Massive effort aims to move fast on heels of major parades
Wind whips the air into a haze of dust, spray and debris lit up by the lightning-like flash of strobes. The truck rings with a continuous crunch and slap that sounds very much like hail. But this isn’t a hurricane.
“This cleanup is all about timing,” says Peter Toler, whose job as Mobile’s urban forester falls within Public Works, making him one of many key players in this campaign. “Whoever came up with this was sheer genius. When you watch what that truck does, the whole thing is about consolidation and timing.”
Peavy can break it down by the numbers. Each year, the effort signs up about 150 to 160 workers drawn from Public Works, Parks and Recreation and Traffic Engineering. It’s an all-or-nothing deal, Peavy says: “Once you sign up to do this, you’re there every night” -- or you lose your shot at doing it next year.
“So far this year the parade numbers have been down a little bit and the throws, the amount of stuff in the streets, has been down,” he says. “I asked someone who does parade, ‘Why do you think that is,’ and he goes, ‘Everybody got half their order. … It kind of makes sense.’” Once on Church Street, the fleet of vans and heavy-duty pickup form a line down each side of the street. They’re the flankers, doing their best to create a center lane free of vulnerable pedestrians. In the middle, a truck driven by Jeff Deese serves as a pilot fish for the tanker. When Deese has a clear run forward to the head of the caravan, where the barricade crew is doing its work, he surges forward.
There’s a huge bolus of pent-up people and it’s clear they’re going to go for it. The convoy stops for a moment, opening up the corner. Toler jumps out of his truck to help direct the herd. This is part of a strategy to manage the problem, he says, letting people across at the corners rather than having a free-for-all.
Bienville Square is another challenge, full of people ready to rush northward to the neighborhoods where they’ve parked. A young cop tries to hold back the surge at a gap about 20 feet wide; the crowd respects him about as far as his arms span. A preteen boy tries to duck under his arm, grinning as the officer pushes him back.
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