NEW ORLEANS - Dozens of South Louisiana middle and high school students eager to learn about careers in the maritime industry enjoyed a cool, windy autumn day on the mighty Mississippi River in St. Bernard Parish at the first-of-its-kind Maritime Field Trip in early November. 

The daylong field trip was organized and coordinated by a group of maritime industry partners and featured Crescent River Port Pilots. The educational trip taught the students the importance of river safety and the dramatic impact mariners have on insuring the secure and timely flow of America’s supply chain with consumers’ much-needed cargo and commodities arriving and departing one of the longest and most treacherous waterways in the world. 

A total of 47 students, aged 10-16 years old, came from the New Orleans Metro area as well as from around Southeast Louisiana including Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Franklin, New Iberia, Zachary and Port Allen. 

The prospective future mariners learned about the various maritime careers, tying nautical knots to secure docking ships on the riverfront, climbing lessons to simulate pilots who use challenging rope ladders to access large vessels in the middle of the river and tossing life preservers as part of their safety training. 

“Getting young people interested in maritime careers now not only benefits the students and expands their knowledge of our challenging industry, but it will significantly assist our riverfront partners in future job recruiting efforts as we search for new, bright and aspiring mariners,” said Crescent River Port Pilots Association (CRPPA) Captain Roy Vance, who organized the daylong martime educational event. 

The highlight of the Saturday Maritime Field Trip was a river tour from the Associated Terminal dock in St. Bernard where the students boarded crew boats in which they experienced real life adventures in the challenging currents of the Mississippi River. 

“Providing a hands-on experience on the river for students considering a future in the maritime industry is the best way for them to learn the real challenges on the water and the importance that the industry and our river have on not only our local communities but on the global economy as well,” St. Bernard Port Board Member Captain Jeanne Ferrer said. 

This first ever Maritime Field Trip, which was open to all interested students in Southeast Louisiana, was made possible by a partnership with the Crescent River Port Pilots Association (CRPAA), the New Orleans-Baton Rouge Steamship Pilot Association (NOBRA), the St. Bernard Port Harbor and Terminal District and Associated Terminal. Organizers say the maritime field trip was such a success that they are planning another similar event for the near future.

Southeast Louisiana middle and high school students aspiring to learn more about the local maritime industry tour the docks and terminals along the Mississippi River in St. Bernard Parish as part of the first-ever Maritime Field Trip organized by local river pilots, the St. Bernard Dock Board and Associated Terminals.

Responses will be received until the close of business, Friday, January 24, 2022. 

Questions pertaining to the bid evaluation process or contract issues should be directed to [email protected].

NEW ORLEANS — The City of New Orleans today announced the extended deadline for 2022 property tax payments due to the significant number of damaged properties as a result of Hurricane Ida. The 2022 Property Tax Bills will be available on or by Feb. 1, 2022. Homeowners have until Feb. 28, 2022 to submit tax bill payments.

To better serve taxpayers, public libraries throughout the city will be stationed as quick-serve drop-off locations. The following locations will serve as drop-off locations on

City of New Orleans employees will be available at each drop-off location to receive sealed envelopes containing no more than three property tax stubs and payments. Cash will not be accepted, and receipts will not be provided.

NEW ORLEANS (December 16, 2021) – Prominent national tourism executive and long-time leader of New Orleans’ largest private industry, J. Stephen Perry, President and CEO of New Orleans & Company since 2002, has announced his retirement from public and private service effective December 31, 2022. Today, the private membership and trade organization’s Board of Directors voted on a succession plan that appoints Walter “Walt” J. Leger III, attorney, former state legislator and New Orleans & Company’s EVP/General Counsel as President-Elect and Perry’s successor effective January 1, 2023.

New Orleans & Company is the tourism and hospitality industry’s official destination sales, marketing and trade organization, responsible for driving over $10 billion of annual business to the regional cultural economy and attracting leisure and cultural travel, business meetings, conventions, weddings, festivals, sporting, and special events to New Orleans in a highly competitive global environment. It has 1,100 dues-paying members.

Perry took the helm of New Orleans & Company, formerly known as the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB), in August 2002 when the travel industry was still reeling from the 9/11 terror attacks. He led the city’s most important industry through unprecedented crises such as Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil spill, Hurricane Ida and the current COVID pandemic. Perry led the renaming and rebranding of the CVB to New Orleans & Company and created and implemented a unique private sector funding model that is envied among his peers.

However, Perry’s contributions to New Orleans’ cultural economy date back to 1996 when he began service as Chief of Staff to the late Governor Mike Foster for almost seven years, thought to be the longest serving chief of staff in Louisiana history. In that role, Perry was the primary driver of Louisiana’s 2001 negotiations for the financial stability and long-term retention of the New Orleans Saints which proved critical during the Katrina recovery. Perry also was the lead negotiator for the state on the recruitment and relocation of the Charlotte Hornets to become the New Orleans Hornets, now the Pelicans. He played an instrumental role in the building efforts of the Smoothie King Center, phase three of the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), and the PGA Tournament Players Club, home to the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic. Perry was highly regarded as the state’s leading higher education advocate during his tenure, as the Foster administration allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to higher education funding, buildings and infrastructure.

