11/24/05: Rebuilding The Gulf Coast's Business, Educational, & Economic Foundations
DARREN GERSH: It`s been almost three months since hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf
coast, leaving behind the most damage of any natural disaster in U.S.
history. The floods that followed Katrina and then hurricane Rita are gone.
But many wonder whether the New Orleans economy will ever get back to
normal. Local business owners are feeling their way day by day, facing
huge unknowns as they struggle to get up and running again. It`s not an
easy process.
At Cafe du Monde, they`ve been frying beignets since the Civil War.
These French donuts are served with a mountain of powdered sugar and don`t
forget the traditional cafe au lait. Du Monde has survived wars,
depression and hurricane Katrina which closed down the cafe for seven
weeks. Yes, beignets are back in the French quarter, but cafe Vice
President Burt Benrud says that doesn`t mean life at du Monde is back to
normal.
BURT BENRUD, VICE PRES., CAFE DU MONDE: The main economic engines
that drive tourism in the city of New Orleans are down and out. The
convention center is down. You got nothing going on in the superdome. We`re
probably at 60 percent of what we were doing prior to the hurricane and I
expect that number to drop.
GERSH: Before Katrina, every table at Caf‚ du Monde would be filled
with 4,000 customers passing through every day. Now look. And staff members
are just as hard to come by. The story is the same across the city.
BOYSIE BOLLINGER, CEO, BOLLINGER SHIPYARDS: The tidal surge came,
lifted it up and then pushed it on back.
GERSH: Up river from du Monde, Boysie Bollinger is back to building
boats, but his shipyard is also short staffed and he says it all comes down
to one thing, housing.
BOLLINGER: Housing is going to be a long term problem in this
reconstruction. It`s a problem today for us just to try to run our company.
GERSH: Bollinger is a friend of President Bush and also serves on both
the mayor`s and the governor`s reconstruction commission. He says a master
plan should be ready by the first of the year.
BOLLINGER: I think the committee, where it is today, although it`s
a very diverse committee, is very much in synch as far as working together
with a common goal to rebuild New Orleans and rebuild New Orleans much
better than it was.
GERSH: But not everyone is convinced yet. Tim Ryan is chancellor of
the University of New Orleans. He`s also an economist who has studied the
city`s troubled economy for years. Now he is rebuilding his university,
but he says he hasn`t seen a lot of evidence that people are working
together.
TIM RYAN, CHANCELLOR, UNIV. OF NEW ORLEANS: I`ve been very encouraged
by the private redevelopment, but in terms of coordinated activities on the
part of Federal, state and local governments, it just hasn`t happened.
GERSH: Ryan says the private sector can and will do the rebuilding,
but he says it will only be successful if New Orleans does what it has
known for decades it needs to do, reform its political system, improve the
business climate and above all, fix the schools, some of the worst in the
country.
RYAN: If we don`t have a proper education system, nobody`s going to
reinvest in New Orleans.
GERSH: And no one will invest much in New Orleans until it is clear
that the levees will be rebuilt to withstand another catastrophic
hurricane. There are deep suspicions that poor neighborhoods like the lower
ninth ward will be sacrificed in the building, stirring up racial divisions
that have hurt this city`s past development efforts.
OLIVER THOMAS, CHAIRMAN, NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL: I`m not really
saying there`s any grand conspiracy, but if anything else, it seems like
there`s a lot of neglect here.
GERSH: Some argue for a Federal recovery corporation to buy up the
devastated homes. Others want the city to do it, but that could take years
and Cafe du Monde will have to decide soon whether or not to reopen two
other locations around the city.
BENRUD: That`s going to be the toughest decision we have. I`m not
looking forward to it.
GERSH: Before Katrina, Bollinger was ready to build a new shipyard
here. Now he says he may have to move if the Army Corps of Engineers shuts
down the nearby Mississippi River Gulf outlet to prevent future floods.
BOLLINGER: If we can`t use it, then - and if the locks are not
replaced - then we`re kind of stuck with a facility with no use.
GERSH: There are so many tough decisions ahead, but people here
believe New Orleans must turn its suffering into an opportunity to
rejuvenate the city`s long-dormant economy.
