By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer |
The New Orleans landscape is dotted with signs boasting about “our recovery in progress,” an effort by former Mayor Ray Nagin’s administration to tout his successes.
His successor is taking that idea even further, seeking proposals to spend tax dollars to photograph and videotape the recovery so the word can be spread far and wide.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration posted an advertisement yesterday for the work, which the specifications say should focus on the “100 committed projects, playgrounds, places of worship, healthcare facilities, new economic development projects, blight remediation and infrastructure improvements.”
Landrieu said in an interview Tuesday that he doesn’t have a price for the work in mind, but said he expects it to be “reasonable.” The project is intended to result in a five- to 10-minute video that “tells the story of the recovery in progress,” according to the request for proposals, posted here. Other related material may also be required.
Landrieu said the city can’t afford not to produce this video, saying that when his representatives go to the financial markets in New York and the political arena in Washington, the “city needs to tell its story.”
The project will fall under the Mayor’s Office of Communications. That office saw a substantial increase in its budget from just more than $700,000 under the Nagin administration to more than a million dollars this year.
Landrieu spoke after a press conference with Mayor David Bing of Detroit, where he also addressed proposed federal budget cuts that could reduce Community Development Block Grant money by 7.5 percent.
That grant money has been a primary source for demolitions as well as affordable housing and job training.
Landrieu said the cuts could have been worse because the House Republican Study Committee proposed eliminating the program altogether.
“Landrieu said the city can
Why not have a competition to allow the local filmmmakers to create thier video about how far we’ve come back. The best one could receive an award and some cash. That would save the City some of the expense of producing the film And it would showcase our film industry. A win all the way around…..
Ann’s idea makes a lot of sense to me. Alternatively, most of our recovery has already been filmed and it would seem to be a matter of collecting footage and putting it together. The City Park video is a good example. It is very well done and very powerful. Also at the 5th anniversary the La State Museum shot a lot of video for the archives. And isn’t it the job of the CVB to promote New Orleans? I think they have a budget for this. Blight eradication and affordable housing should take priority.