French Quarter Leader: Super Bowl improvements shouldn't just be temporary for visitors

Residents of the French Quarter have almost gotten used to the blight and damage along the streets. But, with a long-awaited Super Bowl coming to New Orleans next year, the city has kicked cleanup efforts into high gear.

While much of the public focus has been on homeless encampments being swept, long-needed lighting and street repairs are also part of the laundry list of improvements that are being made. Some are glad for the fixes to happen, while many wish it didn't take a Super Bowl to kick things into action.

"We have just had a build of just allowing people to do anything that they have wanted to do."

Glade Bilby, President of French Quarter Citizens, knows the city’s history of beginning to fix infrastructure issues only to see projects fall by the wayside. However, he hopes that the long-awaited road and lighting fixes lead to more sustainable progress in New Orleans.

"Complain, continue to complain, then it gets on the record.  Because if you just walk by the same thing every day and don't say anything, nobody knows it's a problem."

The world's attention will be on New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX, but when the lights go down and the visitors leave, residents will still be waiting and watching to see if the progress that came with it continues.

Bilby told WWL's Don Dubuc, "It is not the greatest thing that we are doing this for a football game.  This should be done on a permanent, ongoing basis."