Meanwhile, a measure to raise the occupancy tax rate on hotel rooms by 1.75 percent was pulled from the House floor before it was considered. Its doom had been all but been ensured by the vehement opposition of a coalition of tourism industry leaders, including Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne and New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau President Stephen Perry.It's true the Lt. Governor's office has been in charge of something we call the "Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism" but it doesn't follow that being "involved in the arts" is the same thing as supporting every whim of the hospitality industry. Maybe Silas is confused by the "Vibrancy" movement. Who wouldn't be, really?
“I think the industry as a whole is very pleased that there was no change in the hotel tax,” Perry said. “It means that we have a competitive price structure, and it means that we have marketing funds sufficient to drive some real economic growth.”
The industry’s leaders are typically allies of the mayor, but in opposing the hotel tax increase they argued that it would make New Orleans among the priciest travel destinations for tourists.
“I think that was a surprise, when you consider the fact that Mayor Landrieu was formerly the lieutenant governor and is definitely involved in the arts,” political analyst Silas Lee said. “You just don’t have permanent friends and permanent enemies in politics.”
Also the Advocate article notes that Mitch's sanitation rangers idea "to allow public workers other than NOPD quality-of-life officers to issue summonses for sanitation and nuisance violations" passed so expect a city employee to show up and write you a ticket if your lawn isn't just so next year.
This will be a different sort of ticket from the ones we already empower various busybodies to write.
New Orleans historical society is fining us $500 a day for our fence sign #WTF this city isn't small biz friendly at all!
— ChefॐRob (@NOLAsmokehouse) June 3, 2014
Which is a weird thing for them to be mad about since, you know, the Mayor is definitely involved in the arts."
@skooks the condemned sign that is in question Food behind :) Come see us http://t.co/eTrenqjJmI pic.twitter.com/1xi27LDRAm
— ChefॐRob (@NOLAsmokehouse) June 4, 2014
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