The Main Street Issue- July 2022 by Rushing Media

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PUBLISHER’S NOTE |

JULY 2022 • VOLUME 5 • ISSUE 7

TABLE OF CONTENTS 11

LIFE IS GOOD ON MAIN STREET

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

FROM THE TOP LIFE SUPPORT NEEDED

ON THE AGENDA

GOVERNMENT UPDATE

06 08

Scalise sheds light on Congressional matters Reggie Dupre, Jr.

Where’s our Heartbeat?

Headlines & Accolades

Business Calendar of Events

PUBLISHER

Brian Rushing ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Mary Downer Ditch EDITORIAL Bonnie Rushing EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Heidi Guidry CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Keely Diebold CONTRIBUTING WRITER

CREATIVE Lauren Hemstreet GRAPHIC DESIGNER

DIGITAL MARKETING Carlie Johnson

CONTACT Publisher: publisher@rushing-media.com Editorial: editor@bayoubusinessmonthly.com Sales: sales@rushing-media.com

SUBSCRIPTIONS

THE M AI N S TR E E T I SSU E

s we introduce this issue, I want you to take a moment and think about your city or town’s Main Street. Most are located in your city’s downtown or even historic area. Now think about the Main Streets and downtown area of your favorite city or vacation destination. What comes to mind? Shops? Boutiques? Outdoor seating and lighting? An Amphitheater? A place you can’t miss while you are in town. We all know where our Main Streets are, but do we know what they are and why they matter? Whether they are named Main Street, or First Avenue, or Water Street, what they represent is universal. Main Street is the economic engine, the big stage, the core of the community. Our Main Streets tell us who we are and who we were, and how the past has shaped us. We do not go to bland suburbs or enclosed shopping malls to learn about our past, explore our culture, or discover our identity. Our Main Streets are the places of shared memory where people still come together to live, work, and play. In this issue, we explore two completely different Main Street/Downtown areas that are less than 20 miles apart. Houma and Thibodaux are two examples of popular downtown areas. Except, only one of these is truly thriving.

While this statement may just be my opinion, in my 40+ years of living, I have watched downtown Thibodaux go from just where college kids went at night to a destination for families and individuals of all ages. There is something for everyone within their streets. The Thibodaux Main Street organization helps to bring events to life that flood the streets with foot traffic and revenue. In that same time frame, I have watched the decline of downtown Houma. I have watched businesses shutter their doors, and nothing but blight take its place. I have watched the homeless of our community stake their claim in doorways to get out of the heat and the cold. In the past year, I have watched efforts for revitalization try to get off the ground, only to meet one hurdle after the next. When will it stop? When will we as a community rise up and say we want more? How do we even begin to battle the apathy that has tightened its grip on our area? This issue serves to shed light on the problems we face and the uphill climb we are willing to take to reclaim our downtown. MARY DITCH

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GOVERNMENT UPDATE | HEIDI GUIDRY

JULY 2022 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

ongressman Steve Scalise was the guest speaker at a special June 6 Houma-Terrebonne and Lafourche Chambers of Commerce Joint Luncheon where he touched on several issues that he deems important and even concerning. Scalise was elected into Congress in 2008 after serving in the Louisiana legislature from 1998 to 2008. The Congressman began the meeting by commending the area on Hurricane Ida’s recovery. He touted Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes’ efforts to fight against coastal erosion, “One of the challenges to coming back that we have to get resolved is the way the National Flood Insurance Program Works. This has been something we’ve been talking about for a while,” he said. He shared that two years ago, Congress was able to get FEMA to delay the implementation of Risk Rating 2.0, however, the program recently went into effect, “It’s been an odyssey and it’s been a very frustrating process,” he said. He has worked with various flood protection districts in Terrebonne and Lafourche and said the area “knows how to build levees.” He commented how they’ve fought together to get the money for flood protection projects. Although some funding is federal money, he pointed out that most of the work is done with local money because of officials working hard to obtain their own source of funding, ”It provided real flood protection and then Risk Rating 2.0 comes out and you start seeing these dramatic increases in flood [insurance rates] and you can’t even get answers from FEMA right now,” he said. He continued saying that he has been contacting FEMA to arrange a meeting due to complaints from residents simply trying to understand the plan. He shared that FEMA declined the request, “I’ve never seen a federal agency say we’re

