bumpity

Floats are generally paid for by the Krews that support them. (i.e. Gemini, Zulu and so on) However, the floats are only one expense. You have extra police support, clean up crews (who would sign up for that job) and many other city 'services' that all experience financial and time requirements.

I believe they should have had Mardi Gras. I disagree with the state and local governments picking up the tab for overtime and the like for its employees. This is something that should have been totally funded by the private sector IMO. Nagin is not particularly concerned with New Orleans progress; at least now that he knows that the whole world sees him as an incompetent buffoon.

I think they believed they needed the revenue from the tourism, and that if they skipped a year, then people would be less likely to come back the next year. If they broke the 'tradition' quality of people coming, then they'd have a hard time getting it started again.

That said, I think it is bunk when they have so many homeless and people with destroyed lives. This reminds me of Nagin driving buses past the people waiting to be picked up at the convention center in order to bus wealthy foreign tourists out of downtown. At some point you have to decide that keeping the tourism gravy train going is secondary to getting your citizens back.

think they believed they needed the revenue from the tourism, and that if they skipped a year, then people would be less likely to come back the next year. If they broke the 'tradition' quality of people coming, then they'd have a hard time getting it started again.

Good point, and the only one that I think can start to justify this.  Still, Singr is asking a good question.  If New Orleans is unwilling to help their poor, why should we?  And when I say new Orleans, I do not mean the government, but the organizations that paid for those floats.

Alot of the floats are actually reused. They just change the old floats to fit the current years theme. They had a small blurb about it on G4tv. When the the guy from G4tv was looking through some of the floats a lion head looked alot like Louie Armstrong. It was the head of Louie Armstrong and it was just modified to turn it into a Lion head.

So yeah, it probably costs $800,000 to build one from scratch but I don't think there were any brand new floats this year. Just floats modified from past years.

So yeah, it probably costs $800,000 to build one from scratch but I don't think there were any brand new floats this year. Just floats modified from past years.

This is actually a very common occurrence. Almost every float is a retooled version of its former self. Here in Shreveport, the large krews rent their floats after they are done with them to smaller parades that are held after they ride.

I think they believed they needed the revenue from the tourism

But I don't think the tourist dllars came a'flowing in like they expected/hoped/prayed.
From the Associated Press Link:

Bartenders on Bourbon Street usually measure the success of Mardi Gras according to the number of square inches of exposed pavement outside the door. This year, they could measure the space in square feet.

The turnout for New Orleans'first Mardi Gras since Hurricane Katrina was way below normal - an estimated 350,000 this year, compared with the usual 1 million, according to the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corp. - and spending on hotel rooms, restaurant meals, antiques and souvenirs appeared to be down sharply.

The bottom line: The city's sputtering economy did not get the lift many had hoped for.

"When you can see the pavement on Bourbon Street, it's not a good crowd," said Frank Downs, vice president of Cats Meow, a karaoke bar on Bourbon Street, where sales were down at least 40 percent. "This Mardi Gras, we saw the pavement."

Typically, the usually two-week Carnival season generates $1 billion in revenue for the city. While figures are not yet available for 2006, it is clear the smaller crowds - and the storm-abbreviated, eight-day season - translated into lower sales.

I'm not saying that they shouldn't have had Mardi Gras; I'm just saying their money could've been better sent.