Less than a year after Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau has released a state of the city report detailing how the Big Easy is faring and what the future holds. Strategic Hotels & Resorts, owner of the New Orleans Hyatt, announced plans to renovate the Hyatt hotel, build a National Jazz Center to host the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, and create an urban park similar to Chicago’s Millennium Park. Other noteworthy news included the reopening of the aquarium in May, and the city’s beloved Brennan’s Restaurant on June 8.
Two-thirds of the hotels are currently open, excluding the Fairmont and the Ritz-Carlton, which is slated to reopen in December. The Louis Armstrong International Airport is one-third shy from where it was pre-Katrina, in terms of daily departures and the number of destinations. Fifty percent of the city’s taxicabs are back on the streets, and several—but not all—of the streetcar lines are up and running. As for security, French Quarter visitors are safer than ever by one measurement, with one police officer for every 130 people (the pre-Katrina ratio was 1 to 289). Federal, state, and local agencies have deemed the city’s water, food (including seafood), and air safe.
Posted 06.12.06
Two-thirds of the hotels are currently open, excluding the Fairmont and the Ritz-Carlton, which is slated to reopen in December. The Louis Armstrong International Airport is one-third shy from where it was pre-Katrina, in terms of daily departures and the number of destinations. Fifty percent of the city’s taxicabs are back on the streets, and several—but not all—of the streetcar lines are up and running. As for security, French Quarter visitors are safer than ever by one measurement, with one police officer for every 130 people (the pre-Katrina ratio was 1 to 289). Federal, state, and local agencies have deemed the city’s water, food (including seafood), and air safe.
Posted 06.12.06
