LAFAYETTE PARISH — No changes will be made to the Lafayette parade route - at least not for the upcoming carnival season.
At issue is the announcement recently by the Boulet administration that the old route - which hasn't been used for decades - would resume, with the parades traveling down Jefferson Street.
In the 1990s that route was changed, after millions were spent on the Streetscape project which put cypress trees, paving and railings on Downtown's main drag. The concern was that the boisterous crowds of carnival would damage the beautification the city had paid so much to install. Indeed, more than $250,000 in new plantings were just installed along Jefferson Street - where a route change would place carnival crowds in a couple months.
Tuesday night, the Lafayette City Council discussed final approval of an ordinance that would change the committee that looks at parade routes; more than an hour of public comment culminated in an amendment to that ordinance, then deferral of the entire issue.
First, the council voted 4-1 to amend the ordinance (which you can read for yourself by scrolling down) to create a new Mardi Gras committee that would just review parade routes in the city.
After that amendment passed - but before the original ordinance was voted upon - Council Member Liz Webb Hebert asked her fellow council members and Mayor-President Monique Boulet to defer the whole issue indefinitely.
“While I recognize the conversations leading up to this proposal began with the earnest goal of preserving and honoring our Mardi Gras traditions, I believe it has led to a proposed solution that gives us unnecessary government overreach,"
In rushing to fix something, we risk breaking it. I believe parade route changes require far more comprehensive study and meaningful public engagement with business owners, law enforcement, and knowledgeable stakeholders including the ones with businesses downtown, and the residents downtown before any action is taken."
Hebert said that "the potential route changes have not been fully evaluated, particularly their impact on downtown drainage and beautification improvements, projects in which our taxpayers have strategically invested millions of dollars."
She said a town hall was held, but described it as a "rushed effort" held days before a holiday. It left questions unanswered, she said, adding that those questions indicate to her that "we're not ready to move forward with these changes."
The motion to defer the committee changes and the parade changes indefinitely passed 5-0.
In all, 19 people signed up for public comment (thought not all spoke), and there was more than an hour of discussion involving citizens, council members and the administration. If you want to watch the discussion at last night's meeting, you can do that here.
Here's the video that contains most of the discussion:
Here's the proposed ordinance:
