Senators Landrieu, Vitter & downtown developer top open meetings today

A big day today in terms of public meetings.

Both our U.S. Senators are in our area for a critical South Louisiana Recovery Field Hearing at the Lake Charles Civic Center.  They need your input if they are to do the best job they can representing our state and region.

Sen. Mary Landrieu and Sen. David Vitter are members of the Senate Committe on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.  Today's hearing here is entitled "Rebuilding the Gulf Coast: Small Business Recovery in South Louisiana."  They will examine the challenges still facing local businesses affected by Hurricane Rita.  Along with Katrina, the 2005 twin storms economically impacted more than 81,ooo Louisiana businesses, of which more than 18,000 were totally destroyed.

The hearing will measure the success of small business recovery programs at the federal, state and local levels as well as ongoing challenges that Southwest Louisiana business owners face.  The hearing also comes on the heels of the Senate's passage of critical disaster loan improvements championed by the Louisiana senators.  The legislation is designed to improve assistance to businesses and homeowners after a disaster by increasing the maximum disaster loan amount, establishing a private disaster loan program, creating expedited disaster assistance business loans, and providing key tools for the federal government to process disaster loans more quickly.

Then from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. Senator Vitter will conduct a Town Hall Meeting at the venerable Cameron Parish Courthouse (one of my all-time FAVORITE buildings btw) at 119 Smith Circle in Cameron. 

Like there's anyone in SWLA who needs to be told where the Cameron Parish Courthouse is.  Hey, you want to rebuild coastal Cameron Parish so it will withstand just about anything nature or man can throw at it?  Go visit the Courthouse there and DO THAT!   : )

NUTHIN'  PO'  'BOUT IT Poor Pony, our 2007 Citizens of the Year, continue to integrate themselves into the progressive fabric of our city.  Here's a release I just received from executive director Victoria Bradford.

Now I planned to include a link to Griffin Industries' website.  They are the company that has been selected to be the developer of Downtown Lake Charles.  But try as I might, I can't seem to find it using all the search engines.   (Note, typing www.griffinindustries.com into my browser immediately forwards to a website for a suburban development in Southern California called "The Bridges at Heritage Valley.")

I did find lots of footprints of a Griffin Industries which is a world leader in poultry waste removal and rendering, so if you have any needs along those lines, you can click here. 

I don't know, maybe the "killer application" for downtown will be to become a center of excellence for poultry rendering.  Stranger things have happened.  But mark your calendar for the Poor Pony open meeting advertised below and see for yourself. 

Griffin (not the chicken rendering one, I'm assuming) rep Robert Kidder, a familiar face to many of us in the media & ad community (he was the spokesperson for Stine Lumber for many years...maybe he really does know how to swing that hammer) will be the guest speaker.  Good to have Robert back in town, and we'll see what he has in store for us.

       Poor Pony, the organization with the name you’re sure to remember, is inviting the public to its monthly open meetings. Poor Pony strives to be the antidote to the poisonous thought, “There’s nothing to do in Lake Charles.” The open meetings are held the third Wednesday of every month at Central School, at 6PM. These productive meetings provide a time for speaking up to all those interested in improving the quality of life in the Lake Area, which is at the heart of the Poor Pony Mission. Ordered yet informal, and lots of fun, the meetings will keep you informed of the organization’s future plans and events, as well as bring recognition to other local happenings and associations.  If that sounds like your cup of tea, Poor Pony open meetings should be penciled in on your calendar each month.       

      

       Poor Pony is pleased to announce that Robert Kidder, of Griffin Industries, will be a guest speaker for this month’s meeting. Mr. Kidder is a representative of the development company that Lake Charles has entered into an agreement with to work on the Lakefront Development Initiative. He will be talking about the different proposals for Lake Charles development projects and a timeline for their completion. He will also offer examples of successful Griffin projects in other regions. It’s an exciting time for Lake Charles, so please come to the meeting with your questions; Mr. Kidder will more than pleased to answer them.       

      

       Wes Gautreaux of Blueprint Louisiana will also be in attendance. Blueprint Louisiana, according to their mission, is a “citizen-driven effort to identify and implement essential changes to fundamentally improve Louisiana.” Mr. Gautreaux will be available for your questions and comments, and will also give information about Blueprint Louisiana’s upcoming events.              

