Part Une - Blurred Lines, Big Egos and Batshit Bike Lanes

There is probably no more contentious subject in New Orleans than the epic battle between developers and preservationists.  I honestly think this subject rises even above that of race in this city, although race is always at the crux of land use conflicts.  

With public land, it's especially heated.  

Despite all of our governmental inadequacies and cultural clashes, I honestly think New Orleans has done a pretty good balancing act in respect to preservation and development.  I know there are those reading this from one side or the other with mouth agape at that sentiment but hear me out for one second.  

From the late 70s to the present if you look at the history of development in the heart of the City, the CBD/Warehouse District and the French Quarter, I think the balancing act between the two sides has been rather impressive. 

Don't get me wrong, there have been major faux pas as well, i.e. the Hard Rock (and anything Kalais does for that matter), the lack of development on the Riverfront from the crumbling Governor Nichol's Street Wharf to the derelict Market Street Power Plant, to the most expensive radio tower platform in history - the Plaza Tower - eventually falling in to such a state of disrepair they couldn't even put antennae on it.

There is a lot of neglect but there is still a lot to admire.

The French Quarter speaks for itself.   There is nothing else like it in this country and there will never be anything like it because it has been religiously guarded and preserved for decades. 

Almost as impressive...look at our Warehouse District.  Pre-1984 World's Fair, the area was largely a dump which could have easily been razed to clear the way for cheap fabricated crap that is all too familiar now in many urban landscapes across America.  Instead, it was both revitalized and preserved and at the time that vision was pioneering in the U.S. as we slipped into the reality of post-industrial urban landscapes.  Much of the Warehouse District's rebirth can be accredited to two developers, Pres Kabacoff and Ed Boatner, and their company Historic Restoration Incorporated (HRI), that leveraged "Public-Private Partnerships" with the city to restore and repurpose many of the derelict factories, mills and warehouses into livable spaces. New Orleans Warehouse District actually became a model for other cities facing post-industrial blight.

I know some of my friends just read that and said, "This can't be Jason writing this."  Well....it is.  You have to give credit where it is due and I don't think anyone can look at the New Orleans Warehouse District and say it isn't a triumph.  I have other issues with Kabacoff as I'm sure many people do but he and Boatner deserve credit here.

Now, on the flip side of the coin, look at Daryl Berger's sweetheart public/private deal he finagled at about the same time (early 80's) on Decatur Street in the Quarter.  He managed to land about a four block stretch of the most valuable real estate in the city...on the Riverfront....in the heart of the French Quarter....for about a million bucks.  The original agreement with the City was that he would develop the land into businesses that would serve as job creators.  While he did build the Jax Brewery, he kicked the can down the road on the remaining plots of land claiming financial hardship due to the oil bust that saw an exodus of big petroleum companies flee New Orleans for Houston and Dallas.  As much as I've looked into this deal I still don't understand what the oil industry had to do with development in the heart of the French Quarter.  Regardless, he was eventually let off the hook after then Councilperson Jackie Clarkson (self-ascribed real estate expert) got a resolution passed through Council to absolve him of the original terms of the deal. 

...maybe....not exactly sure about that...  

I've looked into it and I still think the he's in breach of the original contract and there is no statute of limitations on a civil contract of this nature.  Not that the City would ever pursue it but I'd be curious if any lawyers weighed in on it.  

Original point being....we now have the exact opposite of what the deal was designed to do...create jobs.  Instead, most of that once public land was converted into private open-air parking lots for nearly half a century that may employee one person at minimum wage while generating millions annually.  I can't begin to fathom the ROI on this initial one million dollar investment in what was undoubtedly the sweetest land grab in the history of the city.  I mean mad props to him for pulling that off but we are still publicly paying the price for it, exponentially, as time progresses. 

While the HRI Warehouse development was one of the first successful public/private ventures in the city, even the country, the track record for public/private partnerships in New Orleans since then has not been so rosy.  In fact, developers quickly realized the benefit of using public money to develop private real estate ventures and.....you know where this story goes.  Politicians...handouts....back room deals....the only business that never falters in New Orleans. 

I could spiral off into a tangential void on so many examples of public/private chimeras that have not served the best interest of the city and how it's become it's own "game"....I mean LaSalle Street/LSED/Champion's Square for fuck's sake....but I must resist to get to my actual thesis here. 

Having researched the history of public/private developments in NOLA, it's occurred to me the line has become so blurred that our government officials are even confused as to their roles and job descriptions. 

Nowhere in the job description of City Council does it say "Junior Developer!"  It's not a council person's job to dream up new land developments in their districts....their job is to create budgets to maintain the existing infrastructure needed to run their districts and make sure that the work is completed.  They may vote on whether or not to allow developments but they aren't supposed to be sitting around dreaming up shit they think is cool while our electricity goes out every other day, our streets are nearly impassable and....ahhhggg!!!! You know the rest.   

Case in point,  I live on the Wank, right off MacArthur Blvd.  If you haven't heard (and most of you probably haven't because we're kind of on our own over here in Lower Algiers) the city just saw fit to put in the most ridiculously designed bike path grid on the boulevard one could imagine.  I mean...it's so gloriously fucked in respect to the actual traffic patterns and needs of the community I can't even describe it.  I can imagine some city planning dude sitting in an office on the West Coast looking at Lower Algiers on Google Earth and thinking "Oh yeah...this is just like that neighborhood in Portland...I know exactly what to do here!" 

