Christien Louviere

I‘ve been out of New Orleans now since January.  When I’ve been back, things have improved slowly but surely.  I know from being there that the change is so slow that it is hard to notice, but I can see it after having been away for a bit. 

I called my friend Doug from the airport on NFL Draft day.  Knowing who the number one pick had been secured the night before, "Did we draft Bush?" I asked.  Well, we did and it seemed unreal.  I had immediate thoughts running through my head of the marketing potential he would bring to the city.  I’m sure he was bummed about being #2, but I think the city and him won each other over equally.

The marketing presence and timing is fabulous for my city trying to rebound.  25,000 Reggie Bush jerseys have been sold so far and he doesn’t even have a number!  They open at home on Monday night against the Falcons for the first game in the Dome since evacuees owned it.  The best part is that we have broken our season ticket record.  We have less than 50% of the population there, people are worried where they will be next year and look what he has already done.  This is great.

Huge props to the city and Mr. Bush.