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Biloxi post-Katrina-rebuilding survey

Survey: 80 percent of Biloxians satisfied with city direction, progress

More than 80 percent of Biloxians think the city is on the right track, and just as many people say they are satisfied with ongoing progress of the city’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina.
The results are from a poll of 500 Biloxi residents made by Market Research Insight, a company that has conducted more than 5,000 public opinion surveys over 30 years.

Dr. Verne Kennedy, who conducted the survey, says it has a 4.5 percent error factor, meaning it has a more than 95 percent accuracy rate compared to a survey of every single resident of the city.

“Biloxi citizens were very responsive,” Kennedy said, “and only 54 people who listened long enough to learn what the survey was about declined to participate.”

Mayor A. J. Holloway said he was pleased that Biloxians felt the city was headed in the right direction, but he noted the survey also pointed out areas of continuing concern.

For instance, the ongoing debate over new residential development was reflected in the survey:

50 percent of the respondents felt satisfied with the quality of new residential developments in Biloxi, while 32 percent were dissatisfied and nearly 19 percent were uncertain.

62 percent favored rebuilding using “scattered site” low-income homes, with 30 percent in opposition and 8 percent uncertain.

Top issues with Biloxians: more affordable housing (15 percent), improving traffic flow (12 percent), and more business development and jobs (8 percent). Notably, 12 percent were uncertain about the most important issue.

The survey represents the completion of the first phase of the city’s update of its comprehensive plan, a policy statement that guides future growth and development in the city, and considers such quality-of-life issues as transportation, housing, land use, recreation and historic preservation.

The year-long comprehensive plan process is being guided by Wallace Roberts and Todd, a planning firm that has done extensive work in Baltimore; Charleston County and Hilton Head, South Carolina; Coral Springs, Fla., East Hampton, NY, and other cities.

This process will include numerous public hearings and outreach, and it will be followed up with an update of the city’s Land Development Ordinance, which will help facilitate goals identified in the comprehensive plan.

The entire process is expected to cost about $650,000 and will be funded by grants.

Among the other results of the poll:

60 percent of respondents were satisfied with the quality of commercial developments in Biloxi; 33 percent were dissatisfied and 7 percent were uncertain.

Of the 33 percent dissatisfied: 17 percent said there was too much commercial development, 16 percent said too many condominiums were being built, and 15 percent felt there were too many casinos and “didn’t like gambling.”

20 percent of the respondents said the friendly people and Southern hospitality were the things they liked best about Biloxi, while 13 percent said they like the proximity to the water and another 13 percent said they were “born in Biloxi or it feels like home.”

Among the biggest concerns about Biloxi’s rebuilding: affordable housing (10 percent), the slow pace of recovery and lack of rebuilding along the beach front (8 percent), affordable homeowner’s insurance (8 percent).and three issues at 7 percent each: too many casinos, too many condos, and poor roads and traffic congestion. Of note, 9 percent were uncertain of their biggest concern about Biloxi’s rebuilding.

73 percent of the respondents favored mixed residential and commercial development for east Biloxi, while 19 percent thought resorts should dominate east Biloxi.

65 percent of those surveyed favored relocating the CSX railway.
Three-quarters of those surveyed felt Back Bay Boulevard should be extended to U.S. 90 on Point Cadet.

Biloxi <-> Boston

I wish I were still in Biloxi...forever.

well good for him!

I guess Republicans CAN do good things every once in a while!

Holloway vetoes proposed re-zoning for Tivoli site

Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway, saying that the sand beach has been and should continue to be a defining factor regarding where casinos should be located, today vetoed a measure that would have opened the door to gaming on a 30-acre tract of beachfront land in east Biloxi.

Holloway’s veto, which was delivered to City Council members this morning, acknowledged that the issue has had a polarizing impact on the city, with debate focused on where new casinos should and should not be located.

The mayor’s veto message focused on four issues:

• that the city should continue to use the beach as a defining factor on where casinos should and should not be located,
• that the prospect of approving the Tivoli re-zoning would create pressure to open up the entire beachfront to the prospect of casino gaming,
• that Biloxi should maintain a level playing field for existing and new casinos,
• and opening up new areas of the front beach to casino development would have a detrimental impact on Back Bay, where the city has invested millions in infrastructure improvements and where unused land zoned for casino development exists.

