KCRag Forum

I wasn't sure how anything from NO could be used constructively here, but reading the bit about the President above, it kind of became a bit more obvious. That place is so old, and so dense- the density they have no choice about-if you look at a map, you can see the lake, the river, the gulf- what you can't see are the swamps- The interstate runs over aboutt 20 miles of swamp northwest of town.

It would not be surprising if they had torn down much of the city for higher density building, but they have some old buildings! There was one bar in the French Quarter that looked like Andrew Jackson may have visited at some point. Looking at that are, especcially the FQ and the areas around it, and you have to wonder why anyone would tear down a building with any historical value to it. We have nothing as old as that, but it is a lesson to be learned.

Just a side note, I didn't enter dowtown, but I was on the street that separates dowtown from the FQ- what a contrast! One side of the street has an old colonial town, the other a modern tall dowtown district.

My name's not Guest- Its phxcat!

Just back from NOLA, for a fun weekend called southern decadence. Itts a gay festival, which brings in over 100,000 people, and over $80 millon in tax dollars. It was quite the fun fest, with only one hitch. This year, some freaky suburban preacher decided that he needed to rescue the Quarter from the demon homo's. He was on bourbon st. with his entrouage of 20m holding signs, warning folks that the "homo's" were going to turn new orleans into the next Soddom and Gemorah. Of course, he was standing in front of a straight bar advertising "live sex acts with men and women! no cover and 2 drink minimum". His point was kind of lost, i think!

Anyway, we stayed in a great hotel, that used to be a warehouse. We ate one lunch in a great old restaurant that was originally built as Napolean's home in New Orleans as he was exiled from France. Although the city is a bit shabby, these folks know how to renovate and reuse their buildings!! Admittedly, we don't have any buildings dating to the 1700's, but we could do better. The streetcars were great, the buildings were awesome, and we had a great time.

The police were great at crowd control on bourbon also. In addition to the regular crowds, add in 100,000 heavy partying men. Police were present, but very unobstrusive. NO arrests in the sections of the quarter handling the festival. One would assume, with that many people, and bars open 24/7, drinking in public is permitted, and strippers all up and down the street, that loads of folks would be carted off. Didn't happen. I have to laugh at the "concerns" people have about westport. I am from Louisiana, and always went out in the Quarter. Any fool knows that you dont' turn your kids loose in an entertainment area that has alcohol.

KCMO police need to take lessons from the NOLA PD on crowd control, and the city's leaders need to take lessons on how to preserve the KC heritage!

I was going to say- I think its a bit late to save the FQ from being Sodom and Gommorah! And there are plenty of other kinds of demons running around there as well- including some voodoo stuff that is patently anti-Christian. Reminds me of some grafiti I once saw on a bathroom wall at MANC- someone had written a bunch of satanic stuff on the wall including some symbols and a phrase that used the word F***. Somone else, I assume distrubed by the fact that you can't use the sord F*** on campus, had scrathed that word out, leaving everything else!

On the old buildings, you are right- they do do an incredible job of preserving the old down there, especially considering how little land they have outside the city to build new. We could learn a lesson from that!

yea, saving bourbon street from the sodomites is a bit much. But hey, he added to the "ambience" of the bourbon st. craziness! And actually, voodoo is not anti-christian. Its a mix of african and Roman Catholic beliefs and practices.

As for the buildings, New Orleans has done a great job in creative re-use of buildings. The Ritz-Carlton is in a former Department Store on Canal, the main drag in town. Former Blacksmith shops are bars. Homes of governors and foreign leaders from the 19th and 18 centuries are restaurants, bars, private home, galleries, etc. former slave quarters are now vacation rentals. The buildings are not necessarily kept for the same purposes throughout the history. The infill buildings in historic areas must be of the same character and history as their neighbors. We could really learn a lot from them about maintaining, and being proud of the city's history. Bourbon St., for 9 blocks is wild and crazy. The rest of the French Quarter is a real, live, historic neighborhood. People live there, shop there, raise families. It is, by far, the most vibrant, historic, friendliest neighborhood I've ever seen.

Believe it or not, only about 2,500 people actually live in the French Quarter.

KC0KEK wrote:Believe it or not, only about 2,500 people actually live in the French Quarter.

That's every available unit in the French Quarter too. The city may be full of smut and fun, but they aren't about to ruin a historical district by building new plastic housing around the old ones.