A rail runs through it
Timing is everything, right? That’s how critics of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration in the national media and some people in the business community have responded to the debate over the dismissal of federal funds for a light rail system. What started as a civilized conversation about the possibility of bringing south Louisiana into the 20th century turned into a passive-aggressive squabble over politics, money and the relationship between Jindal’s administration and the business community. It was the combination of political pressure, fiscal realities and eager community members.
It happened a little something like this: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 [the federal stimulus bill] included a pool of funds that could be accessed through a competitive process. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and the Southeast Super-Region Committee [which includes Baton Rouge Area Chamber and Greater New Orleans Inc.] learned of the possible funding options. They met in late July to discuss. BRAC’s Adam Knapp and GNO’s Michael Hecht were among a few dozen people who sat down with DOTD officials to talk about the theoretical $300 million they could request for the construction of a light rail between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
And then someone went public. DOTD Deputy Assistant Secretary Tom Atkinson told the Associated Press in early August that he believed there would be enough ridership to sustain the light rail, that he envisioned a rail line opening by 2013 and that he planned to recommend it to his boss, Secretary William Ankner—possibly even Jindal.
Then came the bad press. MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann took aim at Jindal during his “Worst Persons in the World” segment, casting the governor as a hypocrite for criticizing the stimulus while taking money from the legislation. Two days later, Ankner pulled the plug on the transportation buzz.
That’s when the speculation began that Jindal’s administration was acting for political reasons and not in the best interest of the state. Perhaps he was thinking of how it might reflect on his national bid for the White House instead of how it could bring Louisiana up to speed with other states pursuing alternative transportation methods.
Ankner contends that politics had nothing to do with it. “We’ve done a pretty thorough analysis, and we’ve found that we’re not in the position to apply for the funds,” he says.
As he explains it, there would be no guarantee that the state would even “win” the funds for the light rail system if it applied. Louisiana is up against states like California and New York, he says, who have already invested millions of dollars in similar systems or even more advanced high-speed rails.
Ultimately, Ankner says, the state has to operate like a business, one that considers current operating costs before pitching for money for a project it can’t afford to sustain. “I can’t sign off and commit to the federal government that I’ve got the annual maintenance funds,” he says. It’s a matter of pitting existing deficits in transportation funding, poor roads, bridges in need of repair and growing traditional transportation [think highways] to meet existing capacity.
That’s why Hecht and Knapp are prepping a letter with the whole of the Southeast Super-Region Committee to ask Ankner for the opportunity to come up with local funding sources. “We’re researching the possibility of alternative funding sources,” BRAC spokesperson Mike Odom says.
Hecht says there are several options that he’d like the state to consider—everything from a TIF to a “value captured district” or a cigarette tax. “There are dozens of other creative ways to do it.”
Ankner says his mind is made up, no matter what the Southeast Super-Region Committee might pitch. “I’m not interested at the moment in doing that speculation,” he says. “We’ve got to come up with a sound financing of the existing transportation system as our first target. … To speculate that we’re going to be getting other resources to do that is just that right now, speculation.”
That leaves the question of why it is that the DOTD is so opposed to letting the business community get involved in funding something that ultimately might connect parts of the Gulf Coast. “The stakes are particularly high for Baton Rouge,” Hecht says. “It will be important to be connected to the high-speed corridor.”—Olivia Watkins
Half-staff
Marianne Frazee might have been starting to feel recession-proof last year.
Frazee runs two staffing firms, Frazee Recruiting Consultants and AccuStaffing, that provide workers in sectors like IT, accounting, engineering and office administration. In the fourth quarter of 2008, when news about the national economy was almost all bad, she actually saw healthy growth in every area of her business.
But on Jan. 1, it was like business dropped off a cliff. As she discovered, Baton Rouge’s labor market is considered to be much healthier than many other places, but it’s not bulletproof.