going to roll out a new plan, not a law, by the way, this is an administrative policy being administered by FEMA through the National Flood Insurance Program, and when they rolled it out there’s no rationale about how they were rating people’s communities where they had flood protection,” he said, “When we said FEMA, we would like to talk with the local officials who are trying to figure this out so you can explain what you’re doing, they said we’re not going to do it. That’s not acceptable.” Hank Babin III, Agent/Broker at Logan Babin Real Estate in Houma, mentioned during the question and answer session that FEMA made a trip to present to local realtors about Risk Rating 2.0. He shared that they were surprised by some things that were presented, “I asked if they ever studied the affordability of this and they said they did not...they said they were not tasked with affordability and Congress never authorized a study for affordability, so they don’t have any idea whether people can afford it or not. I think everybody has heard the term redlining as a predatory living practice. I kind of view this as ‘blue lining’; it’s a predatory insurance practice that’s going on right now.” Babin went on to share that the data FEMA has about realworld situations is incorrect, “My father got his flood insurance renewal certificate just the other day and they don’t even look at what the actual elevation is of his slab. They estimated it as 2.5 feet, but he has a flood certificate of 10 feet of elevation. So if their data is incorrect and they’re not going to talk to you about it, I just don’t understand how it’s going to continue to go on,” he said. Scalise responded, “Yes, it’s devastating to low-income people. They won’t show us the methodology they use.

prices across the country.” The national average gas price is around $4.80 a gallon which Scalise said it’s because they’ve limited production in America. He shared that the government is also betting on countries around the world, “The president is getting ready to go to Saudi Arabia to beg them to produce more oil. Russia is still providing us oil because they shut off the spigots in the United States. No new lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico even though the law states we’re supposed to have those. These have been the challenges that not only affect us down here in Louisiana, but it’s having a national impact on inflation. It’s not only one of the biggest drivers of inflation, but it’s the biggest driver of higher gas prices, because now we have turned over the country’s energy security.” Scalise stated he does not understand the logic of decreasing American energy production for environmental reasons because American production is more sufficient and has a lower carbon footprint than other countries. “We’re still using oil. We’re using more oil than we did a year ago! We’re just not getting it from America. Is it because Russia produces it better? No! Actually, Russia produces more carbon to produce oil than we do because we have better standards than anyone around the world,” he passionately stated, “You should be doing more energy production in America, not less.” On the topic of security, the heated topic of gun violence was on the Congressman’s agenda. He said he talked to his colleague, Representative Tony Gonzales, who represents the area where the Uvalade school shooting took place. “It’s heartbreaking anytime you see something like that,” Scalise said,’’ but what you want to talk about is how it affects people on the ground...To the families who are impacted whose kids were killed, we pray for them. Local law enforcement is having internal struggles too. It’s hurting everybody on the ground, and I know the first reaction is they have

to have some bill we can pass to make it all go away. I wish it were that simple, and I think most people know, it’s not that simple. If there was some bill that would take away guns from this group of people or that group of people. I’ve seen this before, it sounds good sometimes, but if you look at the realities of it, the root problem is what we’re not dealing with. Why are kids doing it?” He shared about a situation last week where a kid in Burkley had plans to blow up his school using bombs, “No one is suggesting we ban fertilizer, but what happened there that didn’t happen in Uvalde…is that people saw something and they didn’t just keep it to themselves,” he said, “We have to help people recognize that in almost every mass shooting, somebody knew it was going to happen before, and either they did or didn’t say anything to authorities. In most cases, when they say something to authorities, they are able to stop it.” Scalise believes that conversations with kids about the issues are not happening and there is not enough focus on hardening schools. He said he is having conversations with his colleagues in Washington D.C. about the issues, and they don’t all point straight to gun control. He said the conversations are about the bigger challenges that can be solved without going for the rights of law-abiding citizens. “How can we figure out why kids are doing these things and how can we stop them before they do it,” he asked the crowd,” We need to be talking about what the root of the cause is because we had guns, we had AR-15s decades ago, they just never had shootings. I know this isn’t a big part of discussions happening today and I think it should be, but decades ago we also had prayer in school. They kicked out a lot of the things that ultimately eroded society to the point that a kid thinks it’s okay to go kill a bunch of his fellow classmates. We have to get back to the root cause of this.”

