Greater New Orleans Inc. digs into repairing 'front door' for NASA's

New Orleans CityBusiness, Jun 30, 2008 by Jaime Guillet

The road to NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility is a bumpy one, something the agency's top brass understands only too well.

On a blistering August afternoon last year, Sheila Cloud, NASA's transition director for moving Michoud out of the Space Shuttle program and into the agency's Constellation Program, and a colleague blew out a tire on one of the many potholes leading to the aerospace and defense center. Cloud and her visitor spent two hours changing the shredded tire in the New Orleans heat.

That wasn't Cloud's first time noticing the poor infrastructure surrounding Michoud.

"One of my jobs is to attract users (of Michoud) for the future and to keep businesses here for more commercial work," Cloud said. "I started thinking how it's going to look to potential customers ... to see not very well-kept and uplifting surroundings."

The regional economic development alliance Greater New Orleans Inc., with the assistance of the Louisiana Recovery Authority and the city's Public Works Department, is spearheading a $10-million initiative to improve and beautify the road leading to Michoud.

The initiative focuses on redirecting traffic from Michoud's current "front door," or main road, on Michoud Boulevard to Almonaster/Old Gentilly Road with signs, road resurfacing, new lighting, drainage improvements and landscaping, said Howard Daigle, chairman of GNO Inc.'s Advanced Aerospace and Defense Manufacturing sector and head of the Michoud task force.

"It's common sense that to encourage economic development we have to have a welcoming site," Daigle said.

Officials from the city's Office of Recovery and Development Administration and the Regional Planning Commission understand this, too, which is why these agencies also are providing manpower and funding for the project, he said.

"We are committed to projects that make a difference for the community and quality of life improvements," said Walter Brooks, executive director of the RPC. "Michoud is one of the economic engines coming online and offers (New Orleans) future direction."

GNO Inc.'s project is a short-term rehabilitation because "there are several issues" surrounding the Michoud facility particularly with drainage and runoff, said Robert Mendoza, the city's Public Works director. In the past year, Public Works has replaced some cracked concrete panels, maintained weeds and bushes, and moved drainage obstructions from the ditches. Serious drainage improvements will be necessary, though, to have more businesses in that area of eastern New Orleans, he said.

Belinda Little-Wood, ORDA's executive director, said the city is looking into the possibility of retention ponds and subsurface drainage.

"There is consensus the area is going to have long-term issues but in the short term (the task force) is doing some good," Mendoza said.

Work through the initiative will include repaving, subsurface road repairs, smoothing of railroad crossings and replacement of potentially 30 percent of the concrete panels

Daigle said planning for the rehabilitation is "all but complete" as are sources of funding, the bulk of which probably will come from community development block grants passed down from the LRA.

"We're trying to leverage dollars from more than one source," Little-Wood said. "Some could come from CDBG for recovery, some from (the Federal Emergency Management Administration's) Hazard Mitigation for flooding and some from Economic Development."

Daigle said he expects to "have the full amount committed in the next 30 days" and should "expect to see the project completed in the next nine to 10 months," although the project "could move faster than that."

Cloud said this is great news and NASA officials "certainly appreciate" what the task force is doing. It is important for all the businesses in that area.

"What is interesting about this area and Old Gentilly Road is it serves not just NASA but also Textron, Folgers and others," Cloud said. "I think it's about 10,000 people who travel over those roads every day. That's lots of jobs and lots of economic impact."

As for Cloud's pothole, she said it has been repaired.