The Legislature has approved a deal to keep the New Orleans Saints in Louisiana.
But not everyone is yelling “touchdown.”
The (Alexandria) Town Talk newspaper, in an editorial yesterday, criticized the deal, which involves the state leasing office space from Saints owner Tom Benson.
“The new deal, which was just approved by an extremely misinformed Legislature, still has us paying a hugely rich man with a hugely successful franchise — constantly selling out suites and seats — a yearly welfare check in the $6 million range as well as an extremely generous lease break on a New Orleans building,” the editorial says.
The editorial also criticized the Saints’ performance on the field.
Here’s an excerpt:
In Louisiana, we pay huge amounts of money for mostly bad pro football — two playoff appearances since 1993 — while our education continues to lose even more than the Saints.
The best sports in Louisiana life are free. LSU’s athletic department receives no state funds, much like all other NFL teams but Benson’s. Yet, LSU just won its fourth major national championship this decade last week — two in baseball and two in football. Over that span, the Saints have had only three winning seasons.
Yet the state money keeps rolling in to Benson and not to education and not to many other entities with much more need.
The editorial concludes with this:
Having an NFL team is a huge cash cow for Louisiana, particularly with another Super Bowl on the way in 2013 thanks to Jindal’s new deal. New Orleans will see most of that money, however.
Unfortunately, Louisiana is the only NFL state paying so much to make so much, which does not make much fiscal sense.•
This week, on WBOK, a black-owned New Orleans AM radio station, the hosts and callers were talking about the Legislature’s failure to pass a bill that would have allowed New Orleans voters to approve the city’s master plan.
Last year, a majority of New Orleans voters agreed that the plan should have the force of law. The master plan, a blueprint for future development in New Orleans, has not been formally adopted by the city yet.
The plan has its critics. One argument of the plan’s opponents is that some of the plan’s ideas will harm certain neighborhoods. Some say voters should have a chance to vote on the final plan. Sen. Edwin Murray, D-New Orleans, cited those concerns as the inspiration behind his bill, which the House rejected Wednesday.
Some WBOK callers have been critical of the plan, too.
One black WBOK caller referred to the master plan as the “master’s plan.”•
Federal authorities yesterday confirmed that they have begun a criminal investigation of New Orleans’ technology office and crime camera contracts.
According to a story by The Associated Press, “FBI agents and investigators with the city’s inspector general’s office on Friday carried out ‘court-ordered searches and seizures of stored computer information at City Hall,’ (U.S. Attorney Jim) Letten and David Welker, the FBI’s special-agent-in-charge for the New Orleans area, said in a statement.”
Here’s more from the AP story:
The crime camera program has never lived up to the lofty hopes Mayor Ray Nagin once had for. It’s been known more for its nonworking cameras and severe cost overruns than for catching criminals. It has also spawned a civil lawsuit by two companies alleging the system they developed was misappropriated by people in and with ties to the city’s technology department. They also allege a conspiracy with Dell Inc. to sell the system.•
Record-high temperatures and dry weather are combining to make it hotter than hot in New Orleans.
CityBusiness reporter Emilie Bahr dug into how the heat is hurting local businesses.
“Right now, I wish I had a snowball stand out front instead of a rug store,” Greg Dombourian, owner of Dombourian Oriental Rugs on Magazine Street, says in Emilie’s story.
Mel Grodsky, president of the Lakeside Shopping Center merchant’s association, said the Metairie mall has been filled with people wearing T-shirts and shorts.
“We’re kind of like the Audubon Park and City Park right now,” he said.
Great quote.
Although the heat is hurting the business of some, if you’re in the ice cream business, the heat could heat sales up.
“It definitely doesn’t hurt our business when it gets hot,” said Bryan Gilmore, ice cream chef for Creole Creamery, an ice cream shop on Prytania Street.
I’m sure air conditioner repair businesses are keeping busy, too.•
A controversial bill that defines the word restaurants — which seems unnecessary in a state that loves to eat (judging by our girth, we seem to know exactly what a restaurant is) — cleared its last hurdle in the Legislature today.
Senate Bill 136 now heads to Gov. Bobby Jindal’s desk. The bill would allow people to keep their restaurant licenses if they receive at least half their income from selling food and nonalcoholic drinks.
The bill was born after some restaurants took issue with state Alcohol and Tobacco Control Commissioner Murphy Painter, who has fined restaurants he says operate as bars whenever they shut down their kitchens, offer drink specials and have live music events where only liquor is served.
Some in New Orleans are opposed to the bill, which is by Sen. Lydia Jackson, D-Shreveport.
