Blood feud spills over

If you were watching that bizarre facsimile of what we are now calling NFL football on the TV last night, you may have noticed that one Civil District Court race has "gone negative," as they say.  Division F candidate Jennifer Medley ran an ad during the game that attacked incumbent Judge Chris Bruno for his "silver spoon" upbringing. This was, of course, contrasted with Medley's supposed meritocratic virtue.  Medley is, herself, the daughter of former Judge Lloyd Medley so it's a bit rich to be raising the issue of which candidate was born into what. Medley and Bruno, in fact, have had more TV ads running than just about any local candidates on the ballot this fall. It's a curious distinction for one among many judicial races on the slate.  We're now starting to learn what that's about.

It turns out that the ad we saw last night wasn't even the one Medley's people wanted to run.  Instead they had cued one up that accuses (apparently falsely accuses) Burno of having been a "deadbeat dad." But the campaign was enjoined from running the ad at the last minute because of the dubious nature of the accusation. 

The ad references a divorce case that began with a filing by his then-wife Kate Bruno in March 1995. It wasn't until 2009 that the child support question was settled with a consent judgment between the parties. In the meantime, according to an affidavit filed on Bruno's behalf by family law attorney Steven Lane, there wasn't a child support judgment or decree against him.

Bruno's own son filed an affidavit calling Medley's ad "blatantly false, malicious and insulting to him and his family." Both his parents had supported him financially, the son said.

More to the point, though, it also turns out the money to pay for all of this mudslinging comes from Sidney Torres. Here is why. 

One of Bruno’s lawyers questioned why Torres’ production company was involved in making the ad buy. The lawyer, Megan Kiefer, claimed that Torres is pouring “tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars” into Medley’s campaign to “exact some vengeance” on Bruno.

Bruno last year issued a ruling against Torres in a case involving the ownership of 500 Frenchmen Street, which houses the night club Vaso.

Recall that the Vaso dispute pitted Torres against the Motwanis in a clash of real estate weasels struggling for control of Frenchmen Street.  When the dispute flared up in 2018, Torres (probably taking some words out of context) publicly accused his opponents of making physical threats. 

Torres cited a voicemail he said was left on his agent’s phone, as well as a phone call that, according to a court filing by Torres, had Aaron Motwani saying that if Torres didn’t comply with demands, “It will get bloody.” Torres' attorneys, in the court filing, cited what they described as a call log Torres' agent wrote shortly after the call, as well as a recording of the voicemail.

“I want to ask nicely for you to call us back," Motwani says on the voicemail cited in court. "But if you want to handle it the other way, we can handle it the other way, too.”

Aaron Motwani said his voicemail was taken out of context and did not reference a threat of physical harm. He declined to be interviewed but sent a text message in response to questions about the calls.

“As far as the comments, about blood on the street, those comments are completely false and were completely taken out of context,” Motwani wrote in the text message. “I have never or would ever threaten harm in a matter that should be handled through the courts. It’s a distraction from the facts of this case.”

Eventually, Bruno ruled against Torres who, while calling it a "snake move," on the part of the Motwanis went on to promise, "this whole thing is basically not over."  And so now here he is funding Bruno's opponent.  And that's how the blood feuds between oligarchs spill over into your elections, and onto your TV.

So many Motwanis

You may be thinking of the different Motawanis that own all of the property in the French Quarter.  But we assure you, these Motwanis who also own all the property in the French Quarter are entirely different Motwanis. 

Though Kama Sutra’s various records list Motwani’s father, Chandru “Charlie” Motwani, as its manager, investigators determined Bobby Motwani actually operated it, the state ATC has previously said. Investigators also established that Rancifer was a club manager despite being a convicted felon who could not legally hold such a job, the ATC said.

Furthermore, the ATC said its investigators collected evidence of “solicitation of sex, lewd acts, underage alcohol sales to patrons as well as teenage dancers performing at the club.”

The ATC — which last year stepped up enforcement of a law that prohibits dancers younger than 21 from performing topless in strip clubs — suspended Kama Sutra’s liquor license on Feb. 17, and according to information online, it has closed permanently.

Kama Sutra in 2017 replaced a strip club named Babe’s Cabaret, which itself closed after drawing ATC citations during an earlier enforcement sweep. Charlie Motwani opened Kama Sutra in his own name after searching in vain for an operator to lease the vacant space.

An attorney for Charlie Motwani said earlier this year that Kama Sutra was separate and distinct from the better-known land and retail holdings of his brother Mike Motwani.

