Why is Nagin Pumping Cash to Republicans?

I made a series of posts a couple months ago noting that Nagin is steering millions of dollars into the hands of a Metairie business man named Aaron Bennett through multiple companies, most notably a technology company called Benetech. Apparently Mr. Bennett does everything from from construction contracting to IT services....if there's a contract to be had, Bennett can provide the LLC. He also provided an all expense paid private Gulfstream jet ride to the Bears/Saints playoff game to both Ray Nagin and Greg Meffert, who has also entered the contruction contracting business with his own company, PRM Restoration.

Benetech currrently holds the city IT services contract, which was somehow awareded without a bid, as well as a handful of restoration contracts for schools, the French Market renovation contract, a French Quarter sidewalk renovation contract let by the city, and the contract to remove all the flooded cars from the city. All totaled the contracts exceed 50 million.

Also keep in mind that the crime camera contract was recently killed by the Nagin administration after a well publicized public bid....watch this closely...I have no doubt Benetech or Netmethods will end up getting it without a bid.

It was also brought to my attention that former George H. Bush staffer and local republican poster boy, Scott Sewell, was somehow involved with Benetech and held major influence over Ray "I'm scandal free" Nagin...who still claims there's a white republican conspiracy to keep poor, black people from returning to the city. Of course he forgot to mention to the African-American community that he's pumping millions of dollars into white republican's hands, while taking free private jet rides on their dime. Oh yeah...he also forgot to mention that he contributed to W. Bush's campaign.

I put out a request for any information about Sewell and his links to Nagin or Benetech....this came in last week:

Anonymous said...
scott sewell is an owner of benetech. he also is president of home solutions (nasdaq symbol hsoa) a contractor that is doing lots of public work in new orleans. hsoa has been mentioned as a fraud by the website citronresearch.com

And by all means...do read the report by citron. The GulfStream G4 jet which tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum hitched a free ride on was owned by HSOA, of which Bennett is an owner, and Sewell is president.

So Sewell is not only involved in the contract, he's an owner of Benetech and president of HSOA....nice. That would explain how Benetech got a FEMA awarded contract for the school restorations...I wonder if W. had something to do with that.

I also think it would be prudent to conduct an audit of The French Market Corporation's activities for the past 10 years...particularly the matter of how Benetech was awarded the current renovation contract. I've heard a lot of dirty shit surrounding them, including an effort by some of the corporation's board members to illegally oust certain vendors from their leases in the market so the spots could be given to their own peeps.

I don't have full details on this, but one case involved a Vietnamese husband and wife who had a ten year lease on a prime location in the French Market where they were running a very successful seafood business. After the storm, they got a notice from the French Market Corp. that their lease would be terminated and they would no longer have the spot...someone in the corporation was trying to oust them from the spot so thier own peeps could take over. The schemers were assuming that because the couple was Vietnamese, they wouldn't know to seek legal counsel and would sacrifice the location without a fight....luckily another local real estate guru came to their aid and called bullshit...the plot was foiled. It leaves one to wonder how often shit like this goes down.

If Anyone has any more info. on Benetech, HSOA, Sewell, Bennett, or the French Market Corp.....please share.

As we were just discussing...

There are target rich environments.....and then there's Ray Nagin's world:

Developer of riverfront project allegedly gave $100k in illegal payments to Nagin

I would also just like to acknowledge that WWL-TV is knocking this Nagin saga outta the flukin' park.

Meanwhile, Samuel is in Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy in Florida, and creditors accuse him of hiding $20 million from them. The bankruptcy trustee agrees and is conducting an investigation. A Florida court ruled that Samuel fraudulently transferred millions to his wife, Deborah, who was also involved in the green energy company.

Samuel's creditors also allege that he hid some of his riches by sending $450,000 to Deborah Samuel's father, reputed Lucchese crime family associate Frank Arnold. Arnold, a bridge painter, was acquitted of RICO charges in New York in the 1990s during a mafia crackdown.

Meanwhile, Deborah Samuel’s first husband is Ralph Romano Jr., whose father was another reputed Lucchese associate, was convicted in 2005 of murdering his business partner.

And forgive me if I'm wrong but that's the first recognition of mafia connections we've seen in the Nagin saga.

I've been told by a source who was intricately involved with Fradella in HSOA and Associated Contractors that Fradella was deeply rooted in mafia business in Dallas.  In fact, I was told by this source that HSOA was actually a mafia shell company from the very beginning and that Fradella picked it up for the sole purpose of creating a pump and dump company to manipulate the market.  Read this post I made back in May of 2007 before any MSM source had identified Cornerstone Marble and Granite as an HSOA subsidiary.

How far do the "mafia" connections run?  I don't know but I'm curios to hear if Oyster has any thoughts.  Remember that HSOA originally got the Frech Market revovation contract before it was dumped into Benetech.....it then took an aeon to complete.  Refer to this WWLTV report from Zurik back in July of 2009.  

In that report, Zurik went right up to a specific point in the story and stopped (nothing nefarious on Zurik's part and he probably doesn't even know what I mean by that...but that's how I read into this story).  Note who the  French Market board president was at the time.  And note this paragraph I wrote in the "Why is Nagin Pumping Cash to Republicans?" post:


I don't have full details on this, but one case involved a Vietnamese husband and wife who had a ten year lease on a prime location in the French Market where they were running a very successful seafood business. After the storm, they got a notice from the French Market Corp. that their lease would be terminated and they would no longer have the spot...someone in the corporation was trying to oust them from the spot so thier own peeps could take over. The schemers were assuming that because the couple was Vietnamese, they wouldn't know to seek legal counsel and would sacrifice the location without a fight....luckily another local real estate guru came to their aid and called bullshit...the plot was foiled. It leaves one to wonder how often shit like this goes down.

Just stuff to think about.