No dude...no....we are not Portland.  We are not a city that enjoys actual functional city services.  You can't use a bike lane that is blocked with tree limbs, trash cans and water pooled up from clogged storm drains.  They decommissioned an entire lane in order to make riding a bike down the street more dangerous than what it already was.  I'm serious....I got nothing against riding a bike, I have a bike and I ride it around the hood.  I'm not joking when I tell you it was easier and safer to get down MacArthur for bicycle and motor vehicle before they did this.  

Why did our District C Councilperson, Kristin Palmer, promote spending millions of dollars on this fuck'snu?  It was developed by the non-profit Bike Easy but there seems to be an ulterior private interest at play regarding a bike rental business, e.g., Blue Bikes.  In a town hall meeting there was even a mention of "tourists" utilizing the bike lanes here in Lower Algiers. 

Tourists....in lower Algiers.  Right. 

Once again...public money being utilized to springboard private interests.  This is the disease that public/private ventures have wrought and the subsequent mindset that has developed among our elected city officials. 

Message to Council candidates: YOU ARE NOT DEVELOPERS. 

Meanwhile....the 120 acres of public land that is Brechtel Park in Algiers has been an unkept jungle since Katrina.  City Council voted to increase the millage to Parks and Parkways along with juicing up the public/private Chimera that is Audubon a few years back but we can't even get the basketball backboards put back at Norman Park, our local park right off MacArthur, since they took them out because of Covid. 

Back in November the only remaining building at Brecthel Park caught on fire, probably from a homeless person camping out there (and I'm cool with that because at least it was being used for something).  Instead of razing the building...what did they do?   They put up a chain link fence to keep people out. 

The uptown crowd has a great park, Audubon, on the taxpayer dime.  Their first world problems were whether or not to leave the golf course or turn it into more plush green space.  Our dilemma was apparently whether or not to raze the 17-year derelict golf building that caught on fire or just put up a chain link fence to save some cash....they chose the latter. 

If you can't do your job and maintain the infrastructure in your own district, you have no business dreaming up new ways to spend millions of taxpayers' dollars and trying to implement it against the will of your constituents because you think it's hip or you feel the need to leave a legacy.  I'm looking squarely at Mrs. Palmer.  And I haven't even mentioned the pedestrian mall bullshit she was pushing in the Quarter that literally NO ONE wanted but her. 

Now she's sending out the weirdest, narcissistic flyers I've seen in the history of NOLA politics (that's saying something) about how she was a little girl who grew up to be a big girl to fight crime in the city. 




Is she Batman?  Is she moonlighting as a vigilante and we didn't know it?  I mean that flyer would make Ronnie Lamarque blush.  Morris Bart would pucker.  

And what is that "Sorry, I missed you!" quip?  I'm sorry she didn't read her job description before she ran for public office and realize she isn't the police chief.   

Message to council candidates 2:  YOU ARE NOT BATMAN. 

It's not your job to "fight crime".  You have no credentials to do so.  If you want to do that, join NOPD.

But it's not just Palmer, it's our Mayor as well.  That's part deux which is about Part-Dieu...all that is sacred in this city....Armstrong Park and Congo Square.    

Big Easy Street: continuer à rouler

It's been about six months since I posted a story about how the 1400 block of LaSalle Street had been ILLEGALLY appropriated by the Louisiana Stadium & Exposition District to be incorporated in to the footprint of Champions Square.

WWL-TV picked up the story and confirmed that there was no legal agreement for the street to be appropriated by the LSED and the City had received absolutely no compensation for it. (I confirmed that as well through a public records request)

There was a follow-up story where the chairman of the LSED, Kyle France, said he had contacted Mayor Landrieu and they were going to "work it out":

“I’ve been in contact with the governor and the mayor of New Orleans,” said Kyle France, chairman of the LSED. “I spoke to some of the key folks today, right before the LSED board meeting, so I am confident that something will be worked out here pretty soon.”

"Pretty soon"

SMG President, Doug Thornton, the company that manages Champions Square chimed in that the reason why no official agreement had been struck was because he was simply looking out for "Louisiana" taxpayers:

"Doug Thornton, who operates Champions Square for the LSED’s management company SMG, said LSED was cut out of the negotiations at that point. The LSED, otherwise known as the Superdome Commission, had refused to pay the city’s asking price of $3.3 million in 2011 because they didn’t agree with the valuation and because the state was developing the street for a public benefit. 

Thornton said he understood that the city needs to be compensated, but also said his team had to protect the state’s public money and couldn’t overpay for the lease 

“This is not a matter of anyone's fault,” Thornton said. “There's just been discussion about how to move forward and in the meantime, there's been a lot of commerce generated there and a lot of public good.”

Thornton:  "It's no one's fault."

No Finger Pointing

Ok.  No one is to blame for millions of dollars that Should have been pumped in to city coffers that Could have gone to....I don't know...maintain pumps?

In fact, if I'm not mistaken, former Executive Director of New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board, Cedric Grant, landed a nice little contract for Thornton and SMH while he served as the Chief Administrative Officer for Ascension Parish.

Grant emerged in Ascension Parish after he was "let go" from his previous job with the state as a Deputy Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Development by the Jindal Administration.

