Ugly Award

Nearly a month after the Spanish Town Mardi Gras parade, residents of the city’s oldest neighborhood still faced this carnival litter.

“Our main focus is to remove debris from the streets after parades,” says David Guillory, assistant director for the city’s Department of Public Works. “We do remove [trash] from the right of way, but usually homeowners help us.”

Guillory says that in commercial and downtown areas, the city tries to remove debris from all rights of way within 24 hours—including sidewalks, storm drains and trees.

But Spanish Town resident Marie Constantin says she has never seen the neighborhood this messy. She says that many residents cleaned private property, but garbage remained in areas between the sidewalk and street.

Constantin says she is glad to see the parade she loves “blossom,” but growth causes “growing pains.” She says the city should consider implementing a new standard for parade waste.

“We all can have a great time in Baton Rouge,” she says. “[There’s] no reason for one neighborhood to get trashed.”