Does anybody remember the Ho-Zone?

They've been slowly bringing the same concept back piece by piece. The latest effort is centered in what we've dubbed "Jaegerton" on our Oligarch's Map of Downtown. The way things are going lately, they'll probably get their way this time.  But here, at least, is a negative review from BGR.

One fact of note here I wasn't aware of. The mayor isn't supporting this plan. (At least not openly.)

Although the mayor's office opposes the plan, the BGR report notes the project and the infrastructure work would exceed the convention center's $222 million in reserves. "If that is not enough, they said they would use the HB 1056 taxing authority."

BGR was also critical of using tax increment financing to pay for Trade District work, which the bill would permit. The authority has not said it intends to pursue a TIF deal, which typically relies on a sales tax to subsidize private development.

In the report, BGR said it is not taking a stance on the merits of the Trade District or on whether the convention center board should invest public resources in the project. But in repeating a call made in its November 2015 review of New Orleans' tax structure, "The $1 Billion Question," the bureau suggests an assessment and prioritization of the city's various levies is needed.

Anyway, even though they're in the right this time, BGR's stance is predictable. They're pretty much going to come out against any new taxing plan until we start talking about comprehensive municipal finance reform.. or at least until they get bored with the notion. I'm not opposed to looking at a big reform package, but in the meantime we still have to do stuff. Just not this particular thing. 

Disney theory

Back in March, some of us were a bit surprised to learn that the selection committee in charge of deciding who would redevelop the World Trade Center site had picked the Carpenter & Woodward Four Seasons team rather than Daryl Berger's Conrad proposal which.. according to my sloppy attempt at handicapping.. looked like the best bet.

A different losing team than the one I would have bet on was upset too. They're suing although it doesn't look like their suit has much of a chance. We'll worry about that later.. or not at all as the case may be.

Anyway, a big part of the reason the "Conrad" team seemed like a shoo-in to me was that it was loaded up with insider big-whigs like Berger and several others.

The proposal also contemplates the larger redevelopment of nearby riverfront property, including connecting both the Morial Convention Center and the former WTC building to the Hilton New Orleans Riverside hotel, connecting the Outlet Collection at Riverwalk to Convention Center Boulevard and making “significant aesthetic and practical enhancement” to Poydras Street.

The development partnership behind the plan is led by local developers Joe Jaeger, Darryl Berger and Roger Ogden plus Xavier University President Norman Francis.

Many of those names also were involved in the earlier "Tricentennial Consortium" bid to redevelop the WTC and erect an "iconic structure" at the site. That bid was unsuccessful. But, because the city decided to re-open the process this year, it seemed reasonable that they were getting a do-over.

As it turns out, they were. Sort of.  They aren't doing the WTC redevelopment.  Instead they get everything else in the area.

The Central Business District. The Warehouse District. The Lower Garden District.

And now, introducing, the Trade District.

A group of developers have presented an ambitious vision for a shiny new neighborhood on the riverfront with an MGM Grand hotel, more than 1,400 residences, blocks of retail and restaurants, and a towering needle-like sculpture for lofty views of the Mississippi River.

The New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, which owns the vacant land, is in talks with the Howard Hughes Corp., owner of the Outlet Collection at the Riverwalk, and local real estate moguls Darryl Berger and Joe Jaeger on becoming master developer for the site.

If everything goes according to plan, the "moguls" will begin the massive nice-things-for-rich-people project with $175 million in public money, at least. 

For some reason, there's just not as much momentum in the  building things for not-so-rich people department.

NEW ORLEANS —A high-profile $30 million project to redevelop one of the city's major housing developments has stalled, frustrating people who live there and prompting one member of the New Orleans City Council to demand action.

It can be seen from the Pontchartrain Expressway, driving into downtown New Orleans. Construction at the Guste Homes site in Central City has stopped.

But, hey, priorities, right? As Bob Johnson explained a few years ago, there's a tight investment schedule to stick to if you want to keep up with the Disneys.

“What we want to do with this is make it a new experience in New Orleans,” said convention center general manager Bob Johnson. “It’s the old Disney theory: Every two or three years, Disney opens a new attraction and people that are familiar with Disney will go back.

New Orleans is once again behind the curve

A lot of cities are starting to realize they've been grifted by urban development companies who take taxpayer dollars in order to build nice things for tourists and rich people.

But at what point should cities make this decision to stop subsidizing for-profit development? And how do they know when enough is enough? That’s the question being asked in Kansas City and in cities around the nation as downtowns bounce back from years of abandonment only to find that developers still expect the aid they were receiving when downtowns were far less profitable places to be.

“Urban leaders still tend to overpay for development because they internalized low civic self-esteem bred by decades of being told they were too polluted, too dangerous, or too school-deficient to attract investment,” says Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, an organization that advocates for economic development policies that lead to better job opportunities for working families. “When the back-to-the-cities trend started taking root, albeit very unevenly, cities were so glad to finally land deals that they routinely overpaid, not having a solid grasp of the demographic and market forces they should have been channeling instead of subsidizing. It’s especially true for retail and entertainment projects, which generate very poor-quality jobs. I have yet to find a city that has figured out how to ‘take the foot off the pedal’ and stop over-subsidizing, even when gentrification becomes a problem.”

That is pretty spot-on. If I were asked to sum up the root of all of our city's political evils in one phrase, "low civic self-esteem" would probably be a winner. New Orleanians imagine their city to be the most corrupt or the most dangerous or what have you when the conditions they describe are really quite common. This, in turn, leads to all sort of bad decisions impelled by a desperation that isn't really all that necessary.

One thing we really are bad at, though, is learning from others' mistakes before it is too late.

The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center may have found private developers to help carry out its ambitious plan of developing 47 acres of vacant land at the upriver end of the giant meeting hall into a hotel, residences and restaurants.

The facility’s governing board has given the staff permission to begin vetting a proposal from a joint team of the Howard Hughes Corp. and local developers Joe Jaeger and Darryl Berger that includes, among other things, a plan for 250,000 square feet of retail, food and beverage space along the river from Henderson Street to Market Street.