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The NEW New Orleans

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Rocket River, Sep 15, 2005.

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  1. Sishir Chang

    Sishir Chang Member

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    I've been talking about some architects and planners about getting involved with the reconstruction effort. Not being in the region I haven't gotten any leads about how someone would get involved with it. I would definately be interested if anyone has any leads.
     
  2. MadMax

    MadMax Member

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    http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpbusi.../nola_tpbusiness/archives/2005_10.html#086226

    If you rebuild it, will they come back?

    Many N.O. firms find Texas a nice fit

    By Robert Travis Scott
    Capital bureau

    BATON ROUGE - If there's one message that's clear from New Orleans business executives temporarily running their companies out of Houston, it's that time is running out quickly for them to make permanent decisions about whether they will return to the storm-damaged Crescent City.
    As federal, state and local politicians debate packages of incentives to rebuild New Orleans from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina and lure former and new companies into the area, many displaced Louisiana corporate decision-makers say they are seeing firsthand why so many businesses long ago migrated to Texas.
    Among the Houston attractions, they say, are a business-focused environment, safer streets, better schools and, not least on the list, no state personal income tax.
    Business leaders would like to see some of those things high on the list of priorities for a retooled New Orleans. "If New Orleans passes on this opportunity to improve itself, then we're not going to be a company headquartered in New Orleans. I guess that's our bottom line," said Dean Taylor, chairman and chief executive officer of Tidewater Inc., an offshore energy shipping service now operating out of Houston but in theory still based on Poydras Street.
    Just four days after Hurricane Katrina erased the people and businesses from New Orleans, the Houston media already was recording stories about Crescent City companies deciding to move their operations to Texas permanently. For New Orleans' corporate boosters, it was an old theme with a painful new twist.
    Even the person who chairs the business retention committee for Greater New Orleans Inc., which is the area's leading economic development group, was displaced to Houston. Bill Herrington, a Hibernia National Bank executive, took the daunting committee assignment before Katrina.
    "If there was a problem before, it's a much bigger problem now," Herrington said. "I can assure you there are wealthy individuals who have relocated to Texas. Now that they're there, why would they go back?"
    Richard Bachmann, chairman and chief executive of Energy Partners, an oil and gas exploration and production company that until Katrina was based on St. Charles Avenue, said businesses need the basics of infrastructure - effective levees, water supply, power, roads, police and fire protection - to even consider operating in New Orleans again.
    "Nobody's coming back to the city if we haven't solved the basic issues," Bachmann said. "We can all drink bottled water, but we don't want to take showers in water if it glows."
    Leveling the playing field
    While business leaders are looking for a strong signal from authorities in the near future that those matters will be taken care of, government officials must also take action to create a competitive local and state tax and regulatory environment, he said.
    "This state is not competitive in terms of costs of doing business in the state," Bachmann said. "And that's got to be on the agenda too."
    Herrington and others are hoping government policies post-Katrina will align with a new way of thinking about creating jobs and wealth in Louisiana. Although Hibernia has committed to returning to its New Orleans headquarters, some of the bank's client base is in doubt, and Herrington has contact daily with people making decisions about whether to return.
    "Wealth creates wealth," Herrington said, echoing a sentiment shared by a number of top New Orleans business executives in Houston last week. As Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and city and parish officials in the New Orleans area press for state and federal government recovery programs, they should keep their eye on the goal of luring business decision-makers and successful people in the private sector who have money to invest in business ventures and jobs, the executives said.
    The New Orleans region is bound to get a boost of business activity as billions of federal dollars flow into the region for rebuilding projects. But for business and people to repopulate the area for the long term, incentives should be created to make Louisiana at least as attractive as Texas is financially to company chiefs, including personal and corporate tax laws, said Chris Dicharry, a partner with the Kean Miller law and consulting firm who has worked on business recruitment initiatives.
