Recent editorials from Louisiana newspapers:
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May 1
The Town Talk on gambling in Louisiana:
Gambling — or gaming as it has to be called due to wording in our state constitution prohibiting gambling — is big business in Louisiana. In its most recent annual report the Louisiana Gaming Control Board noted gaming revenue contributed $705,517,316 to the state economy in the 2015-16 fiscal year. That was down $8.3 million for the previous year. More than half of that money came from riverboat gaming operations.
The downward revenue trend may well be behind the nearly 40 gaming-related bills filed in this year's legislative session. There seems to be significant concern within the gaming industry and the capitol about Louisiana losing revenue to neighboring states with larger, land-based casinos.
Senate Bill 316, which cleared the state Senate on Tuesday, would allow riverboat casinos in the state to expand onto land. Proponents note it's not an expansion of gaming, just an expansion of the facilities. And, given that the "riverboats" never leave their docks, they are essentially land-based facilities now. Changing the law merely lets them add space for more games to compete with those other states and keep the money in Louisiana.
That's fine for those who have spare money they can afford to lose/spend/invest in games of chance. It's their hard-earned money, and if they want to risk it on table games or slot machines, that's their business.
Our concern is for the players who can't afford to lose and those who get addicted to the games. And make no mistake, losing happens more often than winning. It is estimated Americans lose roughly $100 billion each year in gambling. That figure includes everything from lottery tickets to trips to the casino.
Studies show gambling addition affects anywhere from 1-3 percent of players. Individually, a male gambling addict can accumulate an average debt of between $55,000 and $90,000 whereas a female averages $15,000. We're not taking about losing spare change, we're talking about losing the money that should have gone to pay the rent or utilities or provide for family members.
So why is that a big deal in Louisiana? It's not like this is Las Vegas or Reno where the heavy gamblers hang out, right? As Lee Corso would say, not so fast.
It's no surprise Nevada took the top spot in WalletHub's report on 2018's Most Gambling-Addicted States. But it might surprise local residents to learn Louisiana ranked 5th. We are also No. 6 in gaming machines per capita and ranked 7th nationally in gambling-related arrests per capita.
Looking at the bigger picture, Louisiana's 20 percent poverty rate in 2016 is well above the national average of 15.1 percent. Likewise, the median household income of $45,146 was below the national average of $57,617. So, average citizens don't typically have lots of cash to spare, but we're a top-5 state for gaming. That feels like a dangerous mix.
It's not fair to say all gamblers are addicts any more than it is to say that all people who drink alcohol are alcoholics. And we're not suggesting a ban on casinos or gaming. But we are advocating for people being responsible. That includes players knowing when to stop, and legislators understanding where the extra revenue they are seeking is really coming from. In both cases the question comes down to this: Is the risk worth the reward?
Online: https://www.thetowntalk.com
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April 29
The Times-Picayune on Mitch Landrieu's tenure as mayor of New Orleans:
Mitch Landrieu set the tone for his eight years as mayor of New Orleans a month after he was sworn in.
In the first week of June 2010, he announced dramatic changes in the way the city would do business with contractors. He set up a selection committee to screen professional services contracts for architects, engineers and lawyers — contracts that don't have to go to the lowest bidder. The process was created to limit his choices and reduce patronage, something other mayors had promised, but failed to do.
His administration also established a one-stop shop for permitting that had long been promised by his predecessors.
Almost eight years later, the difference is striking — both in the level of business investment and the lack of complaints about dealing with City Hall.
GE, DXC Technology and a dozen other companies chose New Orleans for new high-tech ventures, national retailers like Costco and Tiffany opened stores and the Riverwalk mall was transformed by an $82 million renovation. Goldman Sachs chose New Orleans for its 10,000 Small Business Initiative, a program to strengthen small businesses.
There are new nonstop flights to London and to Frankfurt, Germany, and Louis Armstrong International Airport set a record for passenger traffic in 2017. A new $1 billion terminal at the airport is scheduled to be finished early in 2019. Although that will happen after Mayor Landrieu leaves office, it will be part of his legacy.
These sorts of accomplishments would be significant under any circumstances. But they are more remarkable because of the condition the city was in when the Landrieu administration took over five years after Hurricane Katrina and the levee breaches.
The recovery was sluggish then, and the city had a massive budget deficit. The Landrieu team expected to have to deal with a $67 million deficit, but it was closer to $90 million. The Police Department had gone so far over budget, it was essentially broke. "For all intents and purposes, the city was bankrupt," Mayor Landrieu said in a meeting April 19 with NOLA.com ' The Times-Picayune.
