Recently, the City of Slidell was honored by being selected as one of 12 communities in the State participating in a new project that offers customized support for economic growth so that we can effectively compete with out-of-state communities for jobs, business development and capital investment.
The committee is looking for key players in Slidell’s business network and citizens to voice their experience and contribute to organizing this program at all levels of excellence. For more information about the Ready Communities Program and what goals we are striving to reach, visit www.LouisianaCommunityNetwork.com for more specifics, or contact the committee co-chairs, Brenda Case at brendac@ldvc.com or Jack Francioni at francioni@brianharrisslidell.com to discuss this project and what committee volunteers are being sought. This is great opportunity for Slidell and East St. Tammany to open its doors to economic growth.
Louisiana Secretary of Louisiana Economic Development, Steven Moret, addressed the East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon with positive praise for Louisiana and St. Tammany Parish. Despite the continuing recession, (that Chairman, Jack Francioni, encourages us not to participate in) Louisiana, in general, and St. Tammany Parish, is doing very well indeed. Even though the state has lost jobs, the employment rate is still 2 percent lower than the national average. Businesses are continuing to move into the state and employ Louisiana citizens, which is great news for our economy. Moret said the future of St. Tammany is bright, for many reasons.
For starters, we are at the beginning of the Interstate 12 corridor that extends to Baton Rouge. This corridor has lots of land for development and the sky is the limit for the parish. Currently several businesses are looking to build and relocate to St. Tammany Parish.
Secondly, the federal government will inject $50 million into NASA’s Michoud facility so it can transition from the shuttle program to the Constellation project, which will send people to the moon and eventually to Mars. That means more jobs in the parish, less of a population shift and more tax revenue.
Moret also had nothing but praise for Brenda Reine Bertus and the St. Tammany Economic Development Foundation, which has brought many companies into the parish and continues to retain the great businesses located in St. Tammany.
If there is a downside to all this, it is finding a viable workforce for all the new businesses cropping up. Moret said that with projects like the one to build college and technical schools in Lacombe so that students can either get a college or technical education, shows that St. Tammany Parish is thinking ahead and preparing for that bright future.
To further the accountability to the quality of life in St. Tammany and its economic success, the City of Slidell was recently awarded the first place Gold Award for Municipal Excellence at the 86th annual National League of Cities’ Congress of Cities & Exposition in San Antonio, Texas. Its program titled “Strengthening the Community and the Economy through the Arts” received the organization’s Awards for Municipal Excellence, which recognize a city’s programs demonstrating community determination, individual commitment, outstanding collaboration and creativity toward improving the quality of life in local communities.
Slidell holds the distinct honor of being the only Louisiana city ever to have received the prestigious award in its 20-year history. It was also the only 2009 recipient recognized for arts programming.
As our community continues to grow, the focus of the chamber is to help promote our region for new business and assist with retention of the local businesses by providing a voice of business, including networking and educational opportunities for members. For more information on membership with the East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce, please visit our website at www.estchamber.com.
Happy Holidays and remember to buy St. Tammany when making your holiday shopping choices to keep our community prospering through 2010!