Sop, sometimes working for you really sucks……

I do love owning a small business.  This year, if it were up to me, Christmas would be cancelled (or at least scaled back significantly). As to the person who said these words yesterday, they know they can say this to me without fear of reprisal, which means that most of the time working for me rocks, except for those times that it really sucks.

In other news TV meteorologist Nash Roberts passed away earlier this week. This is no revelation down here except for those that have been hiding under rocks as Nash was even honored with an impromptu half hour special which recounted his life on WWL TV. I feel safe in saying no other weather guy in this land approaches Nash’s level of local fame, which extends to the point of adulation but no other area of the country is as vulnerable to the impacts of hurricanes than New Orleans.

The big news yesterday was Gulfport based Hancock Bank buying out NOLA based Whitney. As with any wedding there is lots of fluffy, happy PR and the like but make no mistake that Hancock would not be doing this deal unless it were a steal.  Whitney, plagued by the lax lending standards which became the pre financial crash norm was a TARP recipient (along with Jackson based Trustmark). OTOH Hancock never left its roots as a conservative asset based lender and has emerged from the 2008 financial crash as strong as ever. The new bank will have branches stretching from Tampa Florida to Houston Texas as Hancock’s long time strategy of growing the I-10 corridor continues to pay off big. Hancock is now the nation’s 32 largest bank.

Waveland has put off the proposed marina and it looks as if the project will be cancelled as Mayor Garcia cites the evergreen costs of running the facility as the reason for the about face. My own thought is the money problems could be solved via increasing the number of taxpaying residents but the city’s post storm growth strategy seemed focused on building lots of low income apartment buildings which are attracting just the kind of residents that use lots of city services and pay little to nothing into the community till.  Somewhere in there is the reason Mayor Longo is now former Mayor Longo and a bit of an explanation for the rampant taser use in the poorly trained police force.

Those that remember the buddy walk understand that I have an inside perspective on the money problems over at Bright Beginnings.  I got a good report on the Sun Herald’s Geoff Pender and team Sun Herald went above and beyond trying to raise public awareness on the great work this nonprofit does for the coastal community. Anyone moved to help out financially can find all the skinny following the links above.

Hancock County Sheriff Steve Garber is calling it quits after 3 terms of office.  He’s likely got 25 and has no need for the aggravation IMHO.  Happy trails.

Feel free to add anythings else of interests as this will be our pre Christmas open thread.

sop