For Super Bowl, officials confident a heavily armed New Orleans is a safe New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS (CN) — Following the New Year’s Day attack in the French Quarter that killed 14 and injured dozens more, New Orleans officials are making preparations for ground and sky to ensure the city is safe for this weekend’s Super Bowl.

Adding to the urgency for security, President Donald Trump announced this week he will be at the game, marking the first time in history when a sitting president has attended.

Upwards of 2,500 armed police and military have arrived to the French Quarter and streets surrounding the nearby Superdome.

City officials estimate 125,000 visitors will flock to the city beginning Wednesday for festivities that include a football theme park, put on by the NFL at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, as well as Super Bowl and Mardi Gras parties and concerts across town.

At the game itself, the Kansas City Chiefs will play the Philadelphia Eagles.

Heightened security follows the Jan. 1 incident in which Shamsud-Din Jabbar raced a rented Ford F-150 down Bourbon Street, hitting dozens of people before police fatally shot him. According to lawsuits filed since, the city has known about the possible danger of this type of attack for years but did not take sufficient precautions.

“We’re going above and beyond what we’ve seen in the past when we’ve hosted previously,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell said at a news conference. “We know we’re safer than we’ve ever been before.”

Many residents and tourists welcomed the swarm of heavily armed military and police, calling their presence necessary.

Some, however, called the number of firearms unsettling.

Rita DiCello, a French Quarter resident, posted photos on the app NextDoor showing the National Guard’s shift change on Dauphine Street in the French Quarter at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The photos show a line of vans dropping off dozens of rifle-brandishing National Guardsmen onto a dark street.

“Not saying I’d like this extreme to be permanent but for those of us who live down here & had friends walking home from NYE close to the attack, it’s a good thing they are here," DiCello wrote. “This is probably the safest the Quarter has been!”

Another NextDoor user, Trish Taylor Berg, chimed in.

“Having 100 soldiers patrolling the FQ makes New Orleans look exactly as it is with open carry –an unsafe, violent place,” Berg wrote.

Joshua Jackson, the special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives New Orleans field office, said among the safety measures in place will be bomb-sniffing dogs, undercover agents, a SWAT team, medics and fire inspectors.

“We have plenty of resources to respond, with our explosive detection canines, with our bomb techs and our agents to respond to make sure everybody’s safe,” he told ABC News.

“You’re going to see uniform law enforcement, tactically. See helicopters, drones, see additional camera locations. You can see armored vehicles like Bearcats that are placed throughout the city,” DeLaune said. “You will see people on rooftops, spotters on rooftops. We’re going to bring everything we have to bear to make sure that people can feel comfortable.”

Bourbon Street Tuesday was uncharacteristically empty as armed federal agents worked alongside others to put street barricades in place to close off the popular thoroughfare to vehicles as of Wednesday through next week.

“I think it’s good,” three tourists who meandered alongside the construction said of the heavy police presence and road barricades.

“It’s good,” agreed a worker at a venue on Bourbon Street who briefly walked outside to inspect the ruckus in the street.

Mike and Holly Taylor of Des Moines, Iowa, were on Bourbon for the first time ever. They said they felt safe and the heavy military presence didn’t bother them.

“Security is just a part of the world now. You’ve just got to get used to it,” Mike Taylor said.

“When we lived in Mexico, there were guards everywhere,” Holly Taylor recalled.

Homeland Security Chief Kristi Noem visited New Orleans on Monday to review security preparations. Her tour included stops at the French Quarter and then the Ceasars Superdome, where she was briefed on federal security operations for the Feb. 9 game.

“For this event here, we know who the person is who perpetuated this violence and we’re going to do our very best to make sure that we’re identifying homegrown terrorism as well,” Noem said.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry joined Mayor Cantrell at the press conference this week and was asked why ice chests will be banned in the French Quarter but concealed firearms will be permitted.

“We went through great lengths through the executive order that we put together to balance the freedoms and constitutional rights that are enshrined in this state while making sure that we had enough security to be able to protect our citizens and so we believe the enhanced security zone is put in place in a very responsible manner that balances those two,” Landry said.

Jabber put ice chests filled with homemade explosives in the French Quarter before he plowed into pedestrians early on Jan. 1, the FBI said.

But at least a couple people in the French Quarter Tuesday said they don’t think even all the preparations in place could really deter someone bent on carrying out a mass attack.

“He’ll find a way to circle the roads,” even with the barricades in place, said Hai Nguyen, who works at a restaurant in the Quarter. “I don’t think it’s anybody’s fault. It’s just a guy that’s so crazy that you can’t stop him.”

Nguyen nevertheless said he welcomed the National Guard and called the presence a deterrent.

“It’s better than nothing,” he said.

“I know that it’s supposed to make people feel safe,” Milo Barboza a New Orleans resident said, “but it’s like living somewhere different, not like living in New Orleans—”

“Dystopian,” another resident, Kyle Nicholson, offered.

“Yes, exactly,” Barboza agreed. “For me, adding the military personnel and big guns doesn’t make me feel any safer.”

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