But shortly after the SMG contract, Grant magically hit the jackpot with the Landrieu administration. He was scooped up as a Deputy Mayor in 2010 then ascended to the Executive Director of the S&WB only after Mayor Landrieu somehow decided that over 60 applicants couldn't match Cedric's prowess.

The State Board of Ethics even filed a complaint that:  

"He couldn't take the position due to a two-year ban on public employees doing business with their former agency after leaving office."

State Ethics Board member Peppi Bruneau raised hell about it but Mayor Landrieu must have really had a hard on to get Cedric in that position.  He pressured State Legislators to "make an exception" for Grant in respect to the ethics complaint.  

Of course Landrieu got the "exception".

I'm sure all of this had nothing to do with the contract Grant bestowed to SMG.
You've heard of the Peter Principle?  Where corporate structures often award incompetence?  Where nepotism and power often lead to unqualified candidates moving up the corporate hierarchy to positions of critical management simply because...they failed forward?


The Buried Lead

Guess what?  There is still no contract between the LSED and the City for the use of the 1400 block of LaSalle.  I just confirmed that through a public records request this week.


  

I wanted to wait until the first Saints first home game to find out if they were actually going to resolve the issue before 10's of thousands of people poured across the property so I could get a clear picture of how Thornton thinks the 1400 block of LaSalle is "overvalued".  

I, myself, slogged across that public street with thousands of other people that day we got our ass kicked by the Patriots.

Clearly, this street is not "public".  Not even close.  Barriers on both ends with police checking bags....it ain't public.  It is now a permanent part of the Champions Square footprint.

Summary 

The same guy that was probably responsible for "backrooming" an incompetent Cedric Grant in to a position which ended up drowning parts of the city during the past flood was publicly informed that his entity, the LSED/SMH, owed the City of New Orleans millions of dollars, back in April.

The LSED and the City told WWL-TV that they were going to resolve the issue, stating:  "It's in the works."

Six months later...no legal agreement has been struck.

The City of New Orleans has lost millions that could have gone to...I don't know...cleaning out catch basins?

  

WWL-TV Story on LaSalle Street

David Hammer and WWL-TV ran a great story on the LaSalle street "appropriation" by the LSED.

City never compensated for street engulfed by Champions Square

Zelia (Benson) claims they haven't benefited by the street appropriation in respect to their profit sharing plan because the LSED hasn't yet covered the cost of the money the state invested in capital investment on improvements to the area. Admittedly (and I stated this in the blog post) I wasn't sure what the nature of the profit sharing plan was.

However, there are still funding mechanisms between the LSED and Zelia that need to be scrutinized namely an interesting "marketing fund" that involves a 50/50 profit sharing plan of some source of revenue I haven't yet figured out.

Still, it's a dubious argument to say Benson isn't benefiting from the appropriation of the street. They are getting 2.3 million annually in a base lease agreement. The street has been illegitimately (I would say illegally) included into the Champions Square footprint and when the LSED covers their capital investment on improvements the profit sharing plan will kick in and then Zelia's entire argument becomes completely moot.

How can Zelia argue they aren't benefitting from the street appropriation by the LSED? If the city removed the permanent structures, opened it back up to traffic, put parking meters in...would it affect the income the LSED is generating off their lease of the property? Of course it would.

Zella's argument is that they are not benefitting by the appropriation of the street because the profit sharing plan hasn't kicked in....yet. I call bullshit. Are they going to refuse the surplus income when it does kick in because they recognize they don't own the street?

Why are Benson Tower security guards trying to block WWL-TV from shooting video on the street if they don't have any...forgive me...dominion...over it?

Still...still...the street has been illegally taken over by the LSED at great cost to the City. Take Zelia out of the equation and it's NOT LEGAL. The City is getting screwed...period.

Hammer and team did a great job getting to the bottom of this..and please read the story with the video as well because it's apparently rooted in a verbal deal (stand-off) bartered between former CNO Deputy Mayor Andy Kopplin and the Jindal admin. regarding a land swap with Duncan Plaza. A deal that was apparently never documented.

The bottom line is the LSED should never have moved forward with any alterations to the street without the legal protocols being met. It was illegal. The City has been screwed out of millions of dollars because a backroom, verbal deal was being cut and the guys that were dealing are all gone from the public realm leaving this turd behind with nary a shred of paperwork.

The other bottom line is that I have a face for radio.

Benson's Big Easy Street

NOTE:  If you don't have time to read...jump to the video at the bottom of the post for a quick synopsis. 

Having interviewed Mayor Landrieu in late September of 2016 regarding his intent to sell and/or lease the New Orleans Public Belt railroad, I pressed him on why he seemed so determined to sell, or “privatize”, many of New Orleans' largest public assets.  His general response was that the City was in dire financial straits when he took office and desperate actions were needed to pull it out of the hole.  Landrieu also continually referenced the wisdom of “public/private partnerships” and how cities all around the country were utilizing them to great benefit.  

I decided to go back and look at some of the public/private ventures in which the City has engaged over its history (namely since the 1984 World’s Fair) and examine if these ventures were truly beneficial to New Orleans or if they turned out to simply be windfalls for the private investors who acquired public assets. Upcoming stories will examine some of these deals.  

