Slow times for N.O. hotel construction

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

“It will likely be years before another major hotel opens in New Orleans.”

That was a line from a story in this week’s issue of CityBusiness.

After Katrina, there was a flurry of construction activity as major downtown hotels tried to reopen. But that activity has since waned and multiple factors are keeping cranes out of the sky.

New Orleans apparently still has fewer hotel rooms than it did before Katrina. After the 504-room Roosevelt Hotel opens in June, New Orleans will have 34,000 to 35,000 hotel rooms compared with 38,000 before Katrina, according to the Greater New Orleans Hotel and Lodging Association.

Even though the number of rooms is down — which seems like a golden opportunity for developers who want to step in and replenish the inventory — market conditions are not the best.

“At present New Orleans cannot support several thousand additional hotel rooms,” the CityBusiness story says. “The recession and the relatively soft convention schedule have kept occupancy rates hovering between 60 percent and 70 percent.”

I’m not a hotel developer, but if I were, I’d be closely watching tourism numbers. Tourism volume is still below pre-Katrina levels. There were 7.1 million visitors to New Orleans in 2007 — the latest year for which numbers are available — compared with 10.1 million in 2004, according to the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. In 2006, New Orleans had 3.7 million visitors.

In addition to a reduction in tourism, New Orleans is dealing with the credit crisis that is affecting the rest of the nation.

But some say there should be room for additional hotels in New Orleans down the road, after tourism rebounds. So it’s not all bad news.

“I think the rooms that we could be constructing now would be looking to the day when we get closer to our peak number of tourists back,” Kurt Weigle, Downtown Development District president and CEO, said in the CityBusiness story. “Based on today’s numbers, we can’t support more hotel rooms. But these projects won’t come online for several more months, and we show positive trends returning and that’s what we should be expecting.”•

N.O. loses first IG

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

Less than two years after becoming the city’s first inspector general, Robert Cerasoli is leaving, citing health reasons.

Cerasoli, 61, was expected to leave the city today and drive to his hometown of Boston for surgery to remove “potentially dangerous growths,” according to a story on CityBusiness’ Web site. He had two benign growths removed from his neck last month, the story says.

It’s surely going to be the talk of the day in New Orleans.

It’s been an uphill battle for Cerasoli ever since he took the position in September 2007. Since he became the IG, he has fought to get basic office supplies for an office tasked with rooting out waste and fraud in City Hall. In a CityBusiness story earlier this month, reporter Jaime Guillet wrote that “nearly 17 months since being added to the payroll New Orleans Inspector General Robert Cerasoli still struggles to perform the monumental task of eliminating city corruption and waste without simple office amenities such as computers and long-distance telephone service.”

Now, the Ethics Review Board, which is charged with finding a replacement inspector general, will begin looking for a new IG. In the interim, Leonard Odom, Cerasoli’s first assistant in charge of criminal investigations for the IG’s office, will be inspector general.

It will be interesting to hear the comments from New Orleans officials, such as the mayor and City Council members, regarding Cerasoli’s departure.•

N.O. still waiting for The Donald

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

Today, a press release from the Trump Hotel Collection announced that Trump International Hotel & Tower New York won a 2009 Mobil Five-Star Award by Mobil Travel Guide.

Hearing about this made me wonder about the long-awaited Donald Trump project that is supposed to be built on Poydras Street. It’s a project that was announced before Hurricane Katrina, and the Trump organization reaffirmed their commitment to the project in the days after the storm, but the project remains a concept; there’s no sign of construction yet.

Is the project still alive? Perhaps. Check out this line from the press release:

Several additional Trump Hotel Collection luxury hotels and resorts are under development around the globe, including Trump International Hotel & Tower Toronto, Trump Ocean Club Panama, Trump International Hotel & Tower Dubai, Trump at Cap Cana, Trump Scotland and Trump International Hotel & Tower New Orleans.•

Homeland security chief wants Katrina info

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

New U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano apparently wants to have a better understanding of the Hurricane Katrina recovery.

According to a story by The Associated Press, Napolitano, in a directive released today,  said there is an opportunity to take a “fresh look” at communities who were affected by Katrina.

“She wants to understand the circumstances surrounding several key areas to determine how best to move forward,” the AP story says.

Napolitano, by the way, served as governor of Arizona from January 2003 until assuming the homeland security post this month.

For those in the New Orleans area, the news that Napolitano wants to know more about the Katrina recovery should be seen as a hopeful sign. Time will tell whether her interest in the recovery will continue, and we don’t know what will come out of it.

While writing this blog entry, I came across a story about Napolitano. It ran on the Web site of The Arizona Republic newspaper. Here are some excerpts that caught my eye:

She was brash right from the start.

A former U.S. attorney and state attorney general, Napolitano was elected governor in 2002 by the slimmest of margins. But she was anything but tentative as she bypassed a Republican-led Legislature at will, signing 11 executive orders in her first 100 days.

Just as renowned was Napolitano’s political savvy and policy wonkishness. She routinely cowed legislators, fractured the GOP caucus seemingly at will and almost always walked away from Capitol negotiations with the bulk of what she wanted.

Apparently, she fights for what she wants. So, if she sees a need in the still-recovering Gulf Coast region, perhaps she’ll do all she can to address it.•

Should SDT clean the Quarter for free?

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

SDT Waste and Debris Services was born after Hurricane Katrina — and boy has it grown, becoming a household name in the New Orleans metro area.