I do hereby admit...

...that Oyster has bigger balls than I do.

Just say no to drug kingpins

I was tipped to that info. last night and I thought twice before posting it....no I pussed out. Here is one of the comments:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Blanque Check":

AZ, a Batt-buddy related question: See the NOLA.com story about the "New Orleans drug kingpin" today? Paul Cattoche a former (until very recently?) Maximo's chef is the guy. Now, I think we know who owns Maximo's, right? If Vinny Mosca ends up being Cattoche's attorney, the elephant in the room just gets too big and obvious to deny.

At this point I could go off on a speculative 5000 word post trying to connect the dots running through my head with things like....oh....I don't know....flooded cars, companies who got contracts to remove flooded cars after Katrina, Dennis Churchwell, French Quarter bookies, dummy pages for "online casinos", strippers, mayoral photogs, video poker enterprises, The French Market Corporation, companies who got contracts from the French Market Corp., judges, former City Council members, Mexican casinos, Mexican drug lords who murdered...never mind that one....what else can we throw in our conspiracy gumbo? What the hell let's throw in the grassy knoll for shits and giggles.

....but I won't subject you to my madness. I mean this is too much madness than what I normally subject you to....oh hell, you know what I mean.

Kudos Oyster.

Why we are fucking idiots

To honor the 250th birthday of the Marquis de La Fayette and the 63rd anniversary of the D-Day Allied Landing in Normandy, the French warship La Fayette arrived for a visit in New Orleans, Tuesday June 5, 2007.



I'm probably going to get a cease and desist for using this image from the TP but there was no way to link to the image section or the story. Go to Nola.com and check ou the photo Gallery section if you want to see more.

I posted this because I went down to the Quarter last night to see the ship (I have this thing for ships, pirates, and the sea). Later on in the night I was riding around da Quarters on my scooter...one of my new favorite things to do. The French sailors were about the only ones wandering around off Bourbon (the Quarter has been frighteningly barren of foot traffic at night).

I was driving down Decatur and as I approached Cafe Du Monde I looked down the street and it hit me....fuck. Sure enough standing on the corner of St. Philip and Decatur was a group of about 5 French sailors looking at the Joan of Arc statue the nation of France so graciously gave our city as a gift.

Good thing right? Wrong.

We haven't bothered to the light it up since the storm....we lit it during Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, and French Quarter Fest....but it sits in the dark most of the time.

It's a radiant, gold statue which brings Decatur street to life at night when it's lit, but we haven't bothered to keep it that way since the storm. How fucking stupid can we be? How insulting can we be? I'm sure the French sailors were wondering why the hell we hadn't bothered to light it. Not to mention, we are flying an American Flag and a French Flag at the statue at night....unlit....isn't that a faux pas unto itself?

We can take 12 million dollar loans out to pay Benetech to renovate the French Market but we don't know how to flip a fucking light switch? I would love an answer to this question....and I hope....I bet....it's going to be that "We can't afford to light it." At which point I want to see what the Entergy bill is to actually light it.

If there is anyone out there in tourism who reads this...Steve Perry...anyone ...I implore you to call the Mayor's office and tell them to "TURN THE GODDAM LIGHTS ON THAT STATUE....NOW!!!!"

We are insulting the nation of our own heritage. I will personally go unscrew the lights at the Churchill statue (nothing against WC or GB) at the Hilton/Riverwalk and put them on the Joan of Arc statue if we don't have anyone on staff to do it. I mean it's bad enough to leave them turned off ...but if the city knew we were hosting the La Fayette and it's crew....what the fuck? They're docked 500 yards from the fucking statue...is there anyone in city hall that doesn't have their head up their ass?

I'm gonna go to Home Depot tonight, buy some work lights and run a frikkin' extension cord from Molly's or MRB's.

Infinitely Unsure

That's how I feel about what's going on in my mailbox right now.

Regardless, I think it's prudent to provide a little background on 3 companies which are surfacing around Nagin at the moment.  I apologize beforehand for the grammatical errors, type-o's, and haphazard structure, but I just don't have time to clean this up.  

First, in case you didn't watch Lee Zurik's special report the other night on WWL, please do so and check out Nagin's schedule on their website.

Nagin had numerous meetings with a man named Frank Fradella who was the former CEO for a company called Home Solutions of America (HSOA).  The company received numerous no-bid contracts from the Nagin administration and other lucrative contracts throughout the city including the 7 million dollar, renovation contract for the French Market.  Zurik is running another special report tonight on WWL which I am guessing will expose much of HSOA's gravy train with city contracts....although please note that the French Market Corp. is not a city government organization.  

HSOA was investigated by the SEC in 2008 for cooking the books and subsequently Fradella is in deep shit with the FED...I think he's headed for the clink.  Local businessman, Scott Sewell, was working with HSOA and jumped ship after the investigation started, claiming that Fradella was a crook and supposedly HSOA owes Sewell millions of dollars after he filed suit and received a judgement against them.  

HSOA spun off numerous shell companies, i.e., Associated Contractors, Home Solutions Renovation, Picke Construction, Home Solutions Restoration of Louisiana, etc., which recieved multiple contracts in the city from the Pirates Alley sidewalk renovation to the renovations at Louis Armstrong International....which I will expound on in a moment.  

Also of note is a subisidiary company HSOA owned called Cornerstone Marble and Granite, Inc......why is that imporant?  Well it just so happens that Nagin and his sons opened a company, Stone Age, which sold marble and granite countertops....use your imagination (although I have no solid evidence here).

HSOA was also the company which provided the G4 Lear Jet ride for Nagin and Muppet to the Chicago game.  Fradella himself was on the plane with them.

All and all, HSOA has reportedly reaped over 200 million dollars in no-bid contracts from the city.

