- and let's bring in Louisiana's lieutenant governor Billy nungesser for more on the growing questions now about security lieutenant governor thank you for coming on We Have Heard officials explain that there was a police car in place to block the street but that the suspect got around it by driving on the sidewalk but they've talked about it as though there's no way to prevent someone from driving on a sidewalk and of course we know that that's not true so was it a mistake to not have sidewalk barriers to protect bourbon Street on New Year's
- Eve first say I want to continue to pray for the families of lost loved ones and those in the hospital and and the police and State Police had do a great job but the failure to not have bury us at every block of Bourbon Street to prevent this and I've been fighting with the the leadership in in the City of New Orleans the mayor's office for eight years trying to make the quarter safer even offering to take over and manage it jointly um barriers cameras everything and to know that they remove these barriers it just makes me angry and and
- and people ought to be angry that these barriers were removed there cement barriers you could put in temporarily but to remove those protections on the most visible Street in the world uh when we have a sugar bowl is not acceptable in my eyes so Governor they've said that the the barriers that normally were would be in place that are in the process of being replaced wouldn't have blocked the sidewalk anyway are you saying that's not true uh let me tell you this we've brought out to the mayor and and a private citizen put a a plan
- together years ago we presented to the mayor uh by the name of Joe Jaga who recently was killed in a car wreck that wherever there's not a balcony you absolutely need post on the side walk because they can drive around um that's been brought up many times uh there's post along Jackson Square where I run the museums in Jackson Square we've been trying to get fixed I believe for over a year that were knocked down by a car so the lack of management and and and concern for the safety in the quarter as a whole has been lapsing for years and
- it's just unbelievable that this tragedy had to happen to shed light on it so lieutenant governor should anyone be held accountable for that part of this and how is in charge of the city I think absolutely it falls in her lap and I got no doubt that just like the governor put troop no or state police because the quarter crime was so bad and it's and it's gotten a lot better since the governor put that task force in the quarter I have no doubt the governor will step in now and make sure everything is in place to make it the
- safest city in this in the country uh after this incident it's just a shame that the lack of leadership in in New Wallin um more could have been done now do I'm just do you have any regrets about the first hours of the investigation and the suggestions that the suspect did not act alone um I'm going to leave that to the authorities um you know my frustration is built over years of trying to work with the city to do all we could and and to know this was not in place to to do all we could do it breaks my heart and
- it angers me and and to say that they were in the shop for repairs is not acceptable in my eyes now lieutenant governor you are known in your state for innovative ideas so do you think that's there's more that can be done that's not being talked about right now to prevent something like this from happening again well absolutely bar is going to be put all around sidewalks Jackson Square and then when you've got a special event absolutely blocking off more streets um and and and more less access by vehicles to the quarter um you know we've had a
- lot of proposals put for over the years to make bourbon roll Street pedestrians with Planters down the middle of the street and make them permanently pedestrian um those those talks went nowhere so I think a lot is going to change and change quickly because we do have a Super Bowl coming and Governor what do you say to officials who have said the equivalent of you know this person was hellbent on Taking Lives and someone who is hellbent on Taking Lives will find a way to do it if you put up barriers he could have gotten on a bike
- with a gun and done something different what's your response to that that that barriers are not the solution here solutely but we've got to do everything possible to protect people and I understand and I don't know this for sure that the city website had up on the website that these barriers were going to be down now I don't see any reason to notify the public that the barriers were going to be out for repair the only person that would benefit would be a criminal I mean you can't even find out on their website when your streets going to be
- repaired but they're letting you know that the barriers were down if that's true who is responsible putting that information out to the public because that that makes us an open Target if you knew the barriers were in place and that's on a public website I see no benefit for that now Bourbon Street reopened yesterday ahead of the sugar pole New Orleans is also hosting the Super bowl next month so how's the city preparing for that and are you concerned about safety no I'm not uh we have a governor that leans forward as he did with troop
- no in the quarter prior to this event we saw the French Quarter getting a lot safer because of the efforts of the governor and his team and I have no doubt that the governor and his team working with national officials that this will be the safest Super Bowl ever and that the city will be on its way to making it really safe but it's going to take all of us working together as a team and not relying on the city leadership all right Louisiana lieutenant governor Billy nesser thank you for your time thank you