Tourism and Industry

The Economic Redevelopment of New Orleans Must Include the Hospitality Industry

The New Orleans hospitality industry has thrived in the past.  Annually, tourism in New Orleans is a $5.5 billion industry, otherwise 15 million is lost everyday without tourism. According to the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, the city had 10.1 million visitors in 2004.  The Bureau in September 2005 also revealed that tourism was the second largest employer in New Orleans.  Other important statistics made available by the Bureau include New Orleans being the fifth most utilized city in America to host conventions, as well as the hospitality industry accounting for over 80,000 pre-Katrina jobs, and also the city employs two-thirds of the state’s hospitality industry workers.  It is no doubt then that the tourism industry contributed $156.8 million in taxes in 2004 to the state of Louisiana.  The Bureau also stated that if not for the tourist industry in New Orleans, each household of the state would have a yearly increase of $2,996 in taxes.

The keynote speaker, Pedro Mandoki, at a forum organized by the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Lester E. Kabacoff School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management at the University of New Orleans, said

despite the “cautious optimism” in 2005 now there is “extreme exuberance” in 2006, as hotel lodging increased.  However, according to Smith Travel Research Inc., local hotel room inventory is still 25 percent below normal, from 38,661 rooms in Orleans and Jefferson parishes before Katrina to 28,846 as of August 2006.  The percentage of rooms occupied the first seven months of 2006 was 68.4 percent, which is even with previous years, but it’s 68 percent of a less number of available rooms previously.  The daily room rate for New Orleans, during the first seven months of 2006 averaged $125.25, as revealed by Smith Travel.  But since a lot of those contractors and evacuees room fees were being paid by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), after they checked out of those lodging places, the average room rate in July fell to $49.96. 

New Orleans is waiting on the federal government (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) to approve $28.5 million in marketing funds to promote tourism and help in its economic recovery.  The Visitor’s Bureau revealed the core of the New Orleans hospitality and tourism industry were not directly effected by Katrina, and those included the Faubourg Marigny, French Quarter, Warehouse Arts District, Garden District/Uptown, Audubon and University section, Carrollton and Riverbend, and Algiers.  Also, the Bureau cited Jefferson Parish, Northshore, Slidell, Mandeville, Madisonville, Covington, Abita Springs and Folsom as “bustling” areas.

The New Orleans tourism industry has joined forces for the first time with the mayor and governor to generate information and data to direct a “fully integrated” Crisis Management Program for the city.  The New Orleans Tourism Crisis Management Plan will respond to future emergencies, which include, fire, structural damage, hurricane, flood, tornado, power outages, medical emergencies, bomb and terrorist threats.  The new Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau (NOMCVB) Crisis Communication Team have put together a group of executive staff with emergency management experience to execute this emergency plan.  The NOMCVB is the only agency in New Orleans which on a daily basis interacts with tourist industry operatives locally, nationally and internationally. 

As of September 2006, 103 of 140 metropolitan hotels are now open, with 90 of them located in downtown New Orleans.  There are some 28,000 of 38,000 hotel rooms available in metropolitan new Orleans.  The Ritz-Carlton is scheduled to reopen in December 2006.  The Hyatt is also being renovated and will reopen sometime in the fall of 2007.

Conventions and meetings business will also be key for the economic recovery of New Orleans.  Forty percent of conventions and meetings business for 2006 was garnered compared to previous years.  The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, the New Orleans Arena, the Louisiana Superdome are all expected to help in 70 percent of convention and business meetings being retained for 2007, with over 90 percent retained for 2008.  Some of the major tourist attractions include Harrah’s Casino, the Audubon Zoo, Aquarium and IMAX theater, Mardi Gras World, Café Du Monde, paddlewheel cruises on the Mississippi River, carriage rides through the French Quarter and CBD, ferry rides across the Mississippi River, the Steamboat Natchez and the Creole Queen, plantation, swamp and specialty tours, nightclubs and music spots.  Other cultural institutions which will attract tourists include the New Orleans Museum of Art and Besthoff Sculpture Garden, The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the National World War II Museum, the Contemporary Arts Center and the Louisiana Children’s Museum, the New Orleans Ballet, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as many community theatres throughout metropolitan New Orleans.           

