May 13, 2014 – Meet with Brian Furness regarding Short Term Rentals. In attendance were Meg Lousteau and Carol Allen, VCPORA and Susan Guillot. Meg reported that she had met with Miles Swanson, President of FMIA, regarding STR. (The previous day, Sunday, May 12, 2014, FMIA hosted a home tour and featured many legal STR locations.) Brian reported that there are many who complain about STR’s but few will work towards documenting the actions of those who are breaking the law. Meg and Miles have set a date of Tuesday, May 20th for an “informational meeting” to be held at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. This is NOT a rally or a call to action. There will be media present. CM Stacy Head has been invited as well as Andy Kopplan. Meg suggested that it would be best to dissolve the joint chairs from FQC & VCPORA to spearhead this group and reach out to the entire city for support. Targeted areas are the Marigny, Algiers, and the Garden District initially. Brian also mentioned that members of PAI,Inc. (Professional Association of Innkeepers, Inc.) might also provide volunteers. Mavis Early, Executive Director of The Greater New Orleans Hotel and Lodging Association and Mark Romig, President & CEO of the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation might also offer some assistance since this affects their “bottom line”.
At the recent Morrison Lecture, Pratt Cassidy reported that there are over 600 illegal STR’s in operation in New Orleans, denying the City of approximately $1M in unpaid taxes. It was discussed that we could possibly solicit insurance agencies to donate money to do a study. The insurance industry is one that continually has to pay claims on these locations which are reported as “homeowners” when the location is being used commercially, which is fraudulent. Louis Faust who works with Southwestern Insurance Agency was mentioned as a possible contact.
May 15, 2014 – Went to the Riverview Room to sign the contract for Friday, November 7, 2014. Rodney Villarreal and Cathy Espenan and I met with Mary Quarls, Event Coordinator. (Contract attached to my file should you wish to review it.) FQC gave a deposit / Balance due on October 31, 2014 – one week ahead. This covers 200 guests. We can go to 249. We reserved the room from 7:30 – 11:30pm. (We might need to change our times, but Mary is very flexible.) are leaning towards “heavy hors d’oeuvres” now instead of seated dinners. They can accommodate 300 seated, but it would be crowded. Ticket price will be $175 per person.
Friday, May 16, 2014 – Met with Carol Allen, Meg Lousteau, VCPORA; Carol Greve and CoCo Garrett, FQC to prepare for our upcoming meeting with Robert Watters and Kim Rosenberg. We wanted to discuss the concerns expressed by FQC & VCPORA which resulted in both organizations “suspending their participation” in FQMD. It was decided that as a founding member of FQMD, Carol Greve would initiate the conversation with Robert & Kim by asking what has happened to FQMD that has caused it to go from a very homogeneous group to one with so much contention.
Monday, May 19, 2014 – Met with Kim Rosenberg and Robert Watters of FQMD. Carol Allen, Meg Lousteau, Brian Wiggins, Susan Guillot, Carol Greve and CoCo Garrett attended. Carol Greve began the conversation by asking about “how things have changed” and basically Kim said she didn’t think they had. We went on to list our concerns including:
- Absence of Bylaws – therefore there is no structure to follow and it is strictly at the whim of the “chair” as to how things proceed.
o There is no appeals process for issues that need are not universally accepted - Members treat others with great disrespect and have resorted to name calling and insults in some cases. This is totally unacceptable to us. We must maintain civility and professionalism in all instances.
- Lack of process for adding/renaming groups, i.e. the name change of BBA in the Enabling Legislation to French Quarter Business League was not properly done and there was no notice given to any commissioner prior to petitioning the legislature for the change. While we didn’t object to a group changing their name, BBA actually disbanded and FQBL is a new organization and therefore needed to be vetted by the entire commission. Robert told us that “BBA had been defunct for quite some time and that FQBL is a new group comprised of 16 members that represent 65 businesses on Bourbon Street.” Because of this we referred them to the process that took place when FMIA pulled out of FQMD and new groups were soliciting the vacant seat.
