This week, CityBusiness reporter Emilie Bahr and I toured the new special events space adjacent to Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World’s East Bank facility, which is next door to the New Orleans Morial Convention Center and the Port of New Orleans’ headquarters.
Among the venues is one that features a life-size replica of a plantation facade, the only one of its kind in New Orleans and, as far as a I know, the state. The facade was supposed to be part of the failed River City Casino project. Now it serves as the backdrop to weddings and other events for which people desire an indoor plantation.
For those who have been to Disney World, entering the room with the plantation feels like going on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, complete with night-lit sky.
Anyway, below is a YouTube video from our tour of the plantation, known as Grand Oaks Mansion, and the other special events space. For more, check out Emilie’s story by clicking here.
Foreclosure activity rose in the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner area during the first half of this year compared with the same period last year, according to Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, a national foreclosure tracking service.
According to a report, the area saw an 18.3 percent increase in foreclosure activity. A total of 0.60 percent of housing units, or one in 167, in the area received at least one foreclosure filing in the first half of 2009. The area had 2,646 properties with foreclosure filings for the first six months of 2009, an increase of 10.9 percent when compared with the second half of last year.
It could be worse — a lot worse.
Las Vegas posted the nation’s highest metro foreclosure rate. An astonishing one in 13 housing units in the city received at least one foreclosure filing in the first half of 2009. That’s more than six times the national average, according to RealtyTrac.•
Here’s a bit of interesting news for New Orleans as it tries to rebuild from Hurricane Katrina.
Developers can’t find buyers for tax-exempt Gulf Opportunity Zone bonds designed to spark development after the hurricane, according to a story today by The Associated Press.
Here’s more from the story:
New Orleans got approval for more than $1 billion in tax-free bonds to help spur development after Hurricane Katrina, but it’s finding few takers nearly four years later.
Officials blame a tight credit market and lingering jitters about investing there.
So much for thinking New Orleans and Louisiana are recession-proof.
The story says nearly $750 million is untouched and about $480 million in projects is in jeopardy because developers can’t find buyers for the bonds. One of those projects is the remodeling of the Hyatt hotel near the Louisiana Superdome and the New Orleans Arena.
What happens if New Orleans can’t find buyers for the bonds? According to AP:
At year’s end, unused bond allocations set aside specifically for communities like New Orleans will go into a competitive pool. Projects there will remain eligible but must compete with proposals from around the state, including areas less damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.•
Amtrak service between New Orleans and Orlando, Fla., has been nonexistent since Hurricane Katrina. But the service could be returning, according to a Tallahassee Democrat story.
Here are some excerpts:
No Amtrak trains have served Tallahassee since August 2005, when Hurricane Katrina caused catastrophic damage to the railroad corridor between New Orleans and Mobile, Ala.
Rail travel for Tallahassee residents could return under any of three options that Amtrak has proposed in a report it was required to produce under the 2008 Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act.
Though the tracks were repaired and CSX resumed freight service, Amtrak passenger service has remained suspended “because of the costs and challenges associated with restoring service,” Amtrak’s report says.
Officials with the national passenger rail service initially evaluated 12 alternatives for restoring service between New Orleans and Orlando. Those were narrowed to three preferred options, based on projected ridership, revenue, operating expense and operating loss.
The first option would restore the Sunset Limited as it was before, with trains traveling three times weekly between Orlando and Los Angeles.
The second option would extend the daily City of New Orleans service, a train that travels between Chicago and New Orleans. That service would continue into Florida and terminate in Orlando.
The third option would implement daily stand-alone overnight service between New Orleans and Orlando.•
In a major setback for some Jackson Square artists, a judge has ruled in favor of a city ban on the sale of prints.
CityBusiness was the first to break the news of the judge’s ruling, in a story that ran Thursday on our Web site.
It’s a ruling with huge economic implications for some Square artists.
According to our story, money earned from selling prints is an important source of income for some of the artists. Artist Barbara Yochum, for example, told our reporter that she may have to sell her home and move out of the city.
The city, though, wants only original works of art sold in the Square, arguing that the ban on the sale of prints preserves “the ‘tout ensemble,’ or the overall feel and historic nature, of Jackson Square and the French Quarter,” according to our story.
