Mardi Gras Wear-and-Toss Beads: From Balconies to Basins to Landfills

Summary: Storms flood New Orleans streets whose basins get cleanings that reveal among culprits, and solve the mystery of, missing Mardi Gras wear-and-toss beads.

Compliance EnviroSystems LLC (CES) removing Mardi Gras wear-and-toss beads from New Orleans' catch basins during September 2017-January 2018 storm drain removal project: Compliance EnviroSystems, LLC @complianceenvirosystems, via Facebook Jan. 12, 2018

Many-colored Mardi Gras wear-and-toss beads account for 93,000 pounds (42184.09 kilograms) of accumulations ailing almost one-fourth of city storm drains, according to a news conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, Jan. 25, 2018.

Dani Galloway, city interim director of public works, brings a 15,000-basin total of 7.2 million pounds (3265865.04 kilograms) of beady, grassy, leafy, muddy, sludgy, trashy back-up. She commented that "we've got to do better" since "This is a staggering number" and "Once you hear a number like that, there's no going back." She describes another 6,000 to 6,500 catch basins as doable goals during 2018 through city staff-delegated tasks, pricey contracted-out vacuum-truck services and volunteer neighborhood clean-up days.

Galloway explains, "It's not going to be near the figures we have now because it's not funded for this kind of work on a daily basis."

The news conference furnished final follow-ups on freeing St. Charles Avenue, between Poydran Street and Lee Circle, of five block-full, flood-friendly, many-colored Mardi Gras wear-and-toss beads.

Heavy flooding from heavy rainfall Aug. 5, 2017, gave New Orleans city streets 6-plus inches (15.24 centimeters) of standing water because of 68,000 garbage-gutted storm drains. The city general fund's and the rainy day account's $22 million hired RAMJ Construction of Kenner, Louisiana, to heave hunkered-down heaps from 300 city storm basins. State environmental quality monitors intervened against RAMJ Construction involvement after investigating company introductions of solid waste into landfills despite state rule imperatives for isolating liquid sludge.

The emergency contract joined a $7 million removal project regarding junk-jammed basins and a $17 million repair project regarding 2,000 of 4,000 to 6,000 faulty basins.

Compliance EnviroSystems of Baton Rouge kept the removal project from Sep. 26, 2017, through Jan. 23, 2018, and Hard Rock Construction Company of Harvey the repairs.

Councilman James Gray lamented that "a black firm was in position to be the contractor, had the lowest bid, had experience, had done the work before." Galloway memorializes Compliance EnviroSystems for managing HIRE NOLA, local subcontractor and local workforce hire rates at 60-plus percent, without mentioning the local competitor's mulling legal action. She notes that "This [hiring local people] is important because it maximizes economic impact on the city's contracts for the people that live and work here."

The end-of-contract, end-of-work news and photo opportunity offers five blocks of open, operational catch basins for this year's many-colored Mardi Gras wear-and-toss beads Feb. 13, 2018.

Four-month projects and $22 million provide proofs of what precedes and provokes catch and storm basin problems and where party-goers propel many-colored Mardi Gras wear-and-toss beads.

Times-Picayune online quotes Brenda Lomax-Brown, president of the Hollygrove-Dixon Neighborhood Association, that "We need to take better care of our storm drains. It is so important." She represents one of many residents from all of the city's districts to receive face-to-face information on removing cars and everything else from catch basin environs. Galloway suggests semi-permanent gutter buddies to stop Mardi Gras wear-and-toss beads from stacking up in catch basins whereas city circulars suggest surveillance against spills and submersions.

The tack that tradition takes in tossing many-colored Mardi Gras wear-and-toss beads traverses one trail through Carnival 2017 and similar or other trajectories from 2018 onward.

Green alternatives to Mardi Gras toss-and-wear beads: Costume collaborative Krewe Des Fleurs' 2018 flower theme is orchids and their 2018 throw theme is Seeds as Beads, "the throw that grows"; a limited edition of 100 seeds will be thrown via packets strung on necklaces (top center and right); inside each packet, a seed bead (shown in front of packets) contains wildflower seeds ready for planting: Krewe des Fleurs @krewedesfleurs, via Facebook Jan. 25, 2018

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Compliance EnviroSystems LLC (CES) removing Mardi Gras wear-and-toss beads from New Orleans' catch basins during September 2017-January 2018 storm drain removal project: Compliance EnviroSystems, LLC @complianceenvirosystems, via Facebook Jan. 12, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/complianceenvirosystems/posts/740813469442581

Green alternatives to Mardi Gras toss-and-wear beads: Costume collaborative Krewe Des Fleurs' 2018 flower theme is orchids and their 2018 throw theme is Seeds as Beads, "the throw that grows"; a limited edition of 100 seeds will be thrown via packets strung on necklaces; inside each packet, a seed bead contains wildflower seeds ready for planting: Krewe des Fleurs, via Facebook Jan. 25, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/krewedesfleurs/photos/a.508597085946475.1073741828.497158513756999/1025204874285691/

For further information:

Compliance EnviroSystems, LLC @complianceenvirosystems. 12 January 2018. "25 million pounds of Mardi Gras beads are tossed from floats and balconies every year. Ever wonder where they go?" Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/complianceenvirosystems/posts/740813469442581

Costello, Brian J. 2017. Carnival in Louisiana: Celebrating Mardi Gras from the French Quarter to the Red River. Baton Rouge LA: Louisiana State University Press.

Curbed New Orleans @CurbedNOLA. 18 October 2017. "New Orleans seeks help from residents to clear catch basins by using this app." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/CurbedNOLA/status/920699727863275520

Evans, Beau. 25 January 2018. "46 Tons of Mardi Gras Beads Found in Clogged Catch Basins." The Times-Picayune > Politics > Louisiana Politics & Government.
Available @ http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/01/catch_basins_cleaned_mardi_gra.html

Krewe des Fleurs @krewedesfleurs. 25 January 2018. "We’re at Miette talkin’ #seedsasbeads with our favorite WGNO - News With A Twist ham Kenny Lopez! Catch us on News With a Twist tonight at 5pm. Set your DVR now lovelies!" Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/krewedesfleurs/photos/a.508597085946475.1073741828.497158513756999/1025204874285691/

Lopez, Kenny. 25 January 2018. "A Throw That Grows! Krewe Des Fleurs Will Throw Seeds as Beads!" WGNO ABC News.
Available @ http://wgno.com/2018/01/25/a-throw-that-grows-krewe-des-fleurs-will-be-throwing-seeds-as-beads/

Rainey, Richard. 29 September 2017. "New Orleans Catch Basin Cleaning Contract Could Lead to Lawsuit." Times-Picayune > Politics > Louisiana Politics & Government.
Available @ http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/09/despite_lawsuit_threat_new_orl.html