    Spending money to rebuild the city and creating a host of government-backed low-cost financing programs for businesses are necessary steps that state and federal authorities ought to take, Herrington said.
    But that's not enough, because "financing doesn't drive an economy," Herrington said. "There has to be something else to drive that. If you have a vibrant economy, the financing is going to follow."
    Proposed tax breaks hailed
    U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal, R-Kenner, has expressed similar concerns and wants to see legislation that would create a dramatically lower tax bill for people who choose to move to the New Orleans area. Rather than depending too much on mammoth spending programs to spur rebirth of the city, which will have an impact over a few years, government tax breaks and other financial incentives would generate longer-term growth by appealing to the entrepreneurial spirit of people across the country willing to make a move and a long-term commitment to New Orleans, he said.
    Among the programs favored by Herrington is a Blanco proposal for a 50-percent federal income-tax holiday for five years for people who work in the Katrina impact area.
    Jay Lapeyre, president of Laitram LLC, a New Orleans-based manufacturer of food processing equipment currently in Houston, said such incentives hold other advantages.
    "The incentives don't fall prey to the political problem of corruption the way subsidies do," Lapeyre said.
    Tax incentives would seem less like a Louisiana money grab, said Mike Dumas, chief financial officer of the New Orleans ocean transport company Intermarine LLC, temporarily working out of Houston.
    The state's first major congressional initiative for a recovery package, orchestrated by Sens. Mary Landrieu and David Vitter, was a $250 billion proposal that was well-intentioned, Dumas said, but "just the way it came across was that it was just a grab by Louisiana politicians." As a result, Louisiana's credibility was hurt - some editorial writers called it the "Louisiana Looters Bill" - and from now on "everything's going to be viewed with a lot of skepticism" in Washington, he said.
    Intermarine had 45 people in its New Orleans office before Katrina, and "we'd love to be able to take them all back at the end of the day," Dumas said. "Whether we'll be able to do that is still up for discussion. We're trying to keep them motivated to stay with the company."
    If tax incentives would help those people hang on to some of the money they earn, then the employees might be more willing to accept the risks of going back to New Orleans.
    "We're not asking for any kind of a handout," Dumas said. "Really what we're asking for is to be able to hang on to more of what we do make, (and) then we can turn that over to the community, to make more investments."
    Greg Rusovich, president of Transoceanic Shipping, an international company that moved back to its main location in Kenner after the storm, said he is very concerned about the drain of wealth and brains from New Orleans.
    "If employers come back and wealth comes back, then that wealth will stimulate more growth," Rusovich said. "It will stimulate more people to come back."
    Businesses dislocated from New Orleans are watching to see how infrastructure will be rebuilt and how the new incentives to create wealth will be structured, Taylor said. But they won't wait and watch much longer before making important decisions.
    "We're going to know pretty early on, I think, whether it's going to be an effective process or not," Taylor said.
    Robert Travis Scott can be reached at roberttravisscott@yahoo.com or (225)342-4197.
     
  3. RocketMan Tex

    RocketMan Tex Member

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    The new New Orleans: nothing but casinos and Tillman Fertitta restaurants
     
  4. Mr. Brightside

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    I hope there is no N.O. We can drill for oil there, we can cut down its trees for lumber and little rabbits will be forced to drown in the ocean.
     
  5. MadMax

    MadMax Member

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    Sounds about right.

    I'm fascinated by this. In a sort of trainwreck sort of way. And I love NOLA. But this decision by individuals is what I find most fascinating about it...particularly business owners who provide jobs. Seriously...nothing but construction jobs there for years. Of those I know who are here from NOLA, only one family is going back, and that's because they're from the Algiers area which escaped the mess.

    Talked to people who went back..thinking they were going back for good...only to get there and say, "there's no way to live here." Homes that made it are full of mold...no business...no jobs...no service industry. That's just wild. I almost feel guilty that it interests me so much...but i'm not relishing in it, at all. It sucks.
     
  6. basso

    basso Member
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    nothin' but boobies.
     

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