Strapped for cash, New Orleans leaders are trying to streamline Mardi Gras by shifting a few parade routes in 2027 to take the pressure off police, first responders, street cleaners and other services. But the decision to take two more parades off Magazine Street has caused ripples of dissatisfaction.
Jordan Thomas owns that most perfect piece of New Orleans real estate, a house along a Carnival parade route. Specifically, Thomas’s double shotgun lies on the Magazine Street stretch between Jefferson and Napoleon Avenues, an intimate, residential section of the Uptown parade path.
Late last week, Thomas learned that both the Krewe of Sparta and Krewe d’Etat parades, which ordinarily pass each year, have been shifted 13 blocks downtown, skipping her house altogether in 2027. Thomas’s small yard and porch are customarily packed with partiers on parade nights and she’s “upset” at the loss…