Recently added articles from The Greater Baton Rouge Business Report:
Survey says...
Mar 10, 2009; ... Baton Rouge area business leaders are largely optimistic about the future in terms of economic conditions, according to the results of the 2009 Baton Rouge Area Economic Outlook Survey, a project of the Baton Rouge Area Chamber and Business Report. Of the 372 survey respondents, the vast ...
ENTREPRENEUR: Mark C. Drennen
Mar 10, 2009; ... Position: Vice president Company: Cornerstone Government Affairs What they do: Public affairs consulting, government affairs and lobbying Revenue: $12 million in 2008 Goals: Continue to grow Louisiana client services and add several staff members Mark ...
Making lemonade
Mar 10, 2009; ... Like other parts of the country, Baton Rouge has been subject to condominium fever the past few years - both new construction and conversions. Then the national housing bubble burst, the lending market tightened and, as a result, fewer people bought condos. The upshot is that many of ...
The cost of living downtown
Mar 10, 2009; ... For decades, taxpayers have been heavily subsidizing suburbia. While greenfield building is cheaper for the developer than building in the city core, governments must build such services as roads, sewers and schools to accommodate the sprawl, and critics say impact fees don't fully cover those ...
Par of the course
Mar 10, 2009; ... Numbers don't lie, but statistics can either tell one story or another - depending on how you look at them. Nowhere is that more apparent than the University Club, an upscale community that shows some impressive growth and also some troubling trends. Developed in the early 2000s, the ...
The year ahead
Mar 10, 2009; ... One of Sandy Daly's agents recently closed more than $1 million worth of residential real estate in a week. Historic low interest rates have the telephones ringing with lots of lookers as well as buyers. And Daly's seeing multiple offers again. While there are some big ifs that could ...
10 QUESTIONS: Mike Wampold
Mar 10, 2009; ... Real estate developer Mike Wampold is still in the real estate development business. Like others, however, he's pulling back on the reins since the way is steep and rocky when it comes to the finance market. But in the past year, Wampold has opened The Crescent at University Lake, an ...
Crushing the corridor campaign?
Mar 10, 2009; ... A campaign to promote the 10/12 corridor nationwide is on o hold - for now. At the Baton Rouge Area Foundation's request, GSD&M Idea City has revised the branding proposal twice - once to include the New Orleans region, and again to include all of Louisiana - in hopes of securing ...
Guilt of the innocents
Mar 10, 2009; ... Emma Chammah, a young professional in Baton Rouge, went to her financial adviser at the Stanford Group - which already was in control of her 401[k] - when deciding what to do with her savings. She'd been told it was unsafe to keep $10,000 just sitting in her checking account and to invest ...
Golden oldies
Mar 10, 2009; ... A giant tortoise might smirk, but living to see 100 is a big deal for humans and the businesses they create - otherwise we'd have more of them. Centenarian-grade longevity obviously is rare. Genetics are key: A family can keep a business alive that long and longer, or tear it apart. If a ...
Much ado about TARP
Mar 10, 2009; ... MidSouth Bank President Rusty Cloutier is frustrated. As soon as the Lafayette-based bank received $20 million from the Troubled Assets Relief Program, Cloutier held 14 meetings in the bank's footprint to let customers know it was making loans despite the credit crunch. But ...
Completing the streets
Mar 10, 2009; ... Architect Buddy Ragland lives on Longwood Drive in Mid City, near Webb Park. His street, one of the first developed in the area, has a sidewalk, but many of his neighbors aren't so lucky. "You go in any direction away from me, and everybody's walking in the road," he says. "It's clear ...
Stand by your man
Mar 10, 2009; ... What Democratic lawmakers describe as a hidebound decision by Gov. Bobby Jindal is viewed by business interests as smart policy. To be sure, when it comes to Jindal's decision to refuse part of the massive stimulus package being offered up by the feds, the high-profile Republican has his critics ...
The Stanford effect
Mar 10, 2009; ... Pete Bush, co-founder of Horizon Wealth Management, is telling staff members to prepare for two years' worth of new business in the next three to six months as the frozen assets of former Stanford Group clients are unfrozen. "The first couple phone calls I got, they were in a little bit ...
The gospel according to PAUL
Mar 10, 2009; ... They started gathering for breakfast around 7:30. School board members. The local superintendent. A couple of state legislators. Many a community leader. Benedict's Restaurant in Mandeville was serving eggs, ham, biscuits, sliced fruit and orange juice. They shook hands, chatted casually ...
Takeover makeover
Jan 27, 2009; ... Eight out of 12. That's how many East Baton Rouge Parish public schools the State Department of Education will take over vs. the number eligible according to state accountability standards. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, following Superintendent Paul Pastorek's ...
ENTREPRENEUR: Darryl Johnson
Jan 27, 2009; ... POSITION: CEO COMPANIES: D'Jon's The Place, Socially Yours Inc., Taylor Made Gourmet Food REVENUE: More than $1 million NEXT GOAL: Mobile chef service, packaged foods What better way to test whether Baton Rouge is really "recession-proof" - as BusinessWeek has ...
'A good pick'
Jan 27, 2009; ... Public education activists tend to split up into two camps: the tough-love accountability crowd, and the researchers and educators who argue high-stakes testing, charter schools and vouchers threaten to undermine the schools that need the most help. Arne Duncan, President Obama's choice for ...
10 questions with Astrid Merget
Jan 27, 2009; ... Astrid Merget came to LSU with a hunch the university had a secret - its accomplishments. Now with one and a half years' experience as executive vice chancellor and provost, Merget is determined to stay the course on spreading the word about the university even with a challenging year ...
Construction zone
Jan 27, 2009; ... Baton Rouge is no longer in the GO Zone. Or is it? The Gulf Opportunity Zone is a catch-all term for a package of federal economic incentives approved after hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma in 2005. In Louisiana, rules and deadlines varied, depending on how hard your parish was hit ....