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JULY 2022 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

When you talk in terms of data, we’ve also gotten very mixed results on where they’re getting their data from, but this is completely administrative. Congress didn’t even require them to do this. This is something they came up with on their own. Again, this is something that was supposed to roll out a few years ago, but Congress has been able to hold FEMA off on doing it because it wasn’t ready for prime time then, and it’s still not ready for prime time. That’ll continue to be a topic of discussion.” Another issue that affects Louisiana and the nation as a whole is the battle in the oil and gas industry. Gulf coast states share revenue from the drilling within the states. The Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA) has been driving legislation for revenue sharing in the Gulf of Mexico. Scalise noted that local officials, including Terrebonne Parish President Gordon Dove and Lafourche Parish President Archie Chiasson, continue to fight for revenue sharing. He said, “We need to lift the cap on GOMESA because it is limited by law on how much we can get from offshore revenue.” He then said that continuing to produce energy in America to have the revenue to share is under attack, “We’re having a lot of conversations locally about making sure that we can increase the cap and include things like wind energy. There is interest right now about having wind farms in the Gulf of Mexico and I strongly support those efforts,” he said. Scalise is working on legislation that would govern how to lease wind energy. Similar to lease sales for oil drilling, he wants to work on revenue sharing because he said it is a key component like oil and gas production. “Right now, the imminent challenge is just getting more production and getting lease sales moving forward. This has, unfortunately, been a fight with the Biden administration since he took office where he immediately started putting a halt on a lot of different American energy projects and you’ve seen this really cascade into higher gas

QUICK QUESTIONS FOR THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE

EXECUT IV E DI RE CT OR, T E RRE B O NNE L EV EE & CO NS E RV AT I ON DI S T R I CT

FROM THE TOP |

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR WORK:

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF:

WHAT IS THE BEST PART OF YOUR JOB? Assuring that future generations of Terrebonne Parish citizens will have a safe place to live.

AS A CHILD, WHAT DID YOU SEE YOURSELF DOING AS A CAREER? I am a native of Pointe-aux-Chenes on the

WHAT IS THE HARDEST? Not knowing what will happen for our

JULY 2022 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

next major hurricane.

IS THERE ANYTHING NEW ON THE HORIZON? After 36 years of public service (23 as an elected official and the past 13 years as the director of the levee district), I plan on retiring in late 2024. Contrary to some rumors, I will not be a candidate for Parish President of Terrebonne in 2023. WHAT’S ONE LEADERSHIP SKILL YOU FEEL EVERYONE MUST LEARN? Coming to common ground on solving our nation, state, and parish’s problems. As an elected official, I aways tried to understand why other officials were not in agreement with my position. More often than not, we were able to work out our differences and come to a compromise. Compromise is no longer an acceptable term for many leaders. But, compromise is how the founding fathers built our form of government here in the USA. The alternative is governing by extremist views. That is only one step away from a dictatorship.

Terrebonne/Lafourche boundary. I was a very shy introvert as a child. I never dreamed I would be considered a leader of anything. But, my growing up in Pointe-aux-Chenes is the most important qualification in my job. I saw my native homeland change because of wetland losses and increasing vulnerability to hurricane tidal surges. I knew something had to be done. That is why sustainability and survivability of coastal communities has always been my number one priority.

WHAT WAS YOUR VERY FIRST JOB? My first job was working as a part time patrolman for the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office while I was at LSU. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP AND HOW DO YOU START YOUR DAY? I generally wake up at about 6 a.m. I check and respond to emails while having coffee. About once or twice a week, I have a long conversation before 7 a.m. with Parish President Dove to discuss our ongoing projects.

WHAT’S ONE THING YOU COULDN’T LIVE WITHOUT? My wife, Yvonne. She’s been my soul mate for the past 30 years. WHAT DO YOU ENJOY DOING IN YOUR FREE TIME? Traveling and RV Camping

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BY MARY DITCH | PHOTOS PROVIDED

nyone remember the song “Downtown” from 1964? For some reason, I started humming it while I was researching this story. Now, I wasn’t born until 1980 and music trivia isn’t my thing, so I looked up the lyrics to see if it could help get the song out of my head. Instead, what I found just made me think a little bit deeper. The lyrics call to mind the downtown area of a big city. Any big city, really, maybe even Houma. Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty How can you lose? The light’s so much brighter there You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares So go downtown Things will be great when you’re Downtown No finer place for sure Downtown Everything’s waiting for you “No finer place for sure”… I take it back. They can’t be writing about the downtown Houma of today. Especially not the one I’m looking out the window at as I write this. “Everything’s waiting for you.” For only being in my 40s, I can recall times

in my past where you really could come downtown for everything. I can remember shopping at Barbara’s Youth Shop, Dupont’s, and Earl Williams. I remember buying gifts at Fakier’s, who is thankfully still downtown. I remember walking in the backdoor at Saadi’s and hoping they had cookies in the ever present tin on the back table. More recently, I can remember restaurants such as the Lunch Basket, BJ’s Coffee Shop, Parrot’s, Tab’s Lagniappe Cafe, Clare’s Cafe and La Poste. The list just goes on of “ain’t dere no more” as we recall “the good old days” that aren’t that long ago. Life is a little bit different now in downtown Houma. What I see out my window is not the same as it was just in my lifetime. I see blight. I see struggle. I see an area that I am not proud of. The businesses that we currently have downtown are amazing and brave. But will they “make it”? Do people want to come downtown? What’s keeping the merchants and the customers away? And how can we fix it? A Lesson on Apathy Let me introduce you to a word I think describes the downtown problems perfectly: apathy. Apathy is defined as “lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern”, “feeling indifferent or lacking emotion.”