“A lot of it has to do with fear,” Frazee says. “Companies want to pull back; they want to hold on to what they’ve got … We’ve all felt it.” The constant drumbeat of negative news hurts businesses’ confidence in their future, she says.
Staffing firms often are the proverbial canary in the employment coal mine. Staffing employment tends to decline three to six months before a recession is declared, the American Staffing Association says.
But Frazee and the staffing association say temporary staffing tends to feel the recovery quicker. Often, employers who are starting to feel a bit better about the economy will test the waters with temp hires first, since temps can be let go relatively painlessly if need be. When Baton Rouge becomes excited about hiring again, Frazee and her cohorts might be among the first to know.
“It can go in one of two ways,” says Gail Jumonville, Baton Rouge office manager with Lofton Staffing Services. “Some companies will use contract workers because they’re not sure what their business is going to be doing, because it’s so uncertain with the economy and the recession. Instead of hiring a permanent person on, they’ll use a temporary or contract person to fill in because they’re not sure if they’re going to need to keep the person for a year or lay them off in a month.”
“Compared to a lot of offices across the country, we are doing much better than a lot of other states,” says Arleen Troyer, general manager of the Baton Rouge office of Snelling Staffing Services. “There are other Snelling offices that are not doing nearly as well, especially in the Northeast.”
The June edition of the Federal Reserve Board’s Beige Book, which tracks economic trends, says staffing services firms were reporting some modest signs of recovery. The Atlanta district, which includes south Louisiana, had scattered reports of increased temp hiring, although many of those positions were seasonal.
“Everybody took it as a temporary setback, but nobody really thought that it was horrible doom and gloom,” Troyer says. “We’re very optimistic that things are going to start picking up. We’re starting to see it a little bit.”—David Jacobs
Virtual enemies
In modern warfare, the frontlines can be almost anywhere, including the middle of a civilian marketplace. Baton Rouge-based IEM is developing new technologies that could help American soldiers find the potential threat in the crowd.
“It’s kind of like Where’s Waldo? when you’re looking for a terrorist,” says Doug Jensen, who manages Department of Defense technology for IEM.
To create the S.M.A.R.T. [Sentry Mixed-Reality Awareness and Response Training] Warfighter project, IEM uses “social network intelligence” from soldiers and consultants in the field about local conditions that create insurgencies and the telltale signs that might indicate a pending attack. Jensen and his colleagues are vague about what those signs might be so as not to give away any military secrets.
The information is incorporated into a mixed-reality training environment for soldiers that looks a bit like a movie set, including live actors and avatars on video walls. An operator can change the scene at any time.
IEM expects to deliver the first phase of the project to the Department of Defense at some point this month. The core technologies are applicable in several fields, including law enforcement, education and corporate training, says Billy Davis, IEM’s director of software development.—D.J.
40/40 vision
Business Report is accepting nominations for its annual Forty Under 40 awards, which honor the young men and women who are making the Capital Region a better place to live. They might be doctors, lawyers, designers or teachers, but the one thing they have in common is they are change-makers for the community.
Last year, our readers nominated more than 180 of the Capitol Region’s best and brightest professionals for the honor. You can nominate someone or submit your own application. Nominations/applications will be accepted through 5 p.m. on Sept. 25. All nominations must be made online. Click here for the nomination form.
BookReview: AdaptAbility
Author: M.J. Ryan
Publisher: Broadway Books
Year: 2009
Pages: 227
It’s 3:30 a.m.
That’s when you woke up this morning, but what are you going to do?
Even though Baton Rouge hasn’t been hit as hard as the rest of the nation in the national recession, there are still hints of it everywhere you look. You may be dealing with the possibility of furloughs, bank accounts heading toward minus, homeowner woes or high prices against low paychecks. So when it’s time to turn in for the night, you can’t shut your brain off, and you know you simply cannot handle this any more. You’re done.
You didn’t ask for this stress, but you’ve got it. So why not get some help dealing with it? AdaptAbility by M.J. Ryan has some smart advice about resilience—definitely worth a try from an author who isn’t just preaching tough love, she’s lived it.
