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Local Businesses Impacted by Closed River
July 24, 2008
Original WWL TV article→
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“You’re here drinking the coffee, enjoying the beignets, and smelling the oil, not the best combination? No, but I guess it just goes with it,” said Michelle Reale of Philadelphia.
WWL TV
Local Businesses Impacted by Closed River
06:41 PM CDT on Thursday, July 24, 2008
Bill Capo / Eyewitness News
Down by the river Thursday in the French Quarter, trumpeter Herman Bartholomew was reminded of the oil spill every time he took a breath to play a note.
“When I got out of the car, the first thing that hit me was the smell of the oil,” Bartholomew said.
The oil spill is already beginning to impact businesses located along the Mississippi River. As each day passes, there is a growing concern about how much the spill will cost them.
At Cafe Du Monde, tourists had to cope with an extra, unwanted flavor in the air.
“You’re here drinking the coffee, enjoying the beignets, and smelling the oil, not the best combination? No, but I guess it just goes with it,” said Michelle Reale of Philadelphia.
“I’m not going to let anything deter my enjoying the revitalized city,” said Paul Williams of Chicago.
But Cafe Du Monde managers were just glad that the oil smell was fainter today. Burt Benrud, who works at Café Du Monde, said that while people are complaining about the odor, there are still lots of people showing up.
“I’ll be very disappointed if we can’t go on the paddlewheel steamer tomorrow night,” one tourist said.
And that was the big concern for the Steamboat Natchez, which was empty again this afternoon, cancelling six cruises so far because the river was closed during one of the rare periods of summer when the city is busy with tourists.
“(It’s a) big weekend for visitors as well as conventioneers, private parties. Three cruises a day, so we’re looking at well over 1000 people a day we’ve had to turn away,” said Adrienne Thomas of the New Orleans Steamboat Company.
Clean up crews placed oil booms and clean-up materials, but the smell of oil remains strong, and the slicks cover sizable areas. With the Canal Street ferry closed down, business at the Dry Dock Cafe and Bar in old Algiers suffers.
“Of course it slowed down a lot, because a lot of our tourist industry comes over that ferry,” said Angie Doyle, who works at the Dry Dock Café.
For the owners of businesses that depend on the river, time is becoming an increasingly critical factor. Every day the river is closed means lost business, lost profits mounting up. It’s an increasing economic toll in a city that has already suffered so much.
“People will start changing their plans about coming to New Orleans,” Benrud said.
Already one event scheduled for this weekend has been postponed because of the oil spill. The “Ferry Night” festival in Old Algiers that celebrates the return of the Canal Street Ferry after Katrina has been moved to August 10.
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