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How y'all feeling, everybody?

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Sunny side of the street.

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Walk me through the full history
of Jazzland Six Flags.

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Sure.
Probably in the early '90s,

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Tom Winingder,
who is a longstanding developer

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here in New Orleans,
his wife's family,

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the Colemans,
they're very well-known

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in real estate circles
in New Orleans.

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Tom, the husband
of Dian Coleman Winingder,

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had a vision that one day
he would like to have built

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a theme park,

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'cause we did not have
a theme park in New Orleans.

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I could recall being out in
my front yard cutting the grass,

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and some guys came through
the trees with masks on

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and big machetes,
cutting down the trees,

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and I asked them
what were they doing,

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and they said
they were doing a survey,

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and I was like,
"A survey for what?"

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And they said,
"A survey for a theme park."

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The park at the time
was gonna be Jazzland.

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The city of New Orleans
had long been without

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any family entertainment.

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Jazzland was dreamt up
to solve that.

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A park designed to offer
an outstanding

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family experience appealing
to both young and old alike

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in an attractive, clean,
safe environment.

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The park itself would celebrate
the heritage, the culture,

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and the people of the city.

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The location was perfect,

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situated centrally
in New Orleans East,

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just a short drive
from the city,

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and placed just off the highway.

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The land, too, was ideal,
with good drainage,

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even during storms.

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In fact,
the Army Corps of Engineers

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found it to be
a dry piece of land.

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By 1991, the developers
had submitted the proposal

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to the city,

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and for over seven years
worked to get it built.

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With promising
over one million visitors

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in their first year,

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along with over $200 million
being added

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to the local economies,

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even the governor was on board
and offered the developers

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$10 million in state funds.

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Jazzland Resort was planned
to be like nothing

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the city had ever seen,

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with a planned hotel,
a water park,

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a campground,
and even a golf course.

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It made sense, too.

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This new resort would be located
at least 350 miles

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from any other major theme park.

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The park would be named after
the city's most iconic export,

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jazz.

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I'm a resident
of New Orleans East.

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You know, the neighbors
were overwhelmingly positive

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and excited about the prospect

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of something this vibrant

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and exciting
and attractive to the region

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would be right in our backyards.

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He partnered with a company
in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina,

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as he was going through
the development process.

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Burroughs and Chapin.

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And they had interest
in this company.

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He also partnered
with Ogden Entertainment,

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who also had an interest
in New Orleans.

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Well, I went to work
for Broadmoor, 1998,

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and that was to go
and do that job

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at Jazzland.

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You know, obviously
it was a virgin site,

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some 150-something acres.

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This was the first time
we ever built a theme park,

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or a park that had rides on it
that people would

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actually get on
and participate in.

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So, that was unique.

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The biggest challenge,
once we got on site,

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was that the ground conditions

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were so poor that equipment
that we brought on site

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would break through
the crust at the top

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and sink down
three to four to six feet,

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in some locations.

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We have one picture of a backhoe

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that, you know, broke through

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doing the early
clearing of the land,

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and basically the only thing
you saw sticking out

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-was the bucket.
-In 1998,

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construction finally began.

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Phase one of the project
for the theme park itself

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was finished in just two years.

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Jazzland officially opened

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on May 20th, 2000,

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at the cost
of over $130 million.

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The park's original operator,
Ogden Entertainment,

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ended up dropping out
of the project,

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and a new company by the name
of Alfa Smartparks

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had taken over.

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Ready?
Five, four, three, two, one!

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Come on, everybody, sing it.

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Let's go ahead
and get this ribbon cut

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so people can start having fun,
get some pictures.

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Countdown, five, four,
three, two, one, ready?

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-Yeah.
-Five, four, three,

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two, one, woo!

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All right, ladies and gentlemen,
Jazzland is officially open!

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Let's have some fun!

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-Did you like it?
-I loved it.

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Was it a good ride?
Tell me yes.