- Attendance policy not adhered to
- Voting at committee meetings doesn’t follow best practice guidelines
- Rotation of leadership
- Lack of Committee Meeting minutes
- Committee Appointees – Term limits, attendance and geographic requirement
- Untimely release of documents to review prior to Board meetings
We mentioned that because each commissioner on the FQMD Board is an appointee of their representative organization and does not represent that group, it is unclear how FQMD can represent that they are “the voice of the French Quarter”. The only two groups that vet any of the issues with their Boards are the residential groups, i.e. FQC & VCPORA.
At the end of the meeting, Robert passed out a copy of an email sent to him by Stuart Smith “demanding that Robert resign from FQMD or Stuart would expose information about him.” Robert’s comment to us was, “How can you associate with someone like this?” We responded that we were not going to discuss Stuart Smith and that he is one of several attorneys that we work with.”
Robert and Kim agreed to work on developing Bylaws and said they would review the other issues we discussed; most of which could be addressed by proper Bylaws. They said that they would bring up our concerns at the next FQMD meeting, June 2, 2014.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014 – VCPORA & FMIA Co-Sponsored “an informational session” on Illegal Short Term Rentals at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. Over 100 people attended. Meg Lousteau, Executive Director VCPORA and Miles Swanson, President of FMIA chaired the event. Freddie King of Cm. Nadine Ramsey’s office was also in attendance. After a review of STR’s on Airbnb and VRBO, there are a reported 678 illegal units available in the New Orleans area. According to www.nola.gov/short-term-rentals:
Short Term Rentals
The City of New Orleans is committed to providing the best possible experience for all visitors and residents in New Orleans. We offer opportunities for visitors to stay in locations across the city, which range from modern hotels to historic bed and breakfasts. These rentals are collectively defined as Short Term Rentals, which cover any location renting rooms for 60 days or less in the French Quarter, or 30 days or less outside of the French Quarter. Short Term Rentals include:
- Bed and Breakfast Family Home – any establishment having no more than two (2) sleeping rooms.
- Bed and Breakfast Guest Home – any establishment having three (3) to five (5) sleeping rooms.
- Bed and Breakfast Historic Home – any establishment with up to five (5) sleeping rooms and can be approved for up to nine (9) sleeping rooms by the City Council.
- Bed and Breakfast Inn – any establishment having six (6) to nine (9) sleeping rooms.
- Hotel or Motel – a building containing one or more individual sleeping rooms or suites having each a private bath attached thereto, and rented to a person or persons for the purpose of providing overnight lodging facilities to the general public for compensation with or without meals.
Rules and Regulations
New Orleans residents wishing to rent out an apartment or room must apply for the correct permits, and where applicable, pay the correct sales and hotel occupancy taxes.
- For more information on required permits and licenses, see the Bed & Breakfast License information page.
- For more information on City of New Orleans tax codes for hotels/motels, see New Orleans City Code .
It should also be noted that “legal” B&B’s have an “on site” person who lives at the location. Possible remedies to the abuses would be:
- Talk to the renter.
- Contact the mortgage company who holds the mortgage for the location. To determine if there is a mortgage, go to www.nolaassessor.com or call 504.407.0091.
- Report them to the Insurance Commissioner. It is illegal to rent out rooms without having “commercial coverage”. These people probably only carry “residential” coverage since they are not reporting their additional income.
- Report illegal activity to the City – Ed Horan, Zoning Administrator with Safety & Permits, ejhoran@nola.gov . 504.658.7125. (It is a zoning issue to run an illegal STR. The law allows for 1 legal STR per block.
A follow-up meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 11th at 6:00pm (location TBA) and will be soliciting participation by those willing to take an active role in working on this problem.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014 – BGR (Bureau of Governmental Research) hosted a breakfast meeting at the Westin Canal Place to discuss Events Redeveloping the Riverfront. Carol Allen and I attended. Guest speakers were: Gary LaGrange, President & CEO, Port of New Orleans, Melvin Rodrigue, President Ernest N. Morial New Orleans Exhibition Hall Authority, and Jon Smith, Executive Director, French Market Corporation. For more information go to: http://www.bgr.org/events/redeveloping-the-riverfront/. This was mostly a PR thing to discuss what they are doing. The best news came from Jon Smith about the Farmers Market coming to the French Market.