I know, I know, it's difficult to keep up.  But when our entire system is based on... *checks notes* ... the neo-feudal rights of land barons... then understanding the complex lineages of the great families becomes a fundamental civic responsibility.

Nobody actually lives here

Pictured above is the Chicken Bonne Femme we had at Tujague's the night before Hurricane Nate gently dissipated somewhat near the city. At least that gave us an excuse to knock one of the "classic New Orleans restaurants" off of the bucket list.  Today it looks like the Motwanis have finally booted them out.

Tujague’s Restaurant will relocate from its longtime home at 823 Decatur St. to 429 Decatur, a few blocks upriver, owner Mark Latter confirmed.

The new address, a three-story building that dates to the 1840s, was previously home to the restaurant Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., which closed last year.

Latter intends to open Tujague’s there by August, following a renovation slated to begin soon. He plans to keep the current location open until the time of the move.

Latter says he's moving five blocks up the same street out of "economic necessity." And even though he says some things in there about the need to "change" with the times, whatever that means, the only motivating factor that makes any sense is Motwani jacked up the rent. 

Latter does not own the building Tujague’s calls home. It is owned by a company called TKM-Decatur, which is registered to Tina Motwani Narra. She is the daughter of local real estate mogul Mike Motwani, best known for his numerous T-shirt shops and frequent clashes with preservationists.

Beside that, there isn't any reason to believe moving to the upper quarter situates the restaurant any better.  But it does recall a curious event from last year when the Motwanis bought out Praline Connection and moved it from Frenchmen Street to upper Decatur saying that might make it easier for "locals" to get there? 

“Frenchmen Street has changed so much since they started there,” Motwani said. “The first thing we want to do is get back to the roots of the concept.”

Moore said he thinks relocating is a good move given the changing texture of the restaurant’s original neighborhood.

“Frenchmen Street was once filled with locals, it was actually kind of serene, but I guess someone let the cat out bag,” he said. “Locals couldn’t really get down here anymore. I think they’ll do very well where they’re going.”

Well, the locals didn't find it in the new location either. The relocated Praline Connection closed in March. 

The move does follow a similar relocation of Irene's last year from lower to upper Quarter.  But I wouldn't want to read too much of a trend into that.  Like Tujague's, they were also booted out by the landlord. In Irene's case that landlord was the Louisiana State Museum.  (I still kind of wonder if Billy Nungesser's plan to turn the building into a hotel had anything to do with that. ) In either case, there's something more than just a need to "change" going on the way Latter says. Although he does also hint that the "local" customer base in the lower Quarter is long gone.

“I grew up there. I can remember being my own son’s age, hanging out with the regulars here,” he said. “But the fact is there just aren’t that many people living in the French Quarter anymore to keep it the way people remember. If we’re going to keep this around for the next generation, I had to do this.”

Nobody actually lives there.  Nobody actually lives near the new location either, of course. Thanks to visionary decisions made by your City Council in recent years, all of downtown New Orleans is quickly being turned over to timeshare developers and massive commercial short term rental enterprises such as this Canal Street monstrosity owned the Motwanis. 

Speaking of the Motwanis, here's what they've got planned on Decatur.

Mike Motwani said he plans to seek a new tenant for the space and hopes to attract another restaurant.

“That’s the best use for it,” Motwani said. “That is a very iconic location, and we definitely want to have another restaurant in there.”

He said he is not interested in developing retail shops there. “We have so many gift shops along that street already, it would just be competition for ourselves,” he said.

Sure does feel good knowing the Monopoly Man isn't going to compete with himself. That seems very healthy.  Anyway, we look forward to the opening of the new Willie's Chicken Shack there.

Municipocalypse 2019: The final STR shitshow

Well it is early August now and the first thing I gotta say is it looks like we may have picked the wrong week to stop taking kratom.  There's so much going on all of a sudden! For those of us accustomed to a long summer's nap this is very jarring. Seriously, how is it football season again already? We haven't even gotten to see the Commissioner's deposition over the NFC Championship debacle and somehow we're already doing the 2019 fake games and everything.

That is to say we will be doing that  Friday if we first survive what could be the most intense City Council meeting of the year on Thursday. Expect a full day shout-a-thon. Public commenters may, in fact, be lining up even as I type this. The reason for that, in a word, is gentrification.

Property values across New Orleans jumped by more than 18% in the last four years, an increase that is expected to result in a sharp rise in property taxes for many residents, according to preliminary estimates from the city's assessor.

The jump is far larger than has been seen in years in New Orleans as the spread of gentrification has caused prices to rise both in the already expensive historic core of the city and in more outlying areas that had remained relatively affordable until recently.