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-It was terrific.
-Oh, it's better than the beach

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-ever was.
-It was better than sex.

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Spend the day
at Jazzland theme park,

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where the fun is at full blast!

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I gotta do that again!

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Jazzland in New Orleans
on I-10 at the I-510 exit

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is filled with thrills
for the whole family.

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-Serious rides.
-30 incredible rides

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-and spectacular entertainment!
-This is great.

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Come for the thrills,
stay for the fun at Jazzland,

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open daily at 10:00 A.M.

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You know, my first memories was
I remember the excitement

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of the park opening,

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and how much people
were anticipating its opening.

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You know, it was just
something so new

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and different from
any other asset in New Orleans

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that we've had--ever had,

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since, um, probably
it was 30 years prior to that,

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Pontchartrain Beach
was an amusement park.

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And then, there were kids
that didn't have to travel

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to Biloxi or to Houston,
or other areas,

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and they could literally
be a member

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and go as many times
as they'd like

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with season passes
and things of that sort.

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So, there was just
a lot of excitement about,

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you know, how much
you wanted to partake of it.

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You had that option,
and it was so convenient.

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And, um, I think
that people were,

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you know,
they were excited about it.

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And you know,
it was not perfect,

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but it was very, very much
a huge positive

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for the entire community.

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Whenever visitors
would come in and visit,

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you know, we'd always
take 'em one day at least,

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-you go to Jazzland.
-You know, I will tell you,

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I live near the area,

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so I had
a longstanding knowledge

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of, well, this park,
probably going back

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seven years before
it was even built.

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I can remember
before I worked there

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in that first season
before I became an employee,

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I did have a season pass,
and it was very nice

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to go there just for a few hours
on the evenings

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as the sun was
beginning to descend,

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you know, to catch a ride
or maybe get

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a light meal out there.

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It was a great escape from
the normal hustle and bustle

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of the work that I was doing
in corporate advertising

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at that time.

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Um, I do not know if--

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I don't remember
if it was the first year.

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My son and I went out there,
just the two of us,

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before we started bringing
our groups of employees.

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Um...

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it was kind of
a love at first sight.

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Jazzland was already
being publicized

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as America's newest
major theme park,

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and in many respects, it was.

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The park had several
themed sections,

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all originating from
a central main street

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made to look like
the famous French Quarter.

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Circling around
a main lake in the middle

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would be Cajun Country,
Mardi Gras,

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Kids Carnival, and most popular

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a land themed off
a vintage amusement park

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in New Orleans,
Pontchartrain Beach.

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These lands were comprised
of many different flat rides,

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flume rides, a simulator,

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two launch towers,
an eye-catching sky coaster,

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and four roller coasters.

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The main attraction, though,
was undoubtedly the Mega Zeph,

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a wooden coaster
built on a steel frame,

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one which was
inspired by the Zephyr

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from New Orleans's very own
Pontchartrain Beach.

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Of course, the Mega Zeph
was the signature wooden coaster

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that we had at the facility.

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I believe, if memory serves,
it was 110 feet tall

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at the peak of the ride,
and it was just--

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it was a great experience.

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I think everybody reacted
very positively.

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First of all,
they couldn't believe

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that we had
an amusement park out there.

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I think families
were thrilled with it,

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and, as I said,
the size of the park was great.

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Kids could play,
you could walk around,

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you--it wasn't a big Disney

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that you were worn out
at the end of the day.

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It was, um--I think it was
very well-received

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by the community,

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and especially by families.

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If a guest did not necessarily
go looking for the stories

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in the newspaper
or on television or radio,

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that the park was in bankruptcy,

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they probably would not have
necessarily known that we were.

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After the second year,

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and really beginning
in the 2002 season,

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Jazzland did indeed have
some financial troubles

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and it declared bankruptcy

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at the end of that season.

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In the industry, they call
year two "sophomore slump,"

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and I definitely feel
we had a hit in attendance.