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Jeff Siegler, a civic pride consultant that runs Revitalize or Die, shares his thoughts in a blog post called “F**k Apathy”: “Apathy destroys communities. The simple act of not caring is all it takes to lead you down the path of rampant disinvestment and a rash of other social problems. The road to apathy is paved with declining standards.” He makes many more solid points in this post. It’s not something that happens overnight. It took some time falling down that slippery slope to ease into the disrepair we are now facing. Ordinances being ignored. Blight not being cleaned. Litter gathering in the streets. Repairs not being made. Blame being cast. And all the while, apathy begins to take hold. Siegler continues, “Apathy has made its way into our cities, and it calls downtown home. It’s apparent just upon looking, that most downtowns were built with very high standards in mind. That is why they all are constructed with quality materials, have a consistent appearance and stand the test of time. It is only in lowering our standards over the years that we have fostered blight. At some point, someone made a decision to no longer uphold the standard.” Sound familiar? So how do we battle back against

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signs in front of local properties, asking what the public wished it would be. ‘I wish this was_’ was inspired by a New Orleans artist, Candy Chang, who posted thousands of ‘I wish this was_’ stickers on vacant New Orleans buildings to inspire growth and give residents voices to better the area. The experiment led to creative ideas and gave an idea of what specific areas were needed. Hache Grant thought this idea would be perfect for downtown to get a positive conversation going. Instead of putting the stickers directly onto the buildings, Hache Grant made sign boards and placed them by vacant and blighted downtown properties so the public could share what they thought would be neat in the once-bustling downtown area. However, the signs were removed within hours. The Hache Grant Association wasn’t wholly deterred - they moved forward with the campaign, just in a different way, pushing the importance of giving people a positive voice to revitalize an area that once was the center of Houma. Pictures of buildings and spaces downtown were posted to their Facebook page and the public was encouraged to finish the sentence, ‘I wish this was_.” “The purpose of this experiment is positivity and to perhaps invigorate business owners and future investors with ideas from the public about what people would like to see,” Hache Grant President Noah Lirette said. “It’s a way to crowdsource a vision to revitalize downtown. It’s a perfect time because the apathy is starting to take hold downtown. It has been a problem for a while and the hurricane just highlighted it,” he said. “The longer apathy takes hold, the stronger it gets, and the harder it is to

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fight, so this is a conversation starter.” While they have opened the door for others to offer their specific ideas on certain properties, the board of volunteers for Hache Grant also has their own wishlist for downtown Houma. More than just this needs to be that, they envision a functional living space where families are welcome and fun abounds. “I think our downtown already has a base of what I would like to see but it’s gonna take a lot to get it finished,” shared Manny Merlos, executive director for Hache Grant. “It needs to be somewhere that you can bring your kids and your family; where you don’t have to leave and go to New Orleans or Baton Rouge or Thibodaux or wherever. Start at one end of downtown, walk down the boardwalk along the bayou, go into a restaurant, eat dinner, watch a live concert, and have drinks. You can bring the family to grab a pizza or stop and get a shrimp po boy or whatever you want and listen to Waylon Thibodeaux at the same time. That’s what south Louisiana is all about.” Jason Bergeron, treasurer, commented on living downtown and accessibility, “I’d love it to be commercial at the bottom and residential above in most all of the areas, with opportunity for parking behind. I’d love to see more foot traffic. I live right there [downtown] and my stepson is now in a wheelchair. To try and get him from my house to downtown is almost impossible, with the curbs being so high. We have to do better. Also, I think as a big picture, we need to be more interested in the aesthetics as we plan our town. Care about what you’re building and what it looks like, and how it matches up with what’s around you.” We need a Heartbeat Every great idea starts with one little