Who’s right in this debate? Does the sale of prints harm the image of Jackson Square? Should the city allow only one-of-a-kind, original works of art to be sold?
To be sure, it’s an interesting debate for a city that artists have long loved to call home, although some might be packing their bags.•
The downturn in the national housing market has hurt the pocketbooks of a lot of businesses, including real estate and title companies.
Covington-based Pool Corp., the world’s largest wholesale distributor of swimming pool supplies and equipment, has been impacted by the real estate slump, too.
For the second quarter that ended June 30, the company’s net sales declined 13 percent to $602.1 million compared with $693.0 million in the second quarter of 2008. Net sales for the first half of this year are down 15 percent compared to the same period last year.
Here’s how Dow Jones Newswires reported on Pool Corp.’s second-quarter results:
Shares of Pool Corp. jumped as much as 20 percent Thursday after the distributor of swimming pool supplies reported second-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates and boosted its full-year view.
In addition, the company said it expects “better relative performance” in the fourth quarter and noted it is encouraged by trends indicating less impact from a discretionary sales decline. The company added that it is gaining market share.
“I thought it was a very impressive quarter,” Morgan Keegan analyst Brent D. Rakers said in an interview, adding that the driver of the beat was cost savings.
“This is about the second or third year of cost cutting for Pool,” he said. “So to be beating on cost cutting is all the more impressive.”
On Wednesday, the day before the second-quarter results came out, here’s what a posting on smartmoney.com had to say:
The company, based outside New Orleans, faces big problems.Sales of new pools are in a free fall, a casualty of the horrific housing market. And many families that already have pools may soon start cutting back on maintenance, to save money as the recession drags on. The cool, dreary weather that kicked off summer in many parts of the country didn’t help matters, either.
“I couldn’t imagine a worse environment for this company,” says Shawn Kravetz, founder and principal of Boston-based Esplanade Capital Management, noting Pool’s presence in the most troubled real-estate markets and consumers’ increasing reluctance to spend. Not unreasonably, he thinks the shares, now trading at about $18 apiece, are probably worth just 10 to 12.•
Following months of outcries from residents concerned about the proposed new home for New Orleans Cold Storage, the Port of New Orleans is looking at other sites for the company to relocate to.
The company has to find a new home, after losing access to the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, which the federal government closed after the channel was blamed for massive flooding in Hurricane Katrina.
Plans had called for Cold Storage to move to the Gov. Nicholls Street Wharf. But residents concerned about health and traffic impacts oppose that location and have shown it through yard signs planted throughout their neighborhoods.
“Nothing is a done deal,” Gary LaGrange, port president and CEO, said in a July 17 CityBusiness story. “We are considering alternatives. No sites have been determined either upriver or downriver. Until another site has been determined, nothing has changed.”
Here are some excerpts from a wwltv.com story yesterday:
“As far as Cold Storage is concerned, there’s no specific site that has been determined,” said LaGrange. “Alternatives are being considered in lieu of Governor Nick.”
LaGrange said the Napoleon Avenue wharf is not one of the options, as some have suggested.
So why the apparent about face? LaGrange admitted the chorus of voices and community groups against the move made a difference.
“We don’t agree necessarily with them, but we hear them,” said LaGrange. “If they’re concerned, we’re going to look for alternatives and that’s what we’re doing right now.”
So far, the port has only raised about half of the money needed to build the new Cold Storage facility.
Port officials admit it’s much easier to line up the rest of the funding with community support.
Port administrators are asking tenants along the Mississippi River if they could make room on their property for the company, which the port fears will leave New Orleans without a new headquarters. New Orleans Cold Storage is the port’s second-largest customer.
“They’ve made it very clear that they’re going to continue to oppose this, and we’re going to see what the other alternatives are,” port spokesman Chris Bonura said of residents in the French Quarter, Marigny and Bywater. Signs emblazoned with the message ‘Poison Port’ can be seen posted throughout the neighborhoods.
There are no guarantees that the port will find another home for New Orleans Cold Storage, Bonura said, and the company may very well end up on the Gov. Nicholls Street and Esplanade Avenue wharves as planned.•
New Orleans is No. 2 on Fox Sports’ list of 10 NFL cities, behind No. 1 Green Bay, Wis.