Some of the successes of 2006, drawing tourists to New Orleans, were the Mardi Gras with over 700,000 revelers, The Tennessee Williams Literary Festival, the New Orleans Zephyrs Baseball Season Opener (a sold-out crowd), The French Quarter Festival, the Zurich PGA Classic was a six day total of 128,000 and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival had over 350,00 in attendance, the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience, COOLinary New Orleans: Celebrating Dining in America’s Most Delicious City, the Satchmo Summerfest, and  the New Orleans Saints sold out Monday Night Football telecast on September 25, 2006.  Still to come November 25, 2006 will be The Bayou Classic football game featuring Southern University vs. Grambling University.  The city of New Orleans can also look forward to hosting The New Orleans Bowl on December 22, 2006, the All-State Sugar Bowl Classic played at the Superdome on January 3, 2007, and the National Basketball Association playing its 2008 All-Atar Game.

Air Transportation in New Orleans has mainly been served by the Louis Armstrong International Airport (LAIT).  As of July 2006, LAIT reported there were 111 flights serving 33 cities (64 percent the number of daily departures and 77 percent the number of destinations; 13, 185 seats, or 59 percent of Pre-Katrina level of seats per day).  LAIT has 107 non-stop flights to 33 cities daily.  Airlines operating out of New Orleans include Air Canada, Air Tran, America West, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Frontier Air, Jet Blue, Midwest, Northwest Air, Southwest Airlines, TACA (pending), United Airlines, and U.S. Airways. 

The official ground transportation for LAIT has been Airport Shuttle Inc., providing service to and from New Orleans’ hotels and other locations.  The fare is 13.00 each way.  Taxis are also available.  Taxis rates are $2.50 plus $1.60 per mile (.20 per one-eighth mile) thereafter, and also there is a charge of $1.00 per passenger after the first passenger. New Orleans is also served by the Regional Transit Authority (RTA), as of July 2006, a free service, however in August 2006 plans were to be implemented for a fee of $1.25.  The city is also twenty nine bus lines, providing 25,000 rides daily, along with the New Orleans Streetcar line which is partially back after Katrina. 

The port of New Orleans is operating at 100 percent of its capacity.  The Delphin Renaissance, a six hundred passenger luxury ship, was the first cruise ship after Katrina to dock in New Orleans in December 2005.  The cruise planned to return to New Orleans in October 2006, including the Norwegian Cruise Lines and the Carnival Cruise Lines.  Royal Caribbean International and also Excursion Lines both return in December.

According to statistics from the Louisiana Department of Economic Development (LDED), and also by the Times-Picayune on April 16, 2006, 62,300 businesses have reopened since Hurricane Katrina, of the 81,000 local businesses in the 10 parish metropolitan area.  The LDED reports, 17716 of Orleans Parish’s businesses have reopened, to almost 90 percent of pre-Katrina figures.

The future growth of New Orleans must include a commitment to technological innovations, amidst its other business industries.  Technology should be at the forefront of industry in New Orleans.  The Louisiana Technology Council (LTC) perhaps should be given more varied powers in the economic rebuilding process and vitality of New Orleans’ infrastructure.  The LTC  was organized in 1994, with its mission statement as follows:

          to encourage the advancement of technology applications and to   

It was on November 29, 2005, the city of New Orleans became the first city in America to provide free wireless internet service.  The New Orleans WiFi System became a reality in part to equipment donated by Intel Corp., Tropos Networks Inc. and Pronto Networks, which gave internet access throughout the CBD and French Quarter.  Louisiana state law declared it illegal for a municipality to own and run a network offering speeds of 128Kbps or faster , so as of May 2006, the city of New Orleans has welcomed Earthlink to install citywide mesh networks without cost to taxpayers. 

Technology should be made available to students and their parents in New Orleans as has been done by efforts of the Dell TechKnow Program, an after school program providing underserved junior high students with an opportunity to earn a home computer and learn technology promoting self-esteem, academic success, and preparing students for the technology based society we live now in.  The Dell TechKnow Program sponsored a Family Technology Day at New Orleans Science and Math High School.  Additional support for the Dell Tech Know program in New Orleans is funded  by Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., Science Engineering Associates, Inc., and Major Services, Inc.

The statistics below show the total number of employees in each industry sector in the New Orleans metropolitan area, as of June. Figures show the percentage change from a year earlier.