Governor Foster and his senior team led by Perry fought for and passed strong accountability reform, high stakes testing in schools, significant tort reform for business, the TOPs program providing free college tuition for a broad swath of Louisiana high school students, large pay raises for school teachers and university professors, and created the state’s first Community and Technical College system.

Perry was also a key part of the small working group charged with bringing Harrah’s out of bankruptcy, getting the building built and creating an operational statutory working model so the state’s only land-based casino could open and prosper.

While at New Orleans & Company, Perry advocated for New Orleans on the national stage:

Over the course of his career, Perry has served on the boards of the Audubon Nature Institute, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and served for over a decade on the Board of Supervisors of LSU including a term as board chairman. He co-chaired the searches resulting in the hiring of Coach Ed Orgeron in football and Will Wade in basketball. Perry was frequently teased in business circles for his eclectic academic background in Russian and French area studies, languages, literature, and philosophy, his master’s degree from LSU in anthropology and his early years as a professional archaeologist.

“I have had a lifelong love affair with the city of New Orleans,” said Stephen Perry. “The entirety of my professional life has focused on my love of higher education and my love of the culture of New Orleans. Fortunately, the governor gave me his full blessing on leading massive investments in the New Orleans cultural economy and in the difficult negotiations to earn our place as the smallest city in America to have two major sports franchises. Louisiana is my heart, but New Orleans is my soul. Leading New Orleans & Company for two decades was the greatest honor and privilege ever and I can never thank my colleagues, industry and board enough for the thrill and honor of being their partner for so many years.”

David Bilbe, New Orleans & Company’s 2021 Chairman and General Manager of the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel, said, “Many people think tourism dollars just happen, but it actually must be fought for and earned, and that is the role of New Orleans & Company. Under Stephen’s leadership, the city achieved record-breaking visitor levels, won Super Bowl, Final Four and NBA All Star games bids, created tens of thousands of jobs and careers in hospitality, secured critical recovery investments and won multiple national and international awards.”

Bilbe continued, “We salute Stephen and have every confidence that Walt will continue and build upon the extraordinary efforts of Stephen. The future for our cultural economy is very bright with Walt’s future leadership.”

Stan Harris, President and CEO of the Louisiana Restaurant Association and 2022 Chairman of New Orleans & Company added, “Walt is a New Orleanian through and through, he has worked closely with Stephen and been completely integrated in all aspects of the company’s sales, marketing, advocacy, budgeting, and crisis management for the past two years. The Board believes Walt’s knowledge of government, business, and our culture and his innate ability to meet people where they are makes him an outstanding selection and wellsituated to represent our industry to decision makers across the nation and the world.

His leadership throughout the pandemic has been essential to supporting our sales and marketing efforts as we have collaborated with customers to re-negotiate bookings and develop strategies to safely move forward with their planned events. Walt is uniquely qualified to take the reins at this crucial time. The board feels confident in moving forward with our succession plan to ensure stability as we emerge from such a challenging time.”

Roger Dow, President of the U.S. Travel Association said, “Stephen Perry was one of the elite, highly innovative DMO (destination marketing organization) presidents in America. He helped originate and build many of our national initiatives like advocacy, PAC work, our Meetings Mean Business coalition and international tourism growth and created a national model funding structure for DMOs. He was a deeply respected national voice and a credit to New Orleans. I and my team have had the tremendous pleasure of working with Walt Leger over the past two years and applaud his selection as Steve’s successor ... a home run for New Orleans. Walt is one of the smartest, most polished new figures on the national tourism scene in years and has an unlimited future.”

Walt Leger added, “I am honored by the confidence the Board has placed in me and I salute Stephen’s singular achievements that have led to record breaking success over the past two decades. Only through innovation, creativity and a steadfast commitment to our members and the people of New Orleans can we hope to build upon the many successes our city has seen over the years. I look forward to the challenges that lay ahead, and I pledge that no destination anywhere will out work our team at New Orleans & Company to ensure that New Orleans remains a world-class destination with a thriving cultural economy and an improving quality of life for our residents.”

Prior to joining New Orleans & Company in 2019, Walt practiced law for 16 years … first as an assistant district attorney in New Orleans and then for 13 years at the law firm of Leger and Shaw as an admiralty and maritime lawyer and civil litigator. Walt also served as Louisiana’s youngest ever Speaker Pro Tempore of the Louisiana House of Representatives. There he represented New Orleans’ District 91, which includes Central City, Uptown, the Lower Garden District, the Irish Channel, parts of Broadmoor, Gert Town, and Hollygrove, from 2008-2020.