RYAN: We`ve got a real chance now, but as always when there`s an
opportunity, there`s an opportunity to succeed and there`s an opportunity
to fail. If we fail, if we don`t do the things that we all know we have to
do, then I will probably spend the rest of my life in another community.
GERSH: There are many questions about how Louisiana plans to rebuild.
How will it bring old businesses back to the state and how will it attract
new businesses to the rebuilding effort? For answers, I spoke with Louisiana Secretary of Economic
Development Michael Olivier. What would you say to a business that right
now is on the fence about coming back to Louisiana?
MICHAEL OLIVIER, SECRETARY, LOUISIANA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Well,
I think any business needs to realize first if they were here, that there`s
going to be an incentive for them to return. Secondly, that there`s going
to be an incentive for their workforce to return, because there will be
individual incentives just as there was (INAUDIBLE) and those are the
principles that we`re looking to Congress to approve, just as they did in
2002. And we think by Christmas time, we`ll have a core of an economic
recovery act for the Gulf States.
GERSH: Even before hurricane Katrina, a business group in New
Orleans wrote a report on economic development and they said that opening a
business in the city is quote, a nightmare of politics. And frankly, the
state of Louisiana has a reputation as a tough place to do business. How
are you going to overcome that reputation?
OLIVIER: Well, one of the things we`re very proud of is that our
previous administration, our governor from the previous administration, had
a flawless record relative to ethics and our governor now, Kathleen Blanco,
is having a flawless record. We`re not saying that Louisiana did not have a
past. We`re saying that Louisiana`s future is quite transparent and very
accountable and will continue to be, because our business community demands
it and our leadership demands it.
GERSH: What are you going to say to a business that may be
considering Houston as an alternative to Louisiana?
OLIVIER: Well, it depends on the business. I think each business
has its own designs on what fabric of the economy they want to be attracted
to. If you`re talking about businesses that were once located in New
Orleans and had to temporarily locate to Houston, I think that they`re
going to find that they are looking and will be looking to return, because
one, they were operating there and the cultural draw is certainly there.
GERSH: Are you concerned that now, as we get further away from the
actual event of the hurricane, that Louisiana is going to lose the
spotlight?
OLIVIER: Well, those of us in our states have been affected are
concerned about that. We could be yesterday`s news. That`s what the
enormity of the devastation needs to be reminded to people. The rebuild is
going to take years. It`s not going to take months. We`re going to need
Federal help. The importance of the Gulf coast to the nation is very
obvious. One person was telling me, well, you know, I don`t know why we
have to give our Federal taxes to this Gulf coast area, Mississippi,
Louisiana, Alabama and Texas. Why do we have to do that? And I told the
person, I didn`t hit them. I just told them, I said, when you`re paying $6
a gallon for your gasoline and $12 a box for your Wheaties, you`re going to
figure it out.
GERSH: Michael Olivier, secretary of economic development for
Louisiana. Thank you very much.
OLIVIER: Thank you for having me.
Nightly
Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast.
The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. Updates may
be posted at a later date. The views of our guests and commentators
are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of
Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Nightly
Business Report, or WPBT. Information presented on Nightly
Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment
advice. Copyright
(c) 2005 Community Television Foundation of South Florida,
Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.
11/24/05:Mississippi's Clean Up Effort
JEFF YASTINE: Hurricane Katrina
was only the latest of many hurricanes that have struck this largely rural
state over the years, but the storm wiped out entire towns. It was the most
devastating in recent memory and as we`ll see, it took away the homes and
livelihoods of many long-time residents.
These are not easy days for Gulf Coast residents like Gene Ganucheau.
He sweeps the dust off a driveway to nowhere, a driveway that once led to
his east Biloxi home. Hurricane Katrina literally swept away Gene`s
residence. He took photos of it just before he and his wife evacuated as
the storm approached.
GENE GANUCHEAU, BILOXI RESIDENT: I went around the house, took it from
every angle, inside and outside and this is the best one from the four, the
front view and then this is what we saw when we came back.
YASTINE: Gene`s wife Toni works a few miles away at a Biloxi bank.
Like most Gulf coast residents, her natural optimism has returned in the
months since the storm but the first few days were very hard.
TONI GANUCHEAU, BILOXI RESIDENT: People were just completely shell-
shocked and I think I was in shock. When you go down and you don`t see not
one piece of your home there that you`ve lived in for 30 years, it kind of
just, it takes your breath away.