Now the other person who was reportedly on the plane ride to Chicago is businessman Aaron Bennett, owner of a company called Benetech.  Benetech has also been the recipient of numerous no-bid contracts from the city, including the contract to remove all the flooded cars from the city in Post-K, and they were even running the city IT services on a no-bid contract in the interim period after Mark Kurt stepped down and Anthony Jones stepped in.  Bennett was also a partner in Associated Contractors with HSOA.  At this time I have not seen a tally on how much Benetech, or Bennett himself reaped in city cash up to this point.

Ok...so back to LAI.  HSOA and a contstruction company, JRDKS, got the bid to renovate the airport.  The bond backer for that project was a company called Infinity Surety (dig that slick website), owned by a Texas businessman, George Black.  HSOA is a Texas based company as well.  So HSOA and JRDKS just lost the airport job when it was discovered that Infinity Surety was neither....in fact they were very finite and very unsure, as Black had backed the 5.6 million dollar project with a lien on a measly 170k dollar duplex property in Texas.  However that didn't stop HSOA and JRDKS from getting a fat paycheck before the bad bonds were discovered.

Another local job Infinity backed was the C.J. Peete housing project in which many subcontractors under the general contractor, Dalrymple Corp. of Atlanta, were not paid.

I'm going to continue to add to this summary...I  just don't have the time and resources to devote to it right now.  Please read the comment section of the previous posts for more info. 

   

   

Just scratching the surface....and look what turns up

damn....somehow I missed Benetechs website:

http://www.thebenetechgroup.com

look at that laundry list of city contracts...incidentally, none of which are "tech" related:

1. Resoration of 15 public schools

2. FEMA contract to manage public housing

3. Contract for disposal of flooded cars and boats

4. Restoration of French Market

What the fuck don't they do? No wonder Bennett flew Nagin and Meffert to the Bears game on a private jet. Something tells me this also explains Meffert's new company, PRM Restoration Development Group, LLC. I wonder if PRM is doing any of the "restoring" for the public schools or the French Market as a sub under Benetech?

Stay tuned....

Rummaging around in the Memory Hole

It would be nice to see a follow up on this....just to find out where we are with the folks who were fighting for their leases at the French Market:

4 Investigates: French Market still not revitalized as cost balloons

We're getting rocked...are we getting rolled?

Keep in mind that Associated Contractors is Benetech.

Dallas firm to tackle FQ, airport projects
By CityBusiness staff report

2007-05-17 9:11 AM CST

DALLAS — A $7-million French Quarter sidewalk project is one of three jobs Home Solutions of America Inc. will tackle in Louisiana. The company announced $19 million in projects Wednesday.

Home Solution's Louisiana workload includes $1 million in renovation work for Alexander Elementary and Grace King High School in Jefferson Parish and Westpark Elementary in Houma. It will also perform $1 million worth of concourse repairs at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

Home Solutions Restoration of Louisiana, Inc., which does business as Associated Contractors, is a Louisiana-based commercial, industrial and residential contractor working in the governmental and private arenas. It has been one of the larger players in redeveloping public schools in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Its clients include the state of Louisiana, the city of New Orleans, the Louisiana National Guard, the historic French Market, Louis Armstrong International Airport and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

How confusing is that? A Dallas based firm, Home Solutions of America Inc., has a subdivision of it's company called Home Solutions Restoration of Louisiana, Inc. Then the article says that Home Solutions Restoration of Louisiana, Inc does business as Associated Contractors which according to the Benetech website was merged with Home Solutions Restoration of Louisiana, Inc.

Now let's go to the Home Solutions of America Inc. website and under the company profile I notice something of interest:

HSOA’s Rebuilding/Remodeling products and services currently consist of the production and installation of custom kitchen cabinets and countertops provided through our wholly-owned subsidiary, Southern Exposure Unlimited of Florida, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary, SouthernStone Cabinets, Inc. and the installation of custom marble and granite countertops through our wholly-owned subsidiary, Cornerstone Marble & Granite, Inc. ("Cornerstone").

Why is that paragraph of interest? Well...Ray Nagin and his sons own a company called Stone Age Marble and Granite which does the exact same thing...where does Stone Age get their Granite and Marble?

So now Associated Contractors has a $7 million dollar "French Quarter sidewalk project". Which is what? Is it the Canal street sidewalk contract? I don't think so because I think Boh Bros. has that contract. And according to my sources this company, Cold Spring Granite, is the supplier of the granite for the Canal Street project per Boh...so I don't think there's a connection there.

But we can be assured that whatever this "French Quarter sidewalk project" is....Cornestone is undoubtedly supplying the granite for the project...unless they're stupid enough to funnel it through Stone Age.

I'm speculating out loud...or mabye I'm blogulating, whatever you want to call it.

The question is "Is there any connection between Stone Age and Cornerstone?" Any connection at all would constitute a conflict of interest on Nagin's part. I'm not saying there is...I'm just asking the question.

They did merge

So it looks like Picke's (originally an HSOA/Fradella subsidiary) assets were dumped into Bennett's Associated Contractors.

I knew this but I couldn't remember exactly what happened.  I surmise once Fradella got tagged by the SEC, he dumped all his Picke contracts, I think mostly N.O. contracts, into Associated Contractors.

I believe Picke was the HSOA company who originally had the airport contract, the Picke website is no longer:

Anonymous to me
show details 9:51 am (1 day ago)
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "All Roads Lead to HSOA?":

http://pickeconstruction.com

It is a beautiful website. It looks professional and polished. The writing on it is a little nauseating. Were it not for the news stories about money problems and lawsuits, I'd be impressed by them at first glance.

Under investors they tell you they area wholly owed subsidiary of Home Solutions of America. They say they work on the Gulf Coast, but all their projects are in New Orleans, and most of them seem to involve getting government contracts. And they DO have a multi-million dollar contract out at the airport.