Walt was raised in St. Bernard Parish, where his parents instilled in him the spirit of public service and civic engagement from an early age. He took this spirit with him as he graduated with honors from Jesuit High School and then Louisiana State University. He graduated from Tulane Law School and served as an Assistant District Attorney in New Orleans, specializing in the felony prosecution of violent offenders and narcotics traffickers. Motivated by the desire to serve his community after hurricane Katrina and by a desire to improve the criminal justice system, he once again felt the calling for public service.

Walt was first elected to the Legislature in the fall of 2007 and re-elected without opposition in 2011 and 2015. He was unanimously chosen by his colleagues to serve as the Speaker Pro Tempore of the Louisiana House of Representatives in 2012 and again in 2016, the youngest member to ever hold this position. Walt served 12 years in the house before leaving due to term limits in 2020. During his legislative career, Walt passed over one hundred (100) pieces of legislation and was one of the most prolific and successful members of his generation.

During his legislative career, Walt was named a legislative champion over forty (40) times highlighting his broad agenda to promote educational opportunities for children, reform the criminal justice system, support victims of crime, achieve tax and fiscal reform, improve connectivity and transportation, support economic development, promote affordable housing, and protect and restore our coastline.

Walt’s groundbreaking legislative successes include the creation of the Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund, the Louisiana Early Childhood Education Fund, and the Criminal Justice Reinvestment Program. Walt is committed to making New Orleans and Louisiana a better place to live, especially as he and his wife, Danielle, raise their young daughters, Cate and Caroline.

New York, NY (December 15, 2021)—Essence Communications, Inc., the leading media, technology and commerce company dedicated to serving Black women and communities, today announced the full return of the ESSENCE Festival of Culture to New Orleans from June 30 – July 3, 2022.

After pivoting to a virtual experience in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, the ESSENCE Festival will host a fully live gathering for the first time in two years, celebrating the culture and resilience of the Black community with the theme “It’s the Black Joy for Me!” In addition, with its strong digital performance – including a 65% increase in Festival content streams from 2020 (45 million) to 2021 (70+ million), the ESSENCE Festival of Culture will build on the global audience gained via its virtual programming to continue to deliver a comprehensive and engaging digital experience to attendees both live and around the world.

“The reimagining of the 2022 ESSENCE Festival of Culture in New Orleans as a phygital – fully physical and fully digital – experience will be epic,” said Caroline Wanga, CEO, Essence Communications, Inc. “Given what we have collectively experienced over the last two years, the opportunity to convene and uplift in the spirit of culture, equity, celebration – and joy – is more of a privilege and honor than it has ever been. We look forward to our homecoming in the City of New Orleans and to strengthening our impact as a cornerstone of Black culture, entrepreneurship and economic inclusion – working always to serve Black women and communities deeply.”

The unparalleled live experience will include almost one million square feet of space for empowerment programming (networking, finance, career, wellness, fashion, beauty and more) at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, nightly concerts at Caesars Superdome and other entertaining and inspirational activations in venues across the city. The Festival’s robust digital programming will include live streaming of select on-the-ground activities in New Orleans, as well as new and exclusive digital content and experiences created for the live and virtual audiences.

“We are elated to announce the return of the ESSENCE Festival to New Orleans in the Summer of 2022,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell. “ESSENCE brings so much to our city and our economy, and I can’t wait to see what this year has to offer. The City of New Orleans and the ESSENCE Festival are inextricably linked through our remarkable history and our steadfast focus on and commitment to culture, community, and economic inclusion. We look forward to continuing this partnership to create an even deeper legacy of impact and inclusion for our city and for all who will join us in July to make this experience the best yet.”

Launched in 1995 as an event to commemorate the 25th anniversary of ESSENCE magazine, the ESSENCE Festival of Culture has since evolved into the world’s largest celebration of Black women, culture and communities. Regularly convening more than 530,000 people annually over July 4th weekend in New Orleans, the ESSENCE Festival of Culture is now also the nation’s largest festival by per day attendance.

Additional details regarding the 2022 ESSENCE Festival of Culture – including ticketing, schedules, talent line-up, COVID protocols (based on recommended guidance from Public Health Agencies and the City of New Orleans), and more – will be released in January 2022. Visit www.essencefestival.com for the latest information.

Essence Communications is the number one—and only 100% Black-owned—media, technology and commerce company at scale dedicated to Black women and communities. With a community of more than 31 million Black women, ESSENCE inspires a global audience through diverse storytelling and immersive original content rooted in Culture, Equity and Celebration. The brand's multi-platform presence in/ publishing, experiential and online encompasses its namesake magazine; digital, video and social platforms; television specials; books; and signature live events, including Black Women in Music, Black Women in Hollywood, Street Style and the ESSENCE Festival of Culture.

EXCELLENCE     INNOVATION     RESPONSIVENESS 

Metro Service Group, located in New Orleans, Louisiana is a multi-faceted corporation with specific expertise and certifications in the areas of Environmental Services, Construction/Demolition and Disaster Response and Recovery. Metro Service Group is a licensed Contractor, certified in Building Construction; Heavy Construction; Highway, Street and Bridge Construction; Municipal and Public Works Construction and Solid Waste Management.

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