Part of the company’s fame comes from its contract to clean the French Quarter. SDT transformed the tourist magnet from smelly and filthy into cleaner and citrus-scented. Even the national media have paid attention to the work of Sidney Torres’ company, and those news stories have helped keep New Orleans on the nation’s mind as the city tries to rebuild.

Now, many are afraid the grime and stench will return to the Quarter after Mayor Ray Nagin yesterday said he has ordered SDT to end mechanical street and sidewalk sweeping starting next month, right before Mardi Gras, the city’s biggest event. Nagin say the cuts are needed as the city deals with a $7.5 million buget shortfall.

Many businesses and residents don’t want to see the enhanced cleaning go away. The week before last, in an online poll, CityBusiness asked its readers whether the city should keep funding the so-called ‘Disney-like’ cleaning of the French Quarter. Out of 396 voters, 94.95 percent said “yes.”

Clearly, the public wants it to stay, even though Nagin says the city cannot afford it. What to do?

Here’s an idea: Should Torres, a native of St. Bernard, continue to provide the services for free, maybe for at least a year, until the city’s finances improve? Some might say that if not for his French Quarter contract, and the press he attracted because of it, his company might not be as successful.

Then again, is it realistic to expect Torres, during a national recession, to clean the Quarter as an act of charity?

(Note: I am not advocating that Torres clean the Quarter for free. But I heard the suggestion today and thought I’d blog about it.)

Tell us what you think.•

Pro-union act finds opponents, supporters in La.

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

The Employee Free Choice Act is firing up some people across America — and in Louisiana, too.

The act, if passed, would make it easier for unions to organize.

This month, the AFL-CIO came to New Orleans for its annual Martin Luther King Jr. holiday conference.

“Even though organized labor didn’t cause this crisis, we are the people who are going to lead America out of this crisis,” Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO national secretary-treasurer, said at the Astor Crowne Plaza hotel. “There is only one way to rebuild the middle class in this country — protect workers white and black — and that is through organizing, unionizing and through collective bargaining. That’s what helped lift America out of the last depression and what will do it with this one.”

Here’s an excerpt from a CityBusiness story about the conference:

Louisiana has been a right-to-work state since the 1970s. The unions that do exist here were hit hard by Katrina. Tiger Hammond, president of the New Orleans Central Labor Council, told the story of how union electrical workers, who had lost their homes and were doing emergency repair work at Alvin Calendar Field, were marched off the job and replaced by illegal workers when President George W. Bush suspended the Davis-Bacon Act. Speaker after speaker told stories of how postal workers, Regional Transit Authority workers and teachers lost jobs after Katrina.

“In this city, some 5,000 teachers lost their jobs after they had already lost their houses,” LaCour said. “Two of the most important challenges confronting this city and most of the major cities across the country are basic, good, decent housing and a job that makes a decent salary. If New Orleans will come back, it will have to take serious consideration of these two factors.”

But not everyone agrees that the act would be a good thing.

Dawn Johnson, of the Baton-Rouge based Louisiana Retailers Association, last week e-mailed CityBusiness with her opinion on the legislation.

“This legislation would also put many companies out of business because they will not be able to afford the union’s demands,” she wrote. “This would then leave that employee out of a job and probably having to resort to government help. The problem with the economy now is that government has grown and industry has not. If Congress wants to help workers in the U.S. obtain better benefits, they need to start by regulating the health insurance industry, not putting more demands on the person running an already strained business.’

Where do you stand on the legislation?•

Support grows to up homestead exemption

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

In a week, the number of signatures on an online petition seeking to raise the Louisiana homestead exemption from $75,000 to $170,000 has more than doubled.

Last Monday, at about 9:50 a.m., the petition had 15,358 signatures. At 12:51 p.m. today, the count is at 34,441, and in the time it took me to write this, the number of signatures is likely higher.

It’s a topic that’s been all over the news lately, with supporters on both sides of the issue.

The petition’s author, Joshua Kahler, has won the backing of some political powerhouses, such as state Sen. John Alario, D-Westwego, and Jefferson Parish Assessor Lawrence Chehardy, according to meda reports.

But the idea has critics, too.

“If you increase the homestead exemption, it simply shifts the burden to renters and small businesses and other businesses, which really doesn’t accomplish anything,” Jim Brandt, president of the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, said in a WWL-TV story today. “It’s really the local governments, school boards and local governing authorities that would lose under this proposition.”

Brandt brings up a good point. While raising the homestead exemption would be good for property owners, such as me, how will government make up for the lost tax revenue? Is it fair to make renters and businesses make up the difference?

On the other hand, could raising the homestead exemption draw more residents to Louisiana and help staunch the flow of residents out of the state?

What do you think?•

N.O. sprouting senior citizen housing

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

Senior citizen housing seems to be popping up in the New Orleans area these days.

Offhand, I can think of at least two new projects dedicated to that demographic.

Late last month, I toured one of these projects, the redevelopment of the Pontchartrain Hotel, where celebrities and presidents once stayed. These days, the 13-floor property is being converted into a luxury, independent-living facility for senior citizens.

The more than $20 million renovation project is expected to be finished in July.

Last week, CityBusiness’ Web site reported that a 36-unit Bywater apartment building to house people who are 62 or older will be finished by the end of this month. The property, at 3501 St. Claude Ave., is being built for senior citizens who are on fixed incomes or have low incomes.

It’s interesting to hear about these new senior housing complexes. I am reminded of a conversation I had in November with Mark Madderra, Larry Schedler and Cheryl Short, three local apartment experts. One of the things they told me was that, as the economy struggles, some elderly renters could move out of apartments and into single-family homes with their children.