The mayor said his vision for Biloxi includes an economically revitalized east Biloxi to balance the natural attraction we have always enjoyed with the sand beach.

“As I’ve said on numerous occasions before and since Katrina,” Holloway concluded, “it is important that we strike a good balance between land zoned for casinos and land zoned for other uses.

“It’s a difficult decision to veto a proposal that could have seen a billion-dollar-plus investment in our city, but this decision affects the entire city, and I must do what I believe is best for the city as a whole.”

The Biloxi City Council had approved the re-zoning during a four-hour meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 18. Voting for the measure were Councilmembers Mike Fitzpatrick, Charles T. Harrison Jr., William “Bill” Stallworth and Council President Edward “Ed” Gemmill. Voting against the re-zoning were Councilmembers George Lawrence, David Fayard and Tom Wall.

Holloway’s veto was delivered five working days after he received the ordinance from the Clerk of Council, and well within the deadline of 10 working days for his response.

Five affirmative votes would be needed on the seven-member City Council to override the mayor’s veto. Deadline for an override is 10 working days from today.

For more info, click here.

more casinos?

How many does Biloxi need?

Council OKs change in Tivoli zoning

The Biloxi City Council, after listening to three hours of citizens comments during a four-hour meeting this afternoon, voted 4 to 3 to rezone nearly 30 acres of beachfront property at the former site of the Tivoli hotel to allow casino gaming.

Voting for the re-zoning were Councilmembers Mike Fitzpatrick, Charles T. Harrison Jr., William "Bill" Stallworth and Edward “Ed” Gemmill. Voting against the re-zoning were Councilmen George Lawrence, Tom Wall and David Fayard.

The measure will now be in the hands of Mayor A.J. Holloway, who has the option of approving or vetoing the council action. Should Holloway veto the measure, five council members would have to vote to override his veto.

Despite the council’s vote, the Mississippi Gaming Commission -- after receiving a formal application from developers -- would ultimately decide whether the site is suitable and legal for gaming.

The possible re-zoning of the beachfront land in east Biloxi – 27.86 acres in all, comprising 21 separate but contiguous parcels – has sparked discussion over the intent of the state’s post-Katrina approval of on-shore gaming, and whether the Tivoli site would be appropriate because of its location directly north of the sand beach.

The state Gaming Commission several weeks ago also reminded the city that regardless of its position on the re-zoning, the Gaming Commission would be the ultimate authority on whether the site is legal and suitable.

The re-zoning proposal includes a tract of land bordered by the “mean high water line” or “toe of the seawall” on the south, Kuhn Street to the east, Howard Avenue to the north and Holley Street on the west. The area is currently zoned multi-family residential and commercial. Besides gaming, a waterfront or "WF" designation would allow residential, commercial and amusement uses on the site.

Hurricane Katrina debris removal in Biloxi

The numbers are regarding Katrina storm debris removed from the city of Biloxi.According to debris-monitoring firm Neel-Schaffer, the city's FEMA-supported debris removal effort, which ended Aug. 29 and had a price tag of more than $81.5 milion, saw 2.98 million cubic yards of debris removed from the city. That's enough debris to cover a football field and stand 139.7 stories high.

The breakdown on the debris:

• Burnable: 458,390 cubic yards.
• Concrete, non-burnable: 2.488 million cubic yards.
• Appliances: 33,391 cubic yards.
• Electronics: 534 cubic yards.

To see more details on the debris-removal efforts in Biloxi, click here.

