The council convened with Councilmembers Morel, Jarusto, Harris, King, and Green present to address public safety infrastructure proposals, review administrative contract transitions under the incoming administration, and vote on several urgent municipal agreements. The primary discussion centered on the potential fabrication of permanent security gates for Bourbon Street, with a strong emphasis on delaying a final contractual commitment to allow the new administration to review the specifications. Several routine contracts regarding engineering, waste services, and parking regulations were subsequently adopted with unanimous support.
Councilmember you ready? Okay, roll call. Councilmember Morel. Councilmember Jarusto. Councilmember Harris. Councilmember King. Councilmember Green. We have uh three members. We have a quorum. You want to do approval of the minutes real quick? Yes. All in favor. All right. Now you want to do that presentation. Presentation bollard presentation. So they can move on. So this is item number six: a discussion of proposed contract with the TCP security services for fabrication of permanent gates along the areas of Bourbon Street to prohibit vehicular traffic during certain hours. Yes, just for clarification to those uh tens of tens that are watching. This is for discussion purposes only. This will not be voted on. We just want to kind of get an idea of what's going on. So whenever you guys are ready, feel free to start. Um do you want to do that there was one? Oh, that's the presentation. Sorry about that, guys. Good morning, everyone. Um, so what we're here to talk about today. We uh after the January 1st event, we did have uh the Taneo group come in and make multiple recommendations to the city. Um they made recommendations on how to close the quarter and uh how to protect Bourbon Street. What we have been doing since that event is we have been closing Bourbon Street on a nightly basis in accordance with the ordinance, um, but allowing for the flow of cross traffic. So vehicles are able to cross Bourbon Street on a regular night. They're just not able to turn onto Bourbon Street. Those closures begin at Canal and Bourbon, and on a nightly basis, they end at St. Ann and Bourbon. Uh the only barrier on St. Ann is on the Canal Street side. That way the residential people in the 800 block have access to their homes. What we've been using is um what I call it's a temporary solution to a permanent problem, and that solution has been secure guards. Currently, the Bourbon Street promenade officers go out, they close one gate at Bourbon and Canal, and then they have to move 32 barriers into place along Bourbon Street. What we are looking at is a permanent solution to this, and they are swing gates uh through T uh TC T F T C P T TCP, I'm sorry. Um the permanent gates do for us is it makes it a much easier operation, it makes it it takes it down from so right now. You have 33 barriers that brings it down to 18, a single gate at each side of each intersection. Um so not only does it make it less work to do, there's less points that can be messed with if you are um by a bad actor, right? It takes that number from 33 down to 18. The gates that we have looked at are not only functional in that the crash rating is very good on that. You will see that I believe in slide four. Um it is it is rated at 40 miles an hour for a seven and a half ton truck, which is a major truck, um, and is rated at 50 miles an hour for a one and a half ton truck. A one and a half ton truck can be comparable to an F55 F 550, uh F 150 is more of a half ton truck. Currently, what we have out there um is rated at I believe 10 miles an hour, the the the permanent install. The other reason that we're looking at these gates is we want something that the community is also good with and that fits in.