Here’s what Fox said on its Web site about the Big Easy:
The site of the NFL’s triumphant 2006 return to New Orleans 13 months after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina has also been the home to nine Super Bowls, and was recently awarded a tenth. The city was selected to host the 2013 showcase game at league meetings in May. The warmth and character (not to mention the bars and restaurants) of New Orleans makes it the consummate Super Bowl destination.•
When AeroMexico announced plans to start nonstop flights to Mexico City from New Orleans, Louisiana officials were on cloud nine.
“This new flight is a major accomplishment for New Orleans,” Mayor Ray Nagin said in a CityBusiness story in April. “With the ability to fly direct to Mexico City and Honduras, we expect to see increased business relationships among our countries, increased travel to South America by New Orleanians and a larger number of international tourists.”
But how just how much demand will there be for the new flights?
Yesterday, WWL.com ran a story with this headline: Travel south of the border may not soar out of New Orleans.
The story quoted Jim Pratt, with Eagle Travel, who said he doesn’t expect a huge benefit for local travel agents or tourists. “The aircraft, maximum, can hold fifty people and it goes down there six days a week,” he said. “So I don’t think that that’s set up to be a leisure instigator.”
Here are some more excerpts:
“I see this flight as a commercial success…a business success,” says Pratt. He sees American businessmen using the flights to conduct business. And, he envisions Mexican businessmen doing the same here…or, perhaps residents coming here for medical treatment.
Pratt acknowledges there will be some leisure travelers who’ll fly to Mexico City. “But it’s certainly not going to exist on the scale that people flock to Cancun or Cozumel or Belize or places like that,” says Pratt. A trip to the Caribbean is around $800 per ticket whereas Mexico City is in the $500 per ticket range.
However, he feels that business may grow if the flights prove popular. He’d like to see a change in the itinerary and have the flights continue to Cabo San Lucas, rather than Honduras.
But other travel agents are more optimistic.
In a CityBusiness story that ran earlier this month, Freedom Tours LLC owner Annie Schroeder said demand has always been high for trips to Mexico and the two-hour direct flight to Mexico City will make it easier than ever for locals to visit the country.
Here are some excerpts:
“This will have an impact on the more spontaneous traveler, or the traveler that can’t be gone for two or three weeks at a time,” Schroeder said. “It will have a huge impact for people who want to be gone for four or five days.”
Most travelers traditionally flock to beach destinations such as Cancun, but Guichard said having a direct flight to Mexico City in the center of the country will open up travel to cities on the west coast of Mexico.
Designer Travel agent Kathy Galliand said she already has a family of 16 booked for a trip to Puerto Vallarta on Mexico’s Pacific coast for the Thanksgiving weekend, a trip that would have been too expensive without a direct flight to Mexico City.
“These people contacted me two or three weeks ago for a trip to the Caribbean, and they are on a budget, so I couldn’t do the air and leave enough money afterwards,” Galliand said. “A trip to the Caribbean is around $800 per ticket whereas Mexico City is in the $500 per ticket range. That makes a whole lot of difference.”•
Here’s some good news on a Monday for New Orleans’ tourism industry.
This morning, I noticed a press release talking about how 37,000 attendees are expected for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s 2009 Youth Gathering event, which starts Wednesday.
I called the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau to find out whether a meeting of that size is big, medium or small as far as New Orleans meetings go.
It’s pretty big, it turns out.
Bureau spokeswoman Kelly Schulz said it’s the largest meeting for the city since Katrina and one of the largest ever to be hosted by New Orleans.
Experts like to tout that New Orleans and Louisiana have largely escaped the foreclosure crisis that is pummeling other parts of the country.
But the picture might not be as rosy as thought.
This week, Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, a widely cited source for foreclosure stats, said it has been underreporting foreclosure activity for some parishes. Here’s are some excerpts from a CityBusiness story published Thursday:
A change in data collection is behind a surge in June foreclosure filings in the New Orleans area and throughout Louisiana, according to figures released today by RealtyTrac.
Foreclosure activity was up 26.5 percent from May and 94 percent from a year ago in the area comprised of Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. James, St. John and St. Tammany parishes. There were 664 filings for a foreclosure rate of one in every 647 housing units.