Under the projects heading, they tell you right up front:

French Market Shed Renovation
$6 905 834

Orleans Parish Prison
$1 779 771

Louis Armstrong International Airport
$4 324 555

New Orleans Public School
$20 739 176

French Quarter Sidewalks
$ 750 000

Tulane University-- Emergency Temporary Housing
$1 502 232

Would someone check my math, please, because I think that adds up to $36 001 568.

That is a lot of public money to entrust to a company that seems to have big problems.

Does anyone know what happened with that airport contract?  I thought we ended up in a lawsuit against Picke but I don't remember if it was settled or what.  Any help?

I admit....this one fell into the memory hole.  I never followed up to find out what went on with that airport contract.

A Bone to Picke

Here's a question...has anyone ever seen the HSOA contracts for the Sidewalk repairs? Anyone? They're not posted on the city database. I'm just curious if anyone actually has them.

Also...were all of these contracts formally bid? I know the Airport contract was defaulted when it was discoverd that HSOA's bond company, Infinity Surety, was bogus....So does this mean that Picke now has the airport contract or is this an entirely different contract? The original defaulted contract was for 5.6 million...this lists a 4.3 million dollar contract....are they the same contract?:

Anonymous to me
show details 9:51 am (1 day ago)
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "All Roads Lead to HSOA?":

http://pickeconstruction.com

It is a beautiful website. It looks professional and polished. The writing on it is a little nauseating. Were it not for the news stories about money problems and lawsuits, I'd be impressed by them at first glance.

Under investors they tell you they area wholly owed subsidiary of Home Solutions of America. They say they work on the Gulf Coast, but all their projects are in New Orleans, and most of them seem to involve getting government contracts. And they DO have a multi-million dollar contract out at the airport.

Under the projects heading, they tell you right up front:

French Market Shed Renovation
$6 905 834

Orleans Parish Prison
$1 779 771

Louis Armstrong International Airport
$4 324 555

New Orleans Public School
$20 739 176

French Quarter Sidewalks
$ 750 000

Tulane University-- Emergency Temporary Housing
$1 502 232

Would someone check my math, please, because I think that adds up to $36 001 568.

That is a lot of public money to entrust to a company that seems to have big problems.

UPDATE: This comment came in immediately after I made this post. Interestingly enough the link has been locked so I can't follow up on what it was about.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Bone to Picke":

Have you see this?

http://securities.stanford.edu/1036/HOM_01/2006620_f01cHansen.pdf

Does it tell us anything we don't already know?

I'm anxiously awaiting the piece you were going to post about the schools.

Are any of these HSOA subsidiaries getting New Orelans contracts:

Cornerstone Building and Remodeling
Southern Exposure
P.W. Stephens (they do mold)
Fiber Seal Systems ?

Is the Charles Fradella who is the Financial Officer of MLU Services related to Frank Fradella of HSOA?

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.    

It really is a "Ho" Zone

Despite denied requests from the CVB to see the Boston Consulting Group's heralded report that has led to the Ho Zone proposal, we managed to find it online.  Turns out it was on the Lt. Gov's, Culture, Recreation and Tourism website the the whole time.

Boston Consulting Group Report

But...don't bother twisting your neck to read it.  It really isn't worth your time.  I stayed up all night last night reading it... and some other things...I will sum it up for you.  There really isn't that much to sum up.

It basically states that the city's efforts to market to an older, more mature tourist have failed over the past decade.  The goal now is to market towards a younger, drunker crowd.

....really...that's what is says.

Their data points to prove this strategy are rather intersesting.  Take this chart:

At first glance, the assessment seems accurate....unless of course you're from New Orleans and immediately there is a on overlooked aspect on the chart that will jump out at you like a turd in a punchbowl....Katrina.  They didn't bother to take the worst natural disaster in American history into account when they set out to prove that our previous marketing strategy to an older, higher-end clientele wasn't working.  If you look at the chart the numbers actually peaked in 2004, right before Katrina...but never mind that....that shit doesn't work when you look at the cumulative numbers.

Pick that cherry.

So what type of tourist does BCG think we need to go after?  Really simple....young, drunk ones.

Ok, fair question.  But I won't answer....I'll let the residents of the French Quarter do that.

How do we get these young, drunk visitors to come to our city and partake of Miller High Life, Whip-its, and Lucky Dogs?  Get Demi Moore as a spokesperson (let me know if you got that joke)? No...we enterprise on what the BCG thinks is our best asset...."unique bawdiness."

In case you're not clear about what that means:

Bawdy - indecent; lewd; obscene

Alrighty then.  Who knew Reverend Storm had the winning marketing strategy for the city all along...he just needed to do his business down in the Quatah's instead of out in a JP park.

Wow...this is a really interesting strategy to base a 14 million dollar annual taxing zone on.  I wonder how much we paid for this report...

Convention & Visitors Bureau to merge with Tourism Marketing Corp. under plan being rolled out today

The New Orleans Hospitality Strategic Task Force spent about $250,000 on the study, conducted by Boston Consulting Group, and focused on creating a long-term plan for the hospitality industry to be achieved by 2018, the city's 300th anniversary.

250k?

Well...no...not so much.  Actually...much, much more.

Apparently the person Jaquetta White was speaking with from the New Orleans Hospitality Strategic Task Force pulled a sly one on her.  I assume she asked "How much did 'you' pay for it?"  And that person replied on behalf of their individual agency and said 250k.  They didn't bother to mention all the other agencies that paid for it.  Let me give you a run down on what I have confirmed:

Public Entities -

New Orleans Tourism and Marketing Corp. - $250k

Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District - $250k

Lt. Gov. Office of Culture, Recreation and Tourism - $250k

Convention Center - $250k

Public/Private -

New Orleans Conventions and Visitors Bureau - $250k

Private -

Harrahs Casino - 125k+???  not sure on amount

Various Hotel/Motels - ?????

