Board member Rita Benson LeBlanc, Executive Vice President of the New Orleans Saints, was featured in a front-page story in the Sunday, July 26th edition of the Times Picayune.  The article was an in-depth look at her work as an NFL executive and her relationship with her grandfather, Saints owner Tom Benson.  To read more click here.      

  http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/rita_benson_leblanc_is_climbin.html

In a fierce struggle that lasted up through the final hours of the 2009 regular legislative session, the Business Council led a strong and diverse coalition in beating back efforts to overturn the November 2008 vote in which New Orleans citizens passed an amendment to the City Charter which would give the city’s Master Plan the force of law.  Senate Bill 75, by Senator Ed Murray, was aimed at bringing the Master Plan before the voters for yet another vote of approval or rejection after the plan was completed.  The bill was defeated by a vote of 37 YEAS and 54 NAYS in the House on the next to last day of the session.  Members of the New Orleans Delegation who led the effort on the House floor were Neil Abramson, Jeff Arnold, Austin Badon, Walker Hines, and Walt Leger.  And, in a last-ditch attempt on the final day, June 25, Senator Murray amended his legislation onto another Senate Bill, this one by Senator Ann Duplessis, in a final stab at passage.  A quick and vigorous response by the coalition led to that amendment being stripped in the session’s final hour and, when the legislature adjourned Sine Die at 6:00 p.m., mercifully, Senate Bill 75 was dead.

Business Council members Leslie Jacobs and George Wilson, and Managing Director Bob Brown joined with New Orleans City Council members Jackie Clarkson, Stacy Head and Shelley Midura in going to Baton Rouge over a week-long period with personal appeals to legislators to defeat this legislation.  They were joined in the effort by Henry Charlot and Kurt Weigle from the downtown Development District, Jaci Coles and Eric Strachan from Councilwoman Clarkson’s office, Leslie Alley, Bill Robinson and Yolanda Rodriguez from the City Planning Commission, Rutie Frierson from Citizen’s for 1 Greater New Orleans, Meg Lousteau from the Vieux Carre Property Owners Association, Michelle Kimball from the Preservation Resource Center, Letitia Clark George of the the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors and, local attorney Bill Borah.  Each of them had a direct hand in rallying the support of House members.  Also playing key roles in engaging legislators were veteran Govermental Affairs professionals C.J. Blache, Derrell Cohoon, C.B. Forgotston, Deborah Harkins and Byron Stewart. 

Senator Murray and his supporters argued that his bill would give the voters the final say over planning decisions in their neighborhoods.  The more insidious effect, however, would have been to push the city back to the old-school, politicized and dysfunctional planning process that has crippled development in New Orleans for decades.  The defeat of Senat Bill 75 represents a triumph of smart and pr0gressive decision-making over the failed polocies of the past.