Dear Readers,
I want to re-post a column I published here just under a year ago. It refers to a theme you've heard on numerous occasions from me, including the currently-posted Hot Button Editorial entitled "Welcome Governor Jindal." The theme is that of Houston's role in the future of Louisiana, and Lake Charles' unique opportunity as the state's "gateway" between our new Super-region's undisputed economic capital and the rest of the Bayou State. This post elaborates on that theme.
In re-reading this column, there's not a lot that's changed in a year. What IS significantly different now is we have a Governor who "gets it" in terms of comprehending Southwest Louisiana's strategic importance to the entire state.
2008 is also a pivotal year for New Orleans. While the rest of the state stakes its claim to the future, N.O. must reclaim the glory that made it a great city in the first place.
I'm republishing this concurrent with Governor Jindal's visit to Lake Charles this week as keynote speaker for the Chamber Southwest's annual banquet. Take from it what you will.
Exciting times ahead for all of us. Let's not blow it!
rgds
jim
OK, campers, time to play a little game of "connect the dots."
Remember
all those grand pronouncements from Baton Rouge city leaders in the
wake of Hurricane Katrina that B.R. was to become "the next major city"
due to the relocation of so many New Orleanians? The city had doubled
in size, so it went, and most of those people were going to stay
permanently and make Baton Rouge the state's unchallenged new
metropolis. It was hard to argue at first; the city's already-choked
highways indeed seemed even more choked, apartment rents skyrocketed
(if you could even find one) and it seemed there was new construction
sprouting in every empty field. As with so many other things-Katrina,
the media dutifully and breathlessly repeated the story that Baton
Rouge was now "twice the city it was before Katrina."
Well, a funny thing happened on the way to 2007. You may have
missed the headline, because it mysteriously hasn't gotten as much play
as those previous heds. Here is a story
from 2theadvocate.com indicating that the total increase in East Baton
Rouge Parish since the big storm was not hundreds of thousands of
people, but rather just over 19-thousand souls.
Huh? Just over 19,000. Based on a pre-Rita census count, Calcasieu (a much smaller parish to begin with) increased about 10,000 people.
Now EBR and Baton Rouge officials are crying foul. Anecdotal evidence
would indicate they are probably correct in saying that 19K figure is a
bit low, but the same anecdotal evidence would indicate it's probably
not all that far off. Baton Rouge, while vibrant, is nowhere near the frenetic place it was a year ago. 
The epicenter of the "local" shifting of the New Orleans population now appears to be well to the east of it, centered in St. Tammany Parish on the northshore of Lake Pontchartrain.
No doubt that the end-game of all this will remain what it was
predicted to be a year ago. New Orleans, Baton Rouge and the
Northshore will continue a trend that began long before Katrina, a
"cluster" of cities forming a region. It has been a long time since
New Orleans proper was considered by urban observers as a viable
metropolitan area of its own. As I've discussed here several times,
N.O. and the population "cluster" it shares to its north and northwest
have been a subregion to the Houston Superregion for at least the past
25 years. All they are doing right now is rearranging their furniture.
19,000 vs. 10,000. Now that's a story that the
national media has yet to pick up on. No surprise that Calcasieu fails
to rise above the national media's radar since it's generally
considered an afterthought in its own state. (We've documented this
more times than we care to.)
As it turns out, the population shifts occuring in Louisiana are
broader and more equitable than what was predicted by pundits in
Katrina's wake. Certainly part of Calcasieu's gain is attributable to
some Cameron Parish residents moving north to safer ground. There is,
of course, lots more to it than that.
L'Auberge's expansion, voter approval of Sugarcane Bay, the
construction of several LNG plants and now the announcement of a
$1.3-billion plant to convert fossil fuel byproducts to clean synthetic
natural gas and CO2 are driving the local marketplace. But look
further and you'll see that quite a number of Katrina evacuees who
sought temporary refuge here liked what they saw and have put down
roots. Some have taken jobs; others have opened up businesses or
practices of their own. They are part of those 10,000 new residents
here.