I'm told that, in all, the report may have cost 1.5 to 2 million dollars.  Damn...I'm not charging enough for my blog reports.

Let me try something...."We need to market to drunken frat boys!"  Please deposit 1.5 million here.  I'll let you know how that experiment works out.

So we paid 1.5 million or more for the Boston Consulting Group to tell us we need to market to younger, drunker people.  Then our city "stakeholders" took that report and crafted an entirely new multi-million dollar taxing zone in order to do this.  Those darn "stakeholders"...I wish I knew who they were.

As luck would have it...

Interesting list.  I can say with absolute certainty that at least two of the people on the "Secondary" list are adamantly against SB 573 as it stands. But according to "Primary" stakeholders....everyone is all "gun ho!".

Let me jump back and repost this page from the report:

You may have already noticed that BCG noted that "NOLA is a terrific 'Leveraged buy-out'" opportunity.

What?  What the fuck do they mean by that?  Is that the basis for the Ho Zone itself?  That has to be the most disturbing sentence in the entire report...and I read every sentence.

And how does this report create the basis for the Hospitality Zone?  I don't see it...anywhere.  Is there another dossier that hasn't been made public?  Should I put a call in to the shadow government?

Meanwhile...I wonder if this has anything to do with anything....

More to come...

Welcome to the Hostility Zone

Here we are, once again in the eleventh hour, facing a new bill being pushed in the state legislature that we knew nothing about.  Senate Bills 473, 573, 608 (sponsored by Ed Murray, J.P. Morrell) and House Bill 967 (sponsored by Helena Moreno and Walt Leger) just hit the insider's radar last Friday and the public radar yesterday via Bruce Eggler’s column in the TP.

The public is just hearing of this bill a week out before it would go to committee.  Why is that?  Why is a bill this important, one that will affect every citizen in this city, just now reaching the public’s attention? 

This “urgent”, “has to happen” bill would create a new taxing zone, the “New Orleans Hospitality and Entertainment District”.  It’s essentially another DDD on steroids emcompassing “hospitality” areas of the city.  What are those areas?  Well...the hospitality “stakeholders” will decide that as needed, in perpetuity, and you, the citizen, will be informed after those decisions are made for you.  If your French Quarter, Marigny, Treme, Warhouse District, or 7th Ward house happens to end up in their "Hospitality Zone" you will be expected to comply with the agenda, resistance is futile.

But for now, we have to do this because Superbowl is coming up next year and we will be totally fuck’snu’d if we don’t pass it now!

Are you nervous?  

The general pitch for the bill would essentially create a new taxing district and new layer of government in the city.  11 million dollars of the expected new revenue would be split 50/50 between the city's two tourism marketing entities, NOMCVB and NOTMC.  That additional 11 million is on top of their current income and woud be used only for marketing.  That amount is an estimated 1.5% of the new 1.75% additional hotel/motel tax.  The remaining .25% would go towards "infrastructure" and "quality of life" enhancements in the newly created district.


Let’s take a look at what the primary objectives of the New Orleans Hospitality Zone and Entertainment District are (per VCPORA and French Quarter Citizens):

1. The Initial $30 million (generated by a pledge from the Convention Center):  Provide a mechanism for distributing the Convention Center’s pledge to the primary tourist areas of New Orleans and improving its infrastructure.
2. Funding for tourism agencies, the http://www.neworleanscvb.com/ and the New Orleans Tourism and Marketing Corp. (NOTMC) :  Obtain additional millions for advertising and PR for the agencies responsible for marketing New Orleans so the city is on par with other similarly situated US cities.
3. Recurring Revenue for Infrastructure:  Provide a recurring revenue source for infrastructure, sanitation, and other issues related to improving visitor impressions of the “hospitality zone”.

Ok, so that’s the basis of the pitch.  I’m going to address my concerns in a minute but I want to list some of the concerns VCPORA and FQC raised:

• Flexible Boundaries:

1. The content of the bills vary, but roughly the Zone includes the French Quarter, CBD, Warehouse District, and the Marigny (with some bills including the entire Marigny and others drawing the line at Elysian Fields).  The boundaries, however, are NOT fixed and can be adjusted by the board and/or the Mayor - NOTE: THIS ITEM HAS REPORTEDLY BEEN AMENDED OUT.
2. Several bills empower the Mayor to enlarge the district by annexing “contiguous” areas into the zone.  The bills also empower the District itself to divide into smaller “subdistricts”, which could be used to enable the district to draw out significant pockets of opposition for tax election purposes. NOTE: THIS ITEM HAS ALSO REPORTEDLY BEEN AMENDED OUT.

• Unelected Board

1. The creation of the board would represent a shift of power from elected leaders (like the City Council) to an unelected board made up primarily of tourism industry officials, so observers are expressing concern about accountability.
2. The bills generally set out the purposes of the district, but there is little in the bills that would dedicate a specific amount of money (say, at least 50%) to enhancing capital improvements in the Zone.  Further, the board is not legally required to seek the input of the public or even the City Council in choosing projects.  One excpetion:  In SB 473, the board MAY enter into a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement with the City for capital improvements in the zone.  But, “in the absence of ... (an) agreement” the funds (originally intended for improvments) are sent to the CVB and NOTMC.

Here we go again, eh?  Yet another “taxing district” to raise money for some urgent stuff we lack in regards to other “similarly situated cities”. 

In other words, the college fraternity next door just got a pool and a hot tub and we have to run out and get those things too or we just won’t be cool enough.  Never mind that we can’t afford those things, we’ll just jack up the rates on members’ fraternity dues in order to raise the money to get them.  But we have to hurry up because the big game is coming and we need that schwag for the tailgate party.

