Chuck Carr chuckcarr@isri.o To: hardenb@washpost.com cc: Subject: Message via washingtonpost.com 05/17/2006 06:41AM Chuck Carr sent the following message: Blaine -- I am in charge of meetings and conventions for a mid-sized trade association here in D.C. Last February, I visited New Orleans, including the Ninth Ward and Lakeview. Your representation of what is going on in those neighborhoods is fairly accurate. But you have missed another very important part of the story that no one outside New Orleans seems to want to tell. While neighborhoods, and certainly individuals struggle, the downtown area -- the economic engine of New Orleans -- has been hard at work to recover. The port is back in 100% operation and the city is desperately trying to reinvent itself to draw back tourists and conventioneers. And they've done a terrific job. But that part of the story is not getting out and not reporting it is doing real, substantial economic damage to the city. At our convention in Las Vegas this year, dozens of people came to me to ask if I had lost my mind by planning a convention in New Orleans in 2007. For each one, I had to go through quite an involved explanation that the stories they see and read about the despair in the city are in the neighborhoods, not downtown. And I tell them honestly that none of the stories they've seen are accurately painting the picture of the devastation in the Ninth Ward and Lakeview. The City of New Orleans knows who butters their bread: ships and tourists. They are fighting to rebuild that important part of their economy, but each story like yours pushes them back. Without tourists, the city will never get the spark it needs to get its engine running. And with stories like yours (and admittedly MUCH worse stories told in 90 seconds on television), tourists are more and more wary of the city. Yet, how many tourists will ever encounter these neighborhoods? I've been going to New Orleans for 25 years. My only visit to either neighborhood occurred last February and then it was only because I made the effort to go see them. Please follow up your story with the other part that's missing: The new New Orleans that is working hard to bring back the people who will provide the fuel of the city's economic engine. Want to see what I'm doing to fight it? Go to www.isriconvention.org and check out my New Orleans report and weekly blog. You and the Post could do a great service to the city AND the people who are so desperate to rebuild by helping attract tourists and conventions back to the city so that the city's employment needs can continue to put pressure on to rebuild. If you need a hook for a story, then come track our efforts. I'm making another visit to the city in July. I'll show you what people need to see to know that the city will be ready for tourists and their dollars. Sincerely, Chuck Carr Vice President - Member Services, Meetings, Marketing and Communications Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. 1325 G St NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005-3104 Phone: 202/662-8527 Fax: 202/626-0927 Email: chuckcarr@isri.org -----Original Message----- From: Blaine Harden [mailto:hardenb@washpost.com] Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 1:36 PM To: **Chuck Carr Subject: Re: Message via washingtonpost.com Mr. Carr, You are right, of course. There is a good story about recovery in the downtown area. We have mentioned it in many stories and will write about it in the future, probably as a major theme of the stories that appear around the anniversary of the storm. My focus on Lakeview and the Lower Ninth is intentionally narrow -- to try to humanize the effects of the flooding. But the Post is committed to writing many other kinds of stories to show the broad range of recovery. Blaine Harden The Washington Post Seattle Bureau