Another factor impacting Calcasieu and all of SWLA is Lafayette's
continued emergence as the new business, political and transportation
(I-1o/I-49) hub of Louisiana. More on that in a moment.
Are you familiar with Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle? It is an unbendable rule which governs the quirky subatomic world of quantum physics. It basically says you can either know where a particle is, or where it is going, but you can't measure both properties simultaneously.
So it is with Louisiana. The media tends to like "instant
gratification stories" such as population gains or political &
economic benchmarks. These get distilled, reported, sent to AP and
instantly become bigger-than-life snapshots with lives of their own.
They are repeated as cocktail party chatter on their way to becoming
inviolate truisims which inevitably are used to support an individual's
fondest hopes or worst fears, depending on the cocktail-holder's
preconceived view of the world.
A
side note here: KPLC is as guilty of perpetuating this sort of
narrowvision as any other news medium because of factors which impact
us all. We are businesses and face the same sorts of real-world
challenges and market-driven restrictions as all businesses. Not
enough hours in the day, not enough people or other resources to cover
absolutely every story on every "platform" (air, cable, web, etc) to
the degree we'd like to cover and analyze it all. That's not an excuse
for us or any other medium. We should all do a better job but
readers/viewers/listeners must understand the nature of what they
consume from both the "traditional media" and the "new media" which has
blossomed on the edges. In other words, "there are more things in
Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your media."
So let's for a moment forget the here-and-now benchmarks such as
census figures and apply Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. Let's
stop staring at the individual news headline "dots." Instead let's
relax our vision enough to get a picture of how they are connected so that we may get an idea of where Louisiana and its component parts are headed.
Here's some of what comes into focus:
* Texas and Louisiana will have a six-lane
Interstate highway connecting Houston and Southwest Louisiana. (Do you
really think Texas is doing this to facilitate more dropping of their
residents' paychecks at Louisiana's casinos?)
* In spite of a gain of 10,ooo people,
Calcasieu's high schools are graduating fewer students. Both McNeese
and Sowela are aware of this and trying to decide how to manage the
impact on them, since both draw students almost exclusively from this
region. Just why graduation rates are declining against a backdrop of
increased population has yet to be quantified.
* While New Orleans continues to engender emotional loyalty
to its unique culture, food and music, the city and its
south-of-Pontchartrain suburbs continue to witness a "second exodus" of
residents who had hoped to rebuild their homes and lives there after
Katrina. Their stories are the same: emotional attachments have been
trumped by cold hard realities. It's not just the spread of crime and
the lack of schools, healthcare and protection from the sea. They have
concluded that their municipal and parish leaders are not up to the
challenge of solving these problems anytime soon.
* The seminal tourism and convention
industry in New Orleans continues to languish in spite of the heroic
efforts of hotels and restaurants to rebuild. The CVB there trumpets
positive Mardi Gras stats, but visitors notice a palpable change, a
marked decline in the things that make New Orleans unique. Trashy
souvenir stores manned by "New Americans" selling "Big Ass Beers"
abound where familiar shops once catered to local residents. Boom boxes
replace live bands in bars, and buskers report a precipitous decline in
the tips which once sustained them.
* These "New Americans" (or at the very least, visitors) from Latin and Asian nations reclaim abandoned neighborhoods and use their own
capital and sweat equity to rebuild, not waiting for government help.
Meanwhile, the city continues to see investment by part-time residents
purchasing second homes, particularly new condos and adaptive
conversions of older buildings. There is much talk of the city
becoming a "Las Vegas or Orlando-style" facade of what it once was,
rather than the real deal.
* In spite of New Orleans' woes, Louisiana
emerges as the second most popular state for the production of major
motion pictures, with Shreveport the unlikely hub of activity.
* Also in spite of N.O.'s woes, the Saints
have their best season ticket sales ever, many of those commitments now
coming from across the state. Much, but not all of the support seems to be directly attributable to the teams' new mojo on the field.
* Lafayette is acknowledged as the state's
magnet for entrepreneurial and high-tech investment, particularly from
Houston, which it increasingly emulates. This comes as Lafayette's
tourism sector languishes, many of its visitors historically coming to
Acadiana on side-trips from New Orleans.