6-month post-Katrina statistics

At the six-month point in the storm recovery process in Biloxi, here were the available numbers:

• 3,167 – number of students in Biloxi public schools when classes resumed Sept. 26 (compared to 6,125 enrolled pre-storm). Five months after the storm, enrollment was at 4,321.
• $54,795 – amount of gaming tax city would be collecting per day if casinos were operating ($20 million a year; 35 percent of city’s annual operating revenue)
• $92,000 – amount city agreed to pay in July 2005 for a $10
  million business interruption insurance policy in the
  event casinos were shut down by a storm
• $500,000 – amount of gaming tax state lost each day Biloxi casinos after Katrina.
• More than 2.08 million cubic yards – amount of storm debris that had been removed from city streets and public rights-of-way since the storm. This amount of debris would cover a football field with and stand more than 97 stories high. City leaders estimate that about 75 percent of the debris had been removed six months after the storm.

• More than 5,000 – total number of building and repair permits the city had issued five months after the storm.
• $50 million – initial estimate on cost of removing debris from city rights of way (number will increase with removal of debris from private property, which is in the offing)
• 52 – Number of confirmed storm fatalities in Biloxi, as reported Jan. 31 by Harrison County Gary T. Hargrove. Of the 53 confirmed fatalities in Biloxi, a figure that includes one unidentified male, Hargrove said the average age was 58, with youngest being 22 and oldest, 90; and 14 were females and 39 were males.
• Sale taxes generated in Dec '04: $1.169 million
• Sale taxes generated in Dec. '05: $948,122

Biloxi recovery news

Some numbers as Biloxi enters the 24th month after Hurricane Katrina:

• The city's Community Development Department has issued nearly 20,000 permits of one type of other in the past 23 monthys, but a few of the key figures: A total of 303 new single-family home building permits have been issued in the past 23 months, accounting for an estimated $44 million in new-home construction. That’s a post-Katrina average of more than 13 new-home construction permits a month.
• More than 3,984 overall building permits have been issued for storm repairs, triggering nearly three times as many permits for electrical, plumbing and mechanical work for each residential building permit. The total valuation of the residential storm-repair permits: $61.8 million.
• Of the 2,500 or so temporary trailer permits issued by the city since Aug. 29, 2005, only about 450 trailers are believed to be in use today in Biloxi. The number of FEMA temporary trailer parks in Biloxi has dropped from 13 to a half-dozen.
• A total of 466 commercial building permits have been issued, for an estimated value of $333.4 million.
• Gaming revenue figures for casinos in Biloxi has set new records in one form or other in eight of the past 10 months, beginning with September 2006, when Biloxi casinos recorded their largest monthly revenue figure in the city’s 15-year history of legalized gaming.
• As of July 22, the city had hauled off more than 2.94 million cubic yards of debris, which would create a debris field large enough to cover a football field and stand more than 138 floors high. The city estimates that more than 98 percent of the Katrina debris has been removed.
• The city’s latest projection to FEMA is that debris removal and disposal in Biloxi will cost $79.7 million. To date, the city has spent $61.2 million and has been reimbursed $49.7 million. A few pending aspects of the debris removal effort, such as removal and disposal of the fishing bridges are Point Cadet and Back Bay, will account for nearly $4.5 million of the $79.7 million figure.

Blessing of the Fleet

Biloxi's annual blessing of the (shrimp) fleet is January 2d and 3d.

Biloxi Indian tribe history

Biloxi Indian Tribe History

Biloxi. A name of uncertain meaning, apparently from the Choctaw language. They call themselves Taneks haya, "first people."

