Summer 2005  

Mike Randle, Editor

Not unlike other places where Disasters Hit, New Orleans and South Mississippi will rebuild

In this edition you will find advertisements for the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, as well as an ad for Harrison County, Miss., which is located on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I didn't know whether to publish the ads or not. The Friday before Hurricane Katrina hit south Mississippi and south Louisiana was the deadline day for this edition, so it was kind of a moot point anyway. We couldn't pull the ads and the last phone call any official in Louisiana or Mississippi needed at the end of August was one from us to discuss whether to pull the pages or not.

I am writing this article on the third day after the hurricane hit. This column was already written, but I felt I should rewrite it with Louisiana and Mississippi as the subject.

Let me first write that we are so sorry that such a massive catastrophe has devastated parts of southern Louisiana and southern Mississippi. Disasters can happen anywhere in the world and it seems we've had more than our share in the U.S. in the last several years.

Last year I was invited to Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco's box at the Superdome for a New Orleans Saints game versus the Minnesota Vikings. I spent the entire game in the box with Gov. Blanco and her husband, Raymond, Louisiana's Secretary of Commerce Mike Olivier, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Don Hutchinson, the director of economic development with the city of New Orleans, among other state and local officials.

In previous years I have also spent time with various Louisiana and New Orleans officials. But this current group is special. They are incredibly capable and coordinated. The time I spent with them at the game made me realize that these leaders were not drunk with power, something I have observed from previous administrators in Louisiana and New Orleans. On the contrary, the leaders of Louisiana and New Orleans that I've gotten to know are humble, yet confident. At the same time they are curious, therefore very willing to listen to new ideas. There is not an ounce of arrogance in the bunch. But mostly they are very enthusiastic about the future. This disaster is going to test that enthusiasm.

Officials in Louisiana have initiated many sound economic development strategies in the last year, some of which have never been tried in the state. Significant results are being realized. The city of New Orleans was in the middle of numerous investments in infrastructure, namely the development of a new bio industry district, tens of millions in the redevelopment of Canal Street and other major projects.

I first visited the Mississippi Gulf Coast professionally in 1991, two years before gaming came to that region and changed it dramatically. Back then, Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties made up a regional economy that wasn't the most impressive one I had become familiar with. That changed in just a few short years. The Mississippi Gulf Coast has been recognized by Southern Business & Development as the No. 1 mid-market in the South in job and investment generation two years out of the 10-year history of our annual SB&D 100.

There are few, if any regions in the South that have positively transformed their economies more than the three counties that make up the Mississippi Gulf Coast and it wasn't just gaming that led the way. But it was gaming that put the region on the map for everything else that came later.

The New Orleans region and the Mississippi Gulf Coast are two of the most unique places and economies in the South you will ever get to know. Like other port markets, such as Charleston, Savannah, Miami, Hampton Roads, Mobile, Houston and Tampa Bay, among many others in the South, there is a risk of hurricanes. In fact, hurricanes have hit every one of those markets numerous times, but they rebuild and continue to thrive.

Hurricane Katrina was unique in that it wasn't your typical hurricane. New Orleans, also, is not your typical port market. But it happens to be the largest port in the U.S. There are few port markets anywhere in the U.S. that are more important to the nation's economy. That being the case, New Orleans will come back and because of this disaster, it will be back in a better and safer form than it was prior to this terrible disaster.

As for the Mississippi Gulf Coast, it will return for the better as well. It, too, is a critically important U.S. port not only for consumer goods but for military services. In regards to gaming in the region, it will have to change. It may seem trite to focus on that industry here, but it was huge on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. No longer will you see gaming "boats" in that region. When that industry is rebuilt in south Mississippi, safer and stronger buildings will be required.