Mayor Cantrell took care this month to make sure nobody blames her for the rise in assessments. For example, during this video session, Cantrell urged us to complain to assessor Erroll Williams's office and not hers.  "It’s not us doing something to you,” she says. But that isn't really true.  In fact, her office is expected to ask City Council to for a millage roll forward in order to maximize revenue windfalls from the new assessments. That is apparently on top of a proposed new tax of 3 mils.

Chief Administration Office Gilbert Montaño has suggested the city would be looking to roll its property tax rates forward, arguing that New Orleans’ budget is about $100 million short of what it should be to meet the city’s needs.

In addition, the mayor’s office and council are currently sparring over a 3-mill tax proposed by the administration. Council members, in part responding to complaints from residents who have already received their notices of higher assessments, have sought restrictions on how that money could be spent, arguing that they could not ask residents to pay even more unless the money was specifically dedicated to infrastructure.

Administration officials argue they need to have flexibility to deal with unforeseen future needs.

Now before we get too far with this, we should probably emphasize that we here at the Yellow Blog are sufficiently orthodox in our socialism to understand the importance of funding essential government services. We also recognize the relatively progressive approach of a property tax as compared to, say, fines and fees generated by hyper-aggressive policing.  But the tax burden in New Orleans still falls disproportionately on poor and working class people and jacking up the millage is not going to repair that discrepancy.  The higher assessments combined with higher tax rates are almost certain to push poorer homeowners to cash out and move likely leading to further concentration of wealth in the city overall. Renters are also likely to suffer as higher taxes are passed on to them by landlords and fewer rental properties are available at affordable prices. This is what the mayor's 3 mil tax is doing to you.

Meanwhile, the mayor isn't exactly doing anything  for you either. LaToya swears assessments are "not her job." But she does consider it her job to push for millions of dollars in tax breaks and "incentives" to hand out to wealthy real estate developers who build more nice things for rich people.  All of which ultimately leads, again, to higher assessments, higher rents, higher taxes. The cycle (vicious or virtuous depending on which side of the wealth divide you find yourself on) keeps driving property values higher until you've got block after block of attractive speculative assets where nobody actually lives.

NEW ORLEANS — Tandra Smith has been living in her Fairgrounds neighborhood home since 2008.

"A lot of my neighbors have been here longer than I have," Smith said. She said she likes the area, mainly for its affordability, but after seeing her recent property assessment skyrocket she fears she won't be able to live here much longer.

She said her assessment last year valued her property and home at $167,000, which she said was reasonable because she purchased her home at $135,000. This year's assessment, which by law has to happen at least once every four years, put her house value at $416,000.

“I wanted to cry,” Smith said. do  

There are several factors pumping gas into this speculative bubble. But the one thing New Orleanians have been most loudly asking their elected representatives to do that could take some of the air out is get a handle on the explosive growth of short term rentals.

Robinson says it's something that's effected everyone on her street.

“So last year I paid one rate, and this year it’s a full 100% higher," she said. "The remaining six neighbors on this block, yes, there are only six of us left, theirs have gone up 300-450% higher.”

Ask her why, and she has one answer

"I believe 45% of the homes here in Treme are AirBnBs or Short Term Houses," she said. “That’s a business, but technically that’s a residence. So now we’re comparing their property taxes to my property taxes.”

City Council is planning to take up the short term rental ordinances this Thursday.  As a courtesy to all of us who enjoy a long and rancorous meeting, they have also wisely punted the property millage question that very same date. Expect a total shitshow of confused rhetoric. No doubt there will be landlords arguing in favor of more STRs in order to compensate for the rising taxes.  Also expect to hear that we need to hold the property taxes down specifically so that we can impose more fees on STRs. But these are false choices. Councilmembers can choose to protect people from rising housing costs without playing the drivers of those costs off against one another.  It's not at all clear that they understand this, unfortunately.

For example, here is Jay Banks saying some troubling things to WWLTV just a couple weeks ago. Talking about STRs, in particular, Banks says they "allow regular people to participate in this tourism economy."  By regular people, we have to assume he means individual landlords holding single properties.  But that is a gross misapprehension of the STR landscape in New Orleans. A report published by Jane Place last year showed that the bulk of the business is controlled by a handful of international corporations.

JPNSI found that 18 percent of all operators control roughly half of all STRs in New Orleans. Gambit’s recent review of licenses issued by the city found the top 10 operators - including Sonder, Hosteeva and Stay Alfred - hold more than 400 licenses, with several operators holding several listings per license; JPNSI says those top 10 operators have 568 listings.

