Mayor bets on casinos to revive city

NEW ORLEANS: New Orleans’ mayor has proposed building a casino zone near the historic French Quarter to jump start the hurricane-ravaged city’s economy, saying a bold move was needed to restore lost tax revenue.
“I’d like to have another solution for the citizens … but I don’t know what else we can do at this point,” Ray Nagin told a news conference.
New Orleans is struggling to rebound from Hurricane Katrina in August which fractured flood walls and flooded 80 per cent of the city. Hurricane Rita hit the Gulf Coast on September 24, triggering renewed flooding in parts of the city.
Under Nagin’s proposal, a U-shaped section encompassing several blocks of the city’s downtown area would allow large hotels to covert part of their property into Las Vegas-style casinos.
Only one casino is currently operating in that area, and Nagin said as many as seven new gambling operations could open.
That existing casino, Harrah’s, has stirred bitter political battles and suffered from financial problems in recent years.
Nagin said he had approached Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco about the plan and offered to split the tax revenues, a figure he said could approach the $150 million neighboring Mississippi received annually.
The gambling zone proposal would need the approval of the city council and the state legislature.
Earlier this week, Nagin announced the city would cut 3,000 jobs, or nearly 40 per cent of its workforce, because it had only enough funds to continue operating until the end of the year.
In Baton Rouge, Louisiana officials said on Friday the state’s death toll from Hurricane Katrina topped 1,000 for the first time as recovery efforts continued in storm-stricken areas.
They said 1,003 had died in Louisiana, which pushed the total known dead in the states hit by Katrina to 1,243.
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said 2.2 million people had been registered as storm victims, of which 1.2 million had been approved for federal assistance that so far totaled $3.3 billion.
In response to complaints that federal aid efforts are moving too slowly, the US Small Business Administration said it would step up the pace of approving loans to businesses hit by the storm by using aerial photography and satellites to assess damaged property.

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