      

      Please join Poor Pony and your fellow Lake Area neighbors for the next Poor Pony open meeting. Get excited about Southwest Louisiana and get involved.       

      

This month’s meeting will be held at 6PM, Wednesday, February 20, in Room 106 of Central School. Central School Center for the Arts and Humanities is located at 809 Kirby Street in Lake Charles.       

      For more information about Poor Pony, or if you would like to inquire about speaking on behalf of your organization at a future meeting, please visit www.poorpony.com or email  victoria@poorpony.com       This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it       .       

      

      For more information about Blueprint Louisiana, please visit www.blueprintlouisiana.org or email  wes@blueprintlouisiana.org       This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it       .

Comments

[Matt]

Sounds fishy. I'm flabbergasted that when I searched for "Griffin Industries" I came up with the same results Jim Serra came back with...nothing. I also used several search engines and still only came back with a few sundry companies not dealing with anything close to construction or community planning or development. Sounding really fishy, why isn't a top-notch company interested in this development? There is a beautiful planned community being constructed in Galveston that I saw the paperwork for, and it was historically styled to fit into the "look" of Galveston. The plans that have been published for Lake Charles development look more like casinos than condos. If you've never searched the internet for yourself, try it. Most people will come up with something about themselves.

[Matt]

"I love this city and I see it's potential," Kidder said.

"Griffin itself is a company that's been in existence since 1903. so, it's 105 years old."

With Age comes experience.

Kidder said, "If Griffin comes in and builds a building, whether it's an apartment, or mixed use, residential, officer.. and retail, we want it to last for decades."

The company doesn't want to be known as "California-based." They plan to set-up shop in the heart of downtown Lake Charles and see the project through.

"That's what you get when you get a developer who's willing to stay in the community for a long time," said Kidder.

The company says they aren't opposed to employing local professionals to get the job done.

"One of the things important to us, is to take the Lakefront development opportunity and make sure it solved a problem," he said.

The problem being a dead downtown.

"If the development doesn't serve the purpose of helping to revitalize downtown, itself, then we wouldn't have done our job," he said.

from- http://www.kplctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7792828

[Ann]

They are a legitimate business with very little info. From what I have found they have ONLY been homebuilders since 1903. Unable to find any info on commercial building- so not sure how they could help build the downtown area since commercial building is NOT their expertise. I would not feel that they can provide the best expertise for the downtown project. If you are talking about multistory buildings I would be concerned that their professionals are not experienced enough to build and would be concerned about the safety of the buildings. Remember the hotel that collapsed while being built.
Try these web sites:
www.griffinindustries.net
www.griffinhomes.com
If you search griffin industries california (since they are a california based company) that will help you locate information on them. Since there are so many griffin industries in the country it helps to narrow the search to the state you are looking in.

[Matt]

Ok,found them, here is a development they are workingon in California.

http://www.lifeatthebridges.com/

[Befuzzled]

All those links go to the same site. Looks like a standard suburban residential development. What does that have to do with having the experience to develop a downtown overlay project?

[Matt]

I heard toady after making a few phonecalls that there were only TWO companies interested in working on this project NATIONWIDE! The city decided to go with this company. Now, with this being a bond issue, and with all the tax incentives being offered to the companies to build this complex, why were so many not interested??? I've also overheard in town that the DDA is having a hard time getting answers to a lot of their questions about the project. Now that's just hearsay, but definetely makes me wonder if there are problems instore???

[Ann]

Well Matt I can only give you MY theory on why only 2 bids were made. I know this may open a can of worms but it has to do with Lake Charles good ole' boy politics. From my experience, after the Hurricane, when trying to find a builder/contractor for home this is what I encountered. After MUCH research I found one I liked for many reasons but the main ones being the quality of their work and hey they actually provided some good customer service- something scarce in the lake charles area. The builder was in Texas. When they found out that I was in Calcasieu Parish they said they would not build in this area. The reason I was giving was this. They had already built one and dealing with the the politics here was too much money and headache. They had extreme difficulty getting permits. They were REQUIRED by our glorious police jury to ONLY purchase supplies and materials from the "approved" list provided by the police jury. And they were required to ONLY hire Union employees that are living in the area. They advised to build a home in Calcasieu Parish, with ALL their rules, regulations (to keep the pockets fat of the police jury's buddies) would cost me the consumer an extra $20,000 minimum. And they say SWLA does not need ethics reform- WHAT A JOKE! So I have learned NOT to shop at locally owned businesses and to take as much of my business to Lafayette as possible. (Yes I am willing to pay the extra in gas because the customer service is excellent there compared to here & I also don't make the wallets fatter of our local politicians. Anyways their sales tax is MUCH less than here and they have so many better quality stores.)

