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Riegel: The start of something good
In March 2016, Dave Treppendahl made a major bet on north Baton Rouge, when he acquired the dilapidated Hawthorne Heights Apartments at 2136 N....
Riegel: Discouraging investment in our community
Between the state’s unpredictable and ever-changing tax climate, transportation infrastructure problems, troubled schools and skilled worker shortage, it’s hard enough attracting business, industry and...
Riegel: An arcane ruling with potentially big implications for affordable housing
A recent ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans could have negative implications for the development of quality affordable housing...
Riegel: An opportunity for leadership
There are those who expected the sky would fall on the day the U.S. Justice Department announced its decision not to prosecute two Baton...
Riegel: How Louisiana lost a $10 billion plant
It wasn’t easy for Tommy Kurtz to leave Louisiana. The former Louisiana Economic Development executive grew up in New Orleans—a Jesuit High School Blue...
Riegel: EBR Council on Aging needs more oversight
Supporters of the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging will tell you their organization and its embattled executive director, Tasha Clark-Amar, have been unfairly...
Riegel: The dirty fight over a flood recovery contract
When a contract worth somewhere between $250 million and $350 million is up for grabs, you have to know it’s not going to go...
Riegel: Question marks during a period of transition
On March 15, more than three months after her election, Mayor Sharon Weston Broome’s transition team leaders were scheduled at last to release the...
Riegel: The futility of community dialogue
Baton Rouge will soon face what, inevitably, will become a pivotal moment in its history. That moment might come a week from now. It...
Riegel: The multimillion-dollar question facing Baton Rouge’s most ambitious plans
It’s been nearly a year since a study on the feasibility of building a new Baton Rouge Zoo put the estimated cost at $110...
Riegel: The face of Syrian refugees in Baton Rouge
I recently had the pleasure of meeting a new family that has relocated to Baton Rouge. They don’t have a lot of money and...
Riegel: Jindal-era economic deal doesn’t live up to billing
When Louisiana Economic Development was trying to woo GE Capital to Louisiana in 2013 to open a technology center in downtown New Orleans, it...
Stephanie Riegel: The daily dilemma of working mothers
Has the productivity of the working mothers in your office dropped off over the last couple of weeks? I know mine has.
Here’s the problem:...
Stephanie Riegel: Deconstructing Holden’s latest bond issue fiasco
On Jan. 14, the Metro Council voted 8-4 against putting Mayor Kip Holden’s $335 million package of proposed public safety construction projects, including a...
Stephanie Riegel: The challenges of reorganizing DPW
In the category of being careful what you wish for could go the pending reorganization of the Department of Public Works. City-parish leaders and...
Rolfe McCollister: TOPS is a good thing for Louisiana
Walter Kimbrough, president of Dillard University, a historically black university in New Orleans, penned a column in The Advocate recently that was another attack...
Stephanie Riegel: A look back at a busy year
As a writer, year-end retrospectives always strike me as a bit self-indulgent. Still, it’s hard not to look back at the local events that...
Stephanie Riegel: Common Core and the politics of extremism
When I began my reporting career in the late 1980s there still existed a shred of rationality in political debate and even occasional moments...
Rolfe McCollister: La. makes biggest leap in ‘Forbes’ rankings
Forbes magazine has released its new rankings for “Best States for Business,” and Louisiana is moving up and looking good.
“The biggest gainer this year...
Stephanie Riegel: The Drafthouse dilemma
Tommy Spinosa’s announcement that he has landed the hipster movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse as anchor tenant of Rouzan’s Village Center was couched in...