On the same day, I received this email regarding the VCC Appointees from the Louisiana State Museum. The Museum can submit 2 names to the Mayor to replace Dr. Lupin. They are being contacted by many with recommendations. The Mayor will select one of the two.
Sec. 166-31. Created; appointment; terms; vacancies.
(a) Established. There is hereby created a commission to be known as the Vieux Carre Commission of the city.
(b) Recommendation and appointment of members. The Vieux Carre Commission shall consist of nine members, all of whom shall be citizens of the city. They shall be appointed by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council. The members of the commission shall be appointed by the mayor as follows: one from a list of two persons recommended by the Louisiana Historical Society; one from a list of two persons recommended by the Louisiana State Museum Board; one from a list of two persons recommended by the chamber of commerce of the city; three qualified architects from a list of six qualified architects recommended by the New Orleans Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and three at large.
(c) Term; vacancies. Each of the members of the Vieux Carre Commission shall be appointed for a term of four years. Whenever the term of a member of the commission expires the mayor shall appoint his successor from a list selected by the body which made the original selection from which the vacancy has occurred.
(Code 1956, §§ 65-1–65-3)
May 22, 2014 – Ads for an Executive Director went out and to date, June 5, 2014 we have received 10 applications. I need to expand our notices, so if others have recommendations on who to contact to run our ad, please let me know.
Saturday, May 24, 2014 – Met with Carol Greve to discuss the proposed “Orientation” to be held for the newly elected councilmembers, including Nadine Ramsey, Jason Williams and Jared Brossett. This was done with the former council and proved to be successful. The date needs to be set to do this and Carol G. and I are thinking September would allow us more time to get it organized. We will confer with VCPORA and report back.
Monday, May 26, 2014 (Memorial Day) – Chris Young, attorney/lobbyist for the former BBA and now FQBL asked Carol Allen and me to participate in a conference call re the upcoming HB1013 which was to propose the name change and automatic inclusion of the FQBL into the FQMD. We spoke for 30 minutes and though he admitted that FQBL was a new group, since it was primarily comprised of the same people, he asked that we not oppose it. We told him that we had no problem with Robert Watters continuing to serve as the representative for either group, but that the process they were following didn’t follow what had been done for others. HB 1013 was passed on Wednesday, May 28, 2014 in spite of efforts to have it deferred.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014 – VCPORA & FQC cosponsored a reception to welcome Councilmember Nadine Ramsey to District C, but mostly to the French Quarter. It was at my home, 930 Toulouse Street, and over 75 members attended and welcomed Cm. Ramsey. Cm John Gray also attended. The food was catered by Chez Nous and included finger sandwiches, hors d’oeuvres and wine and we enjoyed listening to the sounds of the John Parker Jazz Trio. Cm Ramsey and her staff were very receptive to chatting with everyone and assured us that “her door will always be open to us”.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014 – Carol Allen, Meg Lousteau and I went to Baton Rouge to oppose the amendment to HB 1013 which changed the name of BBL to FQBL in the FQMD enabling legislation. Robert Watters told us that BBL had been defunct for several months and was no longer a functioning group. FQBL is a new group composed of 16 members that represented 65 businesses on Bourbon Street. Our objection was that no notice was given to the FQMD Board and there was no vetting process of the “new” group. Later we learned it is the Alex Fine of The Court of Two Sisters. Despite our efforts, the bill passed with its amendment. We think that this is a very bad precedent to set and must be dealt with in forthcoming Bylaws.
Monday, June 2, 2014 – Gala Committee Meeting. In attendance: Rodney Villarreal, Chair; Cathy Espenan, Susan and Albin Guillot, René Fransen, Maddie Jorgensen, Sharon Singleton, Danielle Pellegrin, Rebecca Massa and CoCo Garrett. Absent: Gary Wheat and Jennifer Kelly. Rodney designated the committees that he wanted to establish and asked for volunteers to chair them which included:
- Sponsors / Ticket sales – René and Albin, Chairs
o Levels of Sponsorships which include attendance at the Patron Party
• $10,000
• $5,000
• $2,500
• $1,000
• $ 500 - Chefs / Food – Cathy and Amy
o Heavy hors d’oeuvres instead of a seated dinner
o Want to contact:
• John Folse
• Leah Chase
• Stella’s - Band / Entertainment – Rodney
o Twlight Band, Creole String Beans, Louisiana Spice, Boogie Man, The Tangle - Decorations / Logistics – Rodney
- Invitations – Fluffy Hegenberger has agreed to help
o Wants to talk with Ron, a graphic artist, about doing an abstract of a boat similar to the one in Showboat with the bridge in the background. - Auction Items – Cathy and Rodney
o Tiffany’s - Security – The Riverview Room has 1 security guard. Rodney wants a second.