JULY 2022 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

apathy? How do we make people care? How do we make people take notice of what is happening in downtown Houma? How can we even begin to right this ship? A friend mentioned to me that as infectious as apathy is, positive action is more so. I Wish This Was… Grassroots efforts are often a solution to larger problems. When you can’t seem to get the ear of the government, get the ear of the people. Over the years, several LLCs have been formed to help with the care of downtown Houma. More recently, one group has stepped up to the plate to take a swing at the ongoing issues plaguing downtown. Enter the Hache Grant Association. The purpose of the Hache Grant Association is to fund specific, measurable, and actionable revitalization initiatives that will enhance the quality of life in Terrebonne Parish. Through multiple fundraising events, the organization has raised the money to take on their first project: The Bandstand. Once upon a time, a gorgeous bandstand existed in the downtown Houma area. It was a gathering spot for our community to listen to music, speakers, and more. The new bandstand will be located on the corner of Church Street and Main Street, in the front corner of the grassy area of the Courthouse. In partnership with the Houma Downtown Development Corporation and Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government, once the bandstand is built, it will be turned over to the Parish. The groundbreaking for this project was held in June. The Hache Grant Association recently started another project, a form of crowdsourcing, when they placed large

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JULY 2022 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

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spark. A spark of energy that drives forces together to accomplish a common goal. For most people, it can be as simple as establishing your “why.” Why is this important to you? Why do you care? Why should others care? For every individual, your draw to Main Street and to downtown Houma is different, maybe even personal. Lirette offered his take on those very questions. “A town’s main street, I don’t care if it’s Houma or wherever it is, is a direct connection to their culture, to their history, to everything about that town. The reason why Main Street [in Houma] is where it’s at, is because that’s where everything was happening at one point in time. When you look at some of the problems Houma is facing with eroding culture and a northern migration, that’s a symptom of us losing touch with who we are. And you can bet if we let our main street just continue to fall apart, we’re gonna lose a sense of who we are. And with that, goes our competitive advantage to drawing people here, the secret sauce to what makes Houma, Houma, and what makes people want to come visit. Without a town’s main street, a thriving main street, you’re just going to have cookie cutter, big box stuff; no culture, no reason for anybody to visit no for anybody to stay. Everybody should have vested interest in preserving Main Street because it’s the heart of the town. And if it dies, the rest of the town will die.” Daniel Babin, board member, offered up this relatable reason: “It’s as simple as I want to leave this place better than I found it. I want my kids to be excited. Then when they go to college, they want to come back here because they remember all the cool stuff they did and how awesome it was to be raised here.” So where do we go from here? “Right now, there’s a real lack of hope,”

expressed Lirette. “I think everybody should be reminded that it doesn’t take a huge action to make things change. It takes a lot of little things. If the Rotary Clubs, Keep Terrebonne Beautiful, Market at the Marina, the Chamber, Houma CVB – if we all start doing these little things on our own, we’re still together. That’s what change takes. And moreover, when those little things start happening, the parish and everybody else sees that people care and people want to be down here. And that creates incentive on that level to do something as well.” “It cannot get worse than this,” stated Lirette’s wife, and secretary of Hache Grant, Dr. Natalie Lirette. “I hope that this is as depressing as it’s gonna get. And one day we live to tell our children about how bad it was, and for them to look around at the new downtown and say ‘man, I can’t imagine when things were that bad off.’” The conversation gently shifted to the idea of bringing hope to a community that is searching desperately for some light at the end of the tunnel. “We have to give people hope,” shared Merlos. “It starts the conversation. It gives everybody the encouragement to look at it. And it kind of gives everybody a voice. And that’s the biggest thing. It starts a conversation that sparks an idea. It gives somebody the ability, ability to say, you know what? That is actually a good idea. I could probably pull that off. Now, maybe it doesn’t happen. But there’s still hope in that.” Merlos continued, “You gotta realize that we’re not a big town. The census showed that people are moving away. We’re a small town and you need to focus on that heartbeat, your downtown, your main street area. For too long we focused on growth and bringing big box stores out along Martin Luther King. We have to redirect that energy back into downtown.

We have to focus on what makes our community unique. You can go to a Target or a Home Depot anywhere. We need to stay true to our identity.” Moving forward, we need to focus on quality of life and the part that having a thriving downtown plays in that equation. “I think that what we consider quality of life downtown is different than, say, down the bayou,” shared Bergeron. “And my question is, what quality life issues do we face as a community as a whole and how do we wanna fix it? Because if people are worried about the quality of life issues in their own area, do they have time to deal with downtown? But without that here, why will people choose to live and shop downtown. If I’m gonna be here, I want it to be better. And if it gets better here, that small pebble in the pond will push out the ripples to make it better everywhere.” At the end of the day, my conversation and writing this article left me inspired and hopeful. Change will not come overnight, but the conversations have started. Lirette closed out the conversation with his final thoughts: “The main thing is apathy. All these things that people see and say that we have to fix, they can’t really be fixed until the root cause is fixed. Crime. Blight. Litter. All these are all symptoms to a disease. It’s a lack of pride. It’s a lack of responsibility. It’s a lack of accountability. And the people need to be inspired now by our government leading by example; by community members stepping up and taking the reins and paving that road. We’re only going to get better the same way we got sick–over time. It’s gonna take time. It’s gonna be incremental. It doesn’t have to be this grand action. It’s little things working together. It’s going to create hope.”

