People Get Ready

Wasn’t the Mid-City bonfire better managed by neighbors than it was by the fire department?

Mid-City neighbors have been doing this for what — three or four generations? That’s a lot of accumulated fire building experience. The low-level fire created by the fire department was easily overtaken by the wind, which wasn’t a good thing, because the fire department positioned the fire closer to the downwind side of the neutral ground, placing the heat and cinders closer to homes. An experienced bonfire builder would have positioned the stack of trees farther into the wind. Furthermore, the larger fire in years past actually created a chimney effect, with the heat pushing smoke and hot ash higher up into the air where ash can cool before it sinks back down to the ground.

No, the fire department isn’t good at building bonfires. No offense. They should just stick to what they’re good at — putting OUT fires, not STARTING them.

The same goes for the police. The police presence in Mid-City was ridiculous. A friend who lives on the periphery of Central City sent a text message saying that someone was driving up the street wildly shooting into the air. He later found shell casings on his property. People have died in New Orleans from falling bullets. No one has ever been hurt in the Mid-City bonfire. The police should stick to what they’re good at — stopping bullets from killing people, not killing neighborhood celebrations.

The bonfire area was fenced off. The musicians were less visible. There were no dancers, or people racing around the pyre with American and Fleur de Lis flags. It was big let down, which was no doubt what was intended by Nagin authorities.

I met Dambala’s beautiful family for the first time out there, and I had a nice chat with Homan’s charming wife and kids. That’s what this tradition is about. Residents getting together to celebrate the end of another eventful year made no better by a mayor who really should just quit because his head isn’t in the game anyway.

To the kids who started shouting the “Who dat?” chant — I have another recommendation: “Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say we don’t need a new mayor?”