So, with the economy apparently forcing seniors to move in with their children, will there be enough demand for these new senior citizen complexes?•

Fight to save Charity continues

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

In the ongoing debate about whether to rebuild Katrina-ravaged Charity Hospital in New Orleans or build a new, state-of-the-art facility, Louisiana lawmakers today heard from an architect who said it would be $283 million cheaper to renovate the old facility, according to a story by The Associated Press.

The architect, Stephen McDaniel, who spoke at a House Appropriations Committee hearing, said rebuilding Charity would cost around $550 million versus $832 million for a new hospital. Preservationists hired McDaniel’s firm, New York-based RMJM Hillier, according to the AP story, which says the preservationists “hope to protect the historic neighborhood that will be torn down for a new hospital.”

To build a new medical center would require the demolition of homes and business in Mid-City, an idea detested by preservationists, who are not giving up their fight.

Here’s are some excerpts from a story Wednesday on WDSU-TV’s Web site:

On Wednesday, preservationists unveiled a new plan to build the Louisiana State University V.A. Medical Complex and save Charity Hospital at the same time.

Efforts to save Charity Hospital and a large area of Mid-City pushed forward Wednesday night in New Orleans. The effort will go to the state capital on Thursday.

“Put the V.A. here and Charity here, and then you have a compact medical district,” said Sandra Stokes, of the Foundation for Historic Louisiana.

Preservationists of the hospital said they’re convinced that they have a plan to build the new LSU teaching hospital while saving the historic one.

“We all know that the state legislature hasn’t really acted on any financing package for this project, so we are at a critical point right now,” said Walter Gallas, of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

“We think you can save two years off the construction, and it’s probably 20 to 25 percent cheaper to do this than to build new,” architect Steve McDaniel said.

LSU officials disagree. State facility planners said the idea is neither cheaper nor quicker.•

Boo dat

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

In a city known for ghost tours and other ventures that profit from customers’ passion for the paranormal, a new business has popped up.

The Paraplex, 718 Orleans Ave., opens Saturday. The building is a remodeled 14,000-square-foot historic mansion that dates to the 1800s and served as a residence and a funeral home, according to a story on eturbonews.com. The story refers to the mansion as haunted.

The mansion opens at a time when the nation is going through a recession and travel in New Orleans remains down more than three years after Hurricane Katrina.

“I am sad to say, but I definitely see the city’s star fading for any traveler,” Jarred Zeringue, owner of French Quarter restaurant Eat, said in a CityBusiness story this week.

Maybe the Paraplex will scare up some tourism for New Orleans.•

City bureaucracy slows N.O. IG

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

It seems that the city’s inspector general will never stop complaining about hurdles to getting his office running smoothly.

Robert Cerasoli became the city’s first inspector general in 2007. It’s now 2009, and his office is still lamenting problems with getting office necessities, such as long-distance phone service, according to a story in this week’s edition of CityBusiness.

According to the story, the city’s purchasing process has been a thorn in the inspector general’s side. Jill Poutre, who handles purchasing for the inspector general’s office, says the process is too layered, that there are too many inefficiencies to make purchases quickly.  In December,the inspector general’s office’s long-distance phone service was disconnected for nonpayment.

According to the story:

Any items ordered, or bills for payment, must have three signatures: one from the department requesting the items, someone from the city’s budget department and someone with the finance department. If anyone is out of town, the approvals grind to a halt.

Poutre has concerns about the finance department’s accounts payable office, which sends checks to vendors. Poutre said that when the inspector general’s office switched its cellular phone service to Verizon, the IG’s office submitted the invoice for payment in the city’s computerized purchasing system on Dec. 13. She said all the necessary signatures were collected by Dec. 18 but the invoice sat with accounts payable until Dec. 31, which is when she was told the check was due to Verizon. Poutre said Verizon told her earlier this month that the payment was never received.

“Service is still cut off,” Poutre said in the CityBusiness story.

How does the city respond? Here’s are some excerpts from the story:

City officials directed all purchasing questions to Poutre, saying the OIG is responsible for all its own purchasing.

“Jill processes OIG purchases as would any departmental representative,” (Chief Administrative Office liaison Courtney) Bagneris said. “(Poutre) has been trained in all aspects of purchasing and has completed day-to-day purchases since August 2008.”

City Finance Director Reggie Zeno said he is not aware of any problems departments have had with city invoices and was unaware of any details related to nonpayment of the OIG’s Verizon bill. He directed questions to the Chief Administrative Office.•

Obama and the Katrina recovery

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

Today is inauguration day for President-elect Barack Obama. So, this week, CityBusiness is asking its readers the following poll question: What will the presidency of Barack Obama do for the recovery in New Orleans?

The question was posted yesterday around noon. As of about 9:50 a.m. today, nearly 100 people had cast votes. The majority, 65.31 percent, believe Obama’s presidency will not have any effect on the recovery, while 28.57 percent said the recovery will speed up, and 6.12 percent said it will slow down.

