Temporary fences set up by St. Charles homeowners rile some parade goers

wwltv.com

Posted on February 20, 2014 at 6:05 PM

Meg Farris / Eyewitness News Email: mfarris@wwltv.com | Twitter: @megfarriswwl

NEWORLEANS- It's a neighborhood squabble that could only happen in New Orleans. That's because it's unlikely that any other city has a code protecting plants from parade goers.

When a group of viewers complained to Eyewitness News about a homeowner blocking its traditional parade-watching site, we decided to look into the code.

You know it's Carnival time when fences go up on St. Charles Ave. There are orange plastic ones and chain link ones. They wrap around private property, but also around public property between the street and sidewalk. Homeowners say they spend a lot of money landscaping, watering and maintaining that city property.

"If I don't do it, which I don't do on this corner here, this grass is totally destroyed, just flatteded out. It's gone," said John Schaff, a homeowner who says it can take up to six months for the grass or ground covering to grow back.

He says it costs to buy, install, and store, custom fencing he's used for eight years.

But another group of neighbors are complaining about brand new landscaping across the street. It's in a place where their group has watched parades for generations. The fence is so tall, you can't see the parade over it. They worry kids will climb it and get hurt. There are sandbags holding the fence in place, sticking out on the sidewalk that you can trip over. Schaff has his fence in posts anchored in the ground.

"We've been coming for 10 years (to watch the parades here). And the neighbors that we came with, were here longer than that. And then we bought a house from a neighbor just last year, and they were coming to this spot the past 50 years or so. So it's kind of a tradition for us to be at this location," said Jay Dufour, a neighborhood spokesman. One other member of the group talked to Eyewitness News by phone explaining the group's complaints and all of the people on the City Council and Parks and Parkways department who they talked to.

Follow this link:
Temporary fences set up by St. Charles homeowners rile some parade goers