French Quarter board seeks 2.245% sales tax renewal, cites drop in violent incidents after outreach

The French Quarter Economic Development District reported higher traffic enforcement and near-term drops in violent incidents tied to recent outreach, and the City Council adopted a resolution to place a 2.245% sales-tax renewal for the district on the Nov. 15, 2025 ballot.

Michelle Corso, executive director of the French Quarter Management District, told the board that the district’s trust fund has “spent 57% of our budget year to date, and our expenses are at 22%,” and that some of the lower expenses reflect contracting and purchase-order issues the district is resolving.

Corso reported a 91% year-over-year increase in traffic citations tied to supplemental police and Department of Public Works traffic enforcement in the quarter. She also credited recent coordinated outreach with a reduction in violent person crimes: “since their implementation with Tasno of the home for good plan, in the last 3 weeks, we have had 0 violent persons crimes in the quarter,” Corso said, adding that before the outreach “39% of the violent crimes in the eighth were as a result of or from unhoused.”

Nathaniel Fields, director of homeless services strategies for the mayor’s office, described the outreach process as a multi-step effort and said it is in “phase 3.” Fields said outreach teams offer services at the point of contact and, if individuals decline, NOPD officers re-offer services and ask whether they want shelter. Fields said shelter capacity has been a constraint but that, “so far, as of this week, we have 25 of them geared up to go into a housing process” and that those people “will be matched with all of our case management teams.”

Corso gave operational figures from recent encampment work: 242 engagements with unhoused individuals, of which 33 were transported to shelter and 25 remained sheltered at the time of the report; the district said daily engagements initially ranged from 24 to 30 people a day and later fell to about 12 as people entered shelter.

Corso described pedestrian-safety and traffic-calming work planned for the area, including implementation of signed “state law: must stop for pedestrian” treatments at eight intersections along Rampart Street and North Peters as part of the district’s street-marking and safety projects.

Michael Rick Burnside, a public commenter, criticized the outreach and shelter approach during public comment, saying labels such as “street sleepers” obscure underlying issues and arguing the city has too few shelter options in or near the French Quarter. “We shall not explode those because we only have 1 shelter in the whole city,” Burnside said, adding concerns about where people displaced from a shelter would be relocated.

The board presented resolution R2025-2 — described in meeting materials as “calling an election in the parish of Orleans on Saturday, 11/15/2025 to approve or disapprove an authorization to renew the levy of 2.245% in sales tax within the boundaries of the French Quarter Economic Development District” and citing LARS 33 9038-31 — to the council. The council adopted the resolution; the meeting record shows a motion to adopt by Council Member Morales, second by Council Member Thomas, and a 6-0 vote in favor with no recorded nays.

The renewal, if approved by voters, would continue funding for the French Quarter Economic Development District Trust Fund and the programs Corso outlined, including supplemental patrols, pedestrian-safety projects and homeless outreach coordination. Corso told the board she wants to “continue these efforts and this excellent work” and asked that the sales tax be allowed to keep funding the trust.

Board and city staff said the shelter noted in the report was full at the time of the presentation and that the outreach teams are coordinating with multiple law enforcement and nonprofit partners — including Tasno and Unity — to avoid displacing people from one neighborhood to another, and to move people into services and housing when possible.