In the interview, Mayor Landrieu also expressed that he doesn’t feel the City has gotten a lot out of existing agreements with major entities that benefit from their relationship with New Orleans, particularly the Port of New Orleans.  But he also mentioned one entity that surprised me, the Louisiana Superdome....so I looked into it.

The Roadmap to the Glory Days of New Orleans Slush

The Superdome is owned and operated by a public entity itself, the Louisiana Superdome Exposition District, owned by the State of Louisiana.  It oversees many state assets other than the Superdome including the Smoothie King Center, the New Orleans Saints Training Facility in Kenner, The Alario Center in Westwego, the TPC of Louisiana Golf Course in Avondale, and the Shrine on Airline Highway in Kenner where the Baby Cakes play baseball.  

The LSED has a storied history as a public entity.  Back in 2012 when I was reporting on Congressman Cedric Richmond and political operative Ike Spears corruption with two non-profits they ran in the early 2000’s, I came across a grant program that had been instituted by the LSED from 2000 to 2004.  The program was essentially a giant (approximately $2.9 million annually) slush fund that was set up for New Orleans metro area politicians to dole out cash to their own special interests…mostly non-profits that were run by politically connected people controlling strategic voting blocs.  

The LSED grant program was terminated in 2004 having rained about $14.8 million down on politicians’ special interests in its five year run. In 2005, the LSED put an end to the grant program stating they needed the money for renovations to the Dome and other pending expenses…much to the dismay of politicos around the metro area.  

Still, the master grant list is a virtual road map of the period exposing “con-profits”, politician’s special interests and how the “game” operated before former U.S. Attorney Jim Letten began his white collar/government corruption sweep of the City. 

When the Saints almost went marching out

New Orleanians who lived through Katrina have no shortage of traumatic stories and memories they carry with them to this day.  But one trauma-inducing event that many people have suppressed or even forgotten about was the threat by the owner of the New Orleans Saints, Tom Benson, to move the Saints out of the city in the wake of the storm under the prospect of greener pastures in San Antonio, Texas.  

Forgive me, but this was a real dick move in a period when the City was on its knees gasping for breath.  Benson had already made continual threats to move the franchise before Katrina and The Federal Flood provided the opportune disaster capitalist moment to leverage the threat of a Saints exodus to his advantage.  

The State managed to pacify him in the immediate wake of the storm with various concessions and eventually went on to orchestrate a deal in 2009 in which Benson would purchase the 26-story Dominion Tower skyscraper next to the Superdome and the State of Louisiana would occupy 320,000 of the 480,000 square feet in the building, leasing office space at above average rates for various state agencies.  The total purchase, through Benson’s company, Zelia LLC., was $42.1 million which included the tower, a 2000-space parking garage and 400,000 sq. foot, open-space promenade area which Benson renamed “Champions Square”.  As of August 2012, the company which leases space in the buliding for Zelia stated that the tower was over 97.6% leased.  

Easy Street...courtesy of Louisiana

The 2009 deal between Benson and the State/LSED consisted of two parts.  

The first was an extension of the Superdome lease by LSED through 2025 and an $85 million dollar disbursement to the LSED by the State of Louisiana for improvements to the Dome as well as scaled payments to the Saints pending the amount of money the team generated annually from 2011 to 2024.  


The second part of the deal involved the newly acquired Dominion Tower and properties purchased by Benson’s Zellia, LLC.  In addition to the State agencies leasing over 70% of the office space in the tower, a state organization called the Louisiana Office Facilities Corporation (essentially an extension of the LSED) agreed to lease the New Orleans Center property which included the Mall and area now known as Champions Square, as well as the aforementioned parking garage for $2.3 million annually.  The LSED agreed to take on the operations of  the parking garage, mall and Macy’s retail store, retaining all revenues up to the $2.3 million mark (to compensate for the rent to Zelia), then any additional revenues would be split with Zelia 50/50.  The agreement called for Zelia to be responsible for any initial renovations and repairs to the properties with the LSED maintaining daily operations and maintenance.  

Benson/Zelia agreed to a $10.5 million dollar investment in the property over a three-year period (from 2010) and the LSED committed to making $85 million in capital improvements over the following two years with a completion date of 2011.

Public/Private Partnerships: The Road to Prosperity for the Private 

After ratifying the agreement in an LSED Board of Commissioners meeting, Commissioner Robert Bruno stated the deal was (paraphrased from meeting minutes), “One of the most complicated, creative, bipartisan examples of a public/private partnership that could ever be imagined.”  

Ron Forman, then President of the LSED Board of Commissioners and CEO/President of the Audubon Institute said (paraphrased from meeting minutes), “Without Mr. Benson’s willingness to invest, it could not have happened.”

How would one not be willing to invest in a multi-million dollar contract that placed any business risk solely on the State of Louisiana?  The deal guaranteed a near full occupancy rate of Benson Tower on top of a guaranteed 2.3 million dollars a year lease for the Champions Square property and the parking garage in which Zelia doesn’t even have to manage (The management of the properties is contracted to the company SMG by the LSED).

All Benson had to do was purchase the properties and the state took on any and all business risk to guarantee Zelia a financial windfall.  

A Three-Way Street?

Great deal if you can get it but after filing a public records request with the City of New Orleans in respect to the Champions Square footprint it appears Benson didn’t even have to purchase/lease or own the total area which is currently incorporated into the venue.  