Since then, that situation has almost certainly gotten worse. More to the point, though, there's no way Jay Banks wouldn't have been made aware of the data by now. But here he is pretending otherwise and saying defeatist things like, "we can't put this genie back in the bottle" and  "we've got to come to a happy median somewhere." Uh oh.

Similarly confused, or at least saying similarly confusing things is Mayor Cantrell. It's been difficult to pin her down on the specific ordinances being considered this week. But the comments she has made lead us to suspect she's not especially sympathetic. Just last Tuesday, councilmembers expressed frustration with the mayor's lack of commitment to enforcement. Even under the current overly liberal rules, there are an estimated 5,000 or so STRs operating illegally. But the mayor's staff are reluctant to do anything about that because of a circular argument I'm not even sure they understand.

The mayor’s representatives, however, said they could not bring on new staff until they figure out how stricter rules on Airbnb and HomeAway rentals would affect the amount the city now brings in from taxes on short-term rentals, whether they’re operating legally or not.

“We have to be careful about what we’re greenlighting to see how the market reacts to these issues,” said Gilbert Montaño, Cantrell’s chief administrative officer. He said uncertainty about how much will be brought in once short-term rentals are curtailed makes it “vitally prudent to hold off on hiring $2 million” worth of new staffers.

I think what  Montaño is saying is they are waiting for "the market" to decide what the law actually is. So that's encouraging.

That same day, LaToya was interviewed by Norman Robinson for a WLAE show called "Housing Matters"  primarily to promote the city's having landed $28 million in new grants and tax credits with which to "incentivize" the creation of new housing.  Cantrell doesn't always do a great job of explaining things. She mentions various applications for the grant money; soft second mortgage programs, home repair grants (probably distributed via non-profit partners) and, of course developer incentives. To the extent that money trickling down through those infamously sticky pipes is helpful, it's still mostly about chipping away at the symptoms of the housing crisis without really getting at the causes. Of course, there's only so much $28 million can do.  But for the sake of perspective, it's estimated that at best we're talking about 620-640 added "affordable units."  Currently the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance estimates we need upwards of 30,000 to adequately address the need.

Norman also asked Cantrell to speak about East New Orleans in particular which led to some more confusing double talk.  The mayor was naturally eager to show that she wants the often neglected East to benefit from the new pile of money. But her choice of phrase, "New Orleans East is somewhere we want to push people towards" with regard to housing is ominous.

Generally speaking, the mayor's philosophy with regard to housing policy is neoliberal in the extreme.She even ducks a question about the demolition of the Big Four housing projects after Katrina choosing instead to fixate on a right wing policy paper about the 2008 financial collapse which she connects to a drying up of the state and federal "incentive" pipeline she prefers to just about any other possible solution.  What's worse, Cantrell is not at all convinced that STRs are a serious problem.  She sort of admits that they "don't help," but continually brings the conversation back to the need to find "balance" with the tourism industry in light of the fact that New Orleans is "a destination city."

So LaToya doesn't want to talk about it. But we should probably take a moment to explain what the City Council will actually be debating at this meeting.  We'll try to keep it simple.

Kristin Palmer has introduced a set of ordinances based on the most recent round of Planning Commission recommendations which would create two basic sets of rules. In residential zones STRs will be restricted only to properties whose owner also claims a homestead exemption there. The intent is to effectively outlaw the so-called "whole home" short term rental on any residentially zoned property.  In commercial or mixed-use zones, the ordinance would limit owners of large apartment buildings to convert only 25 percent of available units to STR while also requiring a 1-1 affordable unit match.

But that was before a consultant's report came back at the end of July and argued against the affordable match and 25 percent cap.  Essentially, their recommendation was for no restrictions on commercial STRs whatsoever. That seemed pretty shocking at first. But after The Lens pointed out the consulting firm, HR&A had some pretty glaring conflicts of interest, it started to make more sense.

The real estate consulting company that wrote the report, HR&A Associates, has worked for Airbnb at least four times since 2012, producing glowing reports about its local economic benefits and job creation bonafides. Most recently in 2017, the company produced “Sharing for a Stronger New York” on behalf of Airbnb.

HR&A responded a few days later but even if we take their argument in good faith, it doesn't add up. The problem begins with the treatment of the commercial and mixed use zoned properties as though it occurs in a wholly separate universe what happens in "residential areas."