Private Education and Health Services [-44%]

1.      College and Universities [-34%]

2.      Other Education [-68%]

3.      Hospitals [-17%]

4.      Other Health Care [-68%]

5.      Ambulatory Care [-45%]

·        Ochsner Health System, one of the largest employers raise wages to attract workers in some key areas like nursing. Tulane, the largest university reduced staffing by 1,000.

1. Employment Services [-40%]
2. Administrative and Support Services [-29%]
3. Legal [-37%]
4. Management [-22%]
5. Advertising, design, architecture and others [-52%]

• Many in this sector do not have as much work as before, but law firms are an exception.

1. Restaurants and Bars [-32%]
2. Hotels [-22%]
3. Gambling [-53%]
4. Other Arts [-63%]

• Ritz Carlton is only preparing to reopen its hotels. The Ralph Brennan Restaurants Group raised hourly wages an average of $2 to get skilled cooks and server. Harrah’s casino is operating with a few hundred fewer employees.

1. Grocery and Beverage Stores [-69%]
2. Health Stores [-34%]
3. General Stores [-49%]
4. Other Retail [-20%]
5. Transportation and Warehousing [-10%]
6. Durable Wholesale [-34%]
7. Nondurable Wholesale [Unchanged]
8. Utilities [-4%]
9. Other Wholesale [-39%]

• Wal-Mart has reopened two super-centers but still has not reached employment numbers before the storm.

1. Banking [-29%]
2. Other Credit [-7%]
3. Investments, Insurance, Real Estate, Other Finance [-24%]

• Many Capital One bank branches have opened, though not in the hardest hit areas of Katrina.

1. Specialty Contractors [-42%]
2. Heavy Construction [-19%]
3. Other Construction [-37%]
4. Oil Drilling [-6%]
5. Other Mining [+38%]

• Boh Bros. is up to 1,500 employees, the same as before the storm, and expects revenue to grow by more that $100 million this year.

1. Publishing, Movie Theaters, Telecommunications [-22%]

• Bellsouth reopened offices, but moved a calling center and 200 jobs elsewhere.

1. Local [-15%]
2. State [-5%]
3. Federal [-18%]

• Many of the largest governmental employers were hospitals, which have had problems.

• City has role in helping tourism.

• With each new festival and conference that the city offers transportation assistance and we insist that venues are located in all workable communities.

• City needs to work with airlines to keep tickets at affordable level.

• Cutting edge vision of twenty –first internet investment

• Re-equitable arrangement from tourism, ports, fishing industry

• Courting other industries, such as entertainment industry, film commission, computer companies (with the investment of technology).

• Capitalizing on the culture and building a state of the arts convention and music center.

• To make New Orleans a tourist center.
• To build a 716 million “Hyatt Jazz District”
• Boutiquing of New Orleans with an economy designed to service high end clientele, tourist and nomadic population of thrill seeking young people.
• Use tourism of historic restaurants as a worker recruiting drive for new and old New Orleans’s citizens.
• Free use of city publicity boards for revitalizing restaurants and shops.

• Estimates of June 2006 set the city’s population at well below 200,000.
• Three out of four New Orleans are native New Orleans.
•  About 8,500 people showed up last October at a government sponsored job fair in Houston; 2000 found work that day.
• As many as 10 long established New Orleans churches have moved to Houston. John Taylor, a native 33 year old New Orleans, states, “For years, we considered moving to Houston. The church is the only thing that kept us in New Orleans.”
• New Orleans has been given 7.5 billion in Federal grants.
• Leah Chase, 83 year black lady revered as the nation’s Creole chief.

  Tourism and Industry Cost benefit Analysis 

Rebuilding Project:   

The rebuilding of tourist attractions damaged by Katrina.  Financial assistance to help those in travel and hospitality industry who have been affected by economic losses due to less city visitors.  Incentives for business industries to invest and re-invest in New Orleans.

v     The travel industry has been one of the most profitable business industries in Louisiana and must remain so, generating over 5 billion dollars annually, and this thriving industry will help the economic recovery of the region.

v     Technology innovation should be high priority for reconstructing New Orleans.

Constraints:

v     The tourist industry waiting for federal funds from the US Department of Housing and Urban , $28.5 million for tourist promotion purposes.

v     New Orleans city officials lack of working with private sector/ business industries to secure needed funds for economic recovery.

