Hey look it's one of those things nobody could have predicted

The Lens: Parking lots? An aquarium? Enviro groups question state bids for spending BP bucks

The $1 billion fund set up by BP is supposed to pay for restoration of natural resources damaged by last year’s Deepwater Horizon blowout and oil spill, the worst environmental disaster in the nation’s history. But a coalition has come forward with a report concerned that without greater transparency and public input, the money will be misused.

Alabama’s wish list includes a beachside parking lot and a new police station. Mississippi wants a tourist-friendly aquarium and a storage facility for boats. Texas officials would use old oil platforms to build artificial reefs with its share of the $1 billion restitution fund BP has set up.

So no mention of new condos in Tuscaloosa here, but those of us who had seen this drill before kind of suspected something like this was coming.

Get ready for more condos in Tuscaloosa

BP agrees to $1 billion advance payment for restoration projects I know, it's an impressive headline but look.

Louisiana and other states will each be given $100 million. NOAA and the Interior Department also will be given an initial $100 million. The remaining $300 million will be divided between NOAA and Interior to be used for projects selected by them from proposals submitted by the states.

The first $500 million will be forwarded within 45 days, with a second $500 million provided in six months.

The projects must meet other requirements outlined in the agreement with BP and be approved by a Trustee Council that includes representatives of all trustees.

So to start with, Louisiana, the state in possession of the most vulnerable coastline and facing the most dire and complex coastal crisis gets $100 million on its own. Considering the enormity of the challenge to the Louisiana coast, that really isn't going to go very far.

After that, we have the opportunity to compete with the other states in coming up with proposals for little shares of the remaining $300 million. Given the dedication and initiative typically displayed by the Governor's office, let's not hold our collective breath waiting for a robust menu of funding proposals to come streaming forth.

Meanwhile, as we've seen previously, the competition tends to get awfully creative in these situations. But maybe I'm being too pessimistic. For all I know we could get a whole new Borders out of this deal.

Zoned-Gone

Way back when Stacy Head was blowing kisses at housing activists concerned about the net loss to New Orleans in affordable housing due to the demolition and replacement of the "Big Four" complexes, the consensus was that the "volvo-driving outsiders" were being alarmist. Surely public housing in New Orleans was getting an upgrade, right?

Maybe

Plans to build 410 new units at the old B.W. Cooper complex stand to be drastically curtailed if Congress doesn't act before Sept. 30 to extend the GO Zone tax-credit deadline by another year, officials from the Housing Authority of New Orleans said at their monthly meeting Tuesday.

If the deadline remains in place, the maximum number of new apartments that will be built at Cooper will drop to 250, officials said -- a decrease of nearly 40 percent.

And that's if they can be built by the end of the year -- no sure bet, given that the Cooper redevelopment hasn't had much momentum to date. Due to a series of lost investors, builders have yet to complete a single apartment there.

The same year-end deadline also looms over Lafitte -- the other of the "Big Four" sites where rebuilding has lagged. Lafitte has finished its first phase of 134 apartments, and officials hope to finish 142 more by the end of the year. Another 100 apartments will be included in a larger building for the elderly that doesn't rely upon tax credits.

Answering one question

Thanks to The Lens for being on this.

As Louisiana wraps its Gulf Opportunity Zone lending program, only 3 percent of the $7.8 billion went to projects in New Orleans, a review of state records show.

-snip-

These projects include:

These projects include:

* $96 million for a rental car facility at Louis Armstrong International Airport
* $30 million for improvements to the Tulane University campus
* $25 million for Sewerage and Water Board infrastructure
* $22.5 million for a hydrogen pipeline connecting New Orleans to Norco
* $15 million for a Drury Inn and Suites hotel in the Central Business District
* $4.5 million for a Borders Bookstore on St. Charles Avenue at Louisiana
* $7 million for two Robert Fresh Market grocery stores, one in Lakeview and the other in Carrollton.
* $7 million for a warehouse and distribution facility at the Port of New Orleans, west of the Industrial Canal.
* $5.5 million for a new residential facility and headquarters for Bridge House, a substance abuse clinic and homeless shelter
* $8.5 million for a boutique hotel in the Warehouse District
* $4 million for a New Orleans-based company, Southern Theatres, to renovate the 12,000-square-foot Canal Place cinema, along with a 50,000-square-foot theater in Kenner.

And, in case you haven't been paying attention today,

Bookstore chain Borders Group Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today and said it will close about 30 percent of its stores nationwide, including the two it operates in the New Orleans area. The bookstore chain plans to shut both its Metairie store at 3131 Veterans Memorial Blvd. and its New Orleans store at 3338 St. Charles Ave in the coming weeks. The latter location is the site of the former House of Bultman Funeral Home, which Borders converted and opened in 2008.