HR&A says the scope of their report was to focus on the commercial zones only. But this is really a warping of perspective.  In practice, commercially zoned properties are a necessary component of any residential area. The corner grocery, the neighborhood bar, the hardware store, the gas station, laundromat, etc. these are all part of what makes a neighborhood a neighborhood. Here is the city's land use map.  If you look around at the zoning, you can see commercial properties running through the city along transit corridors or highly trafficked areas, or just occasionally on a corner lot maybe. So allowing unlimited STRs  to proliferate in commercial or "mixed use" zones doesn't protect these neighborhoods at all. It aggressively disrupts them.

We could see every affordable housing unit along a major transit line turned into an STR. This, in turn, will cause businesses along these commercial corridors; Magazine Street, St. Bernard Ave., Oretha Castle Haley, etc., to cater primarily to visitors rather than residents with further negative ramifications for the surrounding areas. Land use policy is supposed to be about managing an interdependent urban system. HR&A is structuring an argument that treats the different zones as if they exist as completely independent municipalities.   It's a deliberate obfuscation to tell us a tale of two cities where in fact there is only one.


The second thing HR&A wants to tell us is that we need to maximize STR proliferation in the commercial zones because that will, through a series of bank shots and hypothetical fees and plans that do not exist yet, generate money for "affordable housing" at some point.

But Phillip Kash, the lead author on the study, said the study’s recommendation to promote affordable housing primarily by imposing fees on such commercial short-term rentals would give the city the most bang for the buck.

“We came at it with the (idea) that the goal was to generate the most subsidized units or the most money for affordable housing,” Kash said this week. “We thought there was consensus on that point; now I hear there is less consensus on that point.”

But what that means in practice is sacrificing every commercial and mixed use corridor to tourist hosting and services. It means we are leaving the entire "historic" or "high ground" portions of the city (and then some) vulnerable to accelerated gentrification.

Meanwhile, the affordable housing hasn't been built yet. Remember, LaToya wants to filter the funds HR&A says we're going to generate back down through a series of developer incentives and bank loans in order to build a number of housing units woefully insufficient to meet the city's need.  Plus, once that even happens, because we have willingly failed to protect our core neighborhoods, whatever newly affordable housing we create will inevitably be cited in further flung and lower elevated neighborhoods. In other words, residents are displaced to less desirable areas. Perhaps New Orleans East where the mayor has already said she wants to "push people."

Unfortunately the study, flawed and corrupt as it may be, appears to have had some impact on the policy direction. On Wednesday evening even Palmer appeared to have given up on the one-to-one affordable match for commercial properties.  And the 25% cap also could be in serious trouble if Jason Williams decides to move on it.

Gisleson Palmer’s team said there will likely be several amendments, mostly technical updates, but they don’t expect a lot of push back. Except for one: A proposal to remove the 25 percent cap on short-term rentals in large scale commercial buildings in the CBD.

“That basically means you could take an entire apartment complex building and turn it into a short-term rental, a de facto hotel, which would basically kill the residential life within the CBD,” Gisleson Palmer said.

Council members said Jason Williams is the main author behind the amendment, but his staff told FOX 8 he’s still debating on whether to propose it.

He very well may do it. Remember Jason already has a handshake agreement with Sonder and Mike Motwani to convert a building near the foot of Canal Street into a de-facto STR hotel.  Because God forbid our tourist facing downtown corridor ever go "under-retailed." Not when Pottery Barn is right there waiting.

Peter Bowen, Sonder New Orleans’ general manager, said he hopes to have the three projects up and operating within three years.

On Monday, City Council President Jason Williams expressed optimism that Sonder’s approach would help efforts to bring more big-box retailers, such as an Apple store or Pottery Barn, to Canal.

“New Orleans is significantly under-retailed, but it’s not because we don’t have people with resources who want to spend money,” he said. “It’s because of our lack of investment over a period of time.”

On the other hand, maybe he will back down. If so, the result might not be too bad.  The match can be revisited later and the cap is a good enough imperfect place to start.  One thing is for sure. There will be a lot of yelling and speechifying between now and the time that we arrive at that place.

Save our city! New Orleans has become an increasingly unaffordable place to live as housing gets turned into Short Term Rentals by greedy, primarily out-of-state hypercapitalists. Make your voice heard at City Hall during the hearing on potential STR laws Thursday morning! pic.twitter.com/z5sZJCQW8x

— New Orleans DSA (@NewOrleansDSA) August 7, 2019

This round goes to Motwani

The epic clash of New Orleans Real Estate Dickheads playing out on Frenchmen Street is not over, though. At least according to Sidney it isn't.

