business
We'll Be Right Back: New Orleans Hospitality

New podcast tackles the future of hospitality in New Orleans

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There’s a new podcast in town, and service industry professionals are offering up their voices for it. The weekly podcast, titled We’ll Be Right Back: The Future of Hospitality, features interviews with professionals and organizations providing relief and resources as the industry manages amid COVID-19. As stated on its website, We’ll Be Right Back will “tell the stories of local business owners and employees in the service/hospitality sector and gig economy at-large in the Greater New Orleans Area impacted by the economic blowback of the coronavirus, as well as highlight the resources available to businesses and individuals alike.” Play the latest episode featuring Rachel Billow Angulo of La Cocinita. 
“It’s important for New Orleans to have difficult, but hopeful and productive discussions as we chart a path forward in the wake of COVID-19,” said Greg Tilton, host and producer of We’ll Be Right Back.

COVID-19

Viewpoint: Companies pivot to serve increased sanitation needs

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By Danae Columbus, opinion columnist

Joe Sobol Sr. was born with an entrepreneurial spirit. The Riccobonos, his mother’s family, came to New Orleans after Sicily’s devastating famine in the 1880s. They first sold produce and then macaroni in the French Quarter. Eventually they opened The Pearl Restaurant and Oyster Bar at 119 St. Charles Ave., where 10-year-old Joe got his first job dressing the family’s famous roast beef po-boys.

coronavirus

Viewpoint: Our communal loneliness in the time of the coronavirus

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By Emily Carmichael, guest columnist

A week and a half into quarantine with COVID-19, I was shaking. I piled a blanket on top of myself and rocked side to side, occasionally moaning, nestling ever deeper into the joints of my couch. My heart felt like it was racing, my head pounded. Yes, according to my doctor, I most likely was infected with the coronavirus, but that’s not what was causing this. It had been 10 days since I was within 8 feet of another person, and I was having an anxiety attack. 

I’m not bad at being alone.

business

Webinar today to provide information on relief for small businesses

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Register here for a free webinar, beginning today at 11 a.m., on U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loans in response to COVID-19. It is hosted by the Friends of Lafitte Greenway and the Greater Mid-City Business Association. Updates will also be shared on the congressional stimulus bill. https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KrqZgV75Qmq5dzexvGB9rg

colleges

Viewpoint: Between panic and denial, there’s a more sensible road to tread

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By Christian Willbern, guest columnist

In a few weeks, I was supposed to get up at 7 a.m., put on a starchy cap and gown, and walk across a stage in front of hundreds of people to receive an empty diploma sleeve. While that sounds more revolting than Burger King’s 2002 green ketchup, I was inexplicably looking forward to it. Many of my fellow seniors were. That walk across a stage was earned through four (in my case, five) years of hard work and panic attacks — just to be taken away within a blink of an eye. Instead, now, I am using hand sanitizer my dad made with baby lotion from the 1990s.

COVID-19

Police seek parade organizer after breaking up second-line in Fontainebleau

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NOPD officers have obtained an arrest warrant for Cecil Spencer, 38, in connection with a second-line parade that violated the mandates in place during the current public health crisis. The leader of the band playing during the gathering, tuba player Clifton Smith, was issued a summons for his participation in the event. On Saturday (March 28) around 4:30 p.m., officers responded to reports that a large gathering was taking place in the 3000 block of Audubon Street. A brass band band was playing and about 100 individuals were attending a funeral repast at the location, the NOPD said. Officers asked the event organizers to shut down the event, but they refused.

city government

RTA is reducing service, waiving fares

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Beginning Sunday (March 29) in response to COVID-19 pandemic, the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority is further reducing its service. Some routes will remain on a Saturday schedule,  other lines will run less frequently and some routes will be eliminated during the coronavirus crisis. In addition, the RTA will waive transit fares for bus, streetcar and ferry service until further notice. The RTA continues to urge the community to use public transit for essential travel only and for riders to practice social distancing when using transit. Service suspended
The 11 Magazine, 15 Freret and 90 Carrollton buses will suspend service altogether from Sunday until further notice.

business

Breaux Mart taking a day off on Sunday

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The Breaux Mart at 3233 Magazine St., along with the others in the local supermarket chain, will be closed Sunday (March 29) to give its employees a rest, according to posts on the store’s social media accounts. While most employees will get a chance to sleep late and put their feet up for a while, crews will be working behind the locked doors on some deep cleaning, sanitizing and restocking, store managers say. Breaux Mart has also won praise for its finesse in the art of social distancing. The store has reserved the 8 to 9 a.m. hour on Tuesdays for shoppers ages 60 and up.

COVID-19

Volunteers needed for meal delivery to senior citizens, chronically ill residents

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Beginning Monday (March 30), Hands On New Orleans, in partnership with World Central Kitchen, is launching the Serving Seniors Program to provide free meal delivery service to home-bound, low-income seniors and chronically ill residents, who are at a greater risk of severe illness if exposed to the coronavirus. And they need volunteers. Volunteer drivers are needed to pick up and deliver meals to the doorsteps of seniors who have signed up on Monday and Thursday each week from 11 a.m to 2 p.m. Hands On will coordinate a central pick up point and give volunteers their assignment. Each driver will deliver to five to six households in the same ZIP code. Volunteers need to be healthy and have a vehicle.

business

Viewpoint: Weighing risk in the restaurant takeout dilemma

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COVID-19 can live up to eight hours on cardboard takeout boxes and up to 72 on Styrofoam containers, straws, cups and plastic bags, says a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine. Airborne droplets can linger in the air for three to four hours after a person has coughed or sneezed. What does that mean for locals who are supporting our beloved local restaurants and coffee shops? It means risk. Takeout and curbside service is a risk to the health of the workers and the customers, but how much?