Here are some comments left on the poll:

Because we have Governor Jindal and Mayor Nagin in office, we can only hope that President Obama will block the worst of their policies while keeping the recovery funds flowing. — kott@uno.edu

Obama is about change. The quickest way to sway people from New Orleans to his side is to do what Bush couldn’t; expedite funds to New Orleans. — p@designtheplanet.com

There are many people in business and government in New Orleans who will lobby the Obama Administration for a piece of the economic stimulus package. Plans in New Orleans that are “shovel-ready” include coastal restoration programs, tree-planting to restore hurricane-damaged public green spaces, and reconstruction work throughout the city. — wking@tulane.edu

It is unfair to expect one person to make all the difference in the world. It takes a whole village. He is only human, and while his election is monumental in the history of the U.S., placing unrealistic expectations on the man is unfair. — wendywaren@gmail.com

To read more comments and cast your vote, click here.•

Crime and N.O.’s reputation

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

This weekend, a woman died after she was shot in the French Quarter while walking with a friend, police say. She was apparently shot to death during an armed robbery. In a city known already for crime, Saturday night’s killing will no doubt further fuel the city’s reputation as a deadly city. The crime is already being talked about on blogs, such as www.talkleft.com.

It’s a reputation that is not without ramifications. In fact, this weekend, I learned just how far news about crime in New Orleans travels and how it makes people scared of coming here.

On Sunday, at a Metairie bookstore, I met a young woman from Japan who recently moved to the New Orleans area from the Midwest. Her husband works in New Orleans, but the couple and their 1-year-old son live in Jefferson Parish.

Before they moved, she was troubled by the idea of living in the New Orleans area. The city’s reputation for crime weighed heavily on her mind.

I got the feeling that if it were up to her she would not have relocated here. Now that she’s here, she says crime is not as bad as she had feared.

How many more people and businesses are staying away from New Orleans because of crime concerns?•

N.O. real estate news mixed

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

This was a busy week for real estate news for the New Orleans area, one of the busiest I’ve seen in a while.

The news was mixed, too. It seemed like one day we’d see a story that made the New Orleans real estate market sound robust. Then the next day a story would come along that made our market sound like it was troubled.

CityBusiness reported on its Web site Tuesday that Forbes named New Orleans and Baton Rouge two of “America’s 25 Strongest Housing Markets.” (Forbes actually published the list last week.)

Here’s what Forbes said:

New Orleans is another market that was relatively robust until the national downturn cast a shadow on local prices. Money poured into the Big Easy after Katrina destroyed the city and a long, slow renaissance began. Housing prices popped 13.7 percent in the third quarter of last year compared to a year earlier, according to Zillow.com, $135,000 on average. Moody’s is forecasting a fall of 2 percent this year.

That same day, CityBusiness reported that the average sales price of houses in the New Orleans area rose in some areas but fell in others from November to December. On the East Bank of Jefferson Parish, for example, the average selling price jumped to $240,604 from $201,153 in November but was down from $284,329 a year ago, while the number of homes sold increased to 91 from 85, down from 112 a year ago. But the parish’s West Bank saw the average selling price drop for the third-straight month to $132,053 in December from $135,558 in November and $150,920 in October. West Bank homes were selling for an average of $151,226 a year ago.

Then, yesterday, Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac said foreclosure activity rose in every parish in the New Orleans area except Plaquemines last year. Nationwide, foreclosure activity climbed 81 percent in 2008. But some parishes in the New Orleans area saw increases higher than that. In Orleans Parish, for example, foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 1,899 properties, up 146 percent from 2007 and 581 percent from 2006. The increase in filings was through the roof in St. Tammany Parish. Foreclosure filings were reported on 868 properties in St. Tammany, up 84 percent from 2007 and 3,517 percent from 2006.

Also Thursday, the National Association of Realtors named the New Orleans, Metairie and Kenner market one of six markets with the strongest price growth for condominiums.

“Real estate is gaining ground in New Orleans during the ongoing recovery from Katrina,” the report says.•

Video from Prudential Gardner short sale presentation

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

Today, Metairie-based Prudential Gardner Realtors presented training to its agents on short sales, which is a way to prevent a home from going into foreclosure by selling it to the lender. The speakers were Michael and Stacy Spickes, co-owners of Austin, Texas-based America’s Home Rescue. Below is some video, provided by Prudential, from the presentation.

Short sales are ‘a win for everyone’

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

Short sales, which are a way to prevent a home from going into foreclosure, are “a win for everyone in the transaction.”

That’s according to a speaker this morning at a presentation organized by Metairie-based Prudential Gardner Realtors to teach its agents about short sales.

“Everybody loses in a foreclosure situation,” said the speaker, Stacy Spickes, co-owner of Austin, Texas-based America’s Home Rescue. Well, not everyone loses, she said, referring to investors who might come along after process and get the home for a steal.

But in a short sale, everyone wins, she said.

For the seller, it means avoiding a nasty credit report with a foreclosure on it. Having a foreclosure on your credit report means you can’t buy a home for up to seven years, she said. Also, the seller benefits from a short sale by not having to pay commissions and closing costs, which the lender covers.

For the lender, “a short sale allows them to avoid all costs of foreclosure.” It also allows lenders to avoid the penalties they receive from the feds for every property they take back because of foreclosure.

For the Realtor, a successful short sale will win them that client for life, because the Realtor has saved the person from going through foreclosure.

So, even though it’s called a short sale, it’s long on returns.•

Five steps for short sales

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

The U.S. is facing a foreclosure crisis.

But homeowners don’t always have to go through foreclosure, experts say.

At a Kenner hotel this morning, Realtors for Metairie-based Prudential Garder Realtors are learning this morning about how to do a short sale, a way to prevent a home from going through foreclosure.