The only problem with the frat boy analogy in respect to this situation is that you can choose to leave a college fraternity, many people can’t simply choose to leave their house, job, friends and family and move to another area of the city or even out of the city.

People who live in a city are privy to their city government’s machinations but their government must also answer to the people.  Government is imposed on the populous in the form of laws and taxes but citizens have a representative voice in the process through the election of government officials.  If the citizens don’t like what is happening they can always vote out the lawmakers.

It’s this pregnant, little notion commonly referred to as a “representative democracy”.

A college fraternity is more often a monarchy....a fiefdom.  Seniority and title rule the roost.  This is the mindset that is imposed in a fraternity and the fruit of that vine usually carries that attitude to the grave.

On that note, let me briefly explain the CVB and NOTMC.  Both organizations obtain funding from a tax known as the “Hotel/Motel tax”.  This tax was created shortly after the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition failed miserably and had to be subsidized by government funding just to keep it running through its ending date.  The failure of the event was largely blamed on the lack of marketing to promote the event and as a result the two respective marketing agencies were created in order to market the city to tourists.  To fund the organizations a city tax was placed on hotel/motel rooms and restaurant meals with the blessing of the business owners.

NOTMC was designed to market to the “leisure tourist”, people who are simply visiting the city on a vacation or for festivals, etc.  NOTMC is wholly funded by the hotel/motel tax.

The CVB was originally designed to market more towards large conventions and business-based tourism but they also started taking on the role of marketing to leisure tourists as well.  The CVB does receive funding from the hotel/motel tax but they also receive private funding (I’ll get to this in a minute). 

There has always been an uneasy relationship between the two entities with the CVB being the aggressor.  NOTMC’s budget has repeatedly been in the crosshairs for the CVB and that power play climaxed last year in a rather hostile attempt by the CVB’s President/CEO, Stephen Perry, and a handful of CVB board members to collapse the NOTMC into their organization and essentially cannibalize their budget.  The merit of this move is up for debate, regardless, it was thwarted largely by the influence of then newly-elected Mayor Landrieu.  NOTMC is under the umbrella of the mayor's office; CVB is autonomous.  

I bring these facts up because one point of contention that surfaced during this battle between the two entities was that after repeated requests for their budget, including public records requests from more than one local media outlet, the CVB denied all requests to open their books.  Their lawyers claimed that since the CVB was a public/private entity they did not have to comply with the requests.  They finally buckled a little last year and agreed to open up their books only on the public monies they received from the hotel/motel tax. 

   

NOTMC has repeatedly made their books public. 

The CVB’s spending and bookkeeping has been the subject of much speculation for years, particularly since Katrina.  The organization has continually operated at a deficit since the storm; their spending largely unscrutinized and hidden from public view.  The organization’s hostility towards its sister organization, NOTMC, is the stuff of New Orleans’ political lore and last year’s battle was no exception, voodoo even made it into the mix (buy me a drink and I’ll tell you a tale).

What we have in the CVB is essentially a fiefdom....little to no accountability, self-rule, unelected legacy rulers. 

Now, at the last minute, we’re being told of a bill being pushed in the state legislature that would greatly expand that fiefdom’s territory, power and wealth by yet another tax imposed on the city.  We’re being told this “Zone” must be created in order for us to properly host the Superbowl next year.  We’re being told this plan was hatched by the “stakeholders” in the New Orleans’ tourism industry and apparently that elite group does not include all the citizens of the city.  

We’re being told this "Zone" will initially be the French Quarter, the Warehouse District and CBD (which will apparently overlap an already existing tax district, the DDD), Marigny, Treme, and the 7th Ward.

We’re being told we must simply accept all of this and agree to the tax without having any voice in the matter or course of action through standard governmental channels such as City Council.

We’re being told we have no voice on who runs this "Zone", the board will be appointed by the “stakeholders” and we “simply ain’t in that numbah’”.

Once agian, it's a fiefdom.  It’s called taxation without representation.

The spearhead of this ploy being primarily the CVB, an organization that has shown a blatant contempt for transparency.  However, what little we do know of the organization’s budgetary performance is cause for great concern.  


Now, they have the balls to tell us, not ask us, that they are going to create a whole new taxing zone in the city and they are going to spend that generated income at their own discretion.

Not very hospitable for an organization whose business is hospitality, huh?

This city...this amazing city....is amazing because of its residents.  What makes New Orleans unique, what gives these tourism “stakeholders” their jobs and income is the eclectic mix of culture, music, food....people....that comprise this city.  Yes, some tourists come to New Orleans simply to get plowed and hang out in the “Zone” but what sets this city apart from Las Vegas, Disney World....Branson....is that we’ve always had this amazing ability to walk the fine line between exploiting our culture and keeping it fo‘ true.  

 Make no mistake, this tax is going to affect all the people of this city, not just the self-ascribed “stakeholders”.  An increase in taxes on parking is going to put a burden on the folks who have to commute downtown to run the stakeholders‘ businesses.  An increase in restaurant prices is going to make folks think twice about going to the “Zone” to enjoy a meal in their own city.  I doubt folks in Gentilly and Lakeview paying for new shocks, struts and tires due to the damage caused by the gargantuan holes in their streets are going to feel like traveling to the “Zone”, pay an extra tax to park and eat, then watch already useable dowtown streets get repaved.

In the past few years we’ve seen red light cameras, we’ve seen speeding cameras, and most recently we’ve seen booting for a single overdue parking ticket.  Have you been down to the “Zone” recently?  There is a booted car on almost every block.  Those cars do not belong to tourists, they belong to New Orleans‘ citizens trying to make a living in this city.  

How much more can we exploit...tax...our own citizens before we cross the line and destroy what truly makes this city special?  (Answering my own question) When the price of admission for local folks to get into the “Zone” is too high, you will most certainly destroy what makes this city special.   