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Certainly it was felt.

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Jazzland received
more than a million visitors

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during its first season open.

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By their second season, however,

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attendance had dropped
over 40 percent

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to just 600,000 people.

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This dip in attendance
had taken place

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while all other
regional theme parks

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seemed to have grown.

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Subsequently, the park didn't
have the attendance numbers

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to offset their expenses

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and pay off
the construction debt.

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Jazzland claimed they had less
than just $50 million in assets

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and between $50 million
to $100 million in debt.

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We promised folks
in year number two

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that we were gonna build
this great new coaster.

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Guess what happened?

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We didn't build it.

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The first challenge was

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centered around the fact
that the New Orleans park

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was the largest park
in the system.

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Alfa Smartparks
was a brand-new company.

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The parent company
was in Athens, Greece.

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They were a shipping company,

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and everyone else, you know,
that was affiliated

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in the company, again,
the other "kids" in the company

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were either
family entertainment centers

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or water parks, that was it.

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So, we were required to produce

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the largest share of revenue
for the company.

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In year number two,
we did not produce

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a large share, or certainly not
the share that was requested,

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or required per our 2001 budget,

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and things, of course,
began to unravel.

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Alfa Smartparks
had been going through

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their own
financial difficulties,

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and had been looking
to put the Jazzland park

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and their land lease
up for sale.

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After only two years,
Alfa Smartparks

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had abandoned
their brand-new theme park.

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00:15:07.206 --> 00:15:10.141
Larry was a former president
of Six Flags,

252
00:15:10.176 --> 00:15:13.444
and Larry was
an "interim executive" with us,

253
00:15:13.479 --> 00:15:16.414
and, you know, through Larry
we opened some doors

254
00:15:16.449 --> 00:15:18.482
back into the Six Flags family,

255
00:15:18.517 --> 00:15:21.352
and there was interest
in this park.

256
00:15:21.387 --> 00:15:23.187
I think they saw that this park

257
00:15:23.222 --> 00:15:25.389
was literally
only three years old

258
00:15:25.424 --> 00:15:27.391
as a physical facility--
it was a brand-new park,

259
00:15:27.426 --> 00:15:29.193
and it was in
great physical condition,

260
00:15:29.228 --> 00:15:30.528
all the rides were new.

261
00:15:30.563 --> 00:15:33.364
They had a great team in place,
and there was interest

262
00:15:33.399 --> 00:15:35.533
by Six Flags.

263
00:15:35.568 --> 00:15:37.335
We were excited.

264
00:15:37.370 --> 00:15:40.204
The excitement started
before the park

265
00:15:40.239 --> 00:15:43.307
was even really officially
going to be renamed

266
00:15:43.342 --> 00:15:45.376
Six Flags New Orleans.

267
00:15:45.411 --> 00:15:49.180
In the 2002 season,
containers started showing up

268
00:15:49.215 --> 00:15:51.382
of roller coaster tracks,
so everyone had

269
00:15:51.417 --> 00:15:54.151
the high expectations
that Six Flags

270
00:15:54.186 --> 00:15:57.989
is seriously going to invest
money into this park,

271
00:15:58.024 --> 00:16:00.658
and it's gonna mean good things.

272
00:16:00.693 --> 00:16:03.995
You know, it means that
we finally have an investor

273
00:16:04.030 --> 00:16:06.664
that really is serious

274
00:16:06.699 --> 00:16:09.533
and wants to invest in the park

275
00:16:09.568 --> 00:16:11.268
and grow the park.

276
00:16:11.303 --> 00:16:14.305
We rebranded, we remarketed.

277
00:16:14.340 --> 00:16:17.341
We built an entire theme section
based around DC Comics.

278
00:16:17.376 --> 00:16:18.743
We redid our kids' section,

279
00:16:18.778 --> 00:16:21.379
it was
a Looney Tunes-theme section.