According to one of the speakers, Stacy Spickes, c0-owner of Austin, Texas-based America’s Home Rescue, there are five steps to a short sale:

1. Know the type of loan the homeowner has. Is it FHA, VA or conventional?

2. Provide the lender what they require. One of those requirements is a short sale, or hardship, package, which is documentation that proves the hardship of the seller.

3. The Realtor needs to know what the lender will net in the transaction. In a short sale, the lender will take a loss and will also pay the commissions and closing costs on behalf of the buyer.

4. Know the terms the banks will and will not approve in the buyer’s purchase offer.

5. Establish an alliance with loss mitigation representatives at the banks that will get the short sale approved and closed.•

Realtors learn to prevent foreclosures

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

As the nation grapples with a foreclosure crisis, Realtors from the New Orleans area are gathered at a Kenner hotel this money to learn how to prevent homeowners from going into foreclosure.

At an event organized by Metairie-based Prudential Gardner Realtors, agents are learning about short sales, a technique for avoiding foreclosure.

The speakers are husband and wife Michael and Stacy Spickes, co-owners of Austin, Texas-based America’s Home Rescue, a company that started in 2002.

“Many homeowners across this country are unnecessarily going through foreclosure,” Stacy said, adding that 1.3 million American homeowners are faced with default on their mortgages. “Half of those people could be saved with a short sale.”

Stay tuned to the blog for more postings from this event, which runs from 9:30 a.m. until noon.•

Firefighters’ overtime pay could go up in smoke

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

Jefferson Parish firefighters have been in the news a lot lately. The parish is considering, among other things, paying them overtime only for hours they work.

According to a story on WDSU-TV’s Web site, “every Jefferson Parish firefighter receives 8.5 hours of overtime each week, regardless of whether they work it or not. It’s a practice parish leaders want to end.”

The Parish Council today deferred a vote on the issue.

Meanwhile, the public has been mixed on the issue. Some agree that the firefighters deserve the pay.

For example, someone using the screen name shellgg52280 on nola.com writes:

I know the “overtime” is confusing but please remember, without that “overtime” my husband makes a little over $11 an hour and has been on 10 years. Do you think many people would apply for fire fighter positions if the hourly rate was less than $10 an hour? Thats what a rookie makes. I just think they need to stop wording it as overtime. Its salary. Others say it is unfair to be paid overtime.

Others think it’s unfair for the firefighters to get overtime pay without working overtime.

“I would be doing backflips if I got paid overtime but didn’t work it!” wrote ridge4694, also on nola.com.

What do you think?•

O’Dell says goodbye

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

Even though he said work remains to be done, the federal coordinator for Gulf Coast rebuilding is expected to bid farewell to the position next week.

Doug O’Dell took over the job last year after Don Powell left the post. More than three years after Katrina, O’Dell says he leaves with a “feeling of unfinished business,” according to a story by The Associated Press yesterday.

In the AP story, O’Dell says he hopes the work of his office, which is supposed to help speed up the flow of resources and be a link between Louisiana and the White House, will continue in some form until perhaps 2011.

Has the position of federal coordinator for Gulf Coast rebuilding helped the recovery? O’Dell would say so.

Here’s an excerpt from the AP story:

O’Dell said there have been successes by his office, including the marshaling of federal resources for rebuilding needs and helping to see them put to use at the state and local levels. He also cited the agreement that allows the state of Louisiana up to 30 years to pay its share of flood protection costs.

He maintains the federal resources are available and that it’s a matter of putting them to use. He singled out the leaders of devastated Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes as having realistic plans for their communities.

“Again, it’s not about resources; it’s about vision and implementing that vision,” he said.

In other media reports, O’Dell reportedly said his recommendation is that President-elect Barack Obama keep the office going but move it from the Department of Homeland Security and make it part of the White House. The reason, O’Dell reportedly said, is the office  works on issues that affect more than one federal agency.

What do you think? Should the office continue? For how long should it run?•

The silver lining in La. population loss

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

The Census Bureau says Louisiana leads the nation in population loss.

That’s bad news, right?

According to some, it could actually be good news.

Tulane University geographer Richard Campanella, in a CityBusiness story this week, said that while the state’s shrinking population indicates the state has “serious economic, social and environmental problems,” there are unsavory side effects that come with being a rapidly expanding market.

Here’s an excerpt from the story:

Try driving through Dallas or Atlanta at rush hour and a few of the perils of rapid development become readily apparent. Sprawl and congestion, increasingly daunting problems in many large metropolises, are not nearly so prevalent in places such as New Orleans, Campanella said.

Experts also say New Orleans’ smaller population is sometimes credited with helping preserve the city’s architecture and historic areas. Those areas are major draws for tourists, and tourism is one of the largest industries in the city.

Another benefit of having a smaller population, experts say, is it allows people to be a big fish in a small pond. That could be a good thing for, say, an entrepreneur.

Also, booming cities often don’t welcome newcomers, whereas newcomers are generally accepted in New Orleans, experts say. It makes sense that communities bursting at the seams would not be welcoming to newcomers, who will be a further burden on, among other things, the infrastructure.

Further, experts say, a smaller population gives New Orleans a chance to plan for future growth, rather than trying to control booming development as it unfolds.

Of course, there are downsides to a declining population, such as fewer tax dollars.

But listen to what Austin librarian Red Wassenich — the guy credited with coining the phrase “Keep Austin Weird” — has to say about growth:

“I just don’t understand (why) growth is automatically seen as a virtue,” Wassenich said. “It’s like it’s in most people’s DNA that that’s what we strive for. We need to transcend that and focus on quality over quantity.”•

Bush’s view of Katrina response

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

Just before he hands off the presidency to Barack Obama, President Bush is being criticized for comments he made today about the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina.

