I dunno...there is actually a real purpose for it. NO won't even nearly be rebuilt enough to care for the event on its own, they pretty much need the money if they want Mardi Gras to run smoothly.
If they still do it again next year, then by all means say they jumped the shark, but for this year I say let them be due to the circumstances.
Mardi Gras has always had advertising in it. It was for local businesses yes, but it has always had advertising. Big banner on the front of the float.. stating who created the float.
Mardi Gras.. weee! It wouldn't be NO without it.. and it will get lots of people into the city.
Of Course, Lafayette's Mardi Gras, (town 2 hours over) will be even more huge this year because of it. They already get a million people there every year, in a town of 100k.
Given what I've read about federal funds for NO Police officers who didn't exist (NO Police claiming 1500 - 1700 officers, but payroll can only account for 800 of them or so), I don't think I'd give any money to NO to cover any expenses. The investigations have already begun into where hundreds of thousands of "rebuilding" dollars have dissappeared to.
We all knew NOPD was the largest street gang in the city...but we haven't gotten anywhere what we need. The federal government isn't following through on promises, and FEMA is worse than useless.
The fact that they're keeping track of it in increments of hundreds of thousands when it's going to be several hundred billion shows how inadequate resources have been.
And don't think it was Katrina that did the damage - the Army Corps of Engineers embezzled money and built shoddy levees that couldn't possibly stand up to what they claimed they were rated to, and then one of the first actions of the Bush administration was to cut all the funding for levees and preserving and rebuilding the wetlands that shielded New Orleans.
Didn't you see it coming? It looks like a 1000 car freight train carrying all the crap from Walmart, Home Depot, Verizon, etc. So begins the disneyfication of Mardi Gras and New Orleans with all the corporate logos and constraints that it will entail.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-12-13 12:33 am (UTC)If they still do it again next year, then by all means say they jumped the shark, but for this year I say let them be due to the circumstances.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-13 01:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-13 02:42 am (UTC)Mardi Gras has always had advertising in it. It was for local businesses yes, but it has always had advertising. Big banner on the front of the float.. stating who created the float.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-13 12:37 am (UTC)Mardi Gras.. weee! It wouldn't be NO without it.. and it will get lots of people into the city.
Of Course, Lafayette's Mardi Gras, (town 2 hours over) will be even more huge this year because of it. They already get a million people there every year, in a town of 100k.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-13 12:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-13 01:33 am (UTC)The fact that they're keeping track of it in increments of hundreds of thousands when it's going to be several hundred billion shows how inadequate resources have been.
And don't think it was Katrina that did the damage - the Army Corps of Engineers embezzled money and built shoddy levees that couldn't possibly stand up to what they claimed they were rated to, and then one of the first actions of the Bush administration was to cut all the funding for levees and preserving and rebuilding the wetlands that shielded New Orleans.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-13 12:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-13 03:37 pm (UTC)Hopefully it will work out ok. *shrug*