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BY KEELY DIEBOLD | PHOTOS PROVIDED

down here, and it keeps growing, and it’s unique businesses,” Stein says. “You can look at it and say, ‘Well, there’s five or six boutiques,’ but they all offer something different.” Stein, who has served as executive director of Thibodaux Main Street for over four years, says that not being a native of Thibodaux has helped her view the city’s historic downtown area through fresh eyes. From that perspective, she sees an area rich in history and culture that deserves to be appreciated by the people around it. “I’ve always seen this quaint gem in Thibodaux, and to be able to express that either through social media or our events and help people to understand what they truly have here and appreciate it - that’s been great,” Stein says. “Making them aware of all the historic buildings down here, and just how cool it is to still have all these really cool buildings around.” Coexisting with the area’s businesses is its vibrant arts and festival culture, highlighted by events like the Fall and Spring Arts Walks, Big Boy’s Main Street Cook-Off, and Storywalk. Stein says the key to cooperation between events and establishments in Historic Downtown Thibodaux is communication, tangibly enabled by a private Facebook group that merchants use to share information, exchange ideas, and plan for upcoming seasons. “It’s just keeping that line of communication open so that way we know how we can work with each other,” Stein says.

Thibodaux Main Street also actively encourages its establishments to recognize the value of a wide selection of offerings and how that selection benefits the area as a whole, and Stein says merchants adopt this concept well. “Like I said earlier, we have a number of boutiques, but that only increases the likelihood that someone will come down here. If you have options someplace, you’re more likely to go there as opposed to one shopping center that has one retail outlet and one restaurant, so the more variety we have, the more enticing it is for people to come down here.” This culture created among Thibodaux Main street merchants allowed them to easily adapt to unexpected business shake-ups over the last few years in the wake of Hurricane Ida and the COVID-19 pandemic, Stein says. She notes that a benefit of being a small business is an easier ability to change one’s operations than a large corporation, and that’s precisely what business in Historic Downtown Thibodaux did almost instantly as COVID-19 reached the Bayou Region. “Overnight, we saw the retailers and the restaurants going to curbside pickup, or partnering with another Downtown business,” she says. “We saw Pepper’s partner with the Purple Penguin and they were offering pizza and paint [kits]...Some of our retailers, if they didn’t already have some type of e-commerce component, they started to implement that, or even just doing Facebook lives to push products.”

JULY 2022 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

hat’s the recipe for a thriving main street program in Louisiana? Thibodaux Main Street Executive Director Danielle Stein says it’s the intersection between an economic development program and historic preservation. These are the precise facets the team behind the organization has worked to emphasize within Historic Downtown Thibodaux as the area has transformed into a hub for shopping, dining, and festivals for people of all ages and interests over recent years. “We do try to promote historic preservation…and we do try to promote the economic development aspect of a main street organization, providing small business support, helping them if they want to expand a business,” Stein says, “and just connecting them with resources, whether it’s in the community, statewide, nationally.” Thibodaux Main Street, Inc., received its official designation as a Louisiana Main Street community in 2009, though it carries roughly 20 total years as a main street. Today, the area serves as a hub for firms and agencies, fitness centers, food and drink spots geared toward both families and college students, boutiques, salons, and more. There’s something for everyone amidst Historic Downtown Thibodaux’s blend of longstanding, “legacy businesses” and excited ventures from young entrepreneurs. “We have a very diverse mix of business

JULY 2022 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

Today, advancements like curbside pickup that arose during COVID-19 have remained regular aspects of establishments’ operations, allowing businesses in Historic Downtown Thibodaux to continue to better accommodate their customers, Stein says. The aftermath of Ida has posed ongoing challenges for the area, which still requires building repairs. However, Thibodaux Main Street has used the experience to encourage its merchants to develop hurricane preparedness plans as the 2022 season begins. “We posted some information… about [getting] your game plan now, and reflect on, what were the challenges you saw from Ida?” Stein says. “Address them now. Talk to your property owner now…When it comes time to it, who’s responsibility is it to tarp the roof, board up the windows, just so you know ahead of time.” As Thibodaux Main Street continues to grow, new and exciting partnerships have become a valuable piece of its story. For example, the organization has partnered with Friends of Bayou Lafourche for the development of a multi-use trailhead along Highway 1 that will bring a boardwalk, bike racks, a floating dock, benches, paddle

