News Roundup
Point of View: Feeling Discarded
I own a multimillion dollar business, with thousands of employees, headquartered in our building at 1900 Canal St. That’s in the 37-acre site that LSU has targeted for expropriation to build a $1.2 billion hospital in Lower Mid City. “Read more.”: http://blog.nola.com/guesteditorials/2009/06/point_of_view_feeling_discarde.html#more
Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy
Filed under: Community Economics | Community Input | Rebuilding New Orleans | Sustainable Development
Jun 22 2009
Agency Moves to Use Sales Tax Collections to Help Redevelop Lake Forest Plaza
A board called the Lake Forest Plaza District voted on Friday to dedicate 2 cents from the city sales tax levy and 2 cents from the state levy toward paying off the construction loans that Ryan and his development team will incur to rebuild the shopping center. Ryan himself sits on the TIF board. Read more.
Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy
Filed under: Rebuilding New Orleans
Jun 15 2009
Lockheed Martin Implements Loaned Labor Program to Retain Employees
Lockheed Martin Space Systems’ New Orleans facility will implement a loaned labor program to keep workers employed as NASA begins to shut down its space shuttle program.
“The loaned labor program is an opportunity that matches the skills of our work force with the needs of local business in the Gulf Coast region,” said Judy Russell, the loaned labor manager. “It’s similar to contracting, but they remain Lockheed Martin employees.”
“We’re targeting businesses that are in a similar product family, and complimentary businesses that would not necessarily be in the aerospace industry, like shipbuilders, project management, large nuclear facilities, any product family that would use welders, machinists, and all types of engineering.” Read more. Martin is implementing a loaned labor program that will keep employees working until business rebuilds
Posted by kquillen June 14, 2009 08:00AM
Lockheed Martin Space Systems’ New Orleans facility will implement a loaned labor program to keep workers employed as NASA begins to shut down its space shuttle program.
Lockheed Martin, which has just over 2,000 employees at its eastern New Orleans facility, has built external fuel tanks for the space shuttles for 36 years, but will halt production of the tanks completely when the shuttle program ends in 2010. By loaning its employees out as the space shuttle program winds down, Lockheed Martin hopes to hang on to its highly trained workers until they are needed again when work on future space projects ramps up.
“The loaned labor program is an opportunity that matches the skills of our work force with the needs of local business in the Gulf Coast region,” said Judy Russell, the loaned labor manager. “It’s similar to contracting, but they remain Lockheed Martin employees.”
“We’re targeting businesses that are in a similar product family, and complimentary businesses that would not necessarily be in the aerospace industry, like shipbuilders, project management, large nuclear facilities, any product family that would use welders, machinists, and all types of engineering.”
Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy
Filed under: Community Economics
Jun 15 2009
RTA to Expand Minibus Program with New Lakeview, Gentilly Service
After five months of testing the use of minibuses to ferry passengers from the sparsely populated blocks of the Lower 9th Ward to streets served by larger buses, the Regional Transit Authority is bringing the service to two once-devastated areas that have recovered more robustly: Lakeview and Gentilly. Read more.
Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy
Filed under: Transportation
Jun 14 2009
Unclothed Riders Pedal Through Quarter to Expose Cyclists’ Problems
A bemused mother pressed her right palm against her young son’s eyes as she watched a pack of cyclists lackadaisically pedal past them on Royal Street just after noon Saturday.
The hand went over the youngster’s eyes because most of the riders, both men and women, were almost entirely naked. Read more.
Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy
Filed under: Community Input | Transportation
Jun 12 2009
Hospital Land Tied to “Financing Plan”
Source: Archived Copy
Filed under: Community Input | Healthy Communities | Rebuilding New Orleans
May 28 2009
State of Louisiana Approves $2.6 Million for Lafitte Greenway in New Orleans
Source: Louisiana Recovery Authority | Archived Copy
Filed under: Community Input | Healthy Communities | Rebuilding New Orleans | Sustainable Development | Transportation | Urban Design | Urban Ecology
May 25 2009
Local Filmmaker’s Katrina-Inspired Memory Bank Bows at Tribeca
Chalmette native Matt Faust’s heart-wrenching 6-minute short film has made it on to New Yew York Magazine’s list of Top 5 Favorite Short Films showing at Tribeca this year. Listen to Matt tell why he made the film when he presented it last October as part of the New Orleans Speaks Conference, co-sponsored by The Urban Conservancy.
— Editor
When he started it, Matt Faust envisioned his short film “Home” as little more than an exercise in self-prescribed, post-Katrina therapy.
With no formal background in filmmaking — and armed with just a collection of old photos, home videos and some computer expertise he picked up while earning degrees in Landscape Architecture at LSU — the Hannan High School graduate simply wanted to make a video that might help his family remember what was lost when their home on tiny Derbigny Street in Chalmette was destroyed by the storm.
“I felt like it was something I just had to do, for myself and my family, ” Faust said last week.
What he couldn’t have envisioned was that his wordless six-minute film would find its way to the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, one of the nation’s premiere film fests, where it will screen this week in competition in the documentary-short category. “Read more.”:
Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy
Filed under: Community Input | Culture | Healthy Communities | Housing | Hurricane Katrina | Rebuilding New Orleans | Urban Ecology
Apr 28 2009
Shift Toward TIF Leaves Less for Basic Services
The Kansas City Star
By Yael T. Abouhalkah
April 15, 2009
For years economic development gurus have pumped up tax-increment financing as the savior of Kansas City’s budget.
The mantra went this way: TIF projects will bring in new jobs, stores and tax revenue so the city will be able to spend more money on basic services such as public safety and capital improvements.
However, new information from the city shows this contention isn’t coming true. In fact, a good case can be made that tax-increment financing is killing Kansas City’s budget. Read more.
Source: The Kansas City Star | Archived Copy
Filed under: Community Economics | Good Governance | Sustainable Development
Apr 17 2009