Non-recurring Costs

v     Collaboration of city and business industry.

v     Multidisciplinary group of world-class experts funded by grants to help advise city officials and the business sector working to rebuild economic stability.

Recurring Costs

v     Advertisements and Promotions.

v     Operation of Ground Transportation, i.e., RTA and streetcar line.

v     Upkeep of landmark/historic attractions.

v     Upkeep of convention and business meeting facilities.

Tangible Benefits

v     Increased overall economic opportunities.

v     Revitalization of thriving tourist industry.

v     A growing business industry.

v     A more literate and advanced technological society.

Intangible Benefits

v     Legacy of New Orleans still lives.

v     Mental and psychic restoration to many residents.

v     Return of “exiles.”

Comparison of Costs and Benefits

v     The rebuilding of New Orleans will create economic opportunities in many ways.  Needed projects have been the Louisiana Superdome and the E.N. Morial Convention Center costing around $240 million, Harrah’s Hotel and Fulton Promenade at $170 million, the Hyatt Regency National Jazz Park & Municipal Complex at $700 Million, LIFT Productions Digital Media Studio/ Soundstage Training Complex at $180 million, and the Trump Tower Condominium Development at $100 million.  These projects are needed in the revitalization of New Orleans and must be completed despite the financial costs.

v     The goal is to increase the overall economic opportunities in New Orleans, so the tangible benefits of a thriving tourist industry and a growing business industry are inextricably tied to the intangible reality that the legacy of the city must live and that will be accomplished by new visitors, as well as the relocation of those former “exiles.”

Ethical Considerations:

Politics must be laid aside by city officials for the sake of New Orleans.  These city representatives must make lawful concessions if necessary to work with the business industry to provide complete economic recovery to one of the most revered city’s in the Untied States.  The state of Louisiana should also be working to make it accommodating for the city of New Orleans and the business sector to work together, especially since the tourist industry plays such a big role in the overall revenue of this poor state. 

First, even though it was written in 1983, many of the issues the author brought up still remain, the major one, to my mind, being the lack of industries in New Orleans.  The author notes that even back then, many companies preferred not to move to New Orleans because the poor public education meant a lack of skilled workers.

This, to my mind, is going to be the biggest problem for us in dealing with this section.  Tourism is the biggest money-maker for New Orleans, but the jobs associated with supporting the tourism industry are among the lowest paying in today's economy. Not only are they low-paying, but there's almost never any chance of advancement; a hotel front desk manager is probably never going to become CEO, or indeed anything other than the desk manager.  Same for all the wait staff, sales clerks, janitors, and so on, and on.  Tourist dollars are necessary, and they can help rebuild the city physically, but they don't do all that much in themselves for most working folks.

We may, in this regard, want to propose a living wage statute.

Also in the essay, many times Hirsch noted that corporations had located in Houston or Atlanta or other sunbelt cities, rather than New Orleans, because the culture of the political and social elites was highly conservative (in a business sense) and resistant to any change, even if it would be to the city's economic benefit.  Now, part of this is due to the endemic political corruption in New Orleans and Louisiana generally, but that's not the whole of it.

One of my favorite authors used to write of people being divided into two general types: neophiles (who love new things and readily, even inadvisedly, embrace change) and neophobes (who fear anything new or different and are very preservationist of their ways).  This sort of thing has cropped up in many of the readings we've done over the course of the semester, that New Orleans culture is, to use this terminology, neophobic.  It has the mindset of being the preeminent historic city of the United States, so much so that it hasn't been able to, nor even wanted to, keep up with the times.  This is a big problem.

But the biggest thing we need to do, as far as tourism and industry are concerned, is fix the damn schools.  This is a long-term project, of course, since the economic benefits of better schools won't be manifest until the schools have had the chance to do their work.  But without a better-educated and better-skilled workforce, the city is never going to create the kinds of jobs that pay more than minimum wage. 

Rebuilding Project: The New Orleans levee system needs not just to be repaired, but in major ways redesigned and rebuilt.

Assumptions: New Orleans has been called the "impossible but inevitable city," by which is meant, on the one hand, the area historically has been mostly marsh/wetlands, with little solid ground on which to build, but on the other hand, the location (the mouth of the Mississippi River) and the long record of human use of the region (archaeology shows that Native Americans have been making use of the natural resources of this region for centuries prior to European encroachment) almost naturally compels settlers to build there.  This being the case, New Orleans cannot simply be abandoned or "moved" somehow to another location.  The history of economic, cultural, and political investment requires us to develop ways to protect the city in this location.  A further assumption is the levee system, being a massive engineering project, requires input and commitment from local, state, and federal authorities.

