This week’s heightened security measures — including the establishment of checkpoints around the French Quarter and government building closures — in preparation for Super Bowl LIX have led to a host of headaches for service workers, street performers and unhoused people in New Orleans in the days leading up to the big game.
The Super Bowl has long been an event associated with tightly regulated “clean zones” and heavily-armed law enforcement officers, but the New Year’s Day attack on Bourbon Street has brought an even greater level of security to this year’s game.
But many residents told Verite News that the checkpoints and closures around the Superdome have made life more difficult this week, from accessing their jobs to decreased foot traffic to their businesses.
Givanni Santamarina, who works at Cornet on Bourbon Street, said the city could have planned the week to better support local businesses.
“They [city officials] just have to do what they have to do to make the city some money,” Santamarina said. “But I was hoping that everybody could make money off of this. It just seems like the local businesses are being hurt and affected by all of this.”
Harold MacArthur said he had trouble coming into work at Bourbon Street Drinkery due to street closures in the French Quarter.
“I took an Uber, I’m leaving my car at home,” he said. “I can’t risk it getting towed.”
U.S. Army National Guard, Louisiana State Police and New Orleans Police Department set up security checkpoints throughout the French Quarter on Wednesday (Feb. 5) where officers and soldiers searched the bags of pedestrians entering the area. Cars were also stopped and checked by officers before they could enter the area.
Workers on Bourbon Street experienced delays on their way to work due to the heavy law enforcement presence, lack of parking and road closures for Sunday’s game.
Jordan Paul, who works at Rex House Kitchen & Courtyard on Bourbon Street, noted how the blockades have affected business throughout the week.
“When they put things up you kind of deter people from the area,” Paul said. “People just kind of skip over the little restaurants like ours.”
Paul is optimistic about business picking up more, but still had difficulties getting to work.
“I had to leave my house two hours early,” Paul said. “And then once I did get out I had to go all around the world just to get to this one street.”
The increased security affected the French Quarter’s street performers as well, as Louisiana State Police kicked street performers out of the area on Wednesday (Feb. 5).
Will Harrington, a piano player and band leader, performed in front of the Rouse’s food market on Royal Street on Wednesday. Instead of a crowd gathering around him and his band, it was numerous cars that zipped past the ensemble. Along with blockades and security checkpoints, the Royal Street Pedestrian Mall was opened up to vehicles, another change that disrupted the Quarter’s status quo. Harrington told Verite the change cut into his business.
“Every time we form any sort of a crowd at all, a car rolls through it,” Harrington said. “Nobody wants to hang out and listen to street performers when there’s like a huge truck driving an inch from the tip bucket. It’s hurt a lot of musicians and bands out here.”
Despite all of the delays, many French Quarter workers were in favor of the added security in the wake of the New Year’s Day terrorist attack.
Catherine Lopez’s bag was searched at the corner of Bourbon Street and Canal Street — the site of the attack — by members of the National Guard as she made her way to work at Jester’s Daiquiris on Bourbon Street, but told Verite News she doesn’t mind the delay.
“I don’t mind walking an extra two blocks, three blocks to get to work, because it means more security for New Orleans,” Lopez said.
Louis Usea took public transit to get to work at Bourbon Bandstand on Wednesday. He told Verite News he felt “protected” by increased military and law enforcement in the area.
Stahili Glover has been operating a Lucky Dog hot dog stand on Bourbon Street for about 10 years. He expects this level of scrutiny for larger events in the Quarter moving forward.
“This is the new norm,” Glover said. “So Bayou Classic, Mardi Gras, any big events that we have now, Essence, we have to deal with this.”
Impact on the unhoused population
Some public spaces where unhoused residents frequently gather have been shut down because of the Super Bowl.
David Chinn sat on Bourbon Street on Wednesday (Feb. 5) as tourists walked by. He said the barricades occupied by law enforcement got in the way of his routine.
“Every corner that I usually lie on got a barricade,” Chinn said. “I have to find a new place to lie.”
In addition to the space taken up by armed troopers on Bourbon Street, the main branch of the New Orleans Public Library on Loyola Avenue was closed starting on Monday (Feb. 3) and will remain closed through Friday (Feb. 7). For many in the city’s unhoused population, the library is a crucial hub and meeting place, providing access to the internet and public restrooms.
Mary Patricia Dunham walked to the front entrance of the library on — past unhoused residents sleeping on makeshift beds — to a sign indicating the facility’s closure. Dunham, who is unhoused herself, said the closure took a vital resource away from her and others like her.
“I don’t have a cell phone, so without a cell phone, you can’t check on your email, you can’t apply for jobs,” Dunham said. “You can’t do anything.”
She said the lack of access to computers could disrupt unhoused people’s attempts to get jobs and housing.
“If you’re getting a job or anything, housing or anything, you need to have some way of communication, computer or cell phone to do things,” Dunham said. “And you have to stay on top of it if you want to get anywhere. A lot of us want to get out of these situations.”
Responding to a request for comment, Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s office told Verite News that library services would be available at other locations.
The closure comes after months of unhoused people being displaced to different parts of the city ahead of major tourist events like Taylor Swift concerts and Bayou Classic.
In October, state law enforcement officers and other state officials removed unhoused people from around the French Quarter and Superdome and placed them in an encampment on Earhart Boulevard ahead of a pair of Taylor Swift concerts. Then in January, unhoused people, many of whom were displaced in October, were removed from the Earhart encampment by state officials and sent to a new facility in Gentilly in January.
Since then, the area across from the former state-sanctioned encampment has become a food truck plaza, hoping to attract people for the Super Bowl.
At a ribbon cutting for the food truck plaza, Cantrell told Verite News that the city is committed to rehousing individuals who were displaced. However, those who work closely with the unhoused say events like the Super Bowl have made helping them more difficult
“I can say that in the last few weeks — between the snow, the deep freeze, and the various displacements — our outreach teams and point-in-time volunteers struggle to make contact with unsheltered folks,” said Joe Hereen-Mueller, community engagement director at UNITY of Greater New Orleans, a homeless service provider.
“We continue to attempt to make contact with everyone we can, but as people have scattered, we have to learn where their new locations are and provide support to those who remain in immediate need of humanitarian assistance and ultimately require housing and social support.”
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