The New Orleans City Council's Transportation Committee agreed Tuesday to defer a vote on a proposed ordinance that would ban a new tourist attraction called "Ride the Ducks" from operating in the French Quarter, pending further discussion. Committee members made clear, however, that they were only delaying the inevitable. Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer, whose district includes the French Quarter,...
The New Orleans City Council's Transportation Committee agreed Tuesday to defer a vote on a proposed ordinance that would ban a new tourist attraction called "Ride the Ducks" from operating in the French Quarter, pending further discussion. Committee members made clear, however, that they were only delaying the inevitable.
Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer, whose district includes the French Quarter, said the historic neighborhood is already under extreme pressure from a variety of tourism-related vehicles including double-decker buses, pedicabs, Segways, scooters and mule-drawn carriages.
"We have a higher responsibility to protect that place, and we haven't done a very good job," Palmer said.
Gray Line Tours is seeking permission to operate three "ducks," which are based on amphibious World War II supply transport vehicles. Each duck has a capacity of up to 37 people. They would operate up to four tours a day during the busy tourist season, for an estimated total of 50,000 riders per year.
The duck tours would start at the Toulouse Street wharf on the Mississippi River, take North Peters Street to Canal Street to City Park Avenue, jump on Interstate 10, and exit on Bonnabel Boulevard to access the boat launch on Lake Pontchartrain. The entire trip would take up to two hours including a 25-minute ride on the lake.
The proposed ordinance would prohibit amphibious tour vehicles from operating in District A, represented by Councilwoman Susan Guidry, and District C, represented by Palmer. It would also ban tour operators from handing out any type of noisemakers to their customers, such as the "quackers" that are common on "Ride the Ducks" tours elsewhere in the country.
Palmer suggested that Gray Line find a location outside the French Quarter to start the proposed tours, but Greg Hoffman, vice president of the company, said the city's foremost tourism zone is the only place that makes economic sense. If the tours are banned in the Quarter, he said, the whole idea would effectively be killed in New Orleans.
Gray Line attorney Scott Whittaker told the committee that his clients are willing to "accommodate the legitimate concerns regarding safety, traffic congestion, noise and the preservation of the character of our city."
He asked for the delay in voting on the measure. "Nothing is imminent here, so there is no need to push through this ordinance," he said. "If nothing can be worked out, a ban can be imposed later, but we ask for the opportunity for further dialogue."
Gordon Stevens, CEO and president of Gray Line, said he was "disappointed and dismayed" with how the company has been treated during the hearing process, saying it wasn't sent a draft of the ordinance beforehand or even notified that an ordinance banning the duck boats was scheduled to be discussed at the Transportation Committee meeting.
Bob Salmon, a managing partner with Ride the Ducks International based in Branson, Mo., denied claims that the vehicles are unsafe. He said his boats are built from scratch with important safety features that other tour operators using vintage amphibious vehicles do not employ.
Only one of the boats used by Ride the Ducks has been involved in an accident while on the water, Salmon said. A barge being pushed by a tugboat ran into and sank one of the "duck" vehicles on the Delaware River in Philadelphia in 2010, he said.
However, French Quarter resident Kalen Wright presented a report to the committee detailing 19 fatalities involving amphibious tour vehicles around the world in the past 14 years.
Jeff Anding with the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau expressed support for the proposed venture, but most of the public speakers, while praising Gray Line's history as a good corporate citizen, said the new attraction would further erode the authentic character of the French Quarter.