* The progressive Baton Rouge Area
Foundation looks beyond its own namesake, leading the creation of an
"I-10 /I-12 Economic Corridor" which stretches from Slidell to Lake
Charles. They do this because New Orleans has shown absolutely no
leadership, nor any desire to be part of a reconstructed Louisiana.
Because Louisiana's image is so tarnished nationally, this I-10/I-12
corridor will likely be branded and marketed in a way that does not
even acknowledge that it is actually in Louisiana.
* The state's governor acknowledges her
"no-confidence" status among the state's voters, gracefully removing
herself from re-election consideration prior to a key legislative
session which will guide the disposition of millions of dollars of
one-time windfall revenues. While Governor Blanco has brought many of
her miseries on herself, there is no doubt that as the state's CEO, she
has borne the brunt of every hurricane-related shortcoming. Heavy, and exposed, is the head that wears the crown.
* From progressive Lafayette emerges a new
reform group of influential and monied business and civic leaders
statewide (including Dennis Stine and Rick Richard of Lake Charles)
calling themselves "Blueprint Louisiana."
This group's mission is to give their seal of approval to candidates
who adhere to a set of visionary, leadership and responsibility
standards, and "out" any who don't. Not a new idea, but noteworthy due
to the clout and responsible track record of the group's roster, not to
mention its $55,000 "skin in the game" membership fee. Like the idea
or hate it, "Blueprint" is acknowledged as a new force with which to be
reckoned.
* Bossier Parish outlaws cockfighting
within it borders, the latest parish to distance itself from one of the
most visible symbols of Louisiana's third-world circus status (the
barbaric practice continues to thrive here under the protection of
Calcasieu Parish officials).
There
are many more "dots" from which an observer can blur one's focus and
get a sense of trajectory. Some in Louisiana dither about wondering
how to repair the broken-down jalopy that is our state, now parked on
the side of the road. Many simply can't imagine any other mode of
transportation; others merely hope to retain the reigns of control and
power they have historically enjoyed in that old car. Others,
including those beyond our borders, are doing what Americans have
traditionally done best. They are seeking individual opportunities in
the wreckage, taking stock of what must be discarded, and determining
what parts still work from which a new (and hopefully improved) vehicle
can be constructed.
Politically,
economically and demographically, Southwest Louisiana, while mostly
ignored by the rest of Louisiana, has been a microcosm of the state,
both good and bad. It remains so as some leaders here begin shifting
their focus from "where we are now" to the "where we're going" side of
Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. Where is the state headed? What is our role...our place and our responsibility...within that movement? And, what must we do or change to truly seize the brass ring?
One element of the trajectory is clear, and there is evidence to
suggest it's something on which SWLA public and private leaders should
increasingly dwell. Louisiana, by circumstance and by design, is en
route to becoming a far less New Orleans-centric place.
Even in our corner of the state where we alternate between
celebrating New Orleans and trashing it, there has always been an
unspoken nod to "New Orleans rules of engagement" when dealing with the
outside world. We've also subscribed to a tacit acknowledgement that
all in-state decisionmaking must inordinately defer to New Orleans.
While
the Crescent City continues to dominate Louisiana news headlines, the
new unspoken story is the realization that whatever becomes of N.O., we
can't let it drag the rest of the state into the abyss. To do
that, Louisiana is in the process of quietly being redefined. One
glance reveals snapshots of that happening. A second glance blurs
individual dots, but reveals a pattern suggesting where the state may
be headed.
There is ample evidence that Southwest Louisiana will have a more
prominent role in the "new" state that will emerge from the quantum
jump. The six-lane I-10 to Houston and BRAF's sudden interest in our
corner of the state as part of their grand strategy are an indication
of that. The maturation of the local gaming industry, Texas'
re-election of a governor fundamentally opposed to gambling in his own state,
and the emergence of new phases of the energy industry (LNG, alternate
energy) here lend assurance to our viability for at least the next five
years. The census numbers are a positive indicator. Additional
evidence suggests they'd be even higher if our workforce wasn't lagging
the current employment opportunities which exist here.
