The New Orleans City Council is considering significant revisions to the city’s Mardi Gras ordinances. The overhaul is long overdue. If properly enforced, the proposed changes could finally begin curbing some of the worst excesses of the much-derided Krewe of Chad.
What began years ago as isolated incidents of self-entitled paradegoers marking their neutral ground “territory” with spray paint days before popular krewes rolled has turned into an epidemic of selfishness that now poses a public safety threat for all Carnival lovers.
Under the proposed rules, many impositions typical of Chads will be outlawed. This includes dragging couches out onto the neutral ground; using open flames and grills; erecting tents; operating generators; and, blessedly, using cheap pop-up toilets, which became particularly popular earlier this year.
All these changes are common sense and appropriate. That they became necessary is unfortunate. Beyond harming others or the environment, we tend to oppose government efforts to police people’s behavior. Sadly, Chads’ sprawling encampments make it more difficult and less safe for everyone else to enjoy parades.
For example, they make it virtually impossible for children, disabled persons and the elderly to move about the routes, let alone see the parades. They also impede first responders’ access to people needing help and choke off evacuation avenues along huge stretches of parade routes.
Worst of all, the proliferation of Chads has bred an unwarranted sense of entitlement which, when combined with alcohol, has repeatedly led to turf wars between Chads and law-abiding folks looking for a place to stand. Nobody should have to worry that their child may get bullied by some boorish ruffians defending “their” public spot.
Of course, the council can enact the rules it wants; if they go unenforced, it won’t mean a thing. In fact, the lack of consistent enforcement of existing rules governing the use of neutral grounds during parade season has accelerated the spread of this sort of selfish behavior.
It wasn’t so long ago that some larger float parades traversed routes defined by New Orleans’ unique neighborhoods.
As anyone who tried to watch parades along Napoleon or St. Charles avenues this year can tell you, dispatching a handful of cops to deal with “the Chad problem” isn’t going to do the trick. If the city plans to enforce the rules in a meaningful way next Mardi Gras season, it will require having a significant number of cops and other city workers monitoring the parade and, when necessary, confiscating tents, couches and other banned accouterments.
They’ll also have to have appropriate procedures for dealing with disposable toilets — a disgusting and potentially hazardous job in and of itself.
The only rule we should have for Mardi Gras is not to behave in ways that put others at risk of harm or that infringe on others’ ability to enjoy the season. Sadly, the growing nastiness, selfishness and belligerence of the Krewe of Chads has warranted major changes to — and increased enforcement of — New Orleans’ rules during the season of joyful misrule.
Let’s hope it means we’ve seen the last of the Chads.
The committee recommended banning tents, generators, portable toilets and confetti cannons, ahead of Carnival 2025.