It’s a common sight on the streets of cities across Louisiana in the days after parades roll during Carnival season: beads stuck in trees, plastic cups lining streets, and bits of purple, green and gold revelry scattered about.
Parade organizers could be required to clean up all this litter within 24 hours of an event if a proposed Louisiana law receives support. But the proposal is being viewed negatively by some Mardi Gras krewes around the state who say it could have far-reaching, unintended consequences.
State Rep. Foy Bryan Gadberry, R-West Monroe, wrote the bill at the request of a recycling nonprofit, Ouachita Green. He prefiled the bill Feb. 9. While admittedly Mardi Gras celebrations in the northern part of the state are a bit more subdued, Gadberry still believes everyone would benefit if local governments had more muscle behind their cleanup efforts.
“The city has to pay (workers) to do it, either overtime or straight time,” Gadberry said. “Why should the city pay that cost?”
Many Louisiana cities budget for these expenses and have the equipment and workforce necessary to clean up litter quickly after parades pass along public streets and sidewalks.
New Orleans spends about $1.5 million on Mardi Gras clean-up each year, said John F. Lawson II, a spokesperson for the office of Mayor LaToya Cantrell.
“Aside from Mardi Gras parades and second lines, all other parades are already required to comply with the specifications of this bill,” Lawson said in an emailed statement.
And this year the city partnered with nonprofits and krewes to urge paradegoers to recycle unwanted beads and throws through its Recycle Dat program.
Gadberry’s bill would require that municipalities and parishes hold individual parade organizers accountable for litter after events, but it would allow each local governing authority to determine how to implement and enforce the law.
Local governments would be able to establish deposit amounts for parade organizers, appropriate methods of litter abatement and disposal, a way to determine whether the organization has adequately removed and appropriately disposed of the litter, and consequences for those who fail to comply with the law.
Lafayette calculates payroll expenses associated with Mardi Gras but does not have an exact breakdown of how much is spent specifically on cleaning up the 54 tons — or 108,000 pounds — of litter generated per year by festivities in the city.
Lafayette Consolidated Government spokesperson Tonya LaCoste Trcalek said of the about $262,000 in payroll expenses incurred during Carnival season, about $221,000 of that went to police officers and the remaining $41,000 was for crews tasked with handling cleanup, barricades and other logistics.
In south Louisiana, where Mardi Gras traditions run deep, krewes and parade officials point to the revenue that the celebrations bring in.
Robert King, president of the Society for the Preservation of Lagniappe in Louisiana, which puts on Spanish Town, Baton Rouge’s biggest annual parade, said the bill could jeopardize the future of Mardi Gras parades and the economic impact they have on their communities.
“I’m just trying to figure out why somebody sitting up there decides they need to try to change something that ain’t broke,” King said. “The municipalities always worked with the parades because of the influx of money that comes in.”
The Spanish Town parade is put on by a nonprofit organization that donates to local charities, King said. The organization pays a permitting fee to the city of Baton Rouge and insurance to put on the annual parade. King said the group recently had to increase fees for parade participants because of a major hike in their insurance cost — which jumped from $22,000 to $40,000 within a few years.
“If we have to charge people who ride for clean up — for our parade, Southdowns parade, Krewe of Oaks in Port Allen, the New Roads Parade and all those — I don’t know how they would function,” King said. “You’d almost strangle Mardi Gras.”
Jeff Gober, chairperson of the Spanish Town Historical Association, also questioned the need for the law, arguing there was little evidence of trash the day after Baton Rouge’s largest parade rolled through the neighborhood
“We as a city, we as a neighborhood — as we have for 30-plus years — clean up right after,” Gober said. “There is no lingering effect. You cannot even tell, outside of some beautiful beads stuck in the trees, that a parade went through. And I would imagine, if you walked down Bourbon Street 12 hours after a parade, you’re going to be hard-pressed to find any evidence of a parade there too.”
Advocate staff photo by JOHN McCUSKER -- Beads left over from from carnival hang from a tree on St. Charles Avenue as traffic passes. Bead trees can be found on every parade route from uptown, to mid-city to Metairie Wednesday, February 18, 2015.
In New Orleans, Elroy James, president of The Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, which rolls through the streets on Mardi Gras Day, said while his and other large organizations have resources, the bill could disproportionately harm smaller krewes that don’t have the financial means to pay for litter clean up.
James, an attorney by trade, also questioned whether the economic benefits of the parades already outweigh the costs of cleanup.
“Every time we spend $1 on throws and building floats, those are tax dollars that are coming into city coffers for funding the things that we’re using. So it seems like it’s really a burden on the residents that make up the krewes.”
Carnival authority Arthur Hardy, who publishes an annual Mardi Gras guide in New Orleans, said such public celebrations should have community support because everyone is able to enjoy them.
“In New Orleans, there’s no way the individual organizations could afford to handle the expense of sanitation or police,” Hardy said. “I mean, if you’re going to say you have to pay for clean up, then why wouldn’t you also say you have to pay for police security? Where does it end?”