NEW ORLEANS – Joe Briand recalled a less-than-fond Mardi Gras run-in with the law almost a decade ago, when hundreds of revelers were hopping a fence at a local school to use the playground as an impromptu bathroom.
With no restrooms to be found, Briand and two cohorts – well into a long day of eating and drinking – also made the trip to the al fresco latrine. However, a police officer confronted them.
The problem is one that thousands of revelers attending Mardi Gras in New Orleans have experienced over the years – almost anything goes at Mardi Gras, but not everyone is able to go in a restroom.
The police officer “made us take off our shirts and clean it up and there was a river there from everyone using it all day,” Briand said.
The second Mardi Gras since Hurricane Katrina is expected to attract a much larger crowd than last year’s – so the availability of toilets during the celebration has once again become an issue.
The problem is one of simple biology and geography. Take about 1 million people, turn them loose on the streets with plenty of beer and few bathrooms.
“No one seems to think about needing a bathroom until it becomes urgent,” said Archie Casbarian, who owns two restaurants in the French Quarter – Arnaud’s, a luxurious Creole restaurant, and Remoulade, a casual Creole restaurant.
“The gates to patios are used, the recessed doors are very convenient outlets. That’s why we’re all used to getting up in the morning and hosing down the sidewalk,” he said.
The city provides 228 portable toilets, including 58 in the French Quarter, and 86 in the Central Business District, said Pamela Smith, director of property management.
But between Friday and Tuesday night, 28 parades will roll in the metropolitan area. And the problem of where to pee is so prevalent that New Orleans singer Benny Grunch even wrote a song about it – “Ain’t No Place To Pee On Mardi Gras Day.”
“It’s a problem a lot of us have had,” said Grunch, who specializes in songs about New Orleans’ unique culture.
Author Julie Smith said when she and husband Lee bought a house in the French Quarter, the previous owners gave them valuable advice.
“They told us to tape the mail slot closed,” she said. “Our house was right on the street, but they had people peeing though the mail slot.”
Ronnie Jones, a former Louisiana State Trooper who spent the better part of 26 years maintaining order on parade routes during Carnival, has witnessed the problem first hand.
“You have big crowds taking in a lot of liquid, losing a lot of inhibitions, and very few readily available facilities,” he said.
Many restaurants along the parade routes offer a wristband that entitles the wearer to not only use the bathroom but to enjoy food and drink. They can run from $65 per person to more than $100.
Providing facilities for revelers has become a moneymaking proposition for individuals and nonprofit groups.
Portable toilets appear in yards and even on the backs of pickup trucks. The average rent for a single stall portable restroom delivered the Friday before Mardi Gras and picked up the Wednesday after is $100.
Most entrepreneurs charge $1 a visit.
At the Academy of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic school on the uptown parade route, the Father’s Club sells food, daiquiris, beer and soft drinks to raise money during the parades. It also maintains banks of portable potties.
“It’s a real public service,” said Liz Manthey, director of development for the school. “They’re cleaned every day, there’s a place to wash your hands. Believe me, people are very happy to find it.”
The school has 20 portable toilets. It’s $1 for a single trip, or $5 for unlimited use. The money raised has been used to buy playground equipment and pay other school expenses.
There is no specific state law against public urination, Jones said, although there is a city ordinance. The trouble is that police officers have to maintain order and control crowds.
“That’s why sometimes the scofflaw is asked to use his shirt to clean it up, then placed against a wall for a 30-minute time out,” he said. “It works well and doesn’t require the paperwork of an arrest.”
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