280
00:16:21.414 --> 00:16:23.781
Of course,
we opened that spring

281
00:16:23.816 --> 00:16:26.017
in March of that year, 2003,

282
00:16:26.052 --> 00:16:28.185
to great fanfare,
and we actually had

283
00:16:28.220 --> 00:16:31.288
a really wonderful 2003 season.

284
00:16:31.323 --> 00:16:33.424
As you can see, we have
a lot to look forward to

285
00:16:33.459 --> 00:16:35.292
at Six Flags New Orleans.

286
00:16:35.327 --> 00:16:38.262
Again, welcome to
Six Flags New Orleans.

287
00:16:38.297 --> 00:16:40.197
The park is now open!

288
00:16:46.305 --> 00:16:48.806
Six Flags invites you
to experience

289
00:16:48.841 --> 00:16:51.709
our newest
world-class theme park:

290
00:16:51.744 --> 00:16:55.046
Six Flags New Orleans,

291
00:16:55.081 --> 00:16:57.648
where 14 new attractions include

292
00:16:57.683 --> 00:17:00.451
2 incredible coasters,

293
00:17:00.486 --> 00:17:02.453
Batman the Ride,

294
00:17:02.488 --> 00:17:04.588
and The Jester.

295
00:17:13.466 --> 00:17:16.700
In August of 2002, Six Flags
had officially completed

296
00:17:16.735 --> 00:17:18.736
their acquisition of Jazzland,

297
00:17:18.771 --> 00:17:21.472
rebranding it into
Six Flags New Orleans

298
00:17:21.507 --> 00:17:23.240
for the 2003 season.

299
00:17:23.275 --> 00:17:24.708
The company had committed,

300
00:17:24.743 --> 00:17:27.678
spending over $20 million
on their new park,

301
00:17:27.713 --> 00:17:30.614
and resolving the standing debt
from the last owner.

302
00:17:30.649 --> 00:17:31.849
In addition
to minor improvements,

303
00:17:31.884 --> 00:17:33.551
like shade structures,

304
00:17:33.586 --> 00:17:35.453
Six Flags had spent
serious money

305
00:17:35.488 --> 00:17:37.488
on theming the individual lands,

306
00:17:37.523 --> 00:17:40.391
adding new attractions,
including two new coasters,

307
00:17:40.426 --> 00:17:43.461
and bringing in intellectual
property characters.

308
00:17:43.496 --> 00:17:45.429
My family,
we had great experiences there.

309
00:17:45.464 --> 00:17:47.598
I mean, I remember
the roller coasters,

310
00:17:47.633 --> 00:17:49.600
and they had
a lot of good shows there.

311
00:17:49.635 --> 00:17:53.437
The park integrated
the community with it,

312
00:17:53.472 --> 00:17:55.739
high schools
or elementary schools,

313
00:17:55.774 --> 00:17:57.875
and people were doing
different types of things,

314
00:17:57.910 --> 00:18:01.645
that Grandma had to go
see grandson perform

315
00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:05.449
or what have you,
at Jazzland, or at Six Flags.

316
00:18:05.484 --> 00:18:07.384
My daughters
were in a dance team

317
00:18:07.419 --> 00:18:08.786
that performed at the park,

318
00:18:08.821 --> 00:18:11.555
and then I think the last thing
is jobs that it created.

319
00:18:11.590 --> 00:18:13.591
A lot of kids had jobs there.

320
00:18:13.626 --> 00:18:15.359
You know, they would
work there for the summer,

321
00:18:15.394 --> 00:18:16.794
or work there
for a certain duration

322
00:18:16.829 --> 00:18:18.796
where, you know,
they could be part of it,

323
00:18:18.831 --> 00:18:21.532
and kids who worked there
were big shots, you know.

324
00:18:23.669 --> 00:18:25.903
Oh, I loved it.

325
00:18:25.938 --> 00:18:28.873
That was my favorite job
I've ever had.

