HUD has (finally) approved $117 million in CDBG money for New Orleans ($200 million statewide). This money is now being made available because.. back in June.. LRA approved the city's final rebuilding plan. At that time , Ed Blakely was attempting to use this approval as a "letter of credit" against which the city could borrow the cash from... some unnamed financial institutions. Does anyone know if this money has, in fact, been borrowed?
Update: And the answer is: No, stupid, we gave that up ages ago!
N.O. still sifting projects
New Orleans recovery director Ed Blakely, who is leading the effort to allocate the city's $117 million share as part of a $1.1 billion recovery plan, has not settled on specific projects beyond saying some will be located in 17 target zones where Mayor Ray Nagin has vowed to spend public money for tax incentives and other measures to spur private investment, Forbes said. The plan was unveiled in March.
"They're not at the point where they're able to say, 'We need to spend $12 million on doing this particular project at this cluster site,'¤" he said, "but we're continuing to work with them to get there."
Forbes said Blakely's most solid plan so far appears to be using $10 million, combined with unspecified blighted properties throughout the city, as collateral to borrow several hundred million dollars to finance the recovery. Blakely initially said he could secure so-called "blight bonds" using abandoned lots only, but investors have been cool to the idea.
Blakely asked the LRA in June to confirm in writing the $117 million allocation, which he said he would take as a "letter of credit" to a private bank to borrow that amount. The city would use the money, Blakely proposed at the time, to jump-start infrastructure repairs, which the federal government must reimburse but cannot finance on the front end.
However, Forbes said Thursday that Blakely appears to have backed off that plan.
"At this point, the blight bond is the only thing they're talking to us about using as a loan-loss reserve to back up some of those leveraging attempts," he said.
Mayoral spokesman James Ross on Thursday confirmed that "the city will not need to secure a loan to advance these projects."
Ross said city officials still don't know which projects will be first in line for the cash but are "conducting a cost analysis" now to figure it out. Even with a firm list still elusive, though, he said the city expects to begin drawing down money in September.
So now I have two new questions:
- What's up with the blight bonds? Why are they a more "solid plan" now that something unspecified other than "abandoned lots only" are involved?
- When are the cranes coming?
Updater (or is it Upperdate?): Ah, well there you go. Pricey cranes aren’t always on horizon
NEW ORLEANS - City recovery czar Ed Blakely’s pledge to have “cranes on the skyline” by September is challenged by more than slow-flowing recovery dollars.
A nationwide construction activity boom created demand for cranes the likes of which equipment manufacturers, distributors and contractors have never seen.
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