 "Photo: Joe Buglewicz")
NEW ORLEANS - Approximately 81,000 businesses, mostly local and family owned, have been displaced from the areas affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, according to Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Louisiana Economic Development.
"One of my top priorities is reuniting workers with their jobs and businesses with their customers," Blanco said Thursday morning at the Back To Business Seminar in Downtown New Orleans.
Some businesses have re-opened with steady local patrons, even while debris and fallen oak trees dot the streets in Uptown New Orleans, such as the Creole Creamery, the Bulldog bar and Cooter Brown's bar.
The Creole Creamery on Prytania sustained minimal water damage and opened for business on Sept. 30. Outside the ice cream parlor, piles of roofing material lined the sidewalk from the businesses next door.
Owner David Bergeron said he lost 320 gallons of ice cream, which is prepared in-house, and 13 of his 15 employees have been displaced.
Although eager to work on the city, small business owners told the panel of government officials, including Blanco and Mayor Ray Nagin, that they're angry at seeing contracts for food and construction go to out-of-state and foreign companies. Reuters reported late Thursday that rebuilding contracts awarded by FEMA without a bidding process will be open for rebidding.
Nagin projected that rebuilding New Orleans would cost billions of dollars each year for the next 10 years, an opportunity he advised local businesses to take.
"You're sitting at an unprecedented time, sitting in a position to create wealth," he said Thursday.
Changing tones, Nagin condemned unethical business practices and, later, the large amount of no-bid contracts offered by the federal government.
"I dealt with people predators during the storm," Nagin said. "Don't become an economic predator, sitting back and saying, 'How do I get my pie?'"
According to Blanco, 44 percent of federal contracts and sub-contracts, not including ones under the Army Corps of Engineers, have gone to Louisiana businesses.
"These numbers must change," she said to the local business owners in the audience. "I want you to get that work."
Michael Olivier, secretary for LED, said the department and the Small Business Administration have set up about five regional business recovery centers with about 100 experts to answer individual questions about rebuilding after a disaster. The SBA has disaster loan programs for small businesses, homeowners and tenants. Out of more than 2,000 SBA applications for hurricane relief, six loans have been approved for Louisiana businesses, something Olivier called unacceptable.
Alfred Judd, SBA field operations west director, said in order to qualify for a loan, owners would need whatever collateral is available, a "decent" credit history and hazard insurance, including flood. During a question and answer session, an audience member said his loan application asked for financial documents for the past three months, which he said were destroyed in the flood.
"We'll work with what you got," Judd said.
Another audience member said he filed a SBA loan application for his towing shop in East New Orleans, where the eye of Katrina passed. According to the business owner, SBA said he had to wait for an assessment of the damage before he could begin cleaning, which he said thwarts his chances for work in the cleanup effort.
Nagin said he didn't have patience for people taking advantage of New Orleans' situation and hiring foreign workers. He compared the aftermath of Katrina to playing marbles in New Orleans' streets as a boy. When someone played unfairly and stole marbles, he said, that's "razoo."
"We want our marbles," he said.
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