326
00:18:28.908 --> 00:18:32.409
I felt like I could connect
with everybody who's coming on.

327
00:18:32.444 --> 00:18:34.311
I had something to say,
I could make

328
00:18:34.346 --> 00:18:36.814
some sort of comment
about their day,

329
00:18:36.849 --> 00:18:38.849
or ask them a question.

330
00:18:38.884 --> 00:18:41.819
We did have a, um,

331
00:18:41.854 --> 00:18:44.822
a little Six Flags chant
that we did in the mornings

332
00:18:44.857 --> 00:18:48.926
as operations people that--
to get people pumped up,

333
00:18:48.961 --> 00:18:51.562
um, which I may still know.

334
00:18:53.465 --> 00:18:55.933
I would say I was there
almost every other week,

335
00:18:55.968 --> 00:18:59.403
I mean, as often I could.

336
00:18:59.438 --> 00:19:03.440
We all crammed in
to the very tiny arcade,

337
00:19:03.475 --> 00:19:04.942
because I think
they had a dance game

338
00:19:04.977 --> 00:19:06.710
out there at the time,

339
00:19:06.745 --> 00:19:09.947
and everybody
wanted to get in there.

340
00:19:09.982 --> 00:19:14.451
The main arcade was
more like a penny arcade.

341
00:19:14.486 --> 00:19:16.720
Throw bottles, win prizes,

342
00:19:16.755 --> 00:19:18.556
win stuffed animals.

343
00:19:18.591 --> 00:19:22.459
So, one time, everybody had
to get these big gorillas,

344
00:19:22.494 --> 00:19:23.727
so they all played.

345
00:19:23.762 --> 00:19:25.596
We must've--
instead of riding the rides,

346
00:19:25.631 --> 00:19:28.732
we were playing the crazy games
to win these big snakes

347
00:19:28.767 --> 00:19:31.635
and big gorillas,
big, colorful gorillas.

348
00:19:31.670 --> 00:19:33.871
I posted a picture
not too long ago

349
00:19:33.906 --> 00:19:37.474
of some of the kids
with the gorillas on Facebook,

350
00:19:37.509 --> 00:19:39.610
and they all went crazy.
"I remember that,

351
00:19:39.645 --> 00:19:41.212
I remember that,
that was one of the best--

352
00:19:41.247 --> 00:19:43.547
Oh, man,
then we had so much fun."

353
00:19:43.582 --> 00:19:45.983
They loved it,
they just had so much fun.

354
00:19:46.018 --> 00:19:49.954
I hope that one day I can be
an old man and retire,

355
00:19:49.989 --> 00:19:52.790
and work at a theme park,
and be exactly like

356
00:19:52.825 --> 00:19:56.527
Mr. Six, like,
running the roller coasters.

357
00:19:56.562 --> 00:19:58.696
That is really
my ultimate dream.

358
00:19:58.731 --> 00:20:01.865
You'd go, and I mean,
there would be so many people

359
00:20:01.900 --> 00:20:04.902
on--during certain events
and certain weekends.

360
00:20:04.937 --> 00:20:08.439
I mean, I'm told
upwards of 30,000 people,

361
00:20:08.474 --> 00:20:11.775
which, for a park that size,
is pretty impressive.

362
00:20:11.810 --> 00:20:13.911
People who knew the park
absolutely loved it.

363
00:20:13.946 --> 00:20:16.580
I mean, if you had
the experience of going,

364
00:20:16.615 --> 00:20:18.649
you know, especially
if you went from the beginning,

365
00:20:18.684 --> 00:20:20.484
people liked that park.

