Errol Laborde, the newest columnist for the Times-Picayune, joins Hy and Christopher for our Twelfth Night/commencement to Carnival program! The New Orleans magazine, editor and producer of WYES’ Informed Sources highlights excerpts from his new monthly “Streetcar” newspaper column in the T-P Living Section, including how he played a role in (re)creating the Phunny Phorty Phellows as “Heralds of Carnival”, and how in 2009 the King of Zulu joined them as guest of honor. Read the inaugural column here!
Speaking of Zulu, we also talk about Lundi Gras and how Zulu came to meet Rex each year on the day before Shrove Tuesday, outlined in Errol Laborde’s new book When Rex Met Zulu and Other Chronicles of the New Orleans Experience, available at The Garden District Book Shop, 2727 Prytania in the historic Rink, (504) 895-2266.
Briefly we mention the events of New Year’s Eve, but reserve that discussion for next week's show, when information is more available However, we do point out an upcoming article by Christopher in The Louisiana Weekly which questions: Why the bollards were replaced all at once?
NOPD Officers Reportedly Asked City Hall to Replace Bollards One-by-One
By Christopher Tidmore
Worries that construction would not be finished by Super Bowl may have enabled terrorist attack, as all bollards remained down at the same time.
A 43 year veteran active duty veteran of the NOPD told The Louisiana Weekly on background that Mayor Latoya Cantrell’s desire to install more attractive, stainless steel bollards in time for the Super Bowl may have left Bourbon Street unprotected from the New Year’s morning Bourbon Street terrorist attack.
NOPD Eighth District officers reportedly objected to the bollards being taken down simultaneously by Hard Rock Construction Co., LLC to replace the old bollards with new removable stainless steel bollards.
The process, which began in November, and was scheduled to end in time for the Super Bowl, many NOPD officers worried, would leave most of the French Quarter defenseless from out of control automobiles. Apparently administration officials at the Mayor’s behest in the Department of Public Works rejected calls to replace the bollards individually, block by block, worried that the work would not be completed by February’s big game.
According to the city’s website, work began on November 18, 2024 on a stretch of Bourbon Street from Canal to St. Ann Streets to replace the current exposed bollard system with “new removable stainless-steel bollards”.
As nola.gov explained, “These can be securely locked behind each crosswalk. Construction will focus on the first 60 feet of each block where the old bollards are. The road will be taken out and replaced to put in the new bollards. Some sidewalk repairs, like fixing missing bricks, will also be done. The removable bollards will help close the street to cars during pedestrian-only times but will be stored away when the street is open to all traffic.”
Personal observation by the author on New Year’s Eve noted that as late as 10:30 PM, many of the existing bollards bordering Bourbon Street remained down. Still, as former PANO President (and current President of the Victims Rights organization Crimefighters) Irv Magri told The Louisiana Weekly that, normally, in such a circumstance where no other substantial barriers exist, two police officers would park their units perpendicular to one another, in order to block traffic. The police cars would act as impromptu bollards. Instead, law-enforcement on the scene utiluzed multiple white and orange plastic barricades and fencing.
The lack of weighty obstruction allowed 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar to drive his white truck down Bourbon Street killing 15 and wounding 35 at 3:15 AM on New Year’s morning. Jabbar, an Army veteran, also had weapons and a potential improvised explosive device in the rented truck, the FBI said. There were other possible IEDs planted nearby in the French Quarter, two of which have been rendered safe. An ISIS flag was reportedly also in the truck.
The FBI is working to determine the suspect’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations.
Jabbar served in the Army on active duty as an IT Specialist from 2006 to 2015 and then in the Army Reserve from 2015 to 2020, according to three U.S. defense officials. He had deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 and was a staff sergeant when he was honorably discharged in 2020, the officials said.
