FQCP's Priorities Set For New Year

By Carol Greve

The Board Orientation on January 18, 2003, was attended by 16 of our 18 members, with two out of town. This important session included an evaluation of our activities of the past year and the setting of priorities for this year.

John Constance, Director of Congressional and Public Affairs for the National Archives and Records Administration, presented during the morning session. His goal was to educate us about the Archives and the value of preserving records. He did a wonderful job while also entertaining us with stories about Washington. Mr. Constance is responsible for liaison activities with the media and with Congress and had some very interesting ideas for our group. We felt very grateful to have Mr. Constance at our Orientation.

Nathan Chapman, VCPORA President, also spoke to us informally regarding how our organizations can work more effectively together.

After lunch, we chose officers for the year and project assignments. Everyone seemed very pleased with the dedicated members of this Board and their commitment to work this year.

Priorities were set by having each Board member rank according to importance a list of twenty acknowledged problems in the French Quarter. These were tallied and a top ten list emerged. Of these top ten, only those for which a Board member was willing to assume leadership became part of our agenda for the year.

• 1. Zoning issues and the adoption of the new City Zoning Ordinance
• 2. Proliferation of small condos
• 3. Illegal hotel expansion
• 4. Illegal short term rentals
• 5. Lack of tourism management
• 6. Noise in residential areas
• 7. Heavy vehicles
• 8. Motorcycles
• 9. Mardi Gras year-round promotion
• 10. Presence of national franchises

If there is anyone out there who feels strongly about a particular problem and is willing to be the point person, please contact a Board member to get started. We need and encourage members to speak up and become involved so that our organization can address all the needs of the membership.

A reception was held for Mr. Constance and the Board members, along with their spouses/partners and other special guests, at Michael Murphy's beautiful home. We were very pleased to have Jackie Clarkson (our City Councilmember), Lois Sutton (outgoing President of French Quarter Business Association) and Re Cabes (President of French Quarter Business Women's Network) in attendance. Tony Marino (Past President of VCPORA) also joined us, along with Nathan Chapman (current President of VCPORA).

We'd like to extend a heartfelt thank-you to Dee and John Lynott for hosting our Orientation and to Michael Murphy for hosting the reception.