YASTINE: It`s a story you hear often here on the Mississippi Gulf
coast, three months after Katrina, the impact of the storm is measured not
just in economic terms, but in human wants, the fatigue for folks who are
tired of dealing with insurance companies and relief agencies and the
frustration for folks who put the storm behind them, but are still waiting
to start a new life after the storm.
BERNIE BURKHOLDER, PRES./CEO TREASURE BAY CASINO: We`ve had enough of
clean up, debris and stumbling over tree branches. They want to start
rebuilding, bring their homes back out of the ground, their businesses back
and employing people and being a productive part of the community. And that
process has been slower than expected.
YASTINE: Many here will tell you they`re still waiting for insurance
company settlements or relief checks from FEMA. In the meantime, some sort
through the rubble of their homes looking for personal items among the
debris. Most people now live in trailers, some in homes and others in
tents, but unlike New Orleans, most of those who lost their homes remain
nearby and few are considering permanent moves elsewhere.
As the clean up continues, unemployment has soared from 5 percent
before Katrina to 25 percent now. The main reason, the closing of all the
Mississippi Gulf coast casino hotels. Most of the casinos, built on barges
to accommodate state law, were beached by Katrina`s 25 foot storm surge.
All were heavily damaged as they were wrenched from their hotel docks and
at least one went crashing into another building hundreds of feet away.
That state law has now been changed to allow the casinos to relocate
on shore, so operators like the Palace Casino are now carving gaming floors
from their existing hotel structure.
KEITH CROSBY, GENERAL MGR, PALACE CASINO RESORT HOTEL: And this will
all be table games. There will be a pit with a blackjack, craps and
roulette.
YASTINE: So this is going to be right here where we`re talking about,
this is going to be a new casino operation.
CROSBY: Two months from now, this will be blackjack tables and then
the rest of the inside on that side and above us will all be slot machines.
YASTINE: Once the casinos get close to reopening, more residents can
get back to work, at least in a limited way. It`s a start and that`s all
people here, like Toni Ganucheau are looking for.
TONI GANUCHEAU: Every day we get a little more hope and a little more
hope and the people are so positive and looking so forward to the future
and I see that every single day.
YASTINE: The state of Mississippi has its own plans to help revive
Biloxi and the rest of its coastal communities. The first part is getting
its casino hotels up and running as soon as possible and the second is
encouraging even more investment from gaming companies. In an interview,
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour told us the region is making a slow, but
steady comeback.
GOV. HALEY BARBOUR, (R) MISSISSIPPI: The cleanup started the first
week and 44 million cubic yards of debris to be cleaned up. Rebuilding
started, every school district in the state, every school district on the
coast is open. Over 90 percent of the school kids in the coast counties are
back in their schools, over 99 percent of all the school kids in the state.
That`s a good indicator.
YASTINE: When do things get back to quote unquote normal as the
casinos begin to do some rehiring. They start up some sort of limited
operation and money starts flowing through the local economy again.
BARBOUR: Well, money`s flowing through the local economy already.
There are helped wanted signs on the coast because of the construction
that`s going on there. The back to normal is going to be a long time before
things are back to normal, so it will be a long time before roads and
bridges are rebuilt, public buildings are reconstructed, but we make
progress every day. We`ve made progress every day since the first week and
there are thousands and thousands and thousands of people back at work. The
biggest employers were back open, some of the casinos say they will be open
by Christmas or New Years. So we`re approaching normalcy, but we have to be
honest. This is going to take years. As I`ve (INAUDIBLE) tall mountain in
front of us, but we`re going to get over it.
YASTINE: In October, the legislature at your urging changed the
previous law which allowed only floating casinos on the Gulf coast and now
as the region rebuilds, they`ll be able to build casinos on dry land. Why
is that distinction so important to the future of the Gulf coast?
BARBOUR: If these casinos have to barges floating, then the premium
is on get your money out as fast as you can. You normally going (ph) to
have a bad storm. Your insurance premiums are way more than they ought to
be and you don`t have room. So now we believe, at some of the companies
will make much higher quality investments, that they`ll have more than just
gaming, that they`ll try to develop world class destination resorts. The
coast`s a fabulous place. People love coming there and these companies like
it there. Some of them will decide that they`ll just build over the water
on pilings much more secure and safer. Others will come on shore and some
of those that come on shore will be much more than gaming and that`s
something that we want. We want to put our people back to work as fast as
possible. That`s the point of this, but also we want higher quality and
frankly we`d like them to employ more people in areas other than just
gaming.