The city didn't go into bankruptcy, but it took a Herculean effort to get the budget balanced. Eight years later, incoming Mayor LaToya Cantrell is inheriting a surplus.
That, Mayor Landrieu said, was his goal: To deliver a city that was in much better shape for the future.
There are still major challenges looming — a crumbling drainage system and inept Sewerage & Water Board, an understaffed police department and stubborn crime rate, the need for affordable housing. But New Orleans is a far stronger and more economically vibrant city than it was eight years ago.
Not only was the city in a financial mess in 2010, the Nagin administration was embroiled in scandal. Former technology chief Greg Meffert had been indicted in November 2009 and accused of taking $860,000 in kickbacks from city contractor Mark St. Pierre. Mr. Meffert and Mr. Pierre both went to prison in a scheme that ultimately reached Ray Nagin, who is serving a 10-year sentence in federal prison.
Mr. Nagin's downfall could have done enduring damage to New Orleans' reputation as a place to do business, but the Landrieu administration didn't allow that to happen. Mayor Landrieu's business-like approach at City Hall over the past eight years was an antidote to the Nagin years.
The strength of the city's standing is evident in the outpouring of national accolades for New Orleans and Mayor Landrieu. The mayor will receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in May for his leadership in removing monuments to Gen. Robert E. Lee and other Confederate icons. It was the right thing to do, for residents who were offended by the statues and for the city's reputation.
How others view us does matter, particularly for a city that thrives on tourism and needs business leaders to invest here. Greater New Orleans Inc. keeps a list of the latest rankings: New Orleans was named the top city for Employment, Income and Population by NerdWallet; the No. 2-ranked aspirational city by DailyBeast; the No. 4 Western Hemisphere City of the Future (Mid-Sized) by fDi, and on and on.
There are negative rankings, as well, for the city's entrenched crime and poverty. Too many residents have been left out of the wave of prosperity evident downtown and in the city's hottest neighborhoods. The workers who make New Orleans' tourism industry run are being priced out of their homes and neighborhoods. The New Orleans Police Department has yet to recover from a hiring freeze Mayor Landrieu put in place shortly after he took office in 2010.
The Sewerage & Water Board, which the mayor heads as its chairman, is a mess. Floods Aug. 5 revealed a level of dysfunction and disrepair in the operation that was shocking given the reforms that were supposed to be in place.
In his State of the City address in 2013, Mayor Landrieu laid out his vision for what the city could be by 2018. He described "a city for the ages" with a world-class airport, a teeming biomedical district and safe neighborhoods.
All that work is not done, but this mayor has turned New Orleans around.
Online: http://www.nola.com/
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May 2
The Houma Courier on the aftermath of the Louisiana Secretary of State's resignation:
Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler has finally brought the ugly spectacle that his tenure had become to a close - but not before needlessly lingering in office months after the disclosure of an inappropriate relationship with one of his workers.
A bipartisan chorus of state officials has been calling for Schedler to step aside for the good of his office and the good of Louisiana.
On Tuesday, he relented, announcing that he will step aside May 8. That will allow a special election to select a successor who will serve out the remainder of his term. Schedler had already said he planned not to run for re-election next year when the term expires.
The scandal began in February when a worker in Schedler's office filed suit, claiming that the secretary of state had harassed her for years and even punished her when she refused his romantic gestures.
Schedler's representatives have maintained that the relationship was consensual - a claim that still assumes Schedler made incredibly poor decisions at the top of one of the state's most important departments.
When email messages from Schedler were released, though, even more of his fellow public servants began to demand his resignation.
"I leave office with a heavy heart knowing I have disappointed the people in my life who care for me the most," Schedler wrote in a letter to Gov. John Bel Edwards. "But I also have experienced from them the miraculous power of forgiveness and grace during the twilight of my career, and for that I am grateful."
Now that Schedler is leaving, the Secretary of State's Office can begin to put this episode into its past. The public, though, should hope that it will move forward with a plan to educate about, discourage and root out such behavior in the future - regardless of who might be responsible for it.
This case illustrates clearly - once again - that Louisiana is in dire need of a government -wide policy that defines the rules on sexual harassment, requires workers and managers to attend education sessions on harassment, lays out a clear and fair process for how complaints will be handled and takes a firm stand against those who are found to have violated the policy.
We have a long way to go to truly protecting our public employees. But Schedler's departure is a welcome step in the right direction.
Editorials represent the opinion of the newspaper, not of any individual.
Online: http://www.houmatoday.com/