The entire 1400 block of LaSalle Street has been closed to the public


and incorporated in to the Champions Square footprint

An entire city street, the 1400 block of LaSalle which lies between Benson Tower and the Superdome, has been appropriated into the Champions Square venue….sans any contract with the City.

The street has been completely closed to automobile traffic with numerous permanent structures erected by the LSED including gateways  on both ends of the street.  During concerts and events in the Square these gateways are closed to the general public and used as a ticketing entrance for private events.

One of two permanent "Gateway" structures on each end


of the 1400 block of LaSalle Street 

Even the map at Champions Square show LaSalle Street as an


official part of its footprint

The problem being there is no contract with the City to utilize the street, temporarily or permanently…not even a cooperative endeavor agreement.  This is problematic not just for the revenue lost by the City, it’s also a violation of Article 7, Section 14 of the Louisiana State Constitution.  

I filed a public records request with the City to see what agreement we made with Zelia and/or the LSED that allowed them to incorporate the street into the Champions Square footprint and it turned up nothing….zilch. 

I also filed a public records request with the LSED to see if they had any contracts with the City for the use of the street and to see their contract with Zelia, LLC.  While the LSED contract  with Zelia mentions Champions Square, there is no mention of the use of LaSalle Street.  Therefore, there is no contract that would allow Zelia or the LSED to use it, much less build permanent structures and close it to the public.

After receiving the LSED/Zelia contract I asked their current administration (they were quick to point out they have an entirely new board since the 2009 agreement was established) a series of questions about the nature of the contract and the appropriation of the 1400 block of LaSalle.

In respect to what is known regarding the use of the street, the LSED provided me with a “good faith” letter they sent to the City in 2011 regarding their construction plans for LaSalle which stated they would be pursuing a long-term lease of the property.

The City Real Estate Administrator, Marha J. Griset, replied that they were agreeing to enter into a long-term lease under the following conditions: A deposit shall be made, the City Planning Commission will grant approval, and the City Council will endorse the lease (ordinance).  Also that the LSED must continue with the process towards the signing of the long-term lease.

That didn’t happen and the LSED moved forward with their construction on the street without an official lease, purchase or city ordinance.  Six years later the City has not been compensated for the street and no ordinance officially exists.  

Lost Boulevard

If the City of New Orleans is as cash-strapped as Mayor Landrieu suggested when I interviewed him, why have we left millions of dollars on the table in respect to 1400 LaSalle?

When I asked the LSED if the City has received any compensation for the use of the street from them or Zelia they replied:

"The City of New Orleans has received the economic benefit of (i) the improvements that were made to LaSalle Street, (ii) the ongoing maintenance, repair, etc. of LaSalle Street, and (iii) increased tax revenues derived from events that occur at Champions Square. " 

It’s kind of hard to understand how shutting a city street off to the public, taking it out of commerce (including parking meters and fines), installing permanent fixtures....all to generate income for a private venture...is an “improvement” or benefit to the City.  

If I fix the potholes on my own street, can I put up two gateways on each end and charge people to use it?

The loss of 1400 LaSalle to the City without any compensation or contract is bad enough but the fact that a state entity, the LSED, has financed millions of public tax dollars to “improve” the street solely for the benefit of Zelia, a private entity, is a double-whammy to taxpayers. 

You essentially have a public entity (LSED) paying rent for a public street (CNO) to a private entity (Zelia, LLC) who doesn’t actually own the street to begin with.  

As I stated above….great deal if you can get it.

Down This Road Before

There is also a corollary to this issue in the private purchase of the 500 block of Fulton Street.  Harrah’s Casino had made significant “improvements” to Fulton Street but the City required them to purchase the street in order to take it out of public commerce.  If Harrah’s is required to purchase Fulton why would the Mayor allow a billionaire, in Benson, to take over 1400 LaSalle (per the LSED) for free? 

Crunching the numbers

I asked an accountant friend of mine to look at the LSED/Zelia contract to see how much the LSED has paid Benson under the contract since 2011.  While these numbers are not official, my friend estimated that the LSED has paid Zelia  at least around $14 million since the inception of the lease with an estimated $33.5 million due over the remaining life of the lease through 2026.  That would put the total amount of the contract around $47.5 million over a fifteen year period. 

However, The LSED also has a separate marketing fund for which it is responsible but doesn’t seem to be subject to state audit or public disclosure through the Legislative Auditor.  Individuals seeking more information on the marketing fund are directed to the LSED.  The reason this is significant is that the marketing fund also makes rent payments that look to be either profit sharing or revenue sharing arrangements for the Champions Square events, I believe this is part of the 50/50 profit split mentioned above but I’m not sure.  

As an example, in fiscal year 2014, LSED paid $2.3 million for the lease, but the marketing fund also paid $1.9 million.  For fiscal year 2016 the amounts were $2.5 million paid by the LSED and $2.0 million paid by the marketing fund. However, elsewhere these lease payments by the marketing fund are shown as revenue for Champions Square.

Hence, the total amount paid to Zelia by the LSED to date may be significantly higher than $14 million.  

No one rides for free...unless you're a billionaire

The appropriation of the 1400 block of LaSalle has taken on a new relevance in 2017. 

In January the Mayor informed many of the non-profit festivals in New Orleans that the City would no long waive various permit costs, including street closures and parking meter rental loss, to these festivals.  It greatly affected many of the festivals that already had fixed budgets in place for 2017 and are now facing thousands of dollars in added expenses. 

