The economic development group Greater New Orleans Incorporated says the region is thriving as it approaches the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The group says the greatest challenge is becoming complacent with success.
About 1,000 people attending GNO’s annual review heard President Michael Hecht extol the benefits that have developed in what he called the “New Normal” of the past decade.
“You’ve got technology companies. You’ve got petrochemical companies. You’ve got international companies. And it’s this diversity of company that’s going to allow us to survive the inevitable downturns in the oil market, which we’re going through right now." Hecht said. "And the reason that we are going to come through this one okay today is because we’re much more diversified than we were in the 1980s.”
He says GNO Inc. will be studying President Obama’s executive order to use a “climate-informed science approach” for future projects. Hecht says no one’s really sure what that will mean.
“Applying a standard that was developed for New York City in the aftermath of Sandy is not going to work in Louisiana, where 80 percent of the state is in the flood plain,” he said.
Hecht says he’s hoping the arrival of Copa Airlines service from New Orleans to Central America will convince a European carrier that the region can support international markets, and should have direct fights.
