Vol. 7, January, 2009 In this issue: Economic Development News | Around the Region Cool Polls A recent poll from MSN.com named New Orleans one of the "Top 15 Coolest Cities" in the country. Forbes named our region the #18 "most wired" in the nation (ironically, due to our high number of wireless hot spots). Manpower, Inc. ranked the Greater New Orleans region as the #6 place in the country for job growth. And Money magazine gave us a similar high ranking for our housing market. State-wide, recent polls have bumped us - importantly - from #46 to #5 in ethics, and named us in the top quarter in the U.S. for business conditions, and Forbes, again, named Louisiana as #17 in America for growth prospects. But not all of the polls are so cool. A BusinessWeek poll ranked the GNO region as the #3 place workers would least like to relocate to. And an infamous and disturbing CNN.com poll gave New Orleans the worst crime ranking in the country. Statewide, we dropped from #49 to #50 in health, and education, while improving, is still ranked below average. People say you can't believe the polls, but nonetheless they are powerful (and at least directionally true). From executives making business location decisions, to parents deciding where to send their kids to college, rankings drive perception, and perception drives decisions. Our job going forward is to accentuate the positive - by continuing to create the best business climate and opportunity in the country, and ensuring people know about it - and eliminate the negative - by aggressively addressing challenges, and equally importantly, correcting false perceptions. If we do this, then one day we might top the Kiplinger poll of "Best Places to Live, Work and Play." 2008 winner: arguably our biggest competition, Houston. Economic Development News GNO, Inc. unveils non-conventional energy plan worth potential $25B Full story... GNO, Inc. intensifies focus on digital media industry with the DMA Full story... New Orleans a player in video game industry Full story... Lower Garden District warehouse being converted into film studio Full story... New web site is luring start-up businesses to New Orleans Full story... Louis Armstrong close to landing deal for AeroMexico service Full story... Still waiting for the recession in New Orleans Full story... New Orleans economy insulated from national downturn with rebuilding effort Full story... New Orleans region job market is hiring Full story... New Orleans MSA job market expected to be among strongest in nation Full story... Back to Top Around the Region Announcements and Events North Shore: Colleges expand offerings to meet work force demands Full story... St. Tammany: Northrop Grumman to start building new Slidell facility Full story... St. Tammany: Development District issues $141M in bonds in 2008 Full story... Orleans: $411M in recovery budget Full story... LED: Selected Economic Highlights in 2008 Full story... LTC Report: New Orleans area has more than 37,000 tech workers Full story... UNO Report: N.O.-area job growth bucks national trend Full story... Forbes.com: America's Most Wired City Full story... New Orleans named 'Best Domestic Business City' Full story... The Feast: Social Innovation Conference February 6 Full story... Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning February 17 Full story... Do you have news or events that you would like to share in our upcoming editions? Let us know... Back to Top Jefferson Orleans Plaquemines St. Bernard St. Charles St. James St. John the Baptist St. Tammany Tangipahoa Washington 365 Canal Street, Suite 2300, New Orleans, LA 70130 Phone: 504.527.6900 Fax: 504.527.6970 www.gnoinc.org If you would like to start receiving our Region Report emails, click here To unsubscribe, click here