The non-profit entities are now being hit with multiple permitting fees for the use of public streets while Tom Benson has been given an entire street by the City, with the State paying him for its use.  

 


I asked Mayor Landrieu’s Deputy Mayor of External Affairs, Ryan Berni, if the Mayor was aware of the issue…here’s his response:

“We have been working with the State for the last several years on a property swap that would include the street and the State’s portion of Duncan Plaza.  For a number of reasons, it hasn’t been settled due to the values of the property not matching up.  It is something we are still working on with LSED and the State.”

The only problem with that is that no one I spoke with at the LSED mentioned anything about that deal, so I’m not sure who is negotiating with the City on the matter.  Nor could I find any documentation of the deal. 

Land swap deal aside, we’ve gone seven years with no contract in place and millions of dollars left on the table.  In fact, millions of state tax dollars have been paid to a private entity who doesn’t  even own the public property in question.  

For New Orleans it appears public/private partnerships are how financial champions are made.  More to come on this.

If you don't have time read it all....just watch this short video for the basic skinny on the story...

1400 LaSalle from Jason Berry on Vimeo.


   

 Relevant Documents not linked above:

The actual Lease between the LSED and Zelia, Inc.

Co-development agreement between the LSED and Zelia, Inc.

Unrolling the Scroll of Inequity...

...otherwise known as the LSED Grant Master List.

For those of you who have followed the epic journey of the American Zombie blog (I refer to it in second person because I do not believe it belongs solely to me), you should remember when I published the LSED grant roadmap back during the entire Cedric Richmond con-profit days.

For those of you who don't know what that is, back around the turn of the century (so many years ago) the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District had a "grant program" which can now go down as the quintessential slush fund in New Orleans' political history.  From 2000 to 2004, state and local legislators doled out gazamillions of smackeroos to non-profits, churches, special interest groups...even for-profit private schools... from the LSED fund.

I managed to track down the master grant list back then and it essentially serves as a skeleton key to special interests for just about every career politician in the city.  It is also a snapshot of the ridiculous amount of con-profits this city fosters and who some of the players are that have made a fine art out of living off the public teat.

Today, I decided to go back and look at the list to see who was sucking off then Louisiana Rep. Diane Bajoie's udder.

Some interesting discoveries:

It's worth noting that 12th Ward SOCO and its variations were the prime tit-suckler from Bajoie's breast.  In total, $230,597.91 was bestowed upon non-profits under the 12th Ward SOCO umbrella. I think the only politician who topped that amount was Cynthia Willard-Lewis who dumped over 620k into a non-profit called Family Advocacy Network (FANS).

One other thing I wanted to find out was how many non-profits I could associate with 2020 Jackson Avenue.  Besides the ones we already know, I found two more:

The Central City Housing Development Corporation which still appears to be active:

And the Central City Economic Opportunity Corporation which also still appears to be active:

I think we are officially up to at least five non-profits that are domiciled at 2020 Jackson Ave.

But what is really interesting is the sheer amount of private properties some of these non-profits own in the central city area.  All those properties are now tax exempt and I'm wondering what exactly is going on with them.  Are there people living in them?  Are those people related to the people running the non-profits?  Are they paying rent?  Is the rent going back to the non-profit or a private holding company?

So many questions.  I hope to get some answers, eventually.  

Movements in 501c3

I call this little ditty...Fanfare for the Common Unskilled Computer Man.

NOCAP - New Orleans Computer Access Project....the duplicate non-profit housed in the same building as NOCE, New Orleans Community Enhancement. Having the same mission statement, they were Clearly in violation of the LSED funding requirements.  Both organizations received large chunks of cash from the LSED and The Governor's Office of Urban Affairs and Development to perform the exact same services in the same small building on Crowder Blvd...owned by Ike Spears and NOCE C.P.A., Desiree' Honore's uncle, James Gray.  NOCAP's director being Ike Spears himself.

Here's a question for you...according to the Secretary of State website, NOCAP's last filing date was 5/8/2006...

 ...yet under a business filings search, NOCAP isn't reported officially dissolved until 5/21/10 (as is noted on the amended SOS file listed above)....

Nocap Business Filings    

...so what was going on with NOCAP between 2006 to 2010?  Was it accepting donations?  Was it funded at all?  Was it even operable?  Was it paying rent to 5437 Crowder Blvd.?

It seems to me that NOCAP played on for 9 years but there seems to be some missing notes from 2006 to 2010.  Mr. Spears, please feel free to chime in.

The LSED Grant Road Map

With rumors circulating that yet another city hall Indian chief is about to resign due to a non-profit scandal, I offer you the master grant list to the LSED grants which ran from 2000 to 2004.   

Keep in mind that many, if not most, of these non-profits are now defunct so researching these entities is more of an autopsy than a surgery.  But, I promise there is enough there to keep you busy for a while and the important thing is to examine the pattern of bogus non-profits and where the money funnels lead to.  While many of these 501c3's are extinct, new ones have popped up to take their place and the beat goes on...the beat goes on...

  LSEDGrantList Master

A Little Sample

I know I've been quiet lately, but don't misconstrue my absence with apathy.  I've actually been diligently digging for dem bones.

