NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Local voters return to the polls Saturday, Nov. 15, for runoff elections and ballot proposals, including the renewal of a sales tax some say is critical for the French Quarter.
Impacts of the “quarter for the Quarter” sales tax are visible. Streetlights are one example. Outside the Krystal Burger on Bourbon Street, the lack of functional lights has not gone unnoticed.
“They’ve been out for quite a few months,” said Roger Brown, owner of the restaurant.
Brown said he is grateful the historic streetlamps near his restaurant are lighting up again.
“It’s nice to see that we’re starting to do things. I think the city needs to take care of the French Quarter because this is where the money comes from,” Brown said.
Repairing and restoring the roughly 900 historic streetlamps in the French Quarter is one ongoing project Michelle Courseault said is possible because of the “quarter for the Quarter.”
“What the tax essentially does is to keep the Quarter safe and to continue those efforts. Without the tax, what does the scenario look like?” said Michelle Courseault, executive director of the French Quarter Management District.
The French Quarter Management District is an organization with influence on topics related to the historic neighborhood. Courseault said she hopes voters will renew the existing sales tax, which she said collects roughly a quarter percent of every dollar spent in the French Quarter. Without it, she said, public safety could be affected. The tax finances extra police patrols in the Vieux Carre and the small vehicles used by those patrols. (read more)