According to a story by The Associated Press, Bush admitted that some things could have been done differently. But he also said, “Don’t tell me the federal response was slow when there was 30,000 people pulled off roofs right after the storm passed.”

Not surprisingly, the Internet has been flooded with reaction to Bush’s remarks.

“The federal response to Katrina was nothing short of a disaster,” according to a posting on www.alternet.org, which also features YouTube video of Bush’s remarks.

Here’s more from that posting:

There is no question that the federal response was slow — deadly slow. Katrina made landfall on Monday, Aug. 29, 2005, and the New Orleans levees were breached that morning. Despite the numerous warnings he had received about the storm’s severity, Bush spent that Monday traveling to Arizona and California to promote his Medicare drug bill.

The swift reaction to Bush’s analysis is not limited to the Internet. Former Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who was in office when Katrina hit, had this to say, according to an AP story:

“President Bush is totally wrong about the federal response,” said Blanco, who did not seek re-election after her image was battered following the state’s response to both hurricanes Katrina and Rita. “I think eventually we were able to get resources, and I’d have to say it was an excruciating effort on my part,” Blanco said. “We had to jump through hoops to get that kind of support from the administration. In the end, we finally did.”

Bush said he has “thought long and hard about Katrina: Could I have done something differently, like Land Air Force One either in New Orleans or Baton Rouge?”

The problem with that, he said, is “law enforcement would have been pulled away from the mission.”

“Has the reconstruction been perfect? No,” Bush said. “Have things happened fairly quickly? Absolutely.”

But more work needs to be done, he said.•

Giving goes away

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

These are not the easiest times to be a charity.

According to an Association of Fundraising Professionals survey released today, more than half of charities across North America raised less money during the 2008 holiday giving season  — October through December — than they did during the same period last year.

“The survey underscores the extraordinary difficulties that charities face in a fundraising environment that is more challenging than anything we’ve seen in recent history,” said Paulette V. Maehara, president and CEO of AFP.

So how bad is it?

According to the survey, 53.3 percent of charities who responded raised less money during the last quarter of 2008 compared to the same period in 2007. Just 22.7 percent raised more money, and 23.9 percent raised about the same amount. In 2007, by contrast, 48.3 percent of organizations were raising more money than the previous year and 26.3 percent were raising less.

AFP said the numbers represent the worst fundraising year for charities this decade.

(For more on the survey, check out this CityBusiness story on it.)

This brings to mind all the recovery work left to do in New Orleans more than three years after Hurricane Katrina. Since the storm, New Orleans and the surrounding area have been reliant on the generosity of other Americans, who have opened their wallets to help us get back on our feet.

But if people nationwide are closing their wallets when it comes to charities, can we expect them to keep funding the Katrina recovery?

Maybe not.

In December, CityBusiness reporter Stephen Maloney wrote that the flagging economy may make it much harder for the United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area to raise money for the next five years.

Here’s more from that story:

Amid fears that the stock market will continue to tumble, the local United Way has raised $13.5 million so far for the 2008-09 fundraising campaign, 61 percent of the $21.4 million goal set for March 31, campaign chairman José Suquet said.

Hurricanes Gustav and Ike delayed the start of donation campaigns, but Suquet said the current economic outlook may cast a long shadow over fundraising activities for the next few years.

“I don’t think we have felt the full effect yet, especially in the private foundation world where these private foundations had a significant piece of their assets in the equity market,” said Suquet, CEO of Pan-American Life Insurance Co.

Hurricane Katrina drastically reduced the local funding base, forcing United Way leaders to look to regional and national donors to pick up the slack, but Suquet said potential donors from coast to coast are now hesitant to make annual contributions.

“Some individuals and companies are a bit wary given the economic climate, so we have some of them that are giving less or no gift at all this year for fear of downsizing,” he said. “Clearly the concern of the economy is playing a role in some of the individual and corporate giving.”•

It’s not easy being green

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

Not too long ago, I was watching the Suzie Orman show on CNBC. A nationally recognized financial expert, Suzie uses her show to tell people how to spend their money.

Anyway, on this particular show, she was taking calls from people who were considering upgrading their homes with “green” energy features, such as solar panels and energy-efficient appliances.

More often than not, after reviewing her callers’ financial situations, Suzie denied their request to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. Suzie just didn’t think it made financial sense based on the callers’ finances. It underscored a complaint I’ve long had about going green: It’s a great idea but not an affordable one for many of us. Indeed, some green technology, such as solar panels, seems like an option only for the very wealthy — or those willing to take on crazy credit card debt.

(Green technology is expensive for not only housing but also vehicles. A hybrid version of  a vehicle will usually cost $5,000 to $6,000 more than the same vehicle in a nonhybrid version.)

The struggles for homeowners to go green are documented on Eco-Ranch in the Midwest, a blog about “One ordinary family’s quest to ‘green’ their 1950s ranch house in a part of the country where green technology and green products aren’t easy to come by.”

In a July 3 blog posting, we learn that plans to go green with a recycled metal roof were killed by cost.

“The recycled metal roof is just too expensive, about $7,000 over our budget,” the posting says. “It cost $22,800 to do our 1400 sq foot house! At first I was heartbroken, but I guess I have to choose my battles. Get a normal roof, then save up for solar panels and spend some more money on energy efficiency projects. When you are on a budget, you really can’t win them all.”

