Billyworld

Nungesser is still trying to privatize the state park system.

Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser will speak to Northshore residents at a Mandeville community meeting Wednesday, Jan. 8 about a controversial proposal to build a 150-room hotel and conference center on state land next to Fontainebleau State Park.

The St. Tammany Parish Tourist and Convention Commission commissioned a $28,000 feasibility study on the project by Tennessee hospitality consulting firm Pinkowski & Co., which released its findings last summer. The study projected the lodging and conference center would generate almost $2 million annually in cash flow right off the bat if it were to open Jan. 1, 2021  — $1.8 million in 2021 and almost $2.3 million by 2025.

But some residents and local leaders are not sold, citing environmental concerns as well as what some consider a struggling hotel industry in the area. The Clarion Inn & Suites Conference Center in Covington, which was St. Tammany Parish’s largest full-service hotel, closed in May 2019.

Billy's been trying to cut that  Fountainebleau deal for a while now along with various schemes to turn as many state parks as possible into privatized "revenue generators."  At one point he even said he was working out a deal with the mayor to put Confederate monuments back on display in Fontainebleau.  I wonder if we'll hear more about that any time soon.