Wednesday, November 11, 2009

On the stinky cheese scale...

...this municipal auditorium plan has gone from limburger to munster. James Gill weighs in:

Patronage of the arts -- Nagin and the Municipal Auditorium: James Gill


I was pretty much dead on that they're planning on using federal and state tax dollars to create a recording studio, audio/video production house, etc. which would most likely put a number of local businesses out of business. Word is they've even struck a deal with this company:

SIR

...out of Nashville to come in and set up shop. Here's a good question, "How did they strike a deal with these guys before they got the bid?" This company's presence alone would destroy a handful of local businesses who have been struggling to survive in Post-K New Orleans.

So I would like to see Juneau and Mayfield stand in front of these struggling New Orleans business owners and justify how they're about to use their own tax dollars to put them out of business.....I cry bullshit.

Something tells me this thing will end up being another anchor around the city's neck. Plus a 50 year lease? No frikkin' way.

City council needs to put the kabosh on this. Send it back to the kitchen and see what the next administration cooks up.

11 comments:

mcbrid35 said...

And of course, the city hasn't even approached the state about getting the building on the National Register - a process that would take at least a year and is apparently key to doing this awful deal (through preservation tax credits).

For that reason alone it is DOA.

whirlygurl said...

I don't get how a thirty year old mediocre horn player becomes an expert in libraries, in abandoned and blighted property and now is a developer. He got money from the city for the Jazz Orchestra and now gets our tax money for this boondoggle. Dambala, you are right. Studios can barely survive now, this won't help the economy, it will only help those paid to develop it. Then we the taxpayers are stuck with "their" vision. The 50 year lease is the least of our problems, the bonds that will probably have to be issued will have to be guaranteed by the city. If it doesn't make it, like Jazzland or the Plaza Theatre in the east, the city still has to pay those debt obligations.

If they aren't getting a bond issue for redevelopment, and are going to finance it privately, I doubt they will have much luck. The only person who has any experience or financial where with all is Juneau. I think in today's financial climate, he will have a hard time getting this financed.

Another interesting point is that Rehage is in this....Ernest Collins must be lurking around it somewhere since the Live music component looks remarkably like Louisiana Jukebox.

Anonymous said...

This sucks.

They are bringing in people from Nashville instead of helping their own taxpayers, and they haven't even applied for the status that would give them the preservation monies?

WTF! WTF!

vern said...

Nagin should not be allowed to spend another penny of public money. His deals are too reminiscent of Morial's last minute deals like Johnson Controls and Pappy Barre' sweeheart deals.


With a defecit of $68 million, how even one more dollar be spent until a complete assessment of all expenditures is made?

Anonymous said...

See how the council said nothing?

See how Jackie Clarkson had a campaign bash at the penthouse of the Ritz last friday, PAID FOR BY Stewart Juneau!!!

And there was a certain iconic Australian animal present. Not Ed Blakely... One with a pouch.

Anonymous said...

Have preservation tax credits been sought or applied to the former City Hall Annex?

nolamotion said...

Thanks for saving me the trouble of posting on the subject for you hit upon many of the points I would make regarding local studios and businesses, plus the addition of the SIR connection. Great work, Dambala!

When I was at the (now functionally defunct)Louisiana Music Commission and WWOZ sought to use public money for a studio in Armstrong Park, I got calls from prominent studio owners angry at the potential of publicly subsidized competition--a very valid point. It's not economic development if you put existing private sector companies out of business, a bad habit of too many so-called economic development "experts."

Where was the Blue Ribbon Panel and public hearings/input? Who are the 50 people who supposedly contributed to this plan?

After the way Rehage abused the landscape, facilities and trees in City Park, I believe he should be constrained from doing anything with important public spaces until he atones. And exactly what will Collins' role be? Mark Smith goes to jail while some of these characters continue to line up at the buffet. Lady Justice ate only appetizers at that party.

This stinks worse than Roosevelt Mall in City Park after this year's Voodoo fest. Thanks, Dambala!

Anonymous said...

"Lady Justice ate only appetizers at that party."

Dambala, the people who comment at your blog are great. Your fans are entertaining.

Anonymous said...

Damabala, can you tell those of us who are ignorant some more about Jim Singleton?

Jindal put him on the Gaming Commission, he is a big cheese at NORA, and he has some longstanding political back story and rep that I for one don't know enough about.

Jason Brad Berry said...

Singleton is a former city council member, still holds a lot political clout. Its interesting to see him weigh on this.

The article worries me because it looks like this thing has more steam than what I thought.

Anonymous said...

Nagin is going to Mexico. See nola.com

Why is New Orleans a sister city with a place that is a tourism and seafood competitor?

Their other industries are hammocks and the illegal drug trade.

Did the Mayor really say that he plans to help struggling New Orleans businesses by moving some of their jobs to Mexico?