Ho Zone Postponed

Lunanola accompanied a contingent of about 20 with her to Baton Rouge today to comment in opposition to the proposed Hospitality Zone legislation which would carve out downtown neighborhoods to form a quasi-private fiefdom governed by hoteliers and restaurant owners. But the group never got to speak, possibly because the moderate amount of pushback has already begun to  have some effect.

I am pleased to report that I personally collected and handed in a stack of at least a dozen opposition speaker comment cards; even more were submitted directly by those in attendance. And although we didn’t get the opportunity to address the committee today, those who were in attendance were clearly willing to go the distance.

It is also known that approximately 40 people wrote personal and individual emails (not form letters) expressing opposition to this act of legislation. It is entirely possible that more emails were sent (these are simply the ones that a particular neighborhood association also received as the result of being included an addressee). This was characterized by someone who is more familiar than myself with this kind of effort as a “bombardment.”

It is believed that these factors contributed significantly to LA State Senator Edwin R. Murray (District 4) deciding to request that LA SB 573 (the “parent bill” for this matter) be temporarily postponed until next week (it was withdrawn from consideration as a part of today’s agenda). However, the Local & Municipal Affairs Committee members also expressed interest in reviewing this matter via a “special meeting” — as a result, it is unclear how or when the next hearing regarding this matter will occur.

As Lunanola notes, it's likely that if and when this comes back up for a public hearing, the Zone's proponents will spend enough of their ample time and money to make a strong show of force on their own behalf.  In the meantime, the Ho-Zone planning moves back behind closed doors.

Speaking of which, earlier this week, Dambala shared some thoughts on what he "imagines" might have been discussed at the last closed door meeting.