Replies

After Katrina, Swaggart sued in real estate dispute over LSU hospital needs--

A company negotiating with LSU to build the charity hospital on property optioned from Jimmy Swaggart Ministries has sued the preacher's operation, alleging the Family Worship Center is avoiding legal obligations because of changes in the real estate market after Katrina. Health Science Park LLC said 66 acres optioned from Swaggart include buildings on the campus. LSU's Health Sciences Division now wants to use the space for needs arising after the hurricane, but Swaggart is blocking the showing of the space for a possible lease, said company founder Terry Jones.
Are ministry officials negotiating with LSU on the space optioned by Health Sciences? "We are aware they have had conversations," Jones said. Swaggart officials could not be reached for comment this morning.

Health Sciences wants to develop the property as a campus for the health sciences division. To do so, the company optioned the property in November and has paid $350,000 for the current options. The one-year options can be extended by Health Sciences.

Entergy discusses passing hurricane losses to customers
Entergy Corp. could try to recover millions in Katrina losses by passing the costs on to customers, reports the Wall Street Journal this morning. Company CEO Wayne Leonard has been talking to state and federal officials about recouping not only damage losses, but also revenue losses from an interruption in business. One idea under consideration is letting Entergy issue bonds that would be paid off by surcharges to utility customers.

La. Politics by John Maginnis: Planning for new communities
Work could start Monday on preparing land in the Baton Rouge area for mobile home parks, which could later be developed into more permanent communities. According to Shaw Group consulting planner Patrick Moore, the plan is to expand FEMA's two-phase model for relocation developments that start with trailer communities meant to last for six months, followed by modular homes meant to last three to five years. But with so many people having no homes or jobs to go back to, Shaw Group is developing a new prototype for FEMA that will include workforce development and business incubator facilities.
-- Legislative leaders are looking for the governor to call a special session early next year when more is known about the amount of revenue losses. Lawmakers can tap as much as one-third of the $390 million in the state rainy day fund. That might only be a drop in the bucket for the state general fund losses in taxes on sales, personal and corporate income, gambling and hotels in the New Orleans region.

-- State Treasurer John Kennedy has moved to assure state bondholders that the government will make all its debt payments when due, but it will take more work to honor the obligations of the hardest hit local governments. Kennedy said the state's two U.S. senators are seeking a congressional appropriation "for a pool of money to make cash grants or credit guarantees available to local governments to help them make debt payments."

(John Maginnis covers Louisiana politics. Visit his site at lapolitics.com).

Rep. Baker: God cleaned up public housing
U.S. Rep. Richard Baker of Baton Rouge was caught making an insensitive remark. In Wall Street Journal column this morning, the Republican is overheard telling lobbyists: "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did." Baker later told the WSJ that he didn't intent to be flippant but has wanted to improve housing for the poor.

Seafood swamped by Katrina, impact in the billions
The potential economic impact of losses to the commercial and recreational seafood industries in Louisiana by Hurricane Katrina could reach up to $1.6 billion over the next 12 months, according to a preliminary draft report by the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. While officials still need to conduct comprehensive assessments on the water and from the air, experts are already concerned some commercial anglers will exit the trade as cheaper imports flood the market. "The industry is not going to exist for some period of time," says John Roussel, assistant secretary of the department.

Roughly 33% of all wholesale and retail seafood dealers reside in the impacted region, as do 63% of the state's charter boats. Rex H. Caffey, director of LSU's Center for Natural Resource Economics and Policy, considers the preliminary impact released by the state to be "extremely conservative," especially since his office estimated commercial dockside prices to be about $1 billion earlier this year. Louisiana produces more seafood than any continental state. "I never conceived losing this much of the market at one time," Caffey says. (Jeremy Alford)

Idea: Let evacuees building their own future
Some big-time federal dollars are bound for New Orleans, and so are a slew of contractors from all over the country who will profit by rebuilding tens of thousands of homes and businesses.

LSU architecture professor David Baird poses a pertinent question: Why not spend some of that federal aid to train evacuees in the construction trades? After all, thousands of able-bodied young men and women now are without work, many are stuck in shelters and face daunting futures. Train them in the basics of carpentry, plumbing, electrical and other trades. The federal money could be administered through existing vo-tech programs, or could be used to set up new satellite training programs convenient to the shelters. "Traditional federal aid is good at coming in and building housing for people, but does that really empower them?" Baird asks. "They need jobs and a way to go out and buy a house on their own and pay for it." Training people one classroom at a time may not be as sexy as relocating a Fortune 500 company, but it creates better opportunity for the people who need it the most. It's like the old adage: Give a hungry man a fish and he eats today, teach him to fish and he eats for life. What better way to rebuild a great city than with the hands of its residents who know it best? (Tom Guarisco)

Business Report columnist: Inept Blanco and Bush are symptoms of disengagement from politics
The torn levees and rising floodwaters that permitted the Devil to creep into New Orleans also exposed a tragedy: An American disdain for government has resulted in the election of politicians incapable of conducting the important functions of governance, writes Business Report Web Editor Mukul Verma. The disengagement from government has given us inept elected officials like George Bush and Kathleen Blanco. Read his column at this link.

http://www.daily-report.com