Motwani said the deal with Vaso calls for the club to buy the building and sell part of it back to the Motwanis. The club, he said, will remain.

Torres said he plans to appeal Bruno’s ruling. “We’re not backing down because we feel the law is on our side,” he said. “This whole thing is basically not over.”

Torres described the Motwanis’ effort to acquire the building after losing out in the bidding as “a snake move.”

When he had the French Quarter garbage collection contract, Torres was known for the lemony scent he ordered spread through the city’s historic core. He said he planned to evict Vaso in part over unsanitary conditions, including rats.

That's weird, though, because you would think the "snakes" would be ideal for helping to clean out the rats. Also this article conforms to the legal mandate that any story about Sidney Torres must include the word, "lemony." I suppose it is here in order to set this up. 

“I’m very anal when it comes to cleanliness,” Torres said. “Right now (Vaso) doesn’t fit with what I own.”

In which case I think we should amend the rule to now require this quote be added to the conditions. 

Update: Of course if Sidney does miss out on Vaso and is still looking to take over bars, then Parasol's should be available soon.

You'll be able to get a roast beef po-boy at Parasol's Restaurant & Bar this weekend, but after Friday night, the bar at the classic Irish Channel neighborhood joint will be dry.

Parasol's proprietor Thea Hogan said that a city lawsuit over unpaid taxes has left her unable to renew Parasol's liquor license, which expires Saturday. She is working to get the bar back to normal, but when or how that will happen remains an open question.

There are a bunch of rumors going around but the basic story is the bar owes at least two years worth of back taxes for some reason.  Unless the debt is paid and the license reinstated within six months, the building could lose its non-conforming usage status. At that point, nobody will ever be able to operate a bar there ever again.  Because this is New Orleans where we love our neighborhood bars so much we are always trying to kill them.

Anyway so the rumors are a bunch of people are "lining up" to buy the bar and pay off the taxes so they can take over Parasol's. That sounds like a Sidney move to me. But then I don't know if a dingy corner bar really meets his cleanliness standards.

Oh look we have a border clash

I know the old NOLigarchs map is due for some updates.  For a while there I thought I might have to extend Kabacoff's territory to Tulane Avenue. But that's now been occupied by the Israelis so we can forget about that.  Also there are other minor fiefdoms we can add when we get the time. But this is all our cartography budget can handle for now so this is what we have to go with.



We do need to point out also that the regions loosely defined on this map are not very strong on border security.  One Noligarch may in fact hold substantial amounts of valuable territory within the titular boundaries of another's domain. For example, look at all this stuff Joe Jaeger runs even though it isn't in what we've marked on our map as "Jaegerton"

As one might expect, in the world of international capital, borders are not always what they may seem.  Anyway, our map is not very nuanced.  One thing it does get right, however is the overlap and "disputed" designation of areas claimed by Motwani and by Torres.  Tensions there do continue to flare up, it seems.

Developer Sidney Torres IV has become embroiled in a legal battle with French Quarter real estate owners Kishore “Mike” and Aaron Motwani over Torres' purchase of 500 Frenchmen St., a key location in the Marigny’s busy nightclub district. In court filings, Torres claims a tenant of the building, the nightclub Vaso, is being used as a proxy through a lawsuit to win the Motwanis control of the building.

Now that Frenchmen is pretty firmly established as the new Bourbon Street as opposed to the sort of hipster anti-Bourbon Street it had been for a while, all of a sudden there is a land rush. Just a few weeks ago we learned that the Motwanis have taken ownership of the Praline Connection Restaurant which they have moved off of Frenchmen saying "“Locals couldn’t really get down here anymore." They are moving it to... get this... upper Decatur Street in the Quarter because... that would be.. less touristy?  Who knows. It's not clear to me who owns that building now so we need more information. But the Motwanis have a claim on what happens in multiple Frenchmen Street locations right now. That's interesting.

There's a lot of interesting stuff going on in this story, in fact.  To begin with we have what Torres wants us to believe is a threat, although his word is hardly to be taken at face value. Here's what he says happened anyway, which is pretty funny to think about. Note that Motwani doesn't deny he's being quoted pretty accurately whatever he may have meant.

Torres cited a voicemail he said was left on his agent’s phone, as well as a phone call that, according to a court filing by Torres, had Aaron Motwani saying that if Torres didn’t comply with demands, “It will get bloody.” Torres' attorneys, in the court filing, cited what they described as a call log Torres' agent wrote shortly after the call, as well as a recording of the voicemail.