366
00:20:20.519 --> 00:20:22.019
There was one time that

367
00:20:22.054 --> 00:20:25.456
I was working
at the Skycoaster,

368
00:20:25.491 --> 00:20:28.959
and there was a paraplegic woman

369
00:20:28.994 --> 00:20:32.663
who wanted to ride
in a wheelchair,

370
00:20:32.698 --> 00:20:34.465
and, um,

371
00:20:34.500 --> 00:20:37.568
the decision was left to me

372
00:20:37.603 --> 00:20:40.638
on if this person
should ride or not.

373
00:20:40.673 --> 00:20:42.006
And I'm like, "Okay,
I'm making the decision,

374
00:20:42.041 --> 00:20:44.675
she's riding."

375
00:20:44.710 --> 00:20:48.712
And it took a really long time
to get her situated

376
00:20:48.747 --> 00:20:50.014
and ready to ride,

377
00:20:50.049 --> 00:20:55.552
and by this time,
there is a really large line

378
00:20:55.587 --> 00:20:58.756
just snaking through
the whole attraction,

379
00:20:58.791 --> 00:21:01.859
and everyone is seeing
what's going on.

380
00:21:01.894 --> 00:21:04.695
And so, we hoist her up.

381
00:21:04.730 --> 00:21:07.631
We, uh, raise her up to the top,

382
00:21:07.666 --> 00:21:10.868
and she pulls her ripcord.

383
00:21:10.903 --> 00:21:13.504
The ride's successful
and everyone's applauding

384
00:21:13.539 --> 00:21:14.972
and cheering.

385
00:21:15.007 --> 00:21:17.041
And it made me so happy that--

386
00:21:17.076 --> 00:21:20.577
um, that I could

387
00:21:20.612 --> 00:21:23.614
give that to somebody.

388
00:21:23.649 --> 00:21:25.816
That I could give somebody

389
00:21:25.851 --> 00:21:28.786
that excitement and fun

390
00:21:28.821 --> 00:21:32.690
that was probably unexpected

391
00:21:32.725 --> 00:21:35.326
to her when she started her day.

392
00:21:35.361 --> 00:21:37.761
We're not here
to save the world,

393
00:21:37.796 --> 00:21:40.864
but we are here
to help people get through

394
00:21:40.899 --> 00:21:43.334
what might be
a difficult time in their lives,

395
00:21:43.369 --> 00:21:44.802
or a mundane lifestyle.

396
00:21:44.837 --> 00:21:46.737
We are that respite for them

397
00:21:46.772 --> 00:21:50.007
where they can go and get
an escape for a few hours,

398
00:21:50.042 --> 00:21:51.575
take their minds
off of their burdens,

399
00:21:51.610 --> 00:21:53.010
take their minds
off their problems,

400
00:21:53.045 --> 00:21:54.878
and have a good time
for a few hours.

401
00:21:54.913 --> 00:21:57.514
The water ride
was always the last one,

402
00:21:57.549 --> 00:22:00.718
and they had to go dry off
before they could get in my car,

403
00:22:00.753 --> 00:22:02.720
'cause I wouldn't let 'em
ride home with me

404
00:22:02.755 --> 00:22:05.689
-unless they were dry.
-It was actually announced

405
00:22:05.724 --> 00:22:09.026
that summer that
at the end of the 2005 season

406
00:22:09.061 --> 00:22:12.896
that we were going to build
the much-requested

407
00:22:12.931 --> 00:22:15.032
and certainly
the much-desired water park.

408
00:22:15.067 --> 00:22:16.667
The plans were drawn.

409
00:22:16.702 --> 00:22:18.135
We knew where it was going.

410
00:22:18.170 --> 00:22:21.772
We knew that
during the break in 2005,

411
00:22:21.807 --> 00:22:24.375
we were going to be
constructing the water park.

412
00:22:24.410 --> 00:22:26.777
I remember on my way
out of the park,

413
00:22:26.812 --> 00:22:30.581
like, my very last time
I was ever there,

414
00:22:30.616 --> 00:22:33.784
and, um, I made a joke.

