Ever since Gregory “Moon” Veals was a teenager, he’s played music outdoors on Royal Street. He’s one of countless musicians who have busked there, filling the air with jazz, blues and other traditional New Orleans sounds.
Now a trombonist who’s appeared on two Grammy-nominated albums, Veals still enjoys playing for crowds of tourists on the street’s pedestrian mall. Each day brings a new audience and another chance to experiment with his sound.
“You get a lot of freedom in your music,” Veals said. “You get to perfect it on the street when you learn something new … you know, it’s like a stage.”
Veals has busked on Royal Street for over 30 years. But that soon might end. A proposed plan to permanently close Bourbon Street to traffic could trigger the permanent closure of the Royal Street pedestrian mall, opening it up for vehicular traffic 24/7.
According to a report in Gambit, French Quarter Management District Commissioner Christian Pendleton told a committee of the district’s board in February that Mayor LaToya Cantrell will consider shutting down the Royal Street mall if Bourbon Street is pedestrianized. Neither Cantrell nor anyone from her administration was quoted directly in the report, and city leaders have publicly said little about the plan since. The Mayor’s Office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
The proposed plan to close Bourbon Street comes from experts tapped by the city of New Orleans. City officials are looking to bolster security following the New Year’s Day terror attack, in which a driver plowed into a crowd of people on Bourbon, killing 14 and injuring dozens before being fatally shot by police.
Still, the notion has largely been met with opposition from French Quarter residents and workers. Street performers have joined them in advocating against eliminating the Royal Street pedestrian mall.
“It’ll change things for our whole culture … it’s not just about making money, it’s a whole culture to me,” Veals said.
A permanent closure of the pedestrian mall would mean the loss of a space that, since 1971, has been a stage for New Orleans culture and a vital space for street performers.
It could also mean the displacement of performers who have busked there for years. While Royal Street’s draws are its antique shops and restaurants, Bourbon Street is known for its nightlife and high energy revelers. The jazz and blues music that buskers typically perform on Royal Street is better suited for that slower-paced atmosphere and the audience it attracts, said Ethan Ellestad, executive director of the Music and Culture Coalition of New Orleans. Performing on Bourbon Street would also mean competing with noise coming from bars and clubs.
“You can’t just tell people, ‘Hey, move over one street that way, and everything will be fine,’” Ellestad said.
Justin Terrell, a member of the Royal Street All-Stars brass band, said the city stands to lose more than musicians with the loss of the pedestrian mall and the revenue that it brings to the city.
“It’s not gonna hurt me, it’s gonna hurt them,” Terrell said about the city. “Because [music] is what these people come out here for. I hear it every day. ‘You guys are the reason why I came,’ and ‘You guys are the reason why my trip is what it is.’”
Tightening security in the Quarter
A’oleon Broomfield, a singer and musician who busks on Royal Street, said that since the New Year’s Day attack, street performers have been more wary of nearby cars. She has also noticed a heightened police presence this year, though in recent months it has not been as intense as it was for the Super Bowl.
Ahead of the Super Bowl, Louisiana State Police cracked down on street performers, who were accused of loitering and forced to relocate. Many were pushed to Jackson Square, which couldn’t accommodate the influx of buskers in the space.
“I just feel like they use any excuse to try to kick everybody out,” Broomfield said.
In the days following the attack, city officials — with help from the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation — tapped former New York City Police Chief William Bratton to conduct a review of major events in the city and create a security plan.
The report recommended that the city establish Bourbon Street as a full-time pedestrian zone. It recommended erecting barriers on cross streets from Canal Street to Dumaine Street. Under the plan, exceptions could only be made for deliveries, drop-offs and other essential services, though the report suggested only allowing authorized vehicles during specific times of day.
According to news reports, Bratton and the consulting firm Teneo shared the recommendations with city officials prior to the public release of the report in April. According to Pendleton, a commissioner of the French Quarter Management District’s board, Cantrell has said that if Bourbon were to be closed to traffic, that the Royal Street pedestrian mall would be eliminated to open the street to traffic 24/7.
Royal Street is a pedestrian zone from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and until 7 p.m. on weekends. A stretch of Bourbon Street is already limited to pedestrians daily from 8 p.m. to 11 a.m. the following day, per city ordinance.
New Orleans Police Department Capt. Sammy Palumbo, a member of the French Quarter Management District’s Security & Enforcement committee, said he hasn’t received an update on the plan since March. A spokesperson for the French Quarter Management District said it would continue to discuss details as it receives information from the city. The organization declined an interview request with Pendleton or other commissioners.
Councilmember Freddie King, whose district includes the French Quarter, did not respond to a request for comment.