YASTINE: There`s lots of discussion since the storm, both at the state
and local level as to what that region, the Gulf coast region will look
like as the resulting process begins. Why are those sorts of discussions so
necessary?
BARBOUR: We`ve got to make sure that out of this awful disaster, all
the great strength and courage and selflessness that our people have shown,
that we get back something that`s bigger and better than it`s ever been and
that`s why I have a commission that`s been working with the local
officials. That`s why we`re getting the best ideas of what are alternatives
are, how to go about doing things and the local people have to decide. The
people on the coast are going to decide. We`re trying to help them lift
their horizons, to raise their expectations for what the coast can do and
the start has been fabulous.
YASTINE: Governor Barbour, thanks for your time.
BARBOUR: Thank you.
YASTINE: Our guest, Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi.
Nightly
Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast.
The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. Updates may
be posted at a later date. The views of our guests and commentators
are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of
Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Nightly
Business Report, or WPBT. Information presented on Nightly
Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment
advice. Copyright (c) 2005 Community Television Foundation
of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.
11/24/05: Will Residents Return To New Orleans?
DARREN GERSH: As I said earlier, one of the big unknowns facing New Orleans
is how many of the city`s former residents will return. It appears many
will not, but polls of Katrina evacuees finding about 40 percent no longer
expect to go back. One of the major centers for former New Orleans
families is Houston and Patricia Gras of Houston PBS profiles two New
Orleans families that are planning to go in different directions.
PATRICIA GRAS, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: From your
temporary apartment in west Houston, Deborah Slattery spends a lot of time
talking on the phone with insurance adjusters.
DEBORAH SLATTERY, KATRINA EVACUEE: Luckily, we didn`t sustain
catastrophic damage. We didn`t loose loved ones. We are very fortunate and
very blessed compared to many people in New Orleans.
GRAS: She`s also fortunate that her husband Jerry Slattery has
managed to continue his practice as an oil and gas attorney, working out of
a local law firm`s office space in downtown Houston.
JERRY SLATTERY, KATRINA EVACUEE: I have been gratified by the
generosity by just about every single person that we have come across.
GRAS: And she`s happy two of her three children enrolled in local
Catholic schools right away. Their eldest son Tommy, a freshman at
Tulane, also made a smooth transition, transferring to a university in the
northeast. Although the family evacuated before the storm and quickly
settled in Houston, they plan to go back to the town they call home.
JERRY SLATTERY: It`s where we belong. We love the city. Our
children have grown up there.
DEBORAH SLATTERY: There is no other place like it. It`s riding the
street car. It`s walking by the parks and hearing music. It`s a certain
smell. It`s all those things that combine together to make a place special
and to make it home to you.
GRAS: For Myles and Gigi Aisola, home now is her sister Pamela`s
house in Missouri City, southwest of Houston. They had been living
there since a week after Katrina hit New Orleans.
MYLES AISOLA, KATRINA EVACUEE: (INAUDIBLE) but I never seen nothing
like it in all my life.
GRAS: An auto collision repair man, Myles Aisola was at home in New
Orleans St. Bernard Parish when Katrina sent waters pouring through the
nearby levee. He saw people drown, houses submerged in a matter of seconds
and people scrambling to escape. Eventually Myles was able to find shelter
on the levee, where he was rescued by boat. How many people were you with?
MYLES AISOLA: (INAUDIBLE)
GRAS: How much water and food did you have for those three days?
MYLES AISOLA: We didn`t really have any water. There was a mile of
water.
GRAS: His wife Gigi, a customer service rep with the local bus
company, also barely escaped the flood when it hit her office in downtown
New Orleans.
GIGI AISOLA, KATRINA EVACUEE: I stand approximately 5`3" and the water
hit me on my chest. So and there was some instances where I had to actually
dog paddle.
GRAS: Unable to salvage their home or personal belongings, Myles and
Gigi headed to Houston and settled with family. For a long time, they were
in a state of shock.
