I have some thoughts to offer for the citizens of New Orleans.

In 1969 our country was first to land on the moon using a booster that was made here in NOLA, though something to be proud of, that manufacturing sector has all but disappeared. The last major office building (except for the new downsized Shell Oil building) was constructed in the late 1980’s, and now a number are in receivership because there is insufficient business here to make them economically viable. The three major banks that reflected the economic power of this region, that once employed thousands and were the sustenance of our local businesses are gone, headquartered elsewhere. Virtually none of the state’s recently announced major economic wins (if not handled effectively the new container port will be truly only a replacement for the current one) are here, most are far away from Orleans Parish.

So the question is: will our new leaders and the civic/business sectors have the motivation to understand the significance of the infamous economic history of our city?

Do they appreciate that all the government social policies and all the fairness and equity policies in the world will never supplant a vibrant, growing economy? Do they understand that the city’s economic development efforts of the last five decades may have captured headlines, but have shown little or no results in an otherwise booming South?

The bottom line, the efforts or lack of them employed by the political, civic, and business sectors has failed us. Proof? The only growth over the last five decades has been incremental and far from sufficient to just offset our losses, let alone grow the city.

A new regime offers an opportunity for truly bold thinking and leadership. The danger is that our elected leaders are so emersed in a philosophy that mirrors what has come before, and that the business/civic sector continues to meekly allow political decisions to impinge upon economic reality.

Bold change creates prosperity, small thinking causes poverty and social ills, and by the way shrinking city revenues. To quote a famous New Orleanian, “It’s the economy stupid.”