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A truck attack on Bourbon Street earlier this month has thrust New Orleans into a total rethinking of security in the French Quarter. Some residents now want parts of the quarter to be pedestrian only - no cars allowed. Here's Matt Bloom with member station WWNO.
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MATT BLOOM, BYLINE: When you step onto Bourbon Street, you immediately see the classic French Quarter architecture, Hard Rock Cafe, bar signs up and down the street. And then you see a memorial with hundreds of bouquets of flowers and 14 crosses representing each of the victims.
SARAH STANSFIELD: It's so touching. It's emotional for sure.
BLOOM: Sarah Stansfield is in town with family and paying her respects. Those 14 people were killed and dozens injured when a driver easily swerved around a police barricade on New Year's Eve. Now, police still put up barricades in the evenings, but French Quarter resident Chris Olsen doesn't feel totally safe.
CHRIS OLSEN: It would be very easy to drive onto Bourbon from any of the cross streets - you can just cross it - or to drive the opposite way down the street, and there's nothing there to prevent it.
BLOOM: The city plans to unveil a new removable bollard system ahead of next month's Super Bowl, but Olsen says the neighborhood needs a more radical fix. He wants the busiest stretches of Bourbon and nearby Royal Streets to be off-limits to cars. He's launched an online petition asking the city council to consider it.
OLSEN: Obviously, it doesn't prevent everything from happening, but it definitely would be a huge step in the right direction.
BLOOM: His idea isn't totally new. Since the 1970s, people have been trying to make this happen. Business groups have always rallied against it, saying it limits delivery times. But in the wake of the attack, there's been no opposition to his idea. Groups that have opposed it in the past, like the French Quarter Management District, declined to comment for this story. Instead, over 5,000 people have signed Olsen's petition. One of them is April Cammarata.
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BLOOM: She's the owner of Maskarade, the Quarter's last handmade mask shop.
APRIL CAMMARATA: It's basically wearable art.
BLOOM: She says even before the New Year's Day attack, she had concerns about pedestrians getting hurt.
CAMMARATA: I see people driving full speed towards families crossing the street right here on Royal Street. There's nobody stopping that.
BLOOM: Shutting the street in front of her shop down might make getting deliveries a bit harder, she says, but she's willing to do it if it means her customers feel safer beyond just high-profile events that always have extra security.
CAMMARATA: It's a long-term commitment. We have to be able to protect the pedestrians here in the summertime, too, and make sure that it's just as serious then as it is during Super Bowl.
BLOOM: The city recently hired former New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton to help beef up security. In a press conference, Bratton didn't mention a pedestrian-only zone as an option but listed a number of other common safety measures.
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BILL BRATTON: Whether it's utilization of drones, whether it's utilization of better cameras, better lighting, there's so many ways to enhance the security.
BLOOM: Bratton's full report is expected in about two months. But Olsen thinks the city council should take action now.
OLSEN: We're finally trying to do something about it, put some real change in place so that this doesn't happen again.
BLOOM: So far, council members haven't taken up the idea. But Olsen says it's the only way to ensure year-round safety in the city's largest tourist attraction.
For NPR News, I'm Matt Bloom in New Orleans.
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FATS DOMINO: (Singing) Ain't that a shame. My tears fell... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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