[StBernard] Area men aid businesses in New Orleans

[Westley Annis]

Area men aid businesses in New Orleans
by TIM HARE

 
 
Ledger Staff Writer

New Orleans may be renowned for its unique ambience, courtesy of its
flavorful food, jubilant music, colorful social scene, and other distinctive
attributes of the town known as "The Big Easy." But like any community, it
depends upon more mundane elements such as efficient delivery of goods and
services, to properly function as a city.

That basic economic concept has been put to the test in the community since
damage wreaked by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and resultant flooding. A
Mexico (Missouri) businessman who recently made a trip to New Orleans to aid
in business redevelopment can attest to the devastation and myriad hurdles
encountered by the town and its residents. The city struggles to recover,
nearly two years after the storms converged on the region.

"It's just overwhelming," said Ben Steinman, owner and operator of Ben's
Auto Body in Mexico, in straightforward assessment of the damage he
witnessed during his recent journey to the region.

In addition to his duties as proprietor of the automotive body repair shop,
Steinman is also president of the Missouri/Kansas chapter of the Automotive
Services Association. As chapter president, he helped coordinate donation of
various automotive repair tools from the local chapter to ASA members in New
Orleans, especially the hard-hit St. Bernard Parish.

ASA is a trade organization with approximately 12,000 members in the United
States which serves owners and managers of automotive service businesses.
Members of the Missouri/Kansas ASA chapter - including Columbia and
Boonville participants - donated a wide range of auto body repair equipment
to the cause, with assistance from Dennis Herndon, who helped gather the
equipment.

"We ended up hauling down four jacks, wheel-alignment equipment machines,"
stated Steinman. "We had tire balancers, we had diagnostic equipment, jack
stands, even office equipment."

"You know, I thought that over this period of time, everything was
hunky-dory," said Steinman, who delivered the items on a two-day trip in
early May with assistance from Ralph Hampton, driving a donated semi-truck
from Lierheimer Trucking Company. "But these (automotive repair) shops are
not even open yet. After over a year-and-a-half, the shops were not open,
and that's what devastated me. But after talking to some of the local
people, they said, for example, 'If your house burned down, you would have
friends come and help you get your feet back on the ground. But ... the
problem is that all of the friends are in the same boat.' It's just
overwhelming."

 
 
For context, Steinman said, "They put us up in a hotel, and it was the
second floor of the hotel ... and there was still a trailer - a cargo
container trailer - sucking the water at 45 degrees, less than 100 feet from
where the hotel was, almost two years later."

Delivery of the automotive repair items followed an ASA meeting several
months ago in Dallas, attended by Steinman. At the meeting, Tim Gilthorpe,
president of the ASA's Louisiana chapter, requested aid.

"So when I talked to them down there, I asked, 'Well, what are you really
looking for?'" said Steinman. "They said 'Anything from about 8-foot down to
run a business.' If you walked into The Ledger right now, and if you could
imagine having standing water, and it's at eight feet. They said 'None of us
have office furniture, tape dispensers. We need everything.'"

The Louisiana Economic Develop-ment Department estimated 81,000 businesses
were damaged in the state following the twin punch of the hurricanes.
Katrina caused the bulk of the damage to the region, landing a virtual
direct hit on the Crescent City. Much damage in the city occurred when
levees collapsed, causing extensive flooding throughout the community.
Estimates indicate up to 80 percent of New Orleans was flooded following the
hurricane.

The state economic development department also determined that more than
18,000 businesses have closed in Louisiana as a result of the storms'
impact.

As just one example of many dilemmas facing businessmen who have struggled
to re-open, Steinman cited comments by a New Orleans businessman affected by
storm damage.

"He actually was a wholesale automotive parts supplier in New Orleans. And
he said after the flood came in, he was planning on borrowing about 300-400
thousand dollars to rebuild his business," noted Steinman. "He said he took
a survey, and before the flood he had 250 customers. After the flood he only
had 30. So there is just a lot of people that didn't bother to move back ...
It's going to be years before he gets his customer base built back up to
where it was."

Steinman added, business difficulties in the region are amplified by the
fact that "As well as losing that customer base, they have lost a lot of
employees too."

Yet, many businessmen remain indomitable in desire to re-establish.

"Personally, you might say, 'Why would you want to rebuild?' But that's
their home, and that's their territory, and some of them are just planning
on rebuilding," said Steinman.

The determination of such individuals drove Steinman's efforts to deliver
the equipment, and the resultant response was enthusiastic.

"We went directly to a body shop in the St. Bernard district," said
Steinman, referring to the working class neighborhood located in the
southeast section of the city. "It kind of reminded me of the way you see
the trucks pulling into the church parking lot, the pantry, food items, and
people come in. It kind of reminded me of that, except with their pickup
trucks coming in."

"You know, when you have a person 220 pounds - a big, husky guy that gives
you a hug - you know they are very appreciative."

Noting the St. Bernard Parish just recently witnessed re-opening of its
local grocery store, Steinman stated recipients of the donations "Were just
overwhelmed with clean, fresh automotive equipment that wasn't rusted,"
alluding to corrosive effects of saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico.

"I guess it was kind of basically one ASA member hollering out for help from
another state, and getting a response," concluded Steinman.

Posted 7-20-7