes and there is no one there to hear it, does it still make a sound?

As much as I want this shut down to end, I’m going to kind of miss it. The French Quarter is like small town America now. Mayberry like. Sparsely occupied sidewalks with familiar residents, little traffic. No litter or feces to step around, none. Quiet, eerie quiet. No music or barkers, no revving engines of little dick assholes, no screaming bachelorette banshees, just silence. Do you know that we have song birds in the Quarter? We do. I’m really impressed by how much sex my neighbors have.

By nature, I try to distance myself from people in public. Now it’s not just socially acceptable, it’s mandated. The best part is, I can no longer be accused of “microaggressions.”

“Why dija’cross the street to the other side? You racist?”
“You’re shirtless, have a huge piss stain on the front of your pants, wearing one shoe and are waving a broken beer bottle. Fuck yea, I’m crossing over to the other sidewalk.”

Now it’s my civic duty to put as much distance between me and strangers as I can.

I’ve been on the receiving end of the stare. One early evening a couple of years ago while walking down Toulouse towards Decatur, a cliché Midwest family were walking towards me; a sitcom-looking family: mom, dad and two kids. A boy, around 11 years of age, and the girl, about 8 years of age, were taking up the sidewalk. I was on curb side preparing to pass by, when from about 8 feet away, the boy looks up at me and shrieks “STRANGER DANGER!” He grabs his little sister and pulls them both back in line between their parents.

The father at the rear looks at me, knowing half of the block heard his son. The dad’s eyes were huge with a look of panic and embarrassment. I glared back with my most animated expression of “REALLY?”

A half a block later, I chuckled to myself thinking that I should have gone Jake Blues on all of them.

Galatoire’s CEO Melvin Rodrigue asks Trump for restaurant PPP loan extensions in White House meeting

(Photo: Peter Clark | CC)
Restaurant industry leaders, including Galatoire’s Melvin Rodrigue, attended a roundtable meeting with President Donald Trump last week to discuss the federal government’s ability to extend relief measures for businesses affected by the prolonged COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.

Rodrigue, who’s also Chair of the National Restaurant Association Board of Directors, and other owners of restaurants big and small gathered at the White House May 18 to advocate to the president for the extension of certain loan provisions of the Paycheck Protection Program.

The program offered small businesses $669 billion worth of low-interest private loans through the Small Business Administration to pay for operating expenses and keep employees on payrolls during coronavirus lockdowns. It’s considered the main piece of the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act signed into law on March 27.

Rodigue stressed the need for loan extensions for restaurants, citing a slow recovery as coronavirus restrictions are gradually eased.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell ordered a May 16 phased reopening of businesses, including restaurants, which are required to abide by certain requirements, such as continued social/physical distancing of 6 feet or more and a 25% seating capacity.

“We rely on social interaction,” Rodrigue said, adding the reduced seating capacity will make comeback difficult. “When we reopen at 25 percent, we’ll lose more money than last week because now we’re incurring expenses.”

Specifically, restaurants seek to extend two deadlines in the law that make them eligible for loan forgiveness.

One is extending a June 30 deadline to Oct. 31, or longer, in order to give restaurants more time to hire and retain employees as lockdown restrictions are gradually lifted; and the other is extending an eight week deadline to spend the loan on restaurant expenses such as payroll, rent and utilities.

The federal government gave businesses the chance to meet loan forgiveness eligibility based on how many employees are rehired by June 30 and then kept on the payroll for at least eight weeks.

Additionally, restaurant owners requested an extension of the duration of time in which they have to spend the loaned money upon receipt—from eight weeks to 24 weeks.

The city received more than 19 million visitors in 2019, or a 6.7% increase from last year, according to the city’s tourism bureau, although Rodrigue indicated it will take months for restaurants to bounce back from another disaster.

“We survived Hurricane Katrina,” Rodrigue said. “We’ve survived the BP oil spill. Restauranteurs are a [resilient group].”

Changes in the law require Congressional approval, although the Senate was unable to come to a vote on Thursday. The House is considering similar legislation.

In addition, Trump teased the possibility of a payroll tax deductions and liability protections for small businesses in order to protect against coronavirus-related lawsuits. Although several restaurant leaders welcome those measures, they touted the PPP extensions as an important first step to reopening.

Read the entire transcript of the White House roundtable meeting.

The Tahyo, ‘Pit Bulls & Parolees’ gift shop on lower Decatur Street, closes due to COVID-19 shutdown

A gift shop connected to “Pit Bulls and Parolees” reality TV show located on lower Decatur Street, has closed earlier this month, citing the COVID-19 mandatory shutdowns.

In a statement posted to social media on May 15, Villalobos Rescue Center announced that The Tahyo, located at 1224 Decatur St., closed for good following a prolonged shutdown due to coronavirus.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell issued a March 16 executive order that closed businesses as part of a measure to contain spread of the virus. On May 16, Cantrell began easing restrictions and instituted a phased reopening of the city.

The shop was one of the first to close following the initial outbreak of the virus several months ago, according to Tia Torres, who runs the nonprofit all-breed dog rescue shelter and focus of the TV show.

Torres’ daughter Mariah ran the lower Decatur Street shop to help support the dogs housed by her mother’s rescue.

“We could not hold up against the COVID-19 pandemic and the aftermath of mandatory shutdowns,” according to a May 15 statement released by The Tahyo. “We enjoyed our time on Decatur St and will miss our FQ family.”

The store will continue to exist, however, in its online form at thetahyo.com. Sales proceeds go to support Villalobos dog rescue, which costs approximately $4 million a year to operate, according to its website.