For example, Vieux Carre Property Owners, Residents and Associates has been sending out e-mails at least since May to its members, calling the bill “a threat to all Louisiana cities, towns and neighborhoods.”•
The makeup of the board for a new teaching hospital in New Orleans has become an area of dispute between LSU and Tulane University.
According to The Associated Press, LSU’s Board of Supervisors wants to boost LSU’s representation on the board.
But Tulane has rejected an LSU board plan that gives LSU five appointees on an 11-member hospital board, according to AP.
Here are some excerpts from the story:
Tulane’s Board of Trustees last week approved a plan giving LSU four seats on a 12-member board. LSU board members amended the plan after voicing frustration that LSU would not have significant control over a project in which the school would be responsible for backing $400 million in bond debt for the 424-bed hospital, estimated to cost $1.2 billion.
“We’re the ones taking all of the financial risk,” board member Rod West of New Orleans said. “LSU … is the only one on the hook.”
What happens now? According to AP:
LSU’s move essentially sent the plan back to Tulane, though Tulane spokesman Mike Strecker said the board of the private New Orleans university is finished negotiating it.
Tulane issued a statement saying the LSU board’s move “indicates that Tulane and LSU have fundamental and philosophical differences with respect to the board composition and the appropriate safeguards and independent oversight of the proposed academic medical center.”
“Given the importance of the unresolved issues to the community and the state, Tulane believes the matter should now return to the Legislature and the administration for further action.”
Meanwhile, John Lombardi, LSU system president, tried to downplay the dispute, according to the story.
He said his board’s action was a positive sign: Only one significant point of disagreement remains, over how to manage the proposed hospital in downtown New Orleans.
Many people say the teaching hospital, which will replace Hurricane Katrina-damaged Charity Hospital, will be a major economic driver for New Orleans. For now, it’s driving a wedge between LSU and Tulane, it seems.
It’s also causing a delay in the project. Today, the state stopped the process for acquiring land for the hospital because of the disagreements over the board.•
If you’re looking for a job in Louisiana this summer, it might be tough if you want something in the restaurant industry.
That’s according to a National Restaurant Association report, which says Louisiana will add the lowest number of restaurant jobs of any state this summer.
The report says the state’s eating and drinking establishments expect to add only 100 positions for a total work force of 142,700 between June and August, which ranks Louisiana 25th.
Summer is typically flat in Louisiana and restaurants don’t normally add too many jobs during that time since tourism tends to be slower because of the weather, said Wendy Waren, vice president of communications of the Louisiana Restaurant Association.•
Louisiana’s May unemployment rate was lower than that of many other states, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released today. It’s an indication that the state could be doing worse in this recession.
The national unemployment rate for May was 9.4 percent. Louisiana’s rate was 6.6 percent, up from 4.1 percent in May 2008.
Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia had a rise in unemployment from April to May. Nebraska had a decrease. Vermont’s rate was flat.
From May to May, jobless rates were higher in all states and the District of Columbia.
Louisiana’s May unemployment rate is low when compared with No. 1 Michigan’s 14.1 percent and No. 2 Oregon’s 12.4 percent.•
Realtors, like other business people, use Facebook to attract clients.
But Realtors should make sure their Facebook updates are not strictly business, if they want to use the site successfully, says Amy Chorew, a speaker at a Prudential Gardner Realtors presentation in Kenner today.
Realtors should mix personal with business on Facebook, she said.
“This is the cocktail party online,” she said. “What do you do at a cocktail party? You socialize.”
“I’m not saying you’re giving them your dress size,” she said. “Be smart on what you put on these sites. You have to do it as a business professional.”
Realtors should update their Facebook account at least once a day, she said.
Chorew’s presentation was geared toward helping Realtors learn how to use social media to grow their business.•
National real estate speaker Amy Chorew says today’s home sellers expect Realtors to use multiple forms of Internet marketing to help sell homes.
Realtors should be posting video and photos of homes, she said. Some Realtors post too few photos online, she said. A Realtor who posts many photos of a home will be more competitive than a Realtor who posts only one photo, she said.
It’s important for the photos to be good, she said. That means no clutter in the pictures.
“Your photos are your social networking,” she said.
Chorew spoke today in Kenner at a presentation by Prudential Gardner Realtors on how Realtors can use social media to grow their business.
I’m at a Kenner hotel this morning covering a Prudential Gardner Realtors presentation on how Realtors can use social media, such as blogs, to grow their business.
The speaker is Amy Chorew, who travels the country to teach Realtors how to use technology. Her blog is TheTechByte.com.
She began her presentation by admitting that Realtors are busy and, therefore, might have a hard time keeping up with technological advances.