My family, too, would like to be greener than we already are. We try to turn off lights when we leave a room, and we have compact flourescent light bulbs in many of our fixtures.

But I need much more green to go totally green.

(By the way, although Suzie shot down most of her callers’ requests to go green, she does offer some tips to save energy. For those interested, go to her Web site.)•

The smell of the Quarter

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

What the French Quarter will smell like next month is up in the air.

This week, Mayor C. Ray Nagin’s administration told SDT Waste & Debris Services to stop the “Disney-like” cleaning of the French Quarter at the end of this month. The administration says the cash-strapped city can’t afford the pressure-washing and other enhanced cleaning services.

But the services might continue after all, albeit at a reduced level, according to news reports. The City Council is expected to discuss the future of city sanitation today. Nagin and three council members met Wednesday to discuss a plan that might allow the enhanced cleaning to continue in a scaled-down way,  according to a story in The Times-Picayune.

Some business owners and tourism officials apparently do not like the idea of cutting back cleaning services in the Quarter.

According to a posting on the blog The Secret Diary of Sidney Torres IV,  a tongue-in-cheek-blog, the city would never do away with the enhanced cleaning.

“People have become accustomed to the cleanliness and don’t want to go back to the days when Bourbon Street had a repulsive smell of stale beer, tourist puke, crap, and urine,” the posting says.•

IG raises concerns over take-home vehicles

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

In this week’s issue of CityBusiness, reporter Jaime Guillet wrote a very interesting story about New Orleans city employees’ use of take-home vehicles and Internal Revenue Service rules regarding fringe benefits.

According to a report by the city’s inspector general’s office, city employees using take-home vehicles pay $23.08 a week as a personal use charge. But the IRS also requires detailed records showing how much mileage is being used for work and how much is being used for personal use — documentation the city has not kept, according to the IG report.

“Employees are using (the take-home vehicles) for work, but they are not keeping track of how much mileage is for work and personal,” Janet Werkman, an auditor for the inspector general’s office, said in Jaime’s story.

Werkman also said the IRS does not consider commuting to be work-related, yet many of the administrative employees issued take-home cars work only at City Hall and rarely have official duties at other locations. City employees in some cases live up to an hour’s drive away, in places such as Baton Rouge and Mandeville, according to the IG’s report. That is in violation of city policy, which says “employees living outside the parish may not be assigned take-home vehicles,” the IG report says.

The IG’s report also says there is no documentation showing which employees were assigned vehicles. If that’s the case, how can the city make sure everyone is paying the $23.08 a week?

In Jaime’s story, city spokeswoman Ceeon Quiett said city officials will not comment on the IG’s interim report because “a comprehensive report would be best to comment on.” The IG “has only looked at about 5 percent of the city fleet,” Quiett said.

So how much do these take-home vehicles cost New Orleans taxpayers?

Here’s an excerpt from Jaime’s story:

In one example, according to the OIG report, a 2007 Ford Fusion is assigned to Mubarak Kareem, an employee with a Baton Rouge address whose daily round trip totals 144 miles. By one estimate, this could cost the city more than $90 a day, or $450 in a five-day week.

Another example includes the use of a 2001 Ford Crown Victoria, assigned to Robert Williams who lists a Mandeville address, with a daily round trip distance of 54 miles, which costs the city more than $29 per day or $145 a week.•

Survey: N.O. is a good meal deal

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

For those who wonder where New Orleans’ restaurant prices stack up compared with the rest of the nation, Zagat Survey has some good news for diners.

According to the results of Zagat’s New Orleans 2009, released today, New Orleans boasts one of the lowest average meal costs in the United States, with meals averaging $28.52, compared with the national average of $34.31. Zagat called New Orleans “one of the nation’s best and most affordable culinary destinations.”

The travel survey covers 704 of the city’s finest restaurants, nightspots, attractions and hotels, based on the input from 3,877 local consumers, Zagat said.

According to the survey, 41 percent of respondents said they are eating out more often, while 17 percent said they are dining out less often.

But the cost of meals has gone up, according to the survey, which says 70 percent of respondents reported spending more compared with two years ago.

Since Hurricane Katrina hit more than three years ago, 97 percent of those surveyed said their favorite restaurants are back in business. But since the storm, it appears customer service has declined.

Zagat said that before Katrina, 38 percent of survey respondents listed service as the thing that irritates them the most about dining out. Today, that figure has jumped to 76 percent — possibly, Zagat says,  “because so many restaurants’ seasoned staffers have moved away.”

“New Orleans has long been considered one of the country’s most hospitable cities. However, the survey suggests that service standards have dropped,” Zagat says.

It other good news for patrons, the survey says New Orleans offers better prices for drinks compared with the rest of the country. In the Big Easy, the average cost of a drink is $7.59, compared with $10.12 in New York and $12.24 in Las Vegas.

“It’s obvious you get more booze for your buck in New Orleans,” Zagat said.

Coincidentally, today I came across a blog posting published yesterday from a visitor to New Orleans. I think it’s safe to say the blogger was pleased with the city’s restaurants.•

Auto industry doesn’t act like it’s struggling

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

I thought the auto industry was struggling. It sure isn’t acting like it.

Yesterday I bought a new car after learning that morning that my old car needed about $2,000 in repairs. With a new baby on the way, I decided it was smarter to buy new rather than keep throwing my savings into a car that might keep breaking. (I’ve got upcoming hospital bills to think about, after all, so I don’t need to deplete my savings on a clunker.)