Constraints: When New Orleans was initially settled, both by Native American tribes and later by European colonists, settlement was built strictly on top of a series of natural levees; until technological developments in the early 20th century, building was mostly restricted to such areas.  The development of new systems of pumps enabled the draining of areas that were previously marsh and are in fact well below sea level.  Large swaths of heavily populated areas of the city are below sea level, and these areas will have to be preserved and protected rather than simply abandoned; however, the very geography of the city may necessitate that portions of these low-lying areas not be resettled.

Conditions: A major issue in the history of the development of the levee system in New Orleans has been the lack of local input in the process.  The engineer who originally oversaw the construction of the levees was not from the area and was not familiar with the distinct characteristics of the geography and geology of the New Orleans area.  To this end, the redesign project must include local experts who can bring their particular expertise to the table.

The Plan: The levee system was initially installed in the 1840s; even if it had been built to the highest standards of its day (it was not), as we have seen, it is in severe need of an overhaul.  Furthermore, it was designed as a "levee-only" system, relying strictly on levees to prevent flooding of the city.  In addition, New Orleans' importance as a port has led to large-scale dredging of the mouth of the Mississippi River, as well as depletion and destruction of the coastal wetlands; these are both factors in the magnitude of the storm surge that hit the city.

            To this end, we recommend that the world's best experts be brought to bear upon the problem of the redesign of the levees: the Dutch.  The system of levees, flood gates, and flood plains that the Dutch have built are estimated able to withstand anything short of a 10,000-year storm, whereas New Orleans' system proved vulnerable to a mere hundred-year storm (which, given the realities of global warming, are now likely to occur more often than once every century).  What is more, the Dutch are enthusiastic about sharing their expertise and by all accounts would be glad to help.  Therefore, a team should be put together consisting of the top Dutch experts and the top local experts, who can bring their intimate familiarity with the area's peculiarities to the planning process.

            The redesign and rebuilding should focus not only upon the levees, but also upon (1) preserving coastal wetlands, (2) promoting the regrowth of those wetlands, and (3) designating certain areas as flood plains so that storm surges and flood waters may be channeled away from inhabited areas.

            A second team of experts is also needed.  This second group will consist of local engineers, city officials, and representatives from each of the city's wards, and their task will be to undertake yearly inspections of the levees to determine where maintenance, repairs, and improvements are needed, and to bring these issues to the attention of, not just government authorities, but also to the residents of the city themselves.  This second group is needed, we felt, because so many warnings went unheeded and slipped easily out of the public eye.  Bringing in representatives from the individual wards themselves will encourage greater transparency and hopefully keep all the responsible parties on top of the situation.

Costs:  Certain Dutch experts who have examined the situation have said that a redesign and reconstruction could be done for as little as $10 billion.  This is a large initial outlay, and funding for this expense would have to come from the federal level.  Recurring costs after the redesign include the standing inspection committee, and any repairs/improvements they happen to recommend.

            A further cost, both monetarily and culturally/socially/emotionally, is the loss of areas which the engineering team determines need to be designated flood plains or returned to wetlands.  Persons and businesses that own property in such areas need to be given fair and equitable compensation for their property (that is to say, the land must not merely be condemned and seized, but purchased at fair market-value).  While priority will be given to protecting the entire existing city with the new system, realistically, marsh areas were drained and settled that never should have been, and some portion of these may have to be returned to marsh in order to better defend the city as a whole.

Benefits: While the cost of redesign and rebuilding is quite high, seen in the long term (by which is meant not merely years or decades but centuries) the actual cost is quite low.  Yearly maintenance on a system built to withstand storms far more powerful than Katrina are preferable to having to rebuild the entire city every time the current, inadequate system fails. 

            Furthermore, restoring proper marsh and wetland environments will have a beneficial impact upon the whole ecology of the region, which has long suffered from overuse of resources and rampant environmental pollution.

            If this plan is followed, current residents who have fled will be more likely to want to return to the city, secure in the knowledge that they have the best flood-control system that modern technology can design, and secure in the knowledge that a watchdog apparatus is in place to ensure that the system will not be left to fall into disrepair.