- Patron Party – TBD
- Honoree selection – TBD – suggestions welcome.
- Celebrity co-chair – TBD
- Theme – Showboat
o Dress for dinner at the Captain’s Table
o Black Tie, preferred / Top hats
o Ladies – “costume de riguer” - It was suggested that we should send out a Save the date for this Gala. Sent.
Thursday, June 5, 2014 – After requesting guidance on how to send a donation in memory of Dr. E. Ralph Lupin to the Louisiana State Museum Foundation, I received word from Angelena Jones, Asst. Director & Membership and Events Coordinator to send it to:
Louisiana Museum Foundation
Attn: Susan Maclay
1000 Bourbon Street, #B429
New Orleans LA 70116
The check will go out on the 9th.
Thursday, June 5, 2014 – Short Term Rental Committee Meeting – Brian Furness, Co-chair. In attendance were: Brian, Rob White (joined from FQMD Enforcement Committee), Susan Guillot, Carol Gniady, FMIA Publicity person, Mavis Early, GNOHLA, and CoCo Garrett. Carol Gniady stated that there is a database established for all those who attended the FMIA/VCPORA event recently and she will sent it to us. The Council will vote on June 19th on the new definition of STR, below:
The staff recommends approval of Zoning Docket 046/14 with the following zoning text change. Additions to the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance are shown below as underlined, bold text and deletions are shown in strikethrough text:
Article 2, Section 2.2.188
Transient Vacation Rentals. Rentals of a premises or any portion thereof for dwelling, lodging or sleeping purposes in a dwelling, hotel, motel, timeshare building, motor lodge, boarding and lodging home, trailer, tourist court or tourist home to nonresidents over the course of one (1) or more years, with duration of occupancy of less than sixty (60) consecutive days in the Vieux Carre and less than thirty (30) consecutive days outside the Vieux Carre. Hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, and other land uses explicitly defined and regulated in this ordinance separately from transient vacation rentals are not considered to be transient vacation rentals.
It was recommended that notification to the memberships should alert them to this and ask for letters of support to the councilmembers. Other suggestions made included:
- Rob White cited the recent compromise that Airbnb made with the state of New York regarding their illegal vendors. Rob suggested that we try to contact the NY State Attorney General and see if they can share information with us to facilitate us getting some traction in dealing with Airbnb. (CoCo is going to contact Chad Pellerin with the Attorney General’s office in Louisiana and see if she can guide us.)
- Cm LaToya Cantrell was also recently quoted as a part of a group working against illegal STR, so it was suggested that she be contacted to see if we should join forces. (Brian Furness is going to contact Cm. Cantrell)
- Lastly the Office of Neighborhood Engagement should get involved as this problem covers the entire City.
Friday, June 6, 2014 – Met with Narinder Gupta, who has purchased the building at 519-535 Wilkinson Street between Chartres and Decatur. (This was formerly a warehouse for Jax Brewery.) They are renovating the building into 20 residential units and 7 commercial units. They are seeking an Open Space variance for the placement of condenser units in the alley behind Doris Metropolitan and his building. This meeting is to fulfill the NPP Community Meeting requirement. Meg and I and one other person – Tracy, attended. They propose to place 30 condenser units (10 per row) elevated above the alleyway. They will not be viewable from the street. Side comment: Dr. Gupta is an anesthesiologist and he and his crew are very professional and want to comply with all the VCC rules, etc. They started getting permits on July 22, 2013. They are doing everything to accommodate the 50’ height limit including stopping the elevator on the 3rd floor and making a stairwell to go to the 4th floor. Otherwise the elevator shaft would go beyond the height limit.