The French Quarter Management District works to promote tourism, preservation, quality of life improvements and public safety in the Quarter. In past years its private security patrol has been involved in the enforcement of the pedestrian mall – in one instance, removing barricades placed by musicians during the mall’s operating hours.
Broomfield attended a March community meeting about the proposed plan for Bourbon Street. Since then, she said, the atmosphere has become uncomfortable and tense for street performers who play on Royal Street.
“There’s some French Quarter residents who feel like there shouldn’t be any barricades, there shouldn’t be any pedestrian mall, and it should be open to traffic all the time, and they should just be able to charge people to come in there,” she said.
Longtime French Quarter resident Brobson Lutz is leading the charge for implementing congestion pricing in the French Quarter – similar to what was introduced in New York City this year. He said it would decrease vehicular traffic, reduce air and noise pollution and mitigate crime.
“I think Royal Street, the street should be for cars and the sidewalks should be for people,” he said.
Lutz is advocating against all pedestrian zones in the French Quarter. He said that if Bourbon Street weren’t a pedestrian zone for New Year’s Day and instead was open to traffic, the terror attack couldn’t have taken place.
As for street performers, he said they are a nuisance to residents that have to hear the noise, and that their music disrupts nearby businesses.
“The street performers are all for these pedestrian malls, and they infiltrated them like rodents,” Lutz told Verite News.
Broomfield has had a different experience sharing the space with neighbors and businesses.
“For the most part, a lot of the people that live in the Quarter are pretty nice and they’re helpful, and the shop owners are nice, and they kind of like when we’re around because … we make people stay around there,” Broomfield said.
The draw of Royal Street
The Royal Street pedestrian mall has been in flux over the past several years. In 2019, it was closed due to the collapse of the Hard Rock hotel. In April 2022, the NOPD announced it would reopen that month. But it took the city nearly another year to reopen the mall. During this period, some street performers braved performing alongside passing cars, attempting to block off the street themselves.
In March 2023, NOPD announced that it would begin barricading cross streets again. But according to reports, police were inconsistent. In May, Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser announced that his office would take on the responsibility. Currently, Grounds Patrol, a division of the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security, is in charge of barricading the street.
Ellestad characterizes the city’s treatment of Royal Street as a “lack of stewardship.”
He said there hasn’t been any efforts by the city to maintain or improve the street, nor assistance or services to people who live and work there.
“The city looks to Bourbon Street as this big economic generator and driver, and certainly it is. There’s another one that is often what people actually market and say they want New Orleans to look like and be one block over that doesn’t get the attention, the support or the infrastructure,” Ellestad said.
Royal Street is known worldwide for its antique shops, restaurants and French-inspired architecture. Ellestad pointed out that imagery of street performers are used in the city’s marketing of the street as a tourist destination.
The street’s international reputation was further bolstered in 2022, when French President Emmanuel Macron visited New Orleans and street performers played for him. The French consulate later said that music is what makes New Orleans unique.
“People come from around the world to see it, and city officials utilize it. So the idea that somehow it is just impossible to figure out a way that can keep both Bourbon Street and Royal Street safe as pedestrian areas, I don’t buy that argument,” Ellestad said.
The pedestrian mall not only benefits the tourism industry, it also serves as an “incubator” for performers, Ellestad said. He said the space has helped launch the careers for musicians who’ve gone on to launch a recording career or tour internationally, such as legendary clarinetist Doreen Ketchens and country group Chapel Hart.
“It’s a place for musicians [to], if not make a living, certainly get some economic benefit and become visible in spaces where they can control their own image in ways that you may not be able to if you’re just performing in a club,” he said.
Alicia Renee, known as “Blue Eyes,” sings on Royal Street and said she prefers it over performing at venues like clubs and lounges in the city. She began her singing career in clubs, but that changed when she started busking.
She said performing outdoors has given her a financial freedom that she didn’t have playing in clubs. Many others also sustain themselves by busking, and she said the idea of the pedestrian mall being shut down makes her upset.
“Mostly for the brass bands, the musicians that have been playing in the French Quarter, literally feeding their entire families for the majority of their lives,” she said.
Johnny Tassin, with the Royal Street All-Stars brass band, is another musician who makes a living busking. Last week, he was performing on Royal Street with the band.
The threat of musicians losing their livelihood reminded him of his uncle, legendary drummer Shannon Powell, known as the “King of Treme.”
“If you take his sticks away from him, he don’t know nothing else,” Tassin said. “That man never worked a 9-5 in his life, ever. People live off of this. This is a life.”
According to news reports this month, the city is set to make a decision on Bourbon Street “soon.”
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