One of the items I've dug up is the master list for the LSED grants...totaling....you ready?  A whopping $14,779,644.38 over a four year period.  This list is somewhat of a Rosetta Stone for N.O. politicians special interests and non-profit loops.  I've spent a lot of time with it and every single time I pick it up I find something new.  For those of you in the know and inclined to sleuth as pastime, you will have a field day tracking down these organizations and the money loops which lead back to the politicians who pushed the money their way.

But before we bite into that porterhouse, let's concentrate on the task at hand....Mr. Richmond.  This is a list of the grants CR requested from the LSED (Click on the pic to blow it up):

Notice the disproportionate amount of cash he sent to our favorite 501.c3?  There is also another non-profit on the list whose name is very close to New Orleans Community Enhancement, New Orleans Community Enrichment....I could find no trace of this organization on the Sec. of State database.

Keep in mind that the bulk of the money for NOCE was coming from the Governor's Office of Urban Affairs and Development and those records are sealed.

As for the Rolex, Richmond has reportedly produced a receipt from Jack Sutton jewelers for the watch from 2008 and given it to the Times Picayune.

That's pretty funny considering Jack Sutton told me, and a local television reporter, that he has an invoice for the watch purchase from 2002.  How many Rolex's does Cedric have?

Ok I'll bite

Anonymous said...

HOLY COW the same Pearlie Elloie who teamed up with Vernon Shorty and a few others who stole over $3,500,000.00 dollars (3.5 million dollars) from HUD and the City of New Orleans in the scam now known as the Desire Community Housing Corporation????

I don't know a lot about it...can you fill me in?  I'm not kidding...I don't know as much as people think I do so I appreciate any information you can provide.

I have an LSED grant or two directed to this entity so please fill me in.  Thanks.

Cedric and Ike's greatest hits, Vol. 1

I was wrong.  I admit it.  I had a very important fact dead wrong about Cedric Richmond, Ike Spears, 5437 Crowder Blvd., NOCE and NOCAP......Grateful Realty did not own the property from 2000 to 2004 while the non-profits were housed there.

A company called Crowder Development Corporation, LLC owned the property.  And guess who owns Crowder Development?

Un-fucking-believable.

Spears formed the company in August of 2000.  He then purchased 5437 Crowder from Northstar Properties for 180k in September of 2000.  It would appear he incorporated this company for the sole purpose of housing NOCE, NOCAP and Cedric's office.  After the non-profits imploded and the LSED grant money dried up, he sold the building to Grateful Realty for 220k in February of 2005....the building had served it's purpose and a nearly a million dollars (that I can account for) had been run through it in non-profit funds...including a NOCE line item for 60k in renovations to the property.  I had a friend call the current owner of the building who is selling it and ask them if they had done any renovations on the building....she said no..no renovations have been done in at least over 10 years.

NOCAP did receive grant money from the LSED as well as NOCE.  I could only find one NOCAP grant for 15k:

NOCAP was running at around the same budget as NOCE ....200k.  The grant proposal did not have an audit of the company so I have no way of finding out where they were getting the bulk of their funding.

Get this....as I pointed out before the LSED grants specify that you cannot have a non-profit perform duplicate services in the same area:

Well not only were NOCAP and NOCE the exact same service, they even told the LSED that they were going to use NOCE's "experts":

Now keep in mind that NOCE was only paying one person a little over 4k/year to be the computer expert.  So far I have only accounted for 3 computers between the two non-profits and only one computer teacher.  They are asking for 1000 dollars in this grant to buy computers.  You have a company running at 200k/year to teach computer skills and "bridge the digital divide" and they are buying $1000 in computers.

That's pretty amazing...was anybody even reading these grant requests or were they just stroking the checks?

Notice that for the grant, Spears listed the NOCAP address at 1555 Poydras Street...I think that is his law office.  Also notice that on the bottom of some of these documents you see Spears and Spears upside down....that means the documents were faxed from his law office.  Interesting how he failed to list NOCAP's real address as 5437 Crowder....this was two years after they had already housed the non-profit there and they even put up the damn sign outside:

 
This is a classic Jefferson scam....classic....textbook.  Cedric Richmond is a crook, we already knew Ike Spears was but now we know Richmond's true nature as well.

I have accounted for over 50 LSED grant requests from Richmond totaling in the millions.  I would say a little over half those requests and money went to churches who had similar mission statements...bridging the digital divide, teaching kids to pass the leap, developing "life skills" for kids, etc.  Non-profits with names like A Blessing in a Blessing, inc,  Put God First Community Development Corp., Stars Over the East Television Program, New Life Community Development Corp., Doing Good in the Hood, LLC, Franklin Ave. Baptist Church, Roy Ave. Baptist church ($55,000), On Giant Shoulders, inc......the list goes on.

I'm not suggesting all these organizations were bogus, I'm sure many of them produced great results. I'm just stating that it seems the LSED was stroking checks at Richmond's behest without care nor clue as to what the money was going to or if it could be accounted for.  The NOCAP proposal even stated they were tapping another LSED grantee for services, NOCE, which is a clear violation of the grant requirements.  Was anyone reading this stuff or did they just stroke the checks every time Richmond told them to?

You know, I have to ask....do other cities dole out cash to churches?  Millions of dollars from the Hotel/Motel taxes being stroked  out to any church who can fill out an application and is in the favor of Cedric Richmond or another state legislator?

