New Orleans Stories

When it comes to Jackson Square, in the heart of the historic French Quarter, there seem to be no limits to the controversial ambitions of city councilwoman Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson. Since taking office she has waged a war on loiterers, drunks and scam artists who might impinge on the square's Disneyesque perfection.

She caused a fuss a few months ago by removing benches, saying they were a fire hazard during the renovation of the cathedral. Neighbourhood activists said she was trying to stop the homeless sleeping on them. When the benches returned, clean and painted, they had metal dividers to prevent anyone lying down.

Now Ms Clarkson wants to clear Jackson Square of unlicensed "psychic readers" and street performers who – complain the 200 open-air artists who have permits to work in the district – are crowding them out. Last week she persuaded her colleagues to give the artists exclusive rights to work the perimeter of Jackson Square, through which millions of tourists pass every year; the tarot readers and entertainers are going to court.

Next on her agenda is a proposal to limit French Quarter tours to 28 people at a time, and to get tour groups off the street by 10pm – which could make life difficult for the ghost and voodoo tours. What is happening to the quarter's raffish reputation?

The killer Sars virus, war in Iraq, economic gloom – it's not all bad. Crowds at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which ends tonight, are the smallest they have been for 10 years.

This meant I was able to get up close to the likes of Sonny Landreth, the Louisiana slide guitar legend. And there were shorter queues at the food tents – themselves an attraction, with alligator sausage and 27 different ways to eat crawfish. I went for the Crawfish Monica, a kind of seafood macaroni cheese.

The only real controversy this year was the booking of LL Cool J. "What jazz, what heritage?" was the general disgruntled outcry.