A small Siouan tribe formerly living in south Mississippi, now nearly or quite extinct. The Biloxi were supposed to belong to the Muskhogean stock until Gatschet visited the survivors of the tribe in Louisiana in 1886 and found that many of the words bore strong resemblance to those in Siouan languages, a determination fully substantiated in 1892 by J. Owen Dorsey. To what particular group of the Siouan family the tribe is to be assigned has not been determined; but it is probable that the closest affinity is with Dorsey's Dhegiha group, socalled. The first direct notice of the Biloxi is that by Iberville, who found them in 1699 about Biloxi bay, on the gulf coast of Mississippi, in connection with two, other shall tribes, the Paskagula and Moctobi, the three together numbering only about 20 cabins (Margry, Dec., iv, 195, 1880). The Biloxi removed to the west shore of Mobile bay in 1702. In 1761 Jefferys spoke of them as having been north east of Cat island, and of their subsequent removal to the north west of Pearl river Hutchins, in 1784, mentions a Biloxi village on the west side of the Mississippi, a little below the Paskagula, containing 30 warriors. According to Sibley (1805) a part of the Biloxi came with some French, from near Pensacola, about 1763, and settled first in Avoyelles parish, La., on Red river, whence they "moved higher up to Rapide Bayou, and from thence to the month of Rigula de Bondieu, a division of Red river, about 40 miles below Natchitoch, where they now live, and are reduced to about 30 in number." Berguin-Duvallon (1806) mentions them as in two villages, one on Red river, 19 leagues from the Mississippi, the other on a lake called Avoyelles. He also refers to some as being wanderers on Crocodile bayou. Schoolcraft said they numbered 55 in 1825. In 1828 (Bul. Soc. Mex. Geog., 1870) there were 20 families of the tribe on the east bank of Neches river, Tex. Porter, in 1829 (Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, 111, 596), gave the number as 65 living with the Caddo, Paskagula, and other small tribes on Red river, near the Texas frontier, and in 1846 Butler and Lewis found a Biloxi camp on Littler river, a tributary of the Brazos in Texas, about two days' journey from the latter stream. After this little was heard of them until 1886. According to Gatschet there were in that year a few Biloxi among the Choctaw and Caddo, but he visited only those in Avoyelles parish, La. In 1892 Dorsey found about a dozen of the tribe near Lecompte, Rapides parish, La., but none remained at Avoyelles. From the terms they used and information obtained Dorsey concluded that prior to the coming of the whites the men wore the breechcloth, a belt, leggings, moccasins, and garters, and wrapped around the body a skin robe. Feather headdresses and necklaces of bone, and of the bills of a long-legged redbird (flamingo?) were worn, as also were noserings and earrings. The dwellings of the people resembled those found among the northern tribes of the same family, one kind similar to the low tent of the Osage and Winnebago, the other like the high tent of the Dakota, Omaha, and others. It is said they formerly made pottery. They made wooden bowls, horn an, bone implements, and baskets.

Tattooing was practice to a limited extent. Descent was through the female line, and there was an elaborate system of kinship. The charge of cannibalism was made against theme by one or two other tribes; this, however, is probably incorrect. Dorsey recorded the following clan names:

Itaanyadi
Ontianyadi
Nakhotodhanyadi

Vincent and Margaret Sherry

I'm watching "Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice" on CourtTV right now. It's disappointing to hear him keep prouncing BihLUXee as BihLOXee, as if he never hear d the city-name pronounced.

And to talk of casinos and strip clubs, when in 1987 casinos weren't even a consideration yet...

Biloxi $5 note

I didn't even know there were such.

nice Biloxi pictures

Of the old days...well, at least the '60s and/or '70s:

East Biloxi, aka "the Point." It's the point of the Biloxi peninsula. Across the now-defunct bridge is Ocean Springs. Oh, it's so different now, not even counting Hurricane Katrina's destruction. No casinos, just shrimp boats and companies, as there were when my family moved to Biloxi in 1979.

This is a picture of the Broadwater Beach Hotel, so highly thought of. Presient Nixon stayed there after Hurricane Camille, on his visit to the coast. The President Casino had taken over lately, but the hotel has recently been razed, having been so damaged by Katrina. Sad.

US 90/Old Spanish Trail

I didn't know that old Highway 90 is part of the Old Spanish Trail. Begun in 1915, this trail was part of the "Good Roads" movement, a 2743-mile route running from San Diego, California, all the way across the U.S. to St. Augustine, Florida.

This is the oldest automobile road along the Gulf Coast, and was the first black-top link between Mobile and New Orleans.

Tulane job

I applied for a job for Tulane's Technology Services but didn't get it, disappointingly. I'd love to live in New Orleans, and be closer to my family in Biloxi.

I wish employment offices would give reasons for job denials (like "We can't match your current salary," "We hired someone already in the department," "We need someone who starts before you said you could," "We need someone with supervisory experience," etc.).

Oh, well...I'll keep trying!