The
issue for Southwest Louisiana now that we have mostly recovered from
the immediate impact of Hurricane Rita is whether we will ever be more
than a cluster of petrochemical plants, casinos, and subdivisions
featuring open ditches, wells and septic tanks. Will we ever become a
really attractive, visionary place that truly develops and capitalizes
on creative human capital? Just as critical to our future,
will we ever become the kind of culturally-rich and exciting place in
which those creative people choose to live and settle?
These new "future state analyses" acknowledge the Lake Charles area
as an industrial and gambling center. Unfortunately they also brand
Calcasieu Parish as a closed place where power and decisionmaking are
tightly-held; a divided region which remains structurally and
culturally at odds with itself and in which progress comes at a glacial
pace.
"Crabs
in a bucket" is a phrase frequently cited by observers when discussing
Calcasieu and its congenital internal wars (east vs. west, Lake Charles
vs. everything else, etc.). It came up again recently when an Acadiana
developer acquaintance (who asked to remain anonymous) asked me about
the Calcasieu Police Jury's instant gutting of a proposal to study the
idea of an elected parish president.
"While places like Houston, Baton Rouge and Lafayette paint their
future with a new array of colors, Calcasieu is determined to
perpetuate its own civil wars between shades of gray," he told me.
"I'd invest there if I thought it was worth the trouble. So far, it
doesn't seem to be."
I asked him what would change his mind. "Simple," he replied.
"When we see you start creating a place where your brightest young
people want to stay instead of leave, the rest of the world might take
an interest too. While your parish officials talk about open sewage
ditches and protect their turf, ours are building a fiber loop and
dreaming of what's yet to come. Stop being an industry and casino town, and start being a cool place to live
that also has heavy industries nearby. Houston did it. So can
you...if you want to. If not, Houston businesspeople will just keep
driving past you on their way to setting up branches and new companies
in Lafayette or Baton Rouge. It's all yours to lose. Just in case you
haven't noticed it, you're no longer Louisiana's back door. You're now
the front door. But you're still acting like you're at
the back door, because you're content to look outside and see
smokestacks and slot machines and you think that's all there is."
Ultimately
SWLA will decide what role it wants to play in the Louisiana that is
emerging. While it's still in the same place, it has been effectively
"relocated." As my Lafayette friend pointed out, we're no longer at
the "back door." Houston is the new de-facto capital of a sphere of
influence that encompasses Louisiana, which makes the Lake Charles area
the state's new front door. Just behind us is Lafayette, a
progressive place with which Houston powerbrokers identify and consider
the state's new "center." The irony is, both Houston and Lafayette are
rooting for us to meet them each halfway, but if we fail to do that,
they will simply brush us aside as an inconsequential wide spot on the
road that connects them.
Seeing the dots appear in the wake of two devastating hurricanes isn't enough. We must connect them
and discover the patterns they form, even if they draw an unfamiliar
picture. Each of us must have the vision and guts to recognize our
opportunites, our responsibilities, and highest potentials in the new version of Louisiana that is already starting to emerge.
Ever wish a reporter would just keep his mouth shut? Apparently you're not alone. How not to do a news "live shot."
Sooo,
they're off! The presidential pony race has begun this past week with
the Iowa Caucuses and continues on this coming week with the first
presidential primary elections in New Hampshire. Primaries? Well,
yes, -- for the first time since the 1928 elections, there is no
sitting-president, or incumbent, in the presidential race, so.... that
means primaries are all the more important and indeed exciting.
there's no sure thing, that's for sure. ;)
So, what to do? Do you even know what you're registered? Are you
registered? Well, let's take that first important step: Head on over
to the Parish Courthouse in downtown Lake Charles, climb up to the
second floor Calcasieu Registrar of Voters Office (337-721-4000), and
ask for your records or fill out a new form! It's sooo easy! You can
also register at the local DMV. If we weren't so pressed for time, you
could also do this by mail and download the application form 
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