boat access, and more to the Historic Downtown Thibodaux area. Recently, Thibodaux Main Street also announced a partnership with Nicholls State University on the university’s Bayou Region Incubator, which serves to establish businesses and economies that focus on Louisiana’s coastal crisis. Stein says that Thibodaux Main Street has actively worked to maintain a strong relationship with Nicholls, drawing off of the success of college towns like Ruston and Hammond that are closely intertwined with their downtown areas. “To me, partnerships are everything…We all have the common goal of making Thibodaux better, so why would we not work together?” Stein says. “A community that has a university and a thriving downtown, they’re so successful…That’s something that we’ve tried to develop.” As Thibodaux Main Street moves forward into a post-Ida and postpandemic future, it’s always looking for new ways to bring diverse new businesses to Historic Downtown Thibodaux and to support its merchants. Most recently, the organization opened up a grant through the Louisiana Main Street Restoration Grant program to promote growth and tourism for businesses operating out

of historic buildings in the Downtown area. At the core of Thibodaux Main Street’s ongoing success lies a willingness among its patrons and small business owners to continue to see each other as a unit and not as competition. “We all know that the more that we work together - I mean, we’re kind of like a family, we’re like a neighborhood around here - the more we work together, the better it is for all of us collectively,” Stein says. “I think when you offer them the opportunity to connect with one another, and we’ve tried to develop that over the years, [it’s] how they can work together to help each other out and to make Downtown as a whole better.”

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MOVERS AND SHAKERS |

bbgulfstates.com

EMPLOYEE TS AADV I SORS E MP LOYEEBENEFI B EN EF I TS DV I SO RS

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ChristianD. D.Lapeyre, Lapeyre, RHU Christian RHU Rene Thibodaux Rene Thibodaux Philip J. Hebert Philip J. Hebert

TERREBONNE TEACHER EMILY TUTTLE NAMED 2023 TEACHER OF THE YEAR SEMI-FINALIST

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1051 W. Tunnel Blvd. Houma, Louisiana 70360

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LOUISIANA LOCATIONS

HOUMA • BELLE CHASSE • GALLIANO • BATON ROUGE

HOUMA 985-851-2400 • GALLIANO 985-632-4200

JULY 2022 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

The Louisiana Department of Education has announced the 2023 Teacher and Principal of the Year Finalists and the list includes Terrebonne Parish teacher, Emily Tuttle. The educators are nominated because, according to the LDOE website, they make exceptional gains with students and guide them to achieve at the highest levels. LDOE said the semi-finalists’ commitment to student success exemplifies Louisiana’s teaching profession. The semi-finalists will be honored at the 16th Annual Excellent Educators Awards Gala on July 30, in New Orleans. Emily Tuttle, a third-grade teacher at Village East Elementary, has been named as one of the top nine finalists for Louisiana Elementary Teacher of the Year. The winner will be announced this month. Tuttle recently said, “Seven years, two schools, hundreds of students, countless people who have believed in me and even some who didn’t have all led to this humbling moment that truly makes me feel like I’ve already won. The only thing I can say is to God be the glory, always.”

985-360-486

MOVERS AND SHAKERS | HEADLINES & ACCOLADES UNITED HOUMA NATION ANNOUNCES LORA ANN CHAISSON AS PRINCIPAL CHIEF ELECT United Houma Nation (UHN) Election Board officially certified the election results of the Principal Chief election declaring Lora Ann Chaisson the victor. Ms. Chaisson is a current resident of Point aux Chene. She is the UHN’s National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) Alternate Delegate as well as the Southeast Regional Alternate Vice President to the NCAI Executive Committee. She is a current member of the United States Department of Labor Native American Employment and Training Council as well as a Board Member and Treasurer for the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association. Locally, she is an appointee to the Lafourche, Assumption, and Terrebonne (LAT) Workforce Board.

Chaisson is employed as a Vice President of Tribal Solutions Group. Her work with Tribal Solutions Group encompasses a variety of divisions with solution based services in areas such as education, gaming, medical, and broadband/communications specifically for tribal nations, entities, and enterprises. Previously, she worked with the Inter-Tribal Council of Louisiana and the Institute for Indian Development within both the domestic violence and the workforce development programs. Chaisson is also an alumnus of the American Indian Opportunity Ambassador Program – a national organization providing capacity building and leadership development for Native American professionals looking to grow their communities.