            Finally, it will provide an enormous boost to the reputation of the city to take an innovative and proactive leap forward.  Much of the damage the city suffered is perceived as a consequence of the endemic corruption and malfeasance that has plagued New Orleans' history; a bold step into the future, with full transparency and a willingness to spend what it will take, will go a long way toward mitigating this perception.

The statistics below show the total number of employees in each industry sector in the New Orleans metropolitan area, as of June. Figures show the percentage change from a year earlier.

Private Education and Health Services [-44%]

1.      College and Universities [-34%]

2.      Other Education [-68%]

3.      Hospitals [-17%]

4.      Other Health Care [-68%]

5.      Ambulatory Care [-45%]

·         Ochsner Health System, one of the largest employers raise wages to attract workers in some key areas like nursing. Tulane, the largest university reduced staffing by 1,000.

1. Employment Services [-40%]
2. Administrative and Support Services [-29%]
3. Legal [-37%]
4. Management [-22%]
5. Advertising, design, architecture and others [-52%]

• Many in this sector do not have as much work as before, but law firms are an exception.

1. Restaurants and Bars [-32%]
2. Hotels [-22%]
3. Gambling [-53%]
4. Other Arts [-63%]

• Ritz Carlton is only preparing to reopen its hotels. The Ralph Brennan Restaurants Group raised hourly wages an average of $2 to get skilled cooks and server. Harrah’s casino is operating with a few hundred fewer employees.

1. Grocery and Beverage Stores [-69%]
2. Health Stores [-34%]
3. General Stores [-49%]
4. Other Retail [-20%]
5. Transportation and Warehousing [-10%]
6. Durable Wholesale [-34%]
7. Nondurable Wholesale [Unchanged]
8. Utilities [-4%]
9. Other Wholesale [-39%]

• Wal-Mart has reopened two supercenters but still has not reach employment numbers before storm.

1. Banking [-29%]
2. Other Credit [-7%]
3. Investments, Insurance, Real Estate, Other Finance [-24%]

• Many Capital One bank branches have opened, tough not I the hardest hit areas.

1. Specialty Contractors [-42%]
2. Heavy Construction [-19%]
3. Other Construction [-37%]
4. Oil Drilling [-6%]
5. Other Mining [+38%]

• Boh Bros. is up to 1,500 employees, the same as before the storm, and expects revenue to grow by more that $100 million this year.

1. Publishing, Movie Theaters, Telecommunications [-22%]

• Bellsouth reopened offices, but moved a calling center and 200 jobs elsewhere.

1. Local [-15%]
2. State [-5%]
3. Federal [-18%]

• Many of the largest governmental employers were hospitals, which have had problems.

• City has role in helping tourism.

• With each new festival and conference that the city offers transportation assistance and we insist that venues are located in all workable communities.

• City needs to work with airlines to keep tickets at affordable level.

• Cutting edge vision of twenty –first internet investment

• Re-equitable arrangement from tourism, ports, fishing industry

• Courting other industries, such as entertainment industry, film commission, computer companies (with the investment of technology).

• Capitalizing on the culture and building a state of the arts convention and music center.

• To make New Orleans a tourist center.
• To build a 716 million “Hyatt Jazz District”
• Boutiquing of New Orleans with an economy designed to service high end clientele, tourist and nomadic population of thrill seeking young people.
• Use tourism of historic restaurants as a worker recruiting drive for new and old New Orleans’s citizens.
• Free use of city publicity boards for revitalizing restaurants and shops.

• Estimates of June 2006 set the city’s population at well below 200,000.
• Three out of four New Orleans are native New Orleans.
•  About 8,500 people showed up last October at a government sponsored job fair in Houston; 2000 found work that day.
• As many as 10 long established New Orleans churches have moved to Houston. John Taylor, a native 33 year old New Orleans, states, “For years, we considered moving to Houston. The church is the only thing that kept us in New Orleans.”
• New Orleans has been given 7.5 billion in Federal grants.
• Leah Chase, 83 year black lady revered as the nation’s Creole chief.

Just asked Mary about the airport situation, and she was saying the reason the airport is only at half-capacity more than a year after the hurricane is because the airlines haven't reinstituted the pre-Katrina number of flights.  It's a little baffling why, but some of it seems to be price-gouging on the part of said airlines, particularly ticket hikes in the weeks leading up to major conventions.