If the “stakeholders” behind this bill did not know how to “bring the public to the table” before they pushed this bill into the legislature announcing it at the eleventh hour....perhaps they have no business dealing with New Orleans’ citizens or their money.  If you scratch the surface of this bill it begins to look like a classic power grab to wrest control of the city's most valuable assets from the citizens who live in these areas.  There has always been a push to "disnefy" the Quarter and the only thing that has kept the balance of authenticity and the integrity of the residential neighborhood in the Quarter in tact is the homeowners and preservationists who fight to maintain a decent standard of living.  That dynamic is what makes the Quarter unique.  This bill appears to be an end-around those pesky preservationists and neighborhood associations who stand in the way of turning the quarter into a full scale timeshare, condo-driven amusement park.

I’m not opposed to taxing districts in general and I think we should look at ways to garner funding to better our city’s crumbling infrastructure but what I am opposed to is the way this was done.  I am sick of the blatant disregard, even contempt, for the public by public officials dealing with public monies.  For that reason alone, I hope this thing is shot down before it gets out of committee.  Maybe that will send a message to industry officials that we are all “stakeholders” in the business of our city’s tourism.


The bottom line is there is no possible way to publicly vet all the issues this bill will potentially create in the short amount of time there is to bring it to the legislature floor.  Make no mistake, this was by design.  Don't know about you but that really pisses me off.  I am hoping it backfires on them and the next time they won't be so arrogant.

I don’t think the authors of these bills fully understood their consequences when they threw their support behind them.  At least I don’t think Sen. Murray and Sen. Morrell did.  Apparently Rep. Leger is all on board; I’m not sure what’s going through Rep. Moreno’s head.  I would encourage you to contact all of them and let them know how you feel, even if you disagree with me.

Senator Ed Murray - murraye@legis.state.la.us

Senator J.P. Morrell - morrelljp@legis.state.la.us

Rep. Helena Moreno - morenoh@legis.state.la.us


Rep. Walt Leger - wleger3@legershaw.com

Ashe’

     

 UPDATE:  I failed to mention that the Yellow Blog had already broached this issue and sounded the warning bell.  

  

"We" deserve a piece of the action

Plaintiff says Greg Meffert ordered crime cameras from Dell before he left New Orleans City Hall

Perrin testified that he met in February 2005, more than a year into the crime camera project, with Chris Drake, one of St. Pierre's employees who worked in the city's tech office. It was at that meeting at Mr. John's Steakhouse that Drake floated the idea of having some of the work go to St. Pierre's companies.

"I was shocked the words came out of Chris’ mouth. He said Mr. Meffert told him this was the largest tech project in the city at the time 'and we didn’t even have a piece of it.' I thought that was kind of strange that (Meffert) was using the word 'we,'" Perrin said.

"I said, Chris, I don’t think this is ethical. He said they had already passed it by the city attorney, who said it would not be a conflict. I said, 'Chris, these guys worked way too hard to put this system together and for you to take one of them out and put yourself in would be wrong.' So, I declined."

That pretty much sums up how Meffert, St. Pierre, Drake, Domke viewed the city tech department....if there's a contract to be let...WE deserve it.
To me, the most interesting role in this whole mess is Mark Kurt's. I get this picture of Kurt as being the reluctant soldier. I think he really hated the position he was in and he knew it reeked to high heaven, but he probably got so far into it that he had to continue. He didn't want the CTO position in the first place but Nagin "assured" him he was the man for the job. I think when Stacy Head started putting pressure on him to answer questions about the cameras and then when the story started making its way into the press, he saw the writing on the wall and bailed out while he could. Note Kurt's comment to Perrin that Meffert had laid a turd on his desk before he left....I really think Kurt felt like he was trapped from the beginning...and he was.
Interesting to note that in the period immediately following Kurt's departure, Benetech was hired...without bid...to run the city's IT services as an interim contractor. Anthony Jones was eventually promoted to the CTO position...even though he didn't have the credentials to acquire the job. For that matter, Benetech wasn't qualified to do the job as the only "tech" part of their resume was creating security cards for casinos and NASA. Now of course they're doing everything from the French Market to a 100 million dollar ACE contract. I don't know what kind of stroke Bennett has but he's pulling the moon down from the sky.
Oh and when they "passed it by the city attorney" who said it was ok....who the hell would say that is ok?

UPDATE:  This explain's a lot:

Anonymous said...

as for benetech, they have this service disabled veteran owned small business deal that gets them set aside government contracts. iarrons dad, bill, must have slipped on a bannana peel while in the army medical corps. when associated contractors was bought by HSOA bill bennett was listed as owning 1/3 of a.c. making them unqualified as a SDVOSB. that did not stop them. in investor presentations HSOA would tell people of this SDVOSB scam they had going. this is a slap in the face to all truly disabled veterans.

Hey, watch me pull a company out of my hat!!!

...nothing up my sleeve....presto!

Bright French Market renovation shadowed by cost overruns

That seems to be Aaron Bennett's amazing talent during the Nagin Administration....he does tech, he does construction, he does Casino membership cards.......ooops.....just forget that last one.

And it seems like Bennett and Frank Fradella had an affinity for Infinity Surety, a bond company out of.....where else....Texas. And these guys....well they just can't seem to get anything right:

Overseer: Terminal process vague

I'd like to make an apology to Greg Meffert...

...I once said he had the biggest ego and biggest mouth in the city. Man, was I ever wrong:

 Aaron Bennett thrives in the heat of enterprises many would shun

I don't even know what to say about this.  He's just gleefully admitting he bribed Nagin.  I really am gobsmacked to the point that I can't even comment on how stupid this is.

Well...a couple of things I would point out in this article.  Reading between the lines and perhaps some subtle foreshadowing on Hammer's part....