[Smelling fish for lent]

How appropriate that a Blueprint La. spokesperson will be at the meeting to talk about ethics reform at the same time Mr. Kidder is there to talk about taking charge of Lake Charles redevelopment.

The city announces a winner in the downtown sweepstakes and wow its the former advertising guy for a local building supply company which has freinds at City Hall. He had an advertising agency and shilled for a lumber company, and now hes with a California group that did a few cookie cutter subdivisions. Why shouldnt we think hes the best choice to redevelop the entire local downtown of his old building supplies boss and their government cronies?

Mayor Roach and city council I think you got some es-splainin to do. Shoudl be an interesting meeting Wednesday.

[g]

If anyone would care to be duly impressed by a new development, check out www.riverranch.info or drive to Lafayette and view the River Ranch development. It consists of businesses, apartments, townhomes, free standing homes. It is EXACTLY what I had envisioned for downtown Lake Charles(as presented by the Duany group). I'm guessing the city will have to do a few more surveys before any ground breaking will begin.

[John H.]

I'm so sick of hearing about poor pony. I swear if that girl goes into one more swla meeting and tells everyone how 'nothing happened' in lake charles until she showed up i'll spit nails.
please cover some other organizations doing worthwhile things around here. there are plenty to choose from and they've been around a heck of alot longer than the poor pony. seriously. before i start to think that poor pony is paying you for all the free press you give 'em. (ARE they, by the way???)

[Jim Serra]

No, Poor Pony does not pay us. And, turns out, we don't have presses here anyway.

[Matt]

kudos to "g", River Ranch is spectacular, and it has housing that is available at nearly every end of the spectrum. Apartment buildings that small families and individuals on the lower end of middle class, townhouse and garden style homes available for middle and uppermiddle class can afford and mini-mansions for the upper and rich class. There are functional businesses a nightlife scene and it's all done with a nod to traditional Louisiana architecture and design and culture. They even left many heritage oaks and trees to complement the landscaping. YES Lake Charles residents should be jealous, what is it with people acting like you should be grateful for "good enough" instead of trying to achieve betterment.

[Jim Serra]

Hey John,

Make those despicable Poor Pony people stop with their transparent cheap grabs for attention like bringing the proposed downtown development firm in to meet face to face with Lake Charles residents, and Blueprint Louisiana representatives to discuss their benchmarks for performance for our state, and we'll probably start to ignore them. Then maybe things can go back to the way they were. ; )

rgds
jim

[Victoria Bradford]

"I swear if that girl goes into one more swla meeting and tells everyone how 'nothing happened' in lake charles until she showed up i'll spit nails."

wow. I guess I'm that girl. And is that a direct quote? "nothing happened"?

So much has happened in Lake Charles over the years, and I'm so glad to have grown up being a part of it, from performing with ACTS and the Little Theatres and the Choral Foundation, to hanging out at Porquoi Pas and Carr's Coffee back in the day... taking Leisure Learning classes at McNeese and volunteering at the Literacy Council --

Thanks to OTHER people starting these programs, I had a chance to participate. People were and still are doing so much in Lake Charles -- and I'm just glad to have been even a little part of it growing up AND be a part of making all these incredible things come together today.

Poor Pony is so much more than one "girl" -- but throw all the punches you want at ME, the Pony stands tall with its mission and incredible band of board members and volunteers. We're just doing our part to take part in the community we are so proud of. We just felt it time for US to step up and invest in the community that gave us our starts -- and seemingly many others felt the same and joined on. Thanks to all of you.

[Caroline Kennedy Archive]

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