“Some of us barely have time to eat a bagel at 3 p.m. for our breakfast-lunch,” she said. “How many of us have time to learn all of this? Many of us don’t have the knowledge base. To learn all of this could give some of us heart tremors.”
She said she is not asking the Realtors to use everything she will teach today, but to use what will work for them.
“Whether we like it or not the client is changing,” she said. “The client is our boss and the Internet has made them our boss.”
Check back with the blog for more updates from this event.•
Louisiana had the 24th most clean-energy businesses and the 22nd most green jobs. California ranked first in both categories, with 10,209 companies and 125,390 jobs, while North Dakota had the fewest jobs with 137 and Wyoming had the fewest jobs with 1,419.
“Louisiana is running in the middle of the pack when it comes to clean-energy companies and jobs,” the CityBusiness story also says.
The report says that Louisiana’s clean-energy job sector has grown much faster than total jobs in the state, even though there’s a lack of venture capital investment and little research activity in clean technology, according to the story.
Yesterday, The New York Times posted a story online about green jobs in New Orleans. Here’s a quote from Reed Dickson, director of the Conservation Corps of Greater New Orleans:
“In New Orleans, we can see the green economy right before our eyes,” Dickson said. “There’s a lot of discussion about whether green jobs will persist, but our experience is that they are here now.”•
Today, the Louisiana Lottery issued a press release about an LSU graduate who won $15,000 from a scratch-off ticket.
“Graduating from college is a great achievement, but facing the ‘real world’ can be daunting for graduates before starting a new job. That won’t be a problem for recent LSU graduate Darren Rome, however, who claimed a $15,000 top prize from a Louisiana Lottery Spades scratch-off ticket,” the press release says.
Clearly, the press release is designed to highlight Rome’s winnings. But, to me, the following is the most important line from the press release:
“Rome said he will use his winnings for moving and living expenses as he starts a new career in Houston.”
Maybe the potholes, endless construction and red-light cameras actually help make New Orleans drivers more tolerant.
According to the 2009 AutoVantage Road Rage Survey, New Orleans wasn’t ranked in the top five cities with the angriest and most aggressive drivers, which New York won. But we also didn’t rank among the most courteous drivers. That title went to Portland, Ore.
If only they would do a road satisfaction survey.•
It’s nice to know Mayor C. Ray Nagin isn’t the only official in the country to use the word “knucklehead” in reference to citizens causing trouble.
The Los Angeles police chief has blamed looting and vandalism that broke out in the city after the Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA championship on a “mob of knuckleheads,” according to an Associated Press story.•
After going to Google this afternoon and doing a search for news stories about New Orleans, this headline came up under search results: “Brad Pitt: Mayor of New Orleans?”
It seems UK publication The Mirror created a bit of a stir on the Internet when it ran a short story June 6 that said “The people of New Orleans want their most famous resident to stand as mayor.”
So who are the “people” The Mirror refers to?
The online story quotes one person, Thomas Bayer. “We need outside help getting the city fixed — Brad can get that done,” Bayer reportedly said.
I did some more digging online and found that there’s a Tulane professor named Thomas Bayer who is trying to drum up support to convince Pitt to run for mayor for the 2010 election. He lists 13 reasons why the actor should be mayor. Reason No. 13: “Stacy Head will be nice to the new mayor.”•
This week, a column by Mayor Ray Nagin appeared in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper while the mayor was still under quarantine in China following a swine flu scare.
In the letter, published Tuesday, Nagin thanks Atlanta, where some New Orleanians evacuated to for Hurricane Katrina.
“We will never forget when many of you moved with real compassion for us in our time of need,” Nagin writes.
Nagin also raves about the “unprecedented economic boom” New Orleans is experiencing. The boom, he writes, is “predicted to last the next seven-plus years.”
“We still have challenges but we are among the best-positioned cities in America,” he writes.•
Lots of people like to say that Louisiana — New Orleans, in particular — is recession-proof, chiefly because of all the federal dollars sent to the state to help with the recovery from recent hurricanes.
But according the U.S. Labor Department, Louisiana had the second-highest rise in the number of newly laid-off workers filing jobless claims last week, The Associated Press reported. Louisiana had 809 new claims for unemployment benefits. Only Connecticut had more, 816.
Maybe things aren’t so rosy in the Pelican State.•
While Mayor Ray Nagin was under quarantine in Shanghai after a passenger on his flight was thought to have swine flu, he apparently was not sitting around doing nothing.
According to a story by The Associated Press, Nagin said he worked from China on a deal with Chevron, from whom the city wants to buy a building to serve as the new home for City Hall.
