Written by Stephen Sabludowsky of Bayou Buzz
Don’t know why, but every time I talk to Kurt Weigle, I get all “Petula Clark”, all over.
Kurt Weigle? Petula Clark? Huh?
Oh, you know….
“The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
So go downtown, things’ll be great when you’re
Downtown, no finer place for sure
Downtown everything’s waiting for you- we can go”
That Petula Clark. And, that Kurt Weigle, who happens to be as downtown New Orleans as they come. After all, the tall, blondish, young optimist, always on the go–Weigle heads the DDD in the CBD or better known as the New Orleans Downtown Development District.
Enthusiasm abounds when chatting with Kurt. optimism
Today, I had one of those jolts of buoyancy, as we chatted about the latest and greatest developments in the city’s CBD with Weigle and as usual, I can’t get enough updates and information to learn more about the incredibly fascinating center of New Orleans, its downtown.
In part I of our Facebook and Twitter Live discussion, Weigle explained why he believes the city’s business district is special.
Probably, anybody spending some time will know the answer right away. You can work, live and play the CBD way. Want to check out the art gallery, go home for a nap, buy a pair of jeans or a gallon of milk?
No need to go far, it’s all a walking, car, bus or bike distance away.
Weigle says within the confines of the city within a city, there are roughly 65,000 jobs, whether they are attorneys, clerks, bell men, actors, hoteliers, cops—you name it.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py0dAUo0Q8c]And, the number is growing, especially if you include what he considers to be the major accomplishment over the past decade after the Hurricane Katrina devastation–the birth and development of the gargantuan University Medical Center and VA Hospital.For the next few days, we will present video clips of our live online video, and don’t forget:
So maybe I’ll see you there
We can forget all our troubles, forget all our cares
So go downtown, things’ll be great when you’re
Downtown, don’t wait a minute for
Downtown, everything’s waiting for you