I’ve said on the show before that change in the city has to come from our business community and community based groups. As the crime has reached crisis level in New Orleans, local business and community leaders have come together to form the NOLA Coalition. They understand that a safe place to live, work, and raise a family is good for business. Businesses generate wealth for its workers, and the community they operate in. President and CEO of GNO Inc. Michael Hecht explained to me how New Orleans based companies are investing to keep the city they call home safe and lead to more business success.
I spoke with Richard Cortizas, the Board Chair at GNO Inc, about the NOLA Coalition and the influx of people and entities joining up. I understand that the number of folks that have joined is greater than what he reported.
How many members do you have now?
The NOLA Coalition is approaching 400 members. What’s stunning is that I actually did an interview Wednesday morning with the Times of London, which somehow heard about the coalition and they’re writing a piece about it. We truly had no idea or ambition at that time that we would end up with hundreds of members. There was just such pent up demand for a vessel for people to pour their time, treasure and energy into… I think these members are remembering that Hurricane Katrina spirit of standing arm to arm to try and do something better for our city, and it's energizing folks.
Tell us about a few of the initiatives that the NOLA Coalition has on their plate that you are following very closely.
We're making progress on the merit based pay raise for NOPD. The City Council has asked the Civil Services office to expedite those merit pay raises. They've now gonna ask the attorney general to approve that, and I'm sure that he will. So that would happen in March instead of July. There's a new contract for online testing of recruits. That's under review right now by the city, and there is new investment in youth services. Also some nice progress. We're now actually over 2 million of the first 5 million that we're gonna raise for the first year.
Are the folks of Southeast Louisiana more or less risk-averse than what you hear from your counterparts in other areas of the country?
Before Hurricane Katrina I think individuals here were more risk-averse. I think there was a culture of wealth preservation. With necessity of being the mother of invention, Katrina was like the biggest and baddest mama of all, and folks took more risks. I think this culture of entrepreneurship is kind of a reflection of that.
I think you're right about that wealth preservation versus wealth creation mentality.
In this region, we have far too many businesses that exist as a consequence of wealth, as opposed to creating wealth. If you sell a widget or if you welcome tourists, then you're doing something to bring other people's money into your city or region. You're a wealth creator. If you are a restaurant, a radio show, or an economic developer, then you're here as a consequence of wealth. Those people are eating the pie that other people are creating and we need more pie. We need more wealth creators.