“I want to ask nicely for you to call us back," Motwani says on the voicemail cited in court. "But if you want to handle it the other way, we can handle it the other way, too.”

Aaron Motwani said his voicemail was taken out of context and did not reference a threat of physical harm. He declined to be interviewed but sent a text message in response to questions about the calls.

So keep an eye on this. It could change the face of the map which, as we said, needs some revision anyway. Technically all of this is taking place in "Cummingsville"  according to our drawings.  Let's hope no other belligerents get drawn into the dispute.

Under-retailed

New Orleans has so many problems.  People here are under-employed, under-housed, under-insured.  There's a lot of stuff our elected persons could be working on.  Jason Williams is trying to help the Motwanis and Sonder make a little more money off of the "under-retailed" though.

On Monday, City Council President Jason Williams expressed optimism that Sonder’s approach would help efforts to bring more big-box retailers, such as an Apple store or Pottery Barn, to Canal.

“New Orleans is significantly under-retailed, but it’s not because we don’t have people with resources who want to spend money,” he said. “It’s because of our lack of investment over a period of time.”

Sonder operates about 350 commercial short-term rental units in the city, according to Bowen.

It's good to see someone is finally looking out for "people with resources" in this city.  You know it's been really hard for them ever since their special money club went under.

Aaron Motwani, CEO of Quarter Holdings, the Motwani family company that owns 1016 Canal, said the work there was “a long time coming,” partly due to financing that collapsed after First NBC Bank failed in April 2017. But now, partnering with Sonder on a 10-year lease offered a new option for using the building's space, he said.

“Canal Street has always been tough to attract retail and residents,” he said.

It's so tough to get "retail and residents" to the most valuable high ground property in the city.  Probably a good idea to put in a 200 STR virtual hotel, then. That will help a lot.  Maybe Jason isn't very bright about how this stuff works.  He was quoted last week as saying the luxury hotel will "help pull short term rentals out of the neighborhoods." Because building nice things for rich people has done a fantastic job of relieving the affordable housing crisis so far.  But this is the same guy who told us the rules passed two years ago would allow the city to use STR operators' "disruptive technology to disrupt them," so it seems he is likely to believe just about anything. 

Or maybe he's just likely to repeat whatever bullshit line the "people with resources" are pushing . It's probably that.

We lost the short term rental argument

The recommendations passed out of CPC last week are already too loose and liberal.  They shift some things around and give them different terms but, in essence, the parameters they set will almost certainly preserve the intolerable status quo. Yes, they're eliminating the "Temporary STR" licenses which were riddling neighborhoods with de-facto hotels.  But they're replacing that with a category that undoubtedly leads to the same outcome. It even opens up the possibility of tenants sub-letting apartments as Airbnbs. The requirements for that form a pretty big loophole in their own right. 

“There is general consensus that the Accessory Short Term Rental is the least problematic type since there is a requirement for a Homestead Exemption and the property owner is present during the time of the rental,” the study says.

These licenses would be marginally expanded and rechristened as “residential licenses.” And they would be split into two categories: whole-unit and partial-unit. Partial-unit licenses would allow homeowners and renters to offer up spare rooms. To allow renters to participate, the operators would have to prove their residency with a Louisiana state-issued ID and a secondary form of identification, instead of a homestead exemption.

Accessory licenses were partially designed for homeowners who want to rent out unoccupied half-doubles. Under the commission’s proposed regulations, these would fall under the residential whole-unit category. This category would expand to include three- and four-plexes, but only allow one licensed unit per lot.

This isn't actually better. It's only different.  And as the matter goes to City Council, the new rules are almost certain to be made more favorable to STR operators than they are now.  For example, it's unlikely this definition of commercial STR is unlikely to remain in place.

The third category of recommended license — commercial — would have new restrictions as well. The study suggests a complete ban of commercial rentals in some of the “least intensive neighborhood business districts,” including some commercial zones in the city’s most popular areas for short-term rentals, like Bywater and Faubourg Marigny.

In the remaining commercially zoned areas of the city, commercial permits would be restricted to one unit or 25% of all units per lot, whichever is greater. Short-term rentals would also be banned on the first floor of residential multi-story buildings in many commercial districts.

Yeah I don't know how jamming 200 STRs into these Motwani-owned buildings  on Canal Street is gonna jibe with that 25 percent rule. Probably not very well.  Jason Williams is determined to make it happen, though.

Bowen said Sonder hasn't attempted a similar approach with a larger space, but Williams said he's content with the company's current approach because it's consistent with other city goals for righting the ship on short-term rentals.