Here’s more from the AP story:
Late Wednesday, Mayor Ray Nagin said the two sides agreed on an $8 million price while he was in quarantine in China after being exposed to suspected swine flu. He said he expected a formal announcement Friday.
He said the price for the building rose as high as $9.4 million during talks but that the appraised value was $8 million.
“That’s what we offered, and they accepted,” he told The Associated Press from Australia. “They tried to get us up to $8.6 (million). But I wasn’t paying above appraised value.”•
New Orleans native Peyton Manning has become the pitchman for a tourism board. But it’s not in New Orleans.
According to a story today by The Associated Press, Manning, quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts, will help promote that city for the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association in hopes of luring tourists and conventions.
Here’s more from the story:
ICVA president and CEO Don Welsh said Wednesday that Manning will donate his time to the association and will be featured on its Web site and in direct mail, e-mail and printed advertisements to convention and leisure travelers.
Known for his many TV commercials, Manning says Indianapolis has been “tremendously supportive” throughout his NFL career, so he is happy to do what he can to promote the city he has “come to know and love.”•
Construction on the long-awaited Reinventing the Crescent project, which involves redeveloping an underused approximately 5-mile slice of the Mississippi riverfront from Jackson to Poland avenues, could begin in August.
That’s according to a story posted today on CityBusiness’ Web site.
The $30 million first section of the project involves street improvements along North Peters and Chartres streets, project officials said during a presentation last night at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. (For companies interested in getting a piece of the work, the project will go out for bid Oct. 1, according to the story.)
“The idea is to reconnect New Orleans to the riverfront. So many communities have already done this … we’re a little bit behind,” Sean Cummings, CEO of the New Orleans Building Corp., which is overseeing the project, said in a wwl.com story.•
Here are some adjectives that could be used to describe hurricanes: powerful, terrible, destructive.
Two New Orleans brothers-turned-entrepreneurs want to add a new one: delicious.
According to a story by The Associated Press, Russell and Stuart Adams, whose home was destroyed by Katrina, won $5,000 in the student division of the Mississippi Technology Alliance Business Plan Competition in Jackson with their “hurricake” idea.
More information on the cakes can be found at www.hurricake.com. Flavors include Cinnamon Surge, Chocolate City and Tropical Storm.
My question: Why would anyone want a cake shaped like a hurricane, a symbol of destruction and death?
The brothers provide their rationale the Web site:
The Hurricake idea was formed by Stuart Adams and Alexandra De Brock while eating a king cake during the 2009 Mardi Gras season. Stuart proclaimed to Alexandra how a king cake could easily be crafted to look like a hurricane. Alexandra agreed and replied with a further suggestion to make a cake for the hurricane season. Instantly the word Hurricake, a combination of the words “hurricane” and “cake,” came to Stuart and the excitement around the idea has since blossomed into the Hurricake Factory.•
Here’s an interesting note on spending out of Washington that could be of interest to Louisiana.
The Obama administration has said it will provide $3 billion toward an $8.7 billion tunnel connecting New Jersey and New York City under the Hudson River. The Associated Press story goes on to discuss how the tunnel will increase direct routes between the two regions by eliminating a chokepoint.
Granted, this will be the third tunnel into the city, which already has countless bridges and ferries connecting the island to the outside world.
Isn’t the New York area supposed to have some of the country’s best public transportation? With Louisiana facing a minimum $14 billion backlog in basic and necessary road repairs, it would be nice for Washington to consider spreading some of their transportation money throughout the nation on projects that are vital rather than on something new that seems like duplication.•
Mayor Nagin heads back to China today, on an economic development trip that includes meeting with “four prospects interested in the possibility of locating their businesses in New Orleans,” according to a news release from his press office.
Nagin also went to China in April 2008 as part of a conference on world tourism involving 400 mayors.
I wonder what businesses are “interested in the possibility” of setting up shop in New Orleans.•
The New Orleans City Council gave its blessing Thursday to providing $2 million to a new public-private economic development partnership.
Here’s an excerpt from a story today by The Times-Picayune:
The public-private partnership is intended to replace what are widely seen as City Hall’s repeated failures under a series of mayors to conduct successful economic development initiatives. The effort has been endorsed by a long list of business organizations.
In a story on CityBusiness’ Web site, Jeffrey Finkle, president of Washington, D.C.-based International Economic Development Council, said the partnership “should assist the city in making economic development work better in New Orleans.”
I wonder why he used the word “should” instead of “will”?•
This week, I interviewed Jim Donelon, insurance commissioner for the state.