Here was one of my favorite question responses:

Nice....repeat the answer back in the form of the question and get 30k. 

Bottom line...Richmond and Spears were running a Jefferson non-profit scam out of 5437 Crowder.  There is money missing from the entities which can't be accounted for, including 60k via NOCE to renovate Ike Spears property.  I believe Richmond was fleecing that non-profit through a credit card and by proxy through the Executive Director he was romantically involved with.  I believe when the non-profit auditor/accountant found the irregularities, Richmond had the woman take the fall and possibly paid her to keep the matter quiet.

This guy is bad news....bad fucking news.

Speaking of "bad news"... I still can't believe no one in the MSM has had the balls to call him out on this stuff.

Have I arrived?

I got a hold of one of the mailers which had the blog address at the bottom:

I feel like the old man in that...commercial which I cant remember the brand...."What does it all mean?"  All I can say is that I feel exactly like that young lady looks....I'm pissed and I want answers.

And BTW....NOCAP did cash in on the LSED.  I have the papers.  They're revelatory.  I need a day to do the scans and such.  Stay Tuned.

Add another one

I just saw this email from Krewe of Truth today:

AMERICAN ZOMBIE exposes more inappropriate behavior in Cedric's management of
your tax dollars that went to non-profits supposedly set up to serve low-income residents. In fact,
of money received, only 2 percent actually went to help children. Sad. I will add this to what ZOMBIE exposes: the building that housed the non-profits in question is the same location where several candidates I worked with pre-Katrina would meet Ike Spears and Blair Boutte, who are running Cedric's campaign, to pay campaign workers, get t-shirts and campaign material, etc. Not good for a "non-profit" office.

That is also in direct violation of the LSED grant agreement:

 I think an audit needs to be conducted on every 501c3 Richmond is associated with or has recommended for grants.  Is his current campaign office associated with a 501c3?  I would bet my bottom dollar there are more non-profits out there he is abusing in one way or another, I just haven't found them yet......yet.

Let's take it from the top...

In the past couple of days I've received more documents about grants distributed to non-profits from the Louisiana Stadium Exposition District.  Suffice to say I would love to go back and research many of these non-profits, yet I want to stay focused on NOCE - New Orleans Community Enhancement.

One of the documents I obtained was the original grant application to LSED from NOCE....it was for $150,000:

What's interesting is that NOCE's original Executive Director was not the ED who stole the money later on.  And note that the original address listed for the organization was not 5437 Crowder Blvd.

 That address is actually a private residence which I am assuming belonged to the original Executive Director, Patricia S. Moore:

This is an important factor, here I show you the original budget for the non-profit.

Interesting that the ONLY person they have actually tutoring kids is budgeted at $4,680 for the entire year...that consitutes what I believe would be about 2% or less of the entire non-profit budget.  But the turd in the punchbowl is that they have a line item for $60,000 for office renovations.  Here's a more detailed explanation:

NOTE: This was two pages and I cut and pasted the bottom part of this image, but did not altar the budget in any way.

If the property in question is on several acres of land, we know it's not the residential address listed above, so I can only assume that 60k was used to renovate 5437 Crowder.  Is that even legal?  Can you use this LSED grant money and non-profit funds to renovate a privately owned residence?  No...you can't and it's even listed in the grant requirements:

The clear benefactor in this was Grateful Realty, the private company who owned 5437 Crowder Blvd at the time.  The way I see it, they owe the LSED $60,000.  I don't understand how the line item was even allowed to cut the muster (it's not mustard so don't correct me).  What's also interesting is that when Rep. Cedric Richmond signed this request for the grant his address was listed as 7240 Crowder:

One year later his address was 5437 Crowder, the same as NOCE.  Did any of that 60k go to renovate Rep. Richmond's office?  Or better yet did the building even undergo renovations?

Another concern I have is the fact that NOCAP (New Orleans Computer Access Project) was housed in the building at the exact same time and seems to have the exact same mission statement.  In the LSED Grant requirement list there is clearly a clause which states that the grant cannot be distributed to a duplicate service in the community:

They were in the same fluckin' building so I'm assuming that constitutes the same "area to be served" unless we're taking measurements by the foot.  While I don't have NOCAP's information or where they received grant money from, I have already shown that the organization's President Director was Ike Spears.  Well guess who was an original board member of NOCE:

Is it remotely possible that Cedric and Ike didn't have any idea that they had housed clone 501c3's in the same building?  I'm also wondering if NOCAP paid for any renovations to 5437 Crowder.

Both NOCAP and NOCE were terminated around 2004.  I have no idea how much money was channeled through NOCAP but I have been able to account for around 600k which was pumped through NOCE.

So this got me wondering if this whole mission statement had been reinvented in the present era.  Sho' nuff I found this:

Notice it was incorporated in 2004, immediately after NOCE's demise.  I'm not saying this non-profit is in violation of any laws are is not legitimate, I don't know.  But it just seems like this mission statement and the moniker "community enhancment" is the idea of the decade.  In light of it's predecessor, I would like to know how 2nd District Community Enhancement Corp. is being funded and which politicians are supporting it.

Also, I found this item in the LSED grant requirement list:

So I'm thinking not only does Grateful Realty need to either pony up 60k to the LSED or turn their property over to them, I think Cedric needs to turn in his Rolex or at least the diamond bevel.

More to come....