News Roundup

On the anxiety-ridden eve of a storm a couple years ago, I suddenly realized there was no alcohol in the house. New Orleanians will understand the magnitude of that oversight. The big-box stores had shut down, but a small local grocery was still open. The owner himself stood cheerfully behind the counter, ringing up purchases and promising not to go anywhere.

I stood in line for a bottle of something high-proof enough to treat snake bite. Then I got back in line for a lemon.

This came back to me earlier this week when I caught up with my friend Dana Eness as she battened down the hatches at her office with one eye on the hurricane reports. Dana is the executive director of the Urban Conservancy and Stay Local!, and a big advocate of our unique city and the special role that local commerce plays in it.

Stay Local! supports local businesses with networking and advocacy. It also publishes a guide to 2,499 local enterprises, and 11 neighborhood directories.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, firms with fewer than 500 employees employ half of all private sector workers and are responsible for creating 65 percent of our nation’s new jobs.

But Dana pointed out that in New Orleans, supporting local business is about more than keeping our friends and neighbors working. It’s about ensuring the survival of our community.

“The Katrina lesson is that when the chips are down, and when the crisis hits, the locally run businesses are the first to come back,” she said. “They will be here when we need them. … They will be providing critical services.”

Snake-bite remedies aside, after Katrina some of the first businesses to reopen were local restaurants, hardware stores and tire repair shops.

During this and every storm season, local businesses will be there to the best of their ability. “They will do everything they can,” Eness said. “We have to remember that when the weather is fine.”

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Call Stay Local! at 504.561.7484 or visit staylocal.org.

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Annette Sisco is community news editor. She can be reached at asisco@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3310.