"The focus is to pull short-term rentals out of our neighborhoods where they're causing strife to put it in areas where we can put things back into commerce," Williams said. "The cherry on top, if this works -- and I think this can work -- is we can then not just have liquor stores, T-shirt shops ... but we can have Apple Store, local unique vendor, Crate & Barrel. ... We have a unique opportunity here and I don't want to squander it."

I'm so old I remember way back in 2006 when we were told the "New New Orleans" would have to be built smarter and higher and that the way to do that would be to help people come back out of the post-war swampland neighborhoods and onto the higher ground of the "historic city center."  Since that time, though, the historic neighborhoods have been aggressively cleared out and converted to STR-filled tourism sacrifice zones.  It turns out, a "smarter and higher" built city doesn't necessarily mean anyone is supposed to actually live there. 

Anyway, get used to it.  We lost this argument a long time ago so it's no surprise we're still losing it again this year.  In the same way that building more luxury apartments downtown hasn't done anything to solve the affordable housing crisis, building a Sonder hotel on Canal Street isn't going to "pull short term rentals out of the neighborhoods."   But Jason really wants that Apple Store, I guess. Good for him.

As always the people who count are the people who have money in real estate and we're gonna do whatever helps them turn that money into more money the fastest. Motwani is going to make a lot of money in this Sonder deal. Therefore, that is the best, highest use for land on high ground in downtown New Orleans.

Trouble in Motwanivania

A big building burned down on Canal Street Wednesday.  You might have noticed since it's been all over the place all day so I won't rehash it. Here is something worth paying attention to, though.

The four-story building in which the fire originated is owned by New Orleans developer and retailer Mike Motwani through his real estate company Quarter Holdings LLC. Motwani could not be reached for comment at his Magnolia Enterprises office, which operates T-shirt and souvenir shops. Quarter Holdings owns a total of 16 properties in the French Quarter and Central Business District, including seven on Canal Street.

"The key to not having a fire turn into a tragic fire like this is to have an alarm system, commercial buildings particularly," McConnell said. "Having an alarm system that would have reported something like this in its incipient phase would have made a huge difference for these buildings. Unfortunately, we know it burned for an hour and a half before we were called to the scene.

"I think every building should have a fire alarm in it. Whether you can pass legislation to do that or not, I don't know. But, to me, if you're a business owner and you're not putting an alarm in that's going to report that fire and get it to us early, you're putting your livelihood at risk."

In other words.. and at the very least.. Gee what a swell landlord Mike Motwani is! But also what a great neighbor he has been. 

Over the years, Motwani has often tangled with city officials. A 2008 Times-Picayune story described him as “the man whom local preservationists, city regulators and even economic development gurus love to hate.”

Among other reasons, the article cited Motwani’s “repeated flouting of government regulations, his failure to maintain some of his buildings and his gobbling up of Canal Street properties to open cut-rate stores that impede efforts to upgrade Canal as a shopping destination.”

Motwani owns a number of T-shirt and gift shops and is a controversial figure in and around the French Quarter, partly because of his penchant for such types of businesses but also because he often has flouted development restrictions. Some of his buildings are occupied on the ground floors by liquor stores and shops geared toward tourists, while upper floors are vacant or used only for storage.

The tastefulness of Motwani's businesses is a subjective and complicated question, of course. But the neglect of his buildings is a different matter.  The safety hazard alone is pretty well evident.  It's a significant thing, too, since his many holdings constitute Motwanivania, one of the major NOligarchies we keep track of here on our downtown map.



Motwani's territory overlaps with Sidney Torres's French Quarter private policing zone. (Mr. Torres is currently somewhat out of favor in his own realm. But this is only Act II of that particular Shakespearean history.)

Speaking of which, we wouldn't be surprised to learn that there are more plot twists to come in the drama of the Motwanivania fire.  There may, for example, be more to this than meets the eye.

Wars of NOligarchy

Sometimes the great powers go head to head.

Local developer Kishore "Mike" Motwani outbid Sidney Torres IV on Wednesday (July 22) for the ownership rights to the Oz, agreeing to pay $8.175 million for the Bourbon Street dance club.

Motwani must close the deal and pay in cash by Aug. 15. If he fails to do so, the rights go to Torres whose final bid was $8.125 million.

Motwanivania is an empire of downtown and French Quarter T-Shirt shops, restaurants, hotel projects, and ATMs. It's hard to draw on the NOligarchs map because there's so much overlap with the other kingdoms, especially with Torreszonia which Oz, it seems, very nearly fell to here. Anyway, here's a rough approximation.