2007_12_01_archive

But...but... we just opened all those redundant sushi joints uptown

Sayonara, New Orleans

Posted by neworleanscitybusiness on Saturday, December 1, 2007

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

Japan plans to close its New Orleans consulate and move the office

to Nashville, Tenn., according to news reports.

Labels: New Orleans

# posted by jeffrey @ 12:11 PM

Pick a storyline and stick with it

LSU fans..

Won't have Les Miles to kick around (ESPN)

Will have Les Miles to kick around (T-P)

Meanwhile, I still don't know whether or not to put my kicking boot

back in the closet. Of course, if ESPN is right, then LSU could end up

with Spurrier. Which means, I'd need a bigger boot.

Update: ESPN has retracted the original story. Looks like Miles is

staying. This was his only shot at the Michigan job. I can't see his

marketability doing anything other than taking a major dive over the

next few seasons until he finally gets the canning he deserves.

Labels: LSU, sports

# posted by jeffrey @ 11:43 AM

Okay I'll take a crack at it

He was in the Hamptons with Judi Giuliani

Labels: Nagin

# posted by jeffrey @ 11:07 AM

And now... the good news

N.O. tax rate dives 27 percent

Posted by The Times-Picayune November 30, 2007 9:06PM

By Gordon Russell

Staff writer

Making good on a unanimous pledge, the New Orleans City Council

slashed the city's tax rate by 27 percent to 128.44 mills, a rate

that makes owning property in the city competitive with neighboring

Jefferson Parish for the first time in years.

The action, made possible by a huge readjustment of historically

inaccurate property assessments in New Orleans, also brings the

city's tax rate well below that of St. Tammany Parish, the suburb

that has drawn city dwellers like a magnet in recent years.

The news should make the new property valuations -- massive spikes

for some homeowners -- somewhat more palatable. For instance, the

owners of a home that was valued at $750,000 last year and is now

appraised at $1 million should see virtually no increase in their

taxes. The same would apply to the owners of a home whose value

went from $200,000 to $250,000.

In other words, the massive revaluation of property in New Orleans

will not result in a massive tax increase for most property owners...

at least for now. This leaves us with a much fairer and more rational

system of property assessments and a significantly lower property tax

rate exactly the way Oyster repeatedly said it would.

This is thanks in no small part to a surprisingly principled stand

taken by a newly emboldened City Council which found a way to pass the

2008 budget without caving to the Mayor's demand for a property tax

"roll forward". It's a remarkable event which I think indicates the

increasing political weakness of our lame duck Mayor. It is also an

example of how an engaged and motivated electorate can affect the

actions of their representatives through pressure and vigilance...

however sloppily or incoherently that pressure is expressed. In the

absence of such agitation, I find it hard to believe that we would

have seen these results.

It would be a mistake, however, to assume that this is the end of this

particular opera. These kinds of political battles are never really