The bottom line is that either a) the track will close without them or b)horseplayers, currently the most taxed segment of society (they are really taxed twice - and if businesses are double taxed, then horseplayers are taxed 3 times) will get another tax hike. Much of the stuff in the Pic has been patently false - purses wouldn't be ANY different had the FG paid the La owners more (purses for La breds would have been higher, but not for non-la breds - don't get me started on that - La owners want to be paid like Secretariat for breeding animals best suited for pulling tourists through the french quarter). I know the deal with the poker machines looks bad - but I haven't seen any evidence that any of the money was kicked back to the Krantz' From a practical perspective, give Bryan Krantz credit for MINIMIZING the influence of the wise guys at the FG (it's a lot less than it used to be - rare really). If Harrahs, who takes the profits from slots out of the city can have slots, so should FG, who will keep the profits IN the city. There is no substantive reason to vote against this, but the chic thing to do these days is to vote no, spurred by 2 bit reporters who have nothing better to opine on.
We rewarded Harrah's for incompetence. The issue is really just a transfer from Harrah's to a local company.
If the slots thing dosen't pass and if horse racing goes down the tubes maybe the people who run the Jazz Festival can pick up the Fairgrounds at a good price.
That would be just lovely No horseracing More corporatizing of the jazz fest I was certain I was sitting next to Jerry Springer at the Tulane/TCU game - alas, it was Quint Davis.
Actually in the last few years the Jazz Festival has outgrown the Fairgrounds. Its popularity has increased the crowd to the point where it has become too crowded. My last experience was that I had to go first to the big jazz tent just to find some shade and then to the grandstands for some air conditioning. The guy who had a tent selling his African Art probably saved my life by letting me sit down inside the tent in front of a fan. There is only one place in the infield to get a drink of water. Its too bad New Orleans dosen't have a NASCAR sized race track to move the jazz fest to. I don't have any idea how corporate the jazz fest might have become but I know a lady who is pretty well known as an artist here in Baton Rouge. I know absolutley nothing about art but she must be pretty good because she is well known locally and has sold paintings for up to $2000. For the last 7 or 8 years she has applied to the Jazz Fest to have a booth to sell her art and every year her application is rejected. One night I ran into a guy I know who fancies himself as a great chef. His food is OK but I can cook things myself that make anything of his I ever tasted seem like dog food. There are a zillion great cooks in Louisiana. Anyway this self styled chef got a food booth at the Jazz Fest because he paid somebody on the inside $5000 to approve his application.
That's being going on for years. It's ridiculously political (politics within the jazz fest inner circle).