Louisiana’s 1,452 filings in June produced a foreclosure rate of one in 1,280, a 54.3 percent increase from May and a 148.6 percent jump over a year ago. That put Louisiana 34th out of 50.
Daren Blomquist, a spokesman with the Irvine, Calif.-based foreclosure database, said the company added data coverage in several parishes earlier this year and started tracking lis pendens notices, or properties where a lawsuit is pending, in areas where that information had not been collected previously.
“We were undercounting the lis pendens notices before and the category has been under-reported,” Blomquist said. “Unfortunately it’s harder for us to get those figures in some states.”•
This week, CityBusiness reporter Stephen Maloney and I toured Langston Hughes Elementary, the first of five Orleans Parish schools that will open in the “Quick Start” program, an initiative by Louisiana Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek to jump-start school construction in New Orleans.
Stephen’s story on the progress of the program will run in Monday’s issue of CityBusiness.
Langston Hughes will open in the fall. Today, it is still very much a construction site, with wires hanging from the ceilings; rooms unfinished and filled with dust from construction; and tools, boxes and workers scattered everywhere.
But the school is coming together. Colored windows have been installed in the lobby, lockers wait for students to cram them with books, digital blackboards are in classrooms, high-tech lighting hangs from classroom ceilings.
For a behind-the-scenes look at the school, here’s a video I made from the tour.
I recently wrote a story for CityBusiness on the impact the American Clean Energy and Security Act, also known as the Waxman-Markey bill,would have on Louisiana’s work force.
Not surprisingly, opinions differ.
There are those who believe the act would create tens of thousands of jobs for Louisiana. For example, Washington, D.C.-based Repower America estimates that the clean energy industry could create more than 52,000 new jobs in Louisiana during the next 30 years.
Eric Smith, associate director of the Tulane University Energy Institute and a clinical professor of finance for Tulane’s A.B. Freeman School of Business, is among those on the other side of the debate.
Smith says the act could eliminate high-paying jobs in Louisiana. There are about 50,000 jobs in oil and gas production and 50,000 jobs in refining and the petrochemical industry in the state, he said. Average salaries for those workers are more than $65,000, and some workers without college degrees earn as much as $100,000 a year, he said.
I wonder how beseiged Louisiana’s congressional delegation has been by lobbyists on both sides of this issue.•
Out of the 50 most populous metro areas in the U.S., New Orleans ranked 33rd for job postings per capita in the second quarter of 2009, according to a report by Indeed.com. (That means that 32 metropolitan areas had more job postings per capita than New Orleans, and 17 areas had fewer postings.)
In New Orleans, there were 32 job postings for every 1,000 people. At the top of the list is Washington, D.C., with 132 postings for every 1,000 residents.
New Orleans’ neighbor Houston had the same number of postings as the Crescent City. But Austin, Texas, had more job postings, 53, per capita.•
The New Orleans metropolitan area is not immune from the national recession, which is flattening the growth of Hurricane Katrina-related recovery jobs, according to a report released today by the Division of Business and Economic Research in the University of New Orleans’ College of Business Administration.
“The overall employment growth fueled by the recovery post-Katrina has been forced flat by the national recession,” the report says.
But there’s good news in the report, too. For example, the New Orleans metro area is not shedding jobs as much as other parts of the country are.
Here’s an excerpt from the report:
The slight gain of New Orleans jobs of 0.2% over the year, as small as it is, is still a welcome contrast to the nation’s average loss of 3.1% of all jobs. This is a welcome sign of local stability compared to the job losses occurring nationwide.•
New Orleans has a new tradition, one that looks like it could become a decent tourism draw and economic boost for the French Quarter.
It’s been reported that more than 1,000 people turned out for the third annual Running of the Bulls through the French Quarter Saturday morning. Several hundred more turned out to watch the spectacle.
Aside from the pure fun of the celebration, this translated to bars and restaurants from Canal Street to Esplanade Avenue opening early and getting a little extra bump during the notoriously slow summer. The bar we ended up at opened about four hours early and was pretty packed until about noon, nearly three and a half hours after the run ended. Other bars were still going strong when we finally left about 1 p.m.