Once upon a time, Ryan had everything she wanted. She was the owner of an up-and-coming book publishing company with a bestseller on its roster. She was happily married and life was good. Then, one by one, everything fell away, and Ryan was faced with change she didn’t see coming and didn’t want.
Between then and the time she built a flourishing new career as a consultant and coach, she says that she learned a lot about change and how to deal with it.
Ryan uses her personal story and those of her clients to illustrate how changing a few mind-sets can help you deal with “change you didn’t ask for.” While some of the exercises seem simplistic and a few are downright goofy, even the most down-in-the-dumps reader can take a stab at the things that Ryan gently suggests doing to shake the badness that can come with unwelcome change.
If you’re drowning in worry, stop treading water and read this book. AdaptAbility might just be the lifeline you need.—Terri Schlichenmeyer
ExecutiveSpotlight
Jim Brandt
President
Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana
Hometown: Amenia, N.D.
After a long, stressful day, you can find Jim Brandt running at University and City Park lakes in a T-shirt and shorts. Brandt, who is president of the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, comes here to unwind and relax. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t love his job. “I love the challenge—and it is often a challenge—of showing that facts, data and objective research can lead to better decision making on public policies,” he says. “And I love the intersection of politics, policy research and civic engagement, particularly in Louisiana.” Of course, Brandt might be one of the few people who feel this way about Louisiana politics—given the state’s reputation for governance that has historically been less than forthright. But the North Dakota native who calls Baton Rouge home is committed to Louisiana as a “work in progress.” So he’ll keep showing up, keep being persistent and, like the values he espouses, never give up. Even if he has to run a little more.
To read Brandt’s full Q&A, click here.
FastForward
Cool confidence
When Business Report first wrote about then-LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe in its Aug. 1, 2006 issue, the focus was cold, hard cash—and lots of it. “Won’t ya’ hep me?” took a detailed look at O’Keefe and his efforts to initiate Forever LSU, a massive fundraising effort for the university—one that sought $750 million before the end of 2010.
The number sounded extravagant—perhaps even more so now that O’Keefe is no longer chancellor—it didn’t include much fundraising for the university’s endowment to pay professors, fund departments and maintain the campus, and it paled in comparison to endowments at peer institutions. In 2006, LSU’s endowment was $262 million, compared to $4.9 billion for the University of Texas at Austin and $737 million for the University of Florida.
In March, LSU Chancellor Michael Martin told the Daily Reveille that the university stood the chance of falling short of that objective. Martin cited the economic woes of the nation as a reason for concern. But Campaign Director Beverly Brooks Major says Forever LSU was never at risk of falling short of the $750 million. When asked if the campaign would not reach its goal, she says, “Nobody from the campaign office has ever said that. That has never been the mantra of the campaign.”
Through the end of June, Forever LSU has raised $643 million, Major says. And that’s without any “major gifts”—single donations valued at $50 to $100 million.
“I think it is very reasonable to expect that we will still hit that goal,” she says. And during September and October, Major says the campaign plans to announce some large contributions.
“We still have money to raise,” she says. “We’re beating the odds.”—O.W.
TheGoodLife
Heaven on four wheels
Some people might argue that the Herman Miller Aeron chair is the crčme de la crčme of comfort and design for the workplace.
Perhaps not any longer.
After years of studying how people work in modern offices and how they collaborate and deviate from ergonomic working positions, Knoll introduced its seating revolution. The Generation by Knoll chair debuted in June at NeoCon—an interior design exposition in Chicago—and won the “Best Of” award. Knoll’s Generation is the Aeron on steroids—more adjustable, more customizable, more adaptable and more comfortable.
Once you get past the idea that the figure-eight mesh backing is made from DuPont plastic, the sophisticated, modern design takes over. The mesh isn’t cold and hard, but soft and incredibly supple. Mike Chennault, a Houston-based Knoll representative, says the chair’s plastic is the same as what is used in the ball bearings of an 18-wheeler and the wrist guards of professional skateboarders. So it’s strong and reliable, but it also moves with you.