Food for thought. 

Interesting report by Brown University about which areas of the city sustained damage, and in those areas, what percent of the population is black, poor, renters, or unemployed.  The last three pages are most intriguing, about policy implications.  There are several blocks to rebuilding, including some bureaucratic blocks, for example, in order to get power restored, property owners have to present evidence of an inspection by a licensed electrician, but, as of September of last year, the local electric provider had filed for bankrupcy protection.

Notes the fact that we've seen elsewhere, that white homeowners are much more likely to be able to move back and rebuild than black homeowners.

Also notes that in January, the Bring New Orleans Back Commission (a city policy group) recommended a temporary ban on building permits, only allowing them in neighborhoods that show evidence (within a time frame of four months) that residents were going to return in large numbers.  The study notes that this recommendation had not been formally adopted (at least, not as of the report date, which was back at the beginning of this year).

Overall, I think this study reinforces the fact that, if we want the natives -- particularly the black community -- to be able to return, there's going to have to be some massive aid for rebuilding.  As it is, the report left me with the impression that precisely nothing is being done at a policy level, and that this neglect is going to inevitably lead to a radical shift in the racial composition of the city. 

(1) Green Roofs : Actually growing grasses and herbs on the roof of a building.  Massive cooling benefits over tar or shingles.  Also, it's highly aesthetically pleasing.  see [Click to view link] for some examples and illustrations.

(2) Geothermal Heat Pumps : A system whereby one uses a series of pipe-loops deep under the ground to use the earth's natural temperature to regulate the temperature inside the building.  This seems especially beneficial for New Orleans, because apparently geothermal heat pumps work best in soils that are more wet than dry.  See [Click to view link] for a more detailed description of how they work.  Estimated cost is $7500, but since many if not most homes will simply have to be rebuilt from the ground up, working it into the initial building cost may lower the price; also, if we require this of all new homes built or rebuilt, we can issue tax breaks, and ordering geothermal heat pumps in the quantities needed (1000s) will also lower the cost.  Once in place, they apparently require little to no upkeep.

(3) Rainwater catchment : Especially important since we're going to be growing plants on roofs.  Most rainwater in cities simply goes into the storm drains and is lost.  These systems would collect it from off of the roof and cache it in a cistern, and then used for any non-potable use (e.g., garden irrigation or toilets).  See [Click to view link] and [Click to view link] for a few details.  Also of note, Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House (see [Click to view link]) was designed for rainwater catchment.

In fact, there's a lot about the Dymaxion House I like: mass-producable, sturdy, energy and water efficient.  Also, they are round and futuristic.  I'd love to see these all over the city....

(4) Solar Roofs : Check this out: [Click to view link]  "A typical system will generate two thirds of the hot water and half the electricity required to run a three-bedroom home."  Obviously, green roofs and solar roofs are different paths, but they could be combined in various ways to make the new homes beautiful and energy efficient.

(5) Microhydro Power Generation : Here's a company that makes microhydro-electric systems: [Click to view link]  Costs would be $1750-$2200, but again economies of scale can work for us here.  There's so much water and so many waterways around New Orleans, neighborhoods ought to make use of some of this.

Lastly, check out this article: [Click to view link]  This development will incorporate a number of the suggestions outlined above.  Important to note is the architect's drawing that accompanies the article.  This development and all the suggestions above will likely radically change the appearance of residential areas.  I know one of the selling points for tourists is the age of the city, but we needn't replicate that age in areas where people actually live.  The tourists can always have the French Quarter.  The places people actually live should reflect the 21st century, not the late 19th or early 20th.  I might even contend that living in a neighborhood that looks like it's straight out of the 1930s or 1890s helps, in a subtle way, preserve or promote old ways of thinking, like entrenched segregation, an atmosphere of corruption, or a general sense of malaise (on this last, see the summary of the study here: [Click to view link]).

Over the last two weeks, the environmental and Urban planning research group has focused on how cities have developed. Looking especially at the city of New Orleans, the group looked at the zoning issues surrounding New Orleans’ wealthy and impoverished communities as well as suggestions for the future. We also looked at the development of cities downtowns and mainstreets. We also traced the periods of New Orleans’ city developments and how the city was affected. And, in the end, we focused on how race and ethnic cultures developed within the city.