It also has national appeal, which could provide our hotels an added boost.
The run was the highlight of the San Fremin festival, but there were several other events associated with the celebration at bars and restaurants throughout the area between Friday night and Sunday afternoon.
If people from all over the world travel to Spain for the real bull run, why won’t people from throughout the United States come to New Orleans for the closer — and safer — version?
Hopefully some of the people in town for Tales of the Cocktail and the Microsoft convention were able to make it to Bourbon Street to witness an event only New Orleans can pull off.
In a city with strong Spanish ties, it’s only natural.•
In New Orleans today, Microsoft Corp. plans to give a peek at its newest version of Office and the latest versions of Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint.
The early peek at Office 2010 is being given at Microsoft’s World Wide Partner Conference, which is being held this week at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center.
Only techies invited by Microsoft will get an up-close look at a “Technical Preview” of Office 2010. A beta or test version that’s open to the public isn’t likely until the Fall, still well ahead of the expected spring or summer release.•
Louisiana property owners don’t yet know whether there will be a fee change to cover hurricane claims paid by Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp.
The board of the state-back insurance company of last resort this week postponed making a decision on whether to keep the fee, or assessment, at 5 percent or lower it to 4.3 percent, according to a story by The Associated Press.
In a related story, the Associated Press reported Wednesday that the CEO of Citizens is expected to ask for a rate increase for Citizens policyholders next year.
Here’s an excerpt:
John Wortman, CEO of Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp., told the Associated Press today that he expects the 2010 rate increase to average about 10 percent statewide. That’s on top of a 7 percent increase approved by Citizens’ governing board this year.
Wortman said there are several causes that require the increases, including the $330 million the firm paid out last year for claims after Hurricane Gustav.
Here’s what a commenter on nola.com had to say about that:
No storm claims, why rates going up again? A state-run program is the reason.
Screw the people trying to rebuild. People need to stay away a few more years to convince these politicians to fix the place or goodbye.
Louisiana would not be the only state to see higher rates for its insurer of last resort.
In Florida, Citizens Property Insurance Corp. customers will see a 10 percent increase on their premiums Jan. 1, according to a Miami Herald story.•
The Washington Post has a blog, Half a Tank, which examines how U.S. communities are dealing with the recession.
Recently, New Orleans, which is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, became fodder for blog author Theresa Vargas, who blogged about French Quarter street performers sharing their analysis of how New Orleans is weathering the recession.
“New Orleans as a whole remains caught somewhere between the recovery effort and the recession’s impact, but Bourbon Street is alive and well,” Vargas wrote in her posting.
Here’s another excerpt:
“You really wouldn’t be able to tell there’s a recession by how many people are out here,” said Les Evenchick, 68. He sat on a stool outside the Funky Pirate, his white hair pushed back by a black bandana. A retired computer engineer, Evenchick said he has worked the door at the club for 11 years to supplement his Social Security income.
He believes New Orleans is 60 percent back to where it was before Katrina, and Bourbon Street is 90 percent there. That it hasn’t fully recovered can be seen only subtly, he said.
“Things tend to end an hour earlier than they used to,” he said. “It used to be fairly busy until one or two in the morning. Now it tends to get pretty quiet after midnight or one.”•
Louisiana Economic Development and Entergy’s Louisiana economic development division today announced the launch of an online database designed to help businesses find available sites in the state.
LED and Entergy say the Site Selection Center, at Louisianasiteselection.com/LED and OpportunityLouisiana.com/sites, will enhance economic development. The database currently lists more than 400 properties, according to a press release.
LED Secretary Stephen Moret called it “a state-of-the-art resource that makes Louisiana more competitive and makes it easier to attract investment in communities throughout our state.”
The database, which combines demographic and business data with geographic information system mapping technology, allows users to zoom in on high-resolution aerial photographs of available sites. The online resource also provides information on:
- state incentives available to businesses that locate or expand operations;
- rail, water and highway access transportation routes;
- community profiles and demographics; and
- surrounding businesses that could provide support and supplies.
Entergy developed the database with Microsoft Virtual Earth and offered it to the state free of charge via a public-private partnership.