Want to lean sideways? It goes with you. Want to sit backwards? It goes with you. Want to prop your feet up on the desk to take a phone call? It goes with you. There’s give on the front and the sides of the seats, so even if you lean to one hip while sitting or shift your weight, it adjusts, cradling your weight and comforting your spine.
The Generation also is cheaper than the Aeron. That doesn’t say a great deal considering the price tag starts out in the neighborhood of $700 for a base model. Add on an aluminum base or custom cushions or extra lumbar support, and the price tag increases.
Still, this is a chair that goes beyond the cubicle, to the board room and maybe even into the home. It might upset the design world, but it will make some lower backs very, very happy. Right now, the Generation is available only through Arnold & Associates Interiors in Baton Rouge, but it can be ordered online at sithowyouwant.com.—O.W.
Fortnight September 9 – 22
September 10 – On this day in 2008, Business Report covered The Shaw Group’s race to become a major player in nuclear power. The story, “Powering up,” told of a partnership between Shaw and Westinghouse Electric Co. for a $100 million facility at the Port of Lake Charles to produce nuclear reactor modules. At the beginning of this September, Shaw added to that nuclear commitment with a contract with Southern California Edison to handle a nuclear power station.
September 10 – In an effort to educate entrepreneurs and small-business owners, the Louisiana Technology Park and Bascom Hunter, a local tech development company, are playing host a Small Business Innovative Research grant writing training program. The seminar, which costs $150, should cover the basics and the specifics of how to assess the risk, cost and technical criteria of the grant writing process.
September 15 – Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister will speak at the LSU Executive Education’s “Breakfast to Business” meeting, set for 7:30 a.m. at Café Américain. McCollister will discuss the rapid pace of change in business and the need to embrace change in order to compete. Information about the breakfast meeting can be found online, at bus.lsu.edu/executive.
September 15 – On this day in 2008, Mayor Kip Holden fought off accusations by former Metro Council member Wayne Carter (above) that the city-parish was broke despite maintaining budget surpluses for years. A major issue of contention at the time was Holden’s $989 million capital improvements bond issue—a battle he is again fighting this year as he seeks to pass a revised $901 capital improvement package. To read about the upcoming election, see page 20.
September 17 – The sixth annual celebration of Louisiana entrepreneurship, Louisiana Looking Up 2009, hosted by the LSU Flores MBA Alumni Association-Louisiana Chapter, will be held at the Lod Cook Alumni Center at 1:30 p.m. Bill Jeansonne, a commercial agent at Sealy & Falgoust Real Estate, is the chairman. More information is available by calling 766-0000 ext. 232.
September 18 – On this day in 2008, Raising Cane’s announced it would move a substantial portion of its administrative, human resources, development and operations offices to Dallas. Cane’s CEO Todd Graves cited Dallas’ national prominence as a restaurant management hub. Today, Cane’s still maintains some offices in downtown Baton Rouge. To read about one Cane’s employee’s decision to make it on his own, click here.
BusinessOfPolitics
B.R. delegation back at it
After a brief summer break, which was no doubt needed after this year’s tumultuous regular session, the Capital Region Legislative Delegation is once again conducting monthly meetings. The gatherings have become a place where lawmakers receive updates from various departments and entities, and conduct strategic planning.
A variety of topics were discussed during the August meeting, including the pending partnership between LSU and Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, and a status update from the Department of Transportation and Development.
The main focus of the delegation’s meeting this month will be learning about and planning for the upcoming redistricting process. “With so many new legislators in the region, the delegation believes it can be most effective by being well-equipped with as much information, both historical and prospective, going into that process,” the delegation said in a prepared statement.