GIGI AISOLA: I hear about this law, but it`s hard to conceive that you
lost your entire life.
GRAS: But the couple eventually started thinking about the possibility
of a future in Houston. When the waters receded, Myles was able to bring
back half his tools from New Orleans. He landed a job in a local body shop
and Gigi took the first step toward a career change.
GIGI AISOLA: This is my opportunity to go back to school, do something
different, to learn new skills, start a new career.
GRAS: The Slattery`s will start a new life in New Orleans when they
move back in January. But Gigi and Myles Aisola aren`t going back. They
decided to stay in Houston and Gigi starts paralegal classes right here at
the University of Houston in February. Patricia, Gras, NIGHTLY BUSINESS
REPORT, Houston.
Nightly
Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast.
The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. Updates may
be posted at a later date. The views of our guests and commentators
are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of
Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Nightly
Business Report, or WPBT. Information presented on Nightly
Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment
advice. Copyright (c) 2005 Community Television Foundation
of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.
11/24/05: Japan's Disaster Management Plan--Will It Work For The Gulf Coast?
JEFF YASTINE: As the Gulf coast region prepares to rebuild, many are
looking ahead to the inevitable next hurricane and they`re asking a
question. What can be done to better protect the region`s infrastructure
such as this bridge behind me which was wrecked by hurricane Katrina, so
that the loss of property and lives next time is not so severe. As
correspondent Lucy Craft reports, there are lessons to be learned from
Japan, which spends $22 billion a year on disaster management.
LUCY CRAFT, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Japan`s anti-
disaster team starts at the very top, with the prime minister and operates
with unusual cooperation from across the bureaucracy and with the help of
the private sector. So successful is this effort, the Japanese do not call
it disaster management, but dare to speak even of disaster prevention.
SATORU NISHIKAWA, DISASTER PREPAREDNESS DIR., THE GOVT OF JAPAN: We
cannot stop earthquakes or we cannot stop typhoon, but we can definitely
decrease the damage by those natural disasters. If we are well prepared and
if we have strong flood control mechanisms, we can even make the casualties
by typhoon zero.
CRAFT: With more than half the Japanese population living at or even
below sea level, Japan has pulled out the stops to protect itself against
raging rivers. They don`t speak here of category four or three when
referring to their flood protection. Japan`s goal is simply to make its
defenses impervious to any flood. Along the banks of Tokyo`s main river,
the Arakawa-Karyu, the grassy mounds which serve as levees are
painstakingly maintained, regularly scrutinized for cracks and other signs
of wear. But the latest centerpiece of Japan`s flood control barrier is a
piece of civil engineering known as a super levee.
TRANSLATION OF: JIRO OKAMURA, ARAKAWA-KARYU RIVER OFFICE DIV. DIR:
When flood waters overflow a regular levee, the barrier breaks and you end
up with major flooding. In a low-lying area like downtown Tokyo, the damage
would be staggering, so we are building extra bulk into our levees, super
levees.
CRAFT: Super sizing a levee doesn`t add height. Instead, the levee is
backfilled and extended to create a gentle slope and a barrier that`s said
to be unbreachable. Homes and apartments are built on top.
OKAMURA: If you build higher, the flood water pressure rises and
increases its disruptive force. So instead, we focus on minimizing the
overflow. Also if you raise the height of the levees, you have to make
bridges higher too. This would be very costly.
CRAFT: Japan aims to super size levees fronting every major river in
Tokyo and Osaka. Only 15 percent of the flood barriers have been fortified
so far. Japan also invests heavily in sophisticated weather tracking and
analyzing systems, enabling it to rush out warnings of an incoming tsunami
for instance in just three minutes.
TRANSLATION OF: NOBUYUKI TANAKA, FLOOD DISASTER PREVENTION, JAPAN
METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY: When it comes to weather forecasting, speed is
everything, but no matter how fast we analyze the data, if we don`t also
get it out to the public fast, it`s meaningless.
CRAFT: A Japanese proverb says that natural disasters strike precisely
when memories of the previous calamity have faded. But by not allowing
itself to forget, by maintaining a high level of vigil on natural
disasters, Japan has managed to keep its casualties relatively low for the
last 50 years. Lucy Craft, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Tokyo.
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