The Mississippi has always been a working river and for generations most New Orleanians were cut off from any access to it by floodwalls, warehouses and very busy wharves. That began to change in the 1970s through the 1980s, as underused industrial buildings near the French Quarter were razed and replaced by Woldenberg Park, a grassy open space named for local philanthropist Malcolm Woldenberg, and the Moonwalk, a walkway named for the former New Orleans mayor Maurice "Moon" Landrieu. Today the area attracts an estimated 7 million visitors annually, according to the Audubon Institute, the organization which runs it.