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DIOCESE OF HOUMA-THIBODAUX ANNOUNCES NEW CATHOLIC SCHOOLS LEADERSHIP

VCHS 2022 PRESIDENT’S BANQUET HONORED OUTSTANDING ALUMNI Vandebilt Catholic High School hosted the 2022 President’s Banquet where several alumni were recognized. Thomas Boudreaux was presented the President’s Distinguished Service Award. Dr. David ‘78 and Laura Lapeyre

Fakier ‘78 were presented the Alumni of the Year Award. The late Brother Anthon Miklic S.C., Michael Barker ‘78, and the late Rhoda Guillot Rau ‘71 were inducted into the VCHS Hall of Fame.

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The Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux has appointed Mark Williams, Ed.D., the new Superintendent of Catholic Schools. Williams previously served as associate superintendent of secondary schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Additionally, the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux has appointed Gerrie Byrne as associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction. Byrne has a bachelor’s degree in speech, language and hearing, is a certified teacher, and has a master’s degree in educational leadership. Both positions will be effective July 15, 2022.

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BAYOU REGION RE-ENTRY PROGRAM GIVES SECOND CHANCE TO THOSE BEHIND BARS Over 90 percent of Terrebonne and Lafourche Parish inmates will get re-released back into communities. Some local leaders make up a Bayou Region Re-Entry Team that is taking strides to provide the incarcerated with resources to return as productive citizens and a Bayou Region Coalition Meeting was recently held where the team updated the public on programs along with their success stories. The Bayou Region Re-Entry team, partnered with Goodwill Industries, aims to end the stigma of the incarcerated. Major Cortrell Davis, Correctional Department Head for Lafourche

Parish Correctional Complex and Warden for the Correctional Complex, has been in corrections for 25 years and said he is in awe at the process the re-entry team has had so far. They have been awarded the opportunity to serve as the regional re-entry facility of the Southeastern portion of Louisiana. The team works together to offer resources to those behind bars. The team’s goals are to return individuals to the community as productive citizens and to assist them in releasing the barriers that Major Davis said are aimed to return inmates to incarceration.

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CO-CHAIRS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT/ MAJOR CORTELL DAVIS, OFFICER HESTOR SERANNO, GOODWILL COMMUNITY COORDINATOR SHERRY WILMORE, JUDGE JUAN PICKETT, RIGHT ON CRIME SCOTT PEYTON

HOUMA - TERREBONNE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

CHAMBER EVENTS •July 3 — Part 3 - #SummerSocial Marketing and Advertising with Social Media, Houma Chamber Office, 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.

•July 12 — Government Activities & Economic Development/ Infrastructure, Houma Chamber Office, 12 p.m.

•July 20 — Community Development

Committee, Houma Chamber Office, 8:30 a.m.

•July 26 — General Membership

Luncheon with guest speaker Dr. Cade Brumley, Superintendent of Education, Courtyard by Marriott, 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.

•August 18 — Chamber’s Wellness Expo, Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center, Noon – 6 p.m.

Registration for #SummerSocial, a three part series on social media, is required, and lunch is optional. Sign up at https://linktr.ee/ HoumaChamber.

TERREBONNE 200: ENVIRONMENT

In honor of the Terrebonne Bicentennial Celebration Year, presentations will be conducted throughout the year in celebration of 200 years of prosperity and growth. This month’s presentation will be about environment and will be presented by Earl Eues.

July 7, 6:00 p.m. Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center

LUMINATE HOUMA

Luminate Houma’s mission is to revitalize downtown Houma by promoting and providing entertainment and art to the community. This month features Nonc Nu and Da Wild Matous.

July 9, 6 p.m. Main St. Houma Amphitheater

BIG GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

July 11, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. Thibodaux Regional Wellness Center

Speaker Jimmy Nguyen will review the steps of creating a business plan to help current or potential business owners to discover their primary motivations, and bring more organization and clarity to their vision. The workshop aims to get participants on track to growing their business.

July 13, 10 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Nicholls State University

SCIA GENERAL MEMBERSHIP LUNCHEON SCIA will host their monthly general membership meeting. Admission is $25.00 per person with payment required in advance.

July 19, fellowship 11:15, meeting 11:45 a.m.- 1:00 p.m. Cypress Columns

HISTORIC THIBODAUX WALKING TOURS Join the friendly park rangers at Jean Lafitte Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center for a walking tour of historic Downtown Thibodaux.

Weekly on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10 a.m. - 11 a.m. Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center, Thibodaux

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JULY 2022 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

Bayou Industrial Group will host their monthly general membership meeting with guest speaker. Meetings are held on the 5th Floor of Thibodaux Regional Wellness Center.

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