Jindal loses another one
Gov. Bobby Jindal put his name on the line again for a Republican candidate during the last weekend of August and, like previous endorsements, it failed to resonate with voters. Former Lafourche Parish Councilman Brent Callais, a Cut Off Republican, had Jindal’s blessing in the special election for Senate District 20. A mail-out that swamped the district in the days leading up to the contest saw the governor calling Callais a “proven leader,” and the pair even held a campaign event together. Callais said he was expecting to raise in excess of $100,000 because of Jindal’s star power.
Callais’ opponent on the ballot was former political consultant and landman Norby Chabert, a Houma Democrat who carried 54% of the vote and won by a 1,500-vote margin. In more ways than one, Chabert overcame opposition from the Baton Rouge Establishment.
For Jindal, the race presented an opportunity to possibly save face, but it didn’t work out that way. Earlier this year, the governor got involved in another state Senate race, and his chosen candidate was beaten handily.
In that contest, Jindal even recorded a series of phone calls that blanketed Baton Rouge’s Senate District 16, but it did little to help the chances of local businessman Lee Domingue, who managed to carry only a dozen precincts, making way for fellow Republican and Baton Rouge attorney Dan Claitor to become the region’s newest state senator.—Jeremy Alford
ONTHEBEAT
Game on: The first video game made by local company Nerjyzed Entertainment for the Xbox 360 system recently hit store shelves. The Doug Williams Edition of Black College Football Xperience is being offered by national retailers such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy. BCFx mixes football gameplay, along with the halftime shows and drumline competitions—all a part of black college football.
Terminal case: Westway Terminal Company broke ground on a $3.8 million expansion at its facility at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge. The project includes construction of four one-million-gallon bulk liquid storage tanks, increasing the terminal’s capacity by 25%. The company will add two employees, and the project will create 15 construction jobs. The facility is set to open in April.
Techie: The Louisiana Technology Council has opened a Baton Rouge office. The New Orleans-based organization, which promotes technology as a driving force for economic development, has already scheduled several local events, including a State Chief Information Officer Panel Forum set for Nov. 12. Mark Lewis (left), president of the LTC, says the expansion was done at the request of local members, who wanted to see the organization do the same sort of events in Baton Rouge as it does in New Orleans.
Banking on… IberiaBank took over CapitalSouth Bank after the Birmingham, Ala., institution failed last month. The 10 branches of CapitalSouth in Alabama and Florida reopened as IberiaBank locations. The Lafayette-based bank entered into a deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over CapitalSouth’s $546 million in deposits and $589 million in assets.
Gross gums: An online beauty magazine ranked Baton Rouge fifth on a list of cities with the worst teeth in the United States. Totalbeauty.com based the rankings on factors such as regular dental visits per capita, number of smokers and consumption of soft drinks. According to the report, Baton Rouge was hurt in the rankings by having a low number of dentists and low consumption of fruit and vegetables.
Good gains: Louisiana had the biggest year-over-year increase of any state in the number of people working in construction during the month of July. There were 140,600 construction workers in July, up 3.6% or 4,900 jobs from July 2008, reports the Associated General Contractors of America. North Dakota was the only other state to add construction jobs year to year, reporting an increase of 600 positions or 2.8%. Six states—Arizona, Nevada, Connecticut, Kentucky, Tennessee and Michigan—saw construction jobs drop by 20% or more, accounting for 172,000 lost jobs.
Elephant territory: A new Gallup Poll found that Louisiana was the second most conservative state in the nation. Forty-seven percent of Louisiana residents who responded to a survey taken during the first half of the year described their political affiliation as “conservative.” That ties Louisiana with Utah and Oklahoma, behind only Alabama [49% conservative] and Mississippi [48%]. Louisiana had the lowest percentage of self-identified “liberals” at 14%.
A pretty face
Capital Lofts’ development team made a revised pitch to the Historic Spanish Town Civic Association at the end of August, but an association representative says not enough has changed in terms of what may be built at the north end of Sixth Street to satisfy preservationists.