I went to a dealership in the New Orleans area. After reading story after story about the auto industry’s struggles, I was expecting to get a great deal and excellent treatment. OK, I’ll just go ahead and say it: I was expecting salespeople to be practically begging me to buy a car at an insanely low price and for them to basically treat me as their lord and savior.

But my experience was not exactly as I had envisioned.

First, my wife and I seemed to know more about the model we wanted to buy than the salesman did. We were asking him about features that he didn’t seem to know about.

When it came time to negotiate price, the dealership’s price was more than $1,000 higher than we expected to pay after doing research on the manufacturer’s Web site. The salesman told us something about how the manufacturer’s Web site had incorrect pricing information. I was also told that rebates usually apply to more expensive models. So much for an insanely low deal, I thought.

Less than five minutes after we bought the car, we had to go back to the dealership, because they forgot to put on the paper license plate. Then, that night, I got a call from the dealership asking me to come back again, this time because they forgot to make a copy of the back of my driver’s license.

The auto industry is no doubt in a world of hurt. According to a story by The Associate Press today, U.S. auto sales were down 18 percent last year.

With the industry going through tough times, I guess I was expecting a much better experience.•

Curious about ’Benjamin Button’ effect

By Christian Moises, News Editor

I wonder if people in New York City feel the same way when they see a movie that was filmed in their city, though they’ve had so many I bet they’ve been over that sensation for years.

I was finally able to see “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” on Sunday and have a feeling I’ll probably see it again, not only because it was that enjoyable but because I spent so much time determining every location in the New Orleans scenes — which is the majority of the movie — that I feel I may have missed some of the movie.

It’s been a while since we’ve had a major movie filmed primarily in New Orleans, so it was really interesting — and instilled a sense of renewed pride in me — to see so many sites I pass every day in a movie that will be seen worldwide.

Except for the periodic reminders of Katrina — I don’t want to ruin the movie, but with production interrupted by the storm this was to be expected — the movie was a great plug for New Orleans.

Despite the fact the movie shows a New Orleans from yesteryears — and before Katrina — it still showcases our city and what people for the most part come here to visit.

CityBusiness Staff Writer Emilie Bahr recently wrote about the TV commercial market and the benefits it brings to the city. Referring to a Lyrica commercial that is less than 1 minute long showing an elegant couple strolling through a sparkling French Quarter, riding a streetcar, browsing shops and holding hands outside Jackson Square, Jennifer Day, director of New Orleans’ Office of Film and Video, said, “To buy that type of exposure would cost us millions of dollars.”

I’m curious to see what the nearly three-hour “Benjamin Button” will do for the city.•

N.O begins ‘09 with 3 killings

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

New Orleans has rung in 2009 with three killings, all of which took place before noon yesterday, according to news reports.

The first killing was of a man shot by police, who said the man fired at officers first. Officers reportedly came across the man in the 1600 block of Gov. Nicholls Street and, when they approached his vehicle, the man fired at them and continued firing even after police told him to stop.

“It feels tragically reminiscent of the beginning of 2007,” Baty Landis, co-founder of the group Silence Is Violence, said in a WWL-TV story that ran today on the station’s Web site.

The sobering news comes after New Orleans’ murder rate fell last year to 179, according to the New Orleans Police Department. That’s about a 15 percent decline from 2007.

In a Monday story, WWL-TV cited a new study out of Northeastern University in Boston that found Louisiana is part of a national “surge in homicides involving young, black males and guns.”

Indeed, the streets of New Orleans are literally awash with blood: In a photo on nola.com, the Rev. John Raphael is shown cleaning blood off an Upper 9th Ward street Thursday in the wake of one of the first three killings of 2009.

A commenter named murkyH2O said this on nola.com’s Web site:

Cheers! Ring in the New Year! Calendar may have changed, situation remains the same, if not worse.

Then there was this comment from bayouspygirl:

I did leave New Orleans rather than continue to knock it. Now. What will it take to get my city back so I can come home?

According to a story by The Associated Press today, NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley said the department has about 1,500 officers, including those sick or injured, 290 more than two years ago.

“Have we reduced crime to the level that we can say it is absolutely a turnaround? No,” Riley said. “But have we made reasonable progress? Yes.”•

‘Bring in jobs and they will come’

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

2008 was a tough year — to put it lightly — for the national real industry.

In the New Orleans metro area, the year was no picnic either; many in the industry, from Realtors to title companies to land developers who prepare sites for home construction, suffered from a downturn in business.

“It is a down market right now. Our business is off significantly,” Brent Laliberte, president of Gretna-based Bayou Title, said last month.

So what do New Orleans-area real estate professionals expect for 2009?

In this week’s edition of the CityBusiness Real Estate CloseUp, a newsletter that covers the metro area real estate industry, reporter Stephen Maloney asked that very question. (For those interested in receiving the CloseUp, which is free, e-mail me at deon.roberts@nopg.com, and I’ll put you on the list.)

In Maloney’s story, more than one local real estate company president said the job market must improve before the housing industry does.

“It’s not about housing prices. It’s about the jobs,” New Orleans-based Latter and Blum Cos. President Arthur Sterbcow said. “It’s not ‘build houses and they will come.’ It’s ‘bring in jobs and they will come.’ The entire region is 100 percent dependent on the creation of jobs in this marketplace.”

Even with falling interest rates for homebuyers, the real estate market couldn’t survive long without new jobs stimulating the economy, said Rick Haase, general manager of Metairie-based Prudential Gardner Realtors. •