NEW ORLEANS – There are few cities like this one.
There are few places in the world that are so unique.
New Orleans is an ancient relic of the past, preserved for generations by its people, themselves cut from the colorful fabric of this place. They are the custodians of America’s oldest fairground, a more than 300-year-old, square-by-square, American amusement park that hugs the Mississippi River.
Part French, or, in its native language, Old Squarethe beating heart of this city, has endured as an endless but complex image. Somehow, with hurricane winds, flash floods and high crime rates, the Quarter still exists, hanging there like a beautiful painting, captivating visitors with historical beauty, enticing them with the thrills of healthy and surprising them with perishable pictures. You’ve never seen holes this big, building crumbling foundations and streets so dirty.
The Quarter’s aroma reflects its complex nature – a mix of delicious seafood dishes, overflowing dumpsters and vomit-filled gutters.
They know how to party here. You will never have fun again. You can’t eat better food. And you can’t drink a sweeter drink.
As it does on most holidays, the Quarter makes a big one on New Year’s Eve. The party is elite. The beer is flowing. The wine spilled. Bars and clubs are full. Restaurants are booked weeks in advance. Long lines. Clothes are worn. Beads are thrown.
Tourists mingle with locals for the most boozy party of life.
On Tuesday night, this party gumbo opened across the Quarter. New Orleans was happening all around, maybe more than usual. The Sugar Bowl game, scheduled for Wednesday night, brought tens of thousands of Georgia and Notre Dame fans to this beautiful city, many of them clapping into the night, celebrating the departure of 2024 and the arrival of 2025. dancing, singing, eating and drinking. .
And suddenly, on Wednesday morning, three hours into the Year 2025, the party stopped.
A man deliberately drove an F-150 into crowds of people along the Quarter’s most popular thoroughfare, Bourbon Street, plowing into a crowd and leaving at least 10 dead in a horrific act.
Included in the dead, a Princeton football player. Included in the seriously injured, Georgia student.
Out of necessity on a day like this, officials postponed the Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame and Georgia to 3 pm CT on Thursday. As the sun went down on Wednesday in the city, dozens of police cars still cordoned off the Quarter while pedestrians and TV crews camped out along its sidewalks and medians.
It was a sober scene, perhaps as sober as this place. This site a few hours before the festivities and fun turned dark and gloomy.
Caution tape lined the streets. Police SUVs blocked access to Bourbon Street. And the authorities gathered for much depressing news.
Anne Kirkpatrick, the city’s police chief, said: “This is not just an act of terrorism, it is bad. “When faced with evil, we have a choice – run in fear or stand strong.”
New Orleans stands tall. It is always long. Its people, from the city itself and its surroundings, are some of the toughest in the country. They live here despite many problems.
Louisiana is being eroded into the Gulf of Mexico in one of the most severe forms of coastal erosion. Hurricanes often hit its edges. In many ways, this place is decaying, decaying, crippled from its old age, its location at the bottom of the sea and decades of political inactivity.
But here it is, it has to fight another disaster, which is believed to be a full-scale attack on the heart of the city from foreign invaders. According to an FBI statement, authorities found an ISIS flag inside the truck the attacker used to kill innocent people. The Associated Press reported that dozens of pipe bombs were found throughout the Quarter, devices that were rigged to be detonated remotely by a truck driver.
“This was a terrible act of cowardice. And we will bring them to justice,” said Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill.
Video footage taken Wednesday morning shows the truck traveling down Canal Street around 3 a.m. Wednesday. Approaching Bourbon Street, the truck makes a fatal U-turn off the side of the intersection of Bourbon and Canal streets, driving a police car down Bourbon before crashing.
Bourbon was closed to vehicular traffic, converted as it is usually a pedestrian only street for party goers to enjoy themselves.
Normally, mechanical bollards, built above the road, are suspended from the street to protect it from an event like this. However, as part of the city’s security measures in preparation for hosting the Super Bowl next month, the bollards were being erected.
Would it have mattered? Nobody really knows. The attacker used the side of the road to destroy.
When asked about the bollards, city officials on Wednesday appeared to admit failure. The new security measures were “not perfect,” the city’s mayor said.
Shouldn’t they have arrived in time for New Year’s Eve?
On Wednesday afternoon, the overnight killing was shown. Although the police SUV and mobile command unit had blocked its entrance, it was possible to see Bourbon. Bloody concrete. Side roads covered in dirt. And piles of trash piled up.
“Right now, Bourbon Street is a crime scene,” said Jeff Landry, the state’s governor.
Not far from where the crime took place, hundreds of Georgia fans gathered to watch some of the playoffs at the club’s hotel lobby. The Marriott Hotel is located on Canal Street, less than three blocks from the Bourbon entrance.
It was a surreal experience. Eree. It’s relaxing.
Many supporters, dragging their luggage behind them, headed home, deciding not to stay for the postponed game. Others lingered on the street, peering down Bourbon Street. Others indulged in drinks, food and a game of chess on the side of the road. A man called “Checkmate Charlie” challenged people to play just one game away from a crime scene.
Aside from the distractions, an uneasy feeling lived here.
In fact, at around 3pm on Wednesday, exactly 12 hours after the incident, two explosions were heard in the Quarter, and police cars near Bourbon they started working. They ran down Canal Street toward the river, returning soon after.
No matter what the authorities say or do, fear is here.
It’s slow.
Landry, the governor of Louisiana, sent a message to those who want to skip the game out of fear: “Your governor will be there,” he said. “That facility is safer today than it was yesterday.”
That may be true, but many will not rest easy. The Superdome on Thursday may be a little more crowded.
“I promise you as the police chief of this city … we have a plan and we know what we have to do,” Kirkpatrick said. “We will find these people.”
When night fell in this beautiful city, the heartbeat of New Orleans was still pumping. Save for Bourbon Street, the Quarter is full of life. The sidewalks were crowded. The bars were bursting.
A coward and his truck will not stop this place.
#heartbeats #America #Orleans #endure