Jeff Duhé, vice chairman of the association, says the footprint of the 74-unit apartment complex looked different in a sketch he saw in order to accommodate existing homes at the site, and that the exterior had evolved to meld better with the look of the neighborhood compared with previous plans. “They didn’t present anything different in size,” he says. “It’s still the same size, no matter how you squeeze it or shape it. It’s like a lump of clay. It’s still the same amount of clay whether you make it tall or make it squat.”
Duhé says a portion of the structure was six stories tall, which is “going in the wrong direction” for preservationists who say a large apartment building does not fit with the single-family homes nearby, even though developer David Slaughter has scaled down his vision from a 115-unit design.—Todd R. Brown
Crust-less
Southern Belle Sandwich Company shut down its Baton Rouge operations last month and sold the business to an Illinois company, a move that put about 100 employees out of work. The move came just weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and federal marshals raided the plant on North Lobdell Avenue and seized thousands of tuna salad sandwiches, citing unsanitary conditions. Greg Beuerman, a spokesman for Southern Belle, says the FDA action was “indirectly” responsible for the sale to Landshire Inc. “Recent issues regarding our Baton Rouge plant encouraged us to review our business model and presented us with options for moving forward, which included Landshire’s offer to integrate our business into theirs,” says Ricky Bearden, Southern Belle’s vice president. Southern Belle distributed sandwiches to convenience and retail stores in southern Louisiana; Mobile and Montgomery, Ala.; and Crestview, Fla. Details of the sale were not disclosed. Bearden disputed FDA charges of rodent and insect infestation, saying the agency seized the sandwiches because of a failure by the company to submit paperwork on food safety standards in a timely manner. Bearden noted that during its 47 years of operation, Southern Belle had never logged a customer complaint or return for health or quality control reasons. The company plans to focus on local operations, selling party trays of sandwiches.—Timothy Boone
Home of their own
The East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority hopes to move into its new space in the Louisiana Companies building on North Boulevard when its lease starts Sept. 15. The authority’s four employees will have 2,764 square feet on the second floor, an improvement over the four cubicles at the Baton Rouge Area Foundation headquarters that had served as the authority’s office. “Certainly, we owe a lot to the foundation for allowing us to stay there rent-free,” Vice President Mark Goodson says. But having its own place will allow the authority to grow, and will help to establish an identity with the community, he says. Rent will be $3,000 a month, he says. Branon Pesnell, an agent with Beau Box Commercial Real Estate who has the listing for the Louisiana Companies building, says the lease is for two-and-a-half years. “This will be their home until they can move into one of the governmental buildings or something,” Pesnell says.—D.J. and T.B.
Come together …
The team behind the mixed-use development planned for Nicholson Drive between LSU and downtown should be ready to announce project details by the end of this year or the first quarter of 2010, Stephen Keller says. Keller, who developed Towne Center at Cedar Lodge, is part of the development team along with Moreno Properties, a Lafayette group headed up by oilman Mike Moreno. Over the past year or so, Moreno purchased about 20 acres along Nicholson to assemble the development. The project is currently known as River District, Keller says. Steve Oubre, the Lafayette architect who has designed many TND projects in south Louisiana, did the original master plan and remains involved in the project. River District will include multi-family housing, including loft-style apartments, along with some retail and office space, Keller says. He expects the project to draw young professionals and empty-nesters. “It’s a blighted area, which gives some lenders pause, but if the city is behind you, it gives lenders the comfort factor they need,” he says. The East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority has made the area between LSU and downtown, known as Old South Baton Rouge, a priority for redevelopment.—D.J.
Ready, set, build
Construction is scheduled to begin on the Bluebonnet Boulevard Wal-Mart Supercenter in late spring. That puts the store on track to open in 2011, says Tice White, a Wal-Mart spokesman. White notes that the dates could change. The center was originally scheduled to open in the summer 2008, but was pushed back because of the recession. Nearby residents were upset about plans for the store, to be located at Bluebonnet and Burbank Drive, when it went before the Planning Commission in 2007.
