As part of our plan to downsize the population of New Orleans, we want to shift the industry away from the Port of New Orleans and towards the Port of South Louisiana. As industry moves away from New Orleans, people will move away to the Port of South Louisiana in search of jobs.

The Port of South Louisiana and the Port of New Orleans are integral to the economy of Louisiana and the United States. The ports are ranked 3^rd and 4^th in trade by port in the world (CRS, 2005, 1). During Hurricane Katrina, Port of New Orleans sustained $164.2 million in total damages (Guillet, 2006, 1). Port of South Louisiana sustained little damage (CRS, 2005, 4). However, both of these ports have rebounded from the disaster. In recent pre-Katrina years, the total trade in the South Louisiana and New Orleans were relatively equal. In 2004, the total trade in South LA, 82,532.4 short tons, actually surpassed that of New Orleans, 72,213.9 short tons (CRS, 2005, 2). This reflects the strength of the Port of South Louisiana which has yet to reach its full potential.

The Port of New Orleans is restricted by amount of available land. (Simultaneously, it will be restricted by the amount of labor as we begin zoning within New Orleans). The Port of New Orleans is surrounded by a developed city and has no more room to expand; whereas, the Port of South Louisiana is surrounded by less urbanized land.  Therefore, the Port of South Louisiana is capability of supporting a larger industry than the Port of New Orleans.

We recognize the importance and the advantage of the Port of New Orleans’ transportation infrastructure. There are currently six class one railroads that run through the Port of New Orleans and connect to all the major railway networks in the United States. New Orleans International Airport is a major site for the transportation of goods that are shipped through the Port of New Orleans and the Port of South Louisiana. 3 Class 1 rail lines support the Port of South Louisiana with 2 on the east bank of the Mississippi River and one on the west bank of the Mississippi River.

We want to utilize this international transportation hub and propose a direct rail line between the Port of South Louisiana and the New Orleans International Airport.

We would like to gradually shift business from Port of New Orleans to Port of South Louisiana, but we understand that corporations already made investments and placed their interest in New Orleans. In order to maximize their investment, we will maintain the current tax incentive for those companies. After 20 years, these incentives will cease. At this point, there will be incentives to build in the Port of South Louisiana (we will discuss this later).

In the Port of New Orleans, we will still maintain the tourism industry. The brand new 37 million dollar Erota Wharf serves as the dock for the cruise ships.

Current federal incentive plans are not aligned with our vision for the future of the Port of South Louisiana. Thus, we propose to remove the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005. The Act provides incentives for existing businesses to return to the respective regions which include all the parishes affected by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Because we want to focus on the growth of the Port of South Louisiana and are encouraging the downsizing of the population of Orleans Parish, this act fails to meet the needs of the New Orleans we envision. The new markets tax credits exist to “create investment into urban and rural low-income areas to help finance community development projects, stimulate economic growth, and create jobs.” (LED, 2006) “Investors in qualified projects can obtain a tax credit of five or six percent of the amount invested for each year the investment is held, for up to seven years of the credit period.” We want to expand the percentage points for the St. James, St. Charles, and St. John the Baptist parishes in order to promote further development of the region around the Port of South Louisiana. The new markets tax credits program allows taxpayers to “receive a credit against federal income taxes for making qualified equity investments in Community Development Entities (CDEs).” “Established by Congress in 2000, the New Markets Tax Credits program was greatly expanded by the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005, which provided amounts equal to $300 million for 2005 and 2006 and $400 million for 2007 among qualified CDEs within the Gulf Opportunity Zone.” (LED, 2006)