Noise management is a highly technical issue. It entails deciding the appropriate way to measure decibels, where they should be measured and which city agency should do the measuring. It means dealing with a wide range of constituencies — including residents, bar owners, professional bands, D.J.s and street entertainers. There is also the thorny issue of the First Amendment, which puts the lovely sounding sidewalk violinist and the man down the block screaming about the end times on similar constitutional footing.

Image Robert L. Watters, a Bourbon Street club owner who has been involved in the discussions about the noise issue in New Orleans. Credit... William Widmer for The New York Times

All of this comes together on Bourbon Street. It is the noisiest place in the city, and the biggest target for complaints by the neighbors — one lawyer in the French Quarter is involved in noise-related lawsuits against seven businesses on Bourbon Street.

But perhaps most significant, while Bourbon Street might draw millions of tourists and accounts for thousands of jobs, few in New Orleans will rush to its defense.

“The problem with Bourbon is you have a bunch of these new clubs and they’re not the essence of the city,” said Glen David Andrews, the trombone player who led the parade in the City Council chambers. “They got jam bands, and they’re just blasting music. At least in the ’80s you still had classy joints.”

Since the clubs began opening there in the 1920s and ’30s, many of them run by enterprising Sicilian immigrants, hating Bourbon Street has been a local tradition, writes Richard Campanella, a Tulane University professor, in his new book “Bourbon Street: A History.” “Educated newcomers and sophisticated visitors figure out quickly that declaring disdain for Bourbon Street is the first step toward showcasing their taste and gaining insider status,” he writes.

Though Bourbon Street is not the quiet residential strip it was a century ago, there are still plenty of neighbors. Some are frustrated and pushing for action from the city, others are more fatalistic, but pretty much everyone, especially those who have been in the French Quarter for decades, agrees that Bourbon Street has become a pretty loud place.