“We and Louisiana Economic Development share the same goals, to bring new jobs, growth and prosperity to the communities in which we live and work,” Renae Conley, president and CEO of Entergy’s Louisiana companies, said in the press release.
Shelley MacNary, director of Entergy’s economic development initiatives for its two Louisiana utilities, said the database features information sought after by site developers and businesses interested in locating to, or expanding operations in, the state.
“It positions Louisiana as a serious contender for new business and economic opportunities,” MacNary said.
Entergy is not just partnering with the state. The company is also giving the New Orleans Downtown Development District access to the database to aid the city’s economic development efforts.
Henry Charlot, DDD director of economic development, said the partnership will save the DDD thousands of dollars, because the DDD no longer has to pay to host the data.
I went to the database this morning to check it out. For Orleans Parish, I found only one building listed, the former Universal Furniture building at 1111 S. Broad for $3.5 million. Only two sites were listed for Orleans Parish, one labeled Woodland Highway for $8.9 million and the other labeled Almonaster 97.55 Acres for $3.4 million. •
Louisiana’s new “career diploma” continues to draw criticism. About a week after legislation creating the diploma became law, critics are still voicing their opinion.
Gov. Bobby Jindal last week signed legislation that would allow students who don’t want to attend college to pursue a less rigorous career track, a concept that supporters say will reduce the number of students dropping out of school.
Today, Washington, D.C.-based Campaign for High School Equity, a project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, issued a press release critical of the diploma, calling it “a disservice to the state’s students.”
CHSE said only 62 percent of Louisiana’s students graduate from high school each year with a regular diploma. In 2005, only 40 percent of black students, 47 percent of Hispanic students and 49 percent of Asian students graduated from high school compared with 63 percent of their white peers, CHSE said.
“The new program in Louisiana will allow students 15 and older to opt out of the standard curriculum with parental consent and would allow students in eighth grade to advance to ninth grade without passing the state standardized tests,” CHSE said.
CHSE said lowering academic standards to increase graduation rates will disproportionately affect Louisiana’s low-income and minority students.
“If equality in education is truly a priority for this country, we need to admonish legislation that predetermines the future of a segment of students based on an idea that they cannot achieve,” CHSE Executive Director Michael Wotorson said. “Gov. Jindal’s actions are despicable. This law will lock students out of economic prosperity. Instead, we need to establish education policies in Louisiana and in every state that hold schools accountable for student success and provide every student with a high-quality education that prepares them for college and the modern workforce.”
CityBusiness reporter Stephen Maloney, in a story in this week’s edition, wrote about concerns that education and construction industry officials have about the career diploma, which was created by state Rep. James Fannin, R-Jonesboro.
Here’s what education officials said about the diploma. The excerpts are from Maloney’s story:
Capital One-University of New Orleans Charter Network CEO Andre Perry calls Fannin’s effort a short-sighted attempt to fix an education problem that has been plaguing New Orleans public schools for generations. Instead of encouraging struggling students to work harder, Perry said the notion that college is not for every student is often used as an excuse to avoid responsibility for high dropout rates, especially in urban and rural school districts.
Recovery School District Superintendent Paul Vallas said the career track diploma lowers standards for the students in most need of academic help.
“This would create a secondary enrollment track, a lesser track, the track of lower expectations, and I just think that’s criminal,” Vallas said. “There’s nothing more racist than the racism of low expectations.”
Here’s what Morty Branigan, apprenticeship director for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 130, said about the career diploma. These are more excerpts from Maloney’s story:
“Typically, people believe that the construction industry is a career choice for slow learners, and that’s absolutely not the case,” Branigan said. “Our industry is becoming more and more technical every day.”
“My biggest concern with this career path diploma is that the graduation requirements are going to be watered down to the point where many of them would not meet our minimum qualifications,” Branigan said.•
Last year, vacuum maker Oreck Corp. moved its corporate headquarters from Harahan to Nashville, Tenn.
According to an Aug. 17, 2008, CityBusiness story, the company cited high fuel prices and a need to centralize operations as reasons for the move.
“We made a big push to keep their back office here, but they decided to consolidate their operations in Tennessee,” Jefferson Parish Councilman John Young said in the CityBusiness story. “Call it another casualty of Katrina.”