"Sources close to the case tell The Times-Picayune that after Bennett began cooperating with investigators, he tried to talk to Fradella in an apparent attempt to help the feds make their case."

If that's true...and I'm not convinced it is....that would mean Fradella still hasn't cut a deal with the Feds.  What this also means is that Ray Nagin is almost certainly about to get indicted.  It also means there must be other people the Fed wants to nail in this investigation and they need Fradella to sing.

Who are those people?  Well...Hammer throws up some suspect contracts Bennett was involved in:

"Bennett could be a fountainhead for investigators because he has held so many public contracts with different government entities -- with the city of New Orleans, Louis Armstrong International Airport, New Orleans public schools, the St. Bernard Parish port, Plaquemines Parish, the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's Office, the Army Corps of Engineers."

Interesting that the LAI contract is thrown in.  I think the MSM will soon find out what happened with that contract and we'll get some answers.

"This is not the end but the beginning of the next phase," Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, said when Bennett was charged. "This could be something that would overlap parish boundaries."

River Birch, perhaps?

In the following years, he bundled illegal campaign contributions for federal elected officials, schmoozed at hot spots near and far with top local politicos and landed multimillion-dollar federal and local government contracts for everything from storm-abandoned vehicle removal to technology management to large Army Corps of Engineers and port construction projects to house lifting and shoring.

Whoop...there it is!  That abandoned vehicle removal "contract" which there is no record of at City Hall.  I think that's because it was handed out as an emergency contract after the storm but the details of the contract don't seem to be recorded.  Ever wonder where those cars ended up?  I think I have found a couple of companies in Texas and Florida who may have been the lucky recipients of those waterlogged vehicles...more on that to come.  Speaking of...

The next year, the attention that surrounded the Chicago and Las Vegas plane trip Bennett arranged for Nagin didn't slow Bennett down a bit. Benetech soon hired one of the city attorneys for consulting services, and a year after that Benetech took over a Home Solutions contract to do city-paid construction work at the French Market -- work that got more lucrative with a series of change orders.

Interesting that he didn't name Ellis as the attorney.  Is he threatening to sue you now as well, Dave?

even though Bennett at that point already knew the feds had caught him on tape making a $10,000 payment to Hingle.

You know...one thing I want to point out....he must have done this after Zurik was already reporting on Hingle.  That's just fucking stupid.  So was this:

Last year, after one of his ex-wives supplied Benetech financial information to The Times-Picayune, he sent her a taunting text message with a nude photo of himself flexing his biceps, which she forwarded to the newspaper.

I got that pic as well and I posted it not knowing it was him.  I thought it was just a joke....well...I guess it was a joke.  What the kind of farking moron would do something like that?  This guy....jeez.

I almost wish he wouldn't have cooperated so I could watch that trial.  Well, I suppose I can at least hope for a Nagin trial.       

Diggin' up bones

A Bone to Picke

Anonymous said...

ARRGH...http://www.secinfo.com/dujPe.vcn.a.htm

November 1 2006 "Home Solutions of America Acquires Associated Contractors; Acquisition to Allow Company to Participate in $270M Rebuilding Project for Stennis Space Center"

Contact people: Jeff Mattich (HSOA) and Matt Kreps, Halliburton Investor Relations.

Interesting huh?

Read that whole thread...including this comment:

 Anonymous said... all of those HSOA subs have been sold or are defunct. i dont think there is anything of note left to the old picke/hsoa now that fradella is gone. a contractors license search shows the picke license is now registered to an address in kenner. the key here is what did hsoa give to nagin for these contracts? we know at least a trip was given but i think there were other things that were undisclosed. why would nagin meet so frequently with fradella? does nagin go the boh brothers, Gootee etal for regular meetings? why were the hsoa meetings redacted? ..one other tidbit just for fun. when HSOA was putting out their story to wall street they hosted an investors day in new orleans. the keynote speaker was virginia boulet. AUGUST 28, 2009 9:16:00 AM CDT

Don't give two shits about Boulet but note that Picke's contractor's license was transferred to an address in Kenner.  A "Pump and Dump" doesn't just mean you're dumping the stock, it means you're transferring the entire "wealth" of the company...to....perhaps...another company?

Remember that Fradella originally had the French Market renovation contract and it then ended up in Bennett's hands...I could be mistaken on that but I'm pretty sure that's how it transpired.  And I'm still not sure what went on with the Airport contract or the lawsuit the city filed against HSOA.  A lawsuit which I believe may have been in the hands of a certain city attorney.

Also check out this post, particularly this comment:


Ndiyo. Kuna mengi zaidi hapa kuliko hukutana jicho.

... Makini makini.

Anonymous said...

I heard that according to the Department of Insurance, neither Infinity Surety nor Infinity Surety of Louisiana Inc. were ever licenced insurance companies in LA.

They never were authorized to make bid bonds or to write surety insurance.

The case you are pointing out appears to be some sort of personal injury suit. I don't understand that. Is this that Houston bred moron again?

Is THIS the personal injury work his Texas law firm (with the New Orleans City Hall telephone number) does?

Is he, as a City Attorney, allowed to do the side work he did for Aaron Bennett's Benetech if Bennett is part owner of a company (Picke) that gets no bid city contracts? Is that allowed?

And that same company uses moron's wife as an agent or attorney, even in business dealing with the city?

I can't decide if these people are insane baffoons or criminal masterminds.

Who has the contracts at the airport, and how about that story in the paper about Federal City over in Algiers?

I know a lot of amazing men who are Marines or former Marines, and I'd like to be for the investment over there, but that map of Sparky's is unforgetable.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2009 3:13:00 PM CDT 

Yeah...hell...just read that whole comment thread.

Let's talk in a new comment thread...and we'll all look at Sparky's map.

werd bitches :)