One of the questions I had for him was whether we’ll ever see homeowners insurance rates fall to pre-Hurricane Katrina levels.
That’ll never happen, he said.
It’s interesting, because he also said Louisiana poses a lower risk to insurers than before Katrina thanks to all of the repairs and upgrades that have been made to homes and the hurricane-protection system in the nearly four years since the storm.
Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans, and much repair work remains nearly four years after the storm.
Despite the need for so much construction in New Orleans, Baton Rouge is seeing the second-highest job growth in the construction sector for a major region in the United States, according to an Associated Press story today on the findings of The Associated General Contractors of America.
According to the story, Baton Rouge has become the leading construction hub for the state, with 10,000 more construction jobs than New Orleans.
Baton Rouge’s 7.3 percent gain was beaten by Odessa, Texas, which posted an 8 percent gain.•
It doesn’t look good for Chrysler dealers in the New Orleans area who are among nearly 800 franchises the automaker wants to terminate.
Today, a federal judge overseeing the company’s bankruptcy case said the automaker has a good case for the termination of 789 franchises as part of its ongoing restructuring, The Associated Press reported. Tuesday is the last day the terminated franchises can operate as Chrysler dealers.
Chrysler has said that 17 of those dealers are in Louisiana, including John Furey Motors in Bogalusa, Orleans Dodge Chrysler Jeep and Madere’s Garage in Hahnville.
According to the AP story, U.S. Judge Arthur Gonzales said that under Chrysler’s plans, the 789 dealers, which represent about 25 percent of the company’s dealer base, will remain with the “Old Chrysler” collection of assets that are not scheduled to be part of Chrysler’s sale to Fiat.
Here’s more from the AP story:
Since those leftover assets won’t be making vehicles, there would be little use for the dealers that would go with them, Gonzalez said.
“If the sale would be consolidated, there’s a strong argument that no dealer network would be needed,” Gonzalez said at the beginning of today’s court hearing. “Nevertheless, I think it’s still important to have this hearing.”•
Here’s more evidence that Louisiana is not immune from the national recession.
According to a report released today by Manufacturers’ News Inc., the state lost 3,385 industrial jobs and 101 manufacturers from April 2008 to this past April. Industrial employment in the state fell 1.7 percent during that time.
Tom Dubin, president of the Evanston, Ill.-based publishing company, tried to put a positive spin on it for Louisiana.
“Due to its stronghold in the oil and gas industry, Louisiana’s losses are not nearly as severe as many other states,” he said.•
To encourage Louisiana residents prepare for the upcoming hurricane season, the state’s 4 percent sales tax was suspended this weekend.
But, according to some hardware stores, the sales tax holiday did not inspire shoppers.
“This past weekend not one person mentioned the sales tax, which was really surprising,” Bruce Foret, owner of Ace Hardware on Oak Street, said today in a CityBusiness story. “We talked about it a week before expecting significant business, but I completely forgot about it over the weekend because no one was buying anything.”
Stuart Schiff, manager of Johnny’s True Value on Mirabeau Avenue, had a similiar experience.
“Not one person came in and asked about (the sales tax holiday),” Schiff said in the story. “People in New Orleans wait until the last minute to prepare. It was the same as last year and the year before.”•
Today is the first day of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season.
As is to be expected, officials are urging the public to have a plan in case a major hurricane threatens them. But according to some experts, businesses — particularly small ones — aren’t prepared, despite the well-publicized destruction of recent hurricanes, namely Katrina and Ike.
In Arkansas, a study by Fayetteville State University conducted in the fall among 151 small businesses “found many were vulnerable for closure because they weren’t prepared for hurricanes, terrorist attacks or even pandemics,” according to a story in The Fayetteville Observer newspaper.
“Businesses in general tend not to be well-prepared for natural disasters, whether it’s lightning striking a building or a hurricane,” Scott Daugherty, executive director for the Small Business and Technology Development Center in Raleigh, N.C., said in the story.
Here’s more from the story:
The FSU study found more than half of the businesses could only sustain salaries for about a week and hadn’t developed an emergency plan for suppliers or contractors.
About 50 percent admitted they hadn’t planned for demand fluctuations of products or services after a disaster or during an epidemic.
Some businesses expect government disaster relief and insurance policies to help them, but that may not be the case, said Carol Chastang, an SBA spokeswoman.
In most cases, the Federal Emergency Management Agency won’t help unless the disaster affects a large number of businesses and homes, Chastang said. And the SBA doesn’t provide assistance unless at least 25 businesses and homes are affected, she said.
“Most business owners don’t carry adequate insurance, or they take for granted that someone will come in and help them,” she said.•