For those wondering how Oreck is doing in its new home, The Tennessean published an online story, with the headline “Businessman Oreck embraces his adopted home,” on the company yesterday.
From the comments of Tom Oreck, whose father founded the company, it sounds like the company is doing well since leaving Louisiana behind. Here are some excerpts:
Oreck said moving was a difficult decision, but it was to a good location. Nashville was welcoming to new business and new ideas.
“Nashville, I think, is at a crossroads on how it grows from here,” he said. “For us, the Oreck Corp., it’s a good fit.”
He took heat for his decision — calls to six former Louisiana and Mississippi associates for this report went unreturned — but was hailed in business news columns for not moving parts of the company overseas, as many have done.•
AeroMexico will use 50-seat jets to connect the two cities six days per week. Service will continue from Mexico City to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Airline officials said the two-hour flight will allow business travelers to go back and forth between New Orleans and Mexico City in the same day.
“There’s a market for people from this region to go to Mexico to do business, to visit, for tourism and that there’s a lot of interest in Mexico, in knowing New Orleans again,” said Sal Figueroa, the head of international relations for the economic development group Greater New Orleans Inc.
While economic development officials are excited about AeroMexico’s arrival, it apparently has the potential to cost the city thousands of dollars if there’s not enough demand.
Here’s another excerpt from the CityBusiness story:
Mayor Ray Nagin said earlier that the city has entered into a risk-share agreement with the airline that is based upon the number of passengers. The city could lose up to $250,000 if the flight fails. Ochsner Health System, which handles thousands of international patients and physicians, also made a financial contribution to establish the flight, the mayor said.
According to the story, Frank Galan, AeroMexico’s North American division vice president, has said that to be successful, the flights will have to average about 33 passengers.
Brad Pitt has been all over the news because of his involvement in building single-family homes in the hard-hit 9th Ward.
Now, the Make It Right project, started by a man who with Angelina Jolie is parent to three adopted and three biological children, is delving into multifamily housing. Indeed, Pitt certainly knows about the need for a spacious house.
The news should make some former 9th Ward residents happy. After all, the 9th Ward was home to extended families prior to Katrina. Make It Right’s duplexes might bring more of those families back to the 9th Ward.
“Families who want to come back to the Lower 9th have been asking us to build them so extended families can live together,” Make It Right Executive Director Tom Darden said in a news release.
So what will these duplexes look like?
According to the press release, the solar-powered, “highly energy efficient” homes will have interchangeable floor plans that allow families to change the size and configuration of the homes as their family size, needs or economic situations change; landings or stoops in the stairways to give families a place to gather; and designs that cut construction costs dramatically.
The first duplexes are scheduled to begin construction in August.•
Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that seven states failed to enact budgets before Wednesday, when their new fiscal year began. The seven couldn’t agree on tax and spending agreements, according to the story.
Louisiana is not in that number.
In some places, such as California, budget deficits are so bad that states have begun issuing billions of dollars in IOUs to contractors and local governments.
Here are some excerpts from the story:
While California’s multibillion-dollar budget woes have become notorious, almost every state in the U.S. is facing severe financial problems. Sales- and income-tax revenues have plunged in the recession.
States that have passed budgets aren’t out of the financial woods. Revenues are shrinking faster than many had forecast.
Some states have made across-the-board budget cuts in 2009. Georgia, Louisiana, and Massachusetts made cuts in all seven major program areas identified by the National Governors Association, for example. Higher education was the area cut by the most states (31), while transportation felt the budget ax in only 15 states.
It’ll be a wonder if anybody truly can describe the details of what’s in the budget as the new fiscal year starts Wednesday. Legislative leaders could hardly offer more than generalities as they urged their colleagues to pass the spending plans in the final hour of the session.
Maybe within a few weeks – or months – they’ll be able to describe to their constituents what they did.•
Today, the Roosevelt Hotel opened in New Orleans, following a renovation of the roughly 115-year-old property. The site used to be the Fairmont Hotel, which closed after Hurricane Katrina and never reopened. Before it was the Fairmont, it was the Roosevelt.
The hotel opened to the public at 3 p.m. So, anyone who wants to check it out can. I got to tour it just before noon. Here’s a video I made from that tour.