415
00:22:33.819 --> 00:22:37.054
Said that, "I'll be back soon,

416
00:22:37.089 --> 00:22:39.656
unless the hurricane comes
and destroys everything."

417
00:22:45.731 --> 00:22:48.665
This morning I spoke with
FEMA Undersecretary Mike Brown

418
00:22:48.700 --> 00:22:51.635
and emergency management teams
not only at the federal level

419
00:22:51.670 --> 00:22:54.838
but at the state level

420
00:22:54.873 --> 00:22:58.409
about the, uh,
Hurricane Katrina.

421
00:22:58.444 --> 00:23:00.677
We will do
everything in our power

422
00:23:00.712 --> 00:23:01.945
to help the people
and the communities

423
00:23:01.980 --> 00:23:05.115
affected by this storm.

424
00:23:05.150 --> 00:23:06.950
Hurricane Katrina
is now designated

425
00:23:06.985 --> 00:23:09.653
a Category 5 hurricane.

426
00:23:09.688 --> 00:23:11.822
I think we all kinda had
this notion that

427
00:23:11.857 --> 00:23:14.191
this hurricane that was
brewing in the Gulf

428
00:23:14.226 --> 00:23:17.628
was, um--was not
gonna be that bad,

429
00:23:17.663 --> 00:23:18.829
or it might skirt past us.

430
00:23:18.864 --> 00:23:19.963
You know,
it was business as usual

431
00:23:19.998 --> 00:23:21.965
for the week
leading up to the park.

432
00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:24.067
You look at it on the news
and it's coming.

433
00:23:24.102 --> 00:23:26.603
They say, "Oh,
well, it's going to Florida."

434
00:23:26.638 --> 00:23:29.640
And they said, "Well, it's
really going to the Panhandle."

435
00:23:29.675 --> 00:23:32.443
"Oh no,
now it's going to Alabama."

436
00:23:32.478 --> 00:23:33.944
"Now it's going to Mississippi."

437
00:23:33.979 --> 00:23:36.847
And then, all of a sudden,
overnight,

438
00:23:36.882 --> 00:23:39.016
I think it was
that Sunday morning,

439
00:23:39.051 --> 00:23:41.752
the path had
significantly shifted,

440
00:23:41.787 --> 00:23:43.687
and the storm was a Category 5,

441
00:23:43.722 --> 00:23:46.190
and it was a feeling of, like,

442
00:23:46.225 --> 00:23:49.627
pure terror, like,
"Oh, my gosh, we gotta go now."

443
00:23:51.697 --> 00:23:53.063
No, none of us
had any idea then,

444
00:23:53.098 --> 00:23:54.898
not just the park,
but, you know, the entire city

445
00:23:54.933 --> 00:23:57.234
of New Orleans,
and the entire Gulf Coast

446
00:23:57.269 --> 00:24:00.471
of, you know, New Orleans,
Louisiana, Mississippi,

447
00:24:00.506 --> 00:24:02.172
Alabama, to a certain extent,

448
00:24:02.207 --> 00:24:06.677
would've ever have experienced
what we ultimately experienced.

449
00:24:06.712 --> 00:24:08.979
When I left on that Friday,
that was the very last time

450
00:24:09.014 --> 00:24:11.949
that I came back
to an operating park.

451
00:25:00.198 --> 00:25:01.932
The vast majority
of New Orleans, Louisiana,

452
00:25:01.967 --> 00:25:03.534
is under water.

453
00:25:05.571 --> 00:25:08.005
Tens of thousands
of homes and businesses

454
00:25:08.040 --> 00:25:09.840
are beyond repair.

455
00:25:11.977 --> 00:25:13.210
A lot of
the Mississippi Gulf Coast

456
00:25:13.245 --> 00:25:16.079
has been completely destroyed.

457
00:25:16.114 --> 00:25:19.816
We are dealing with one
of the worst natural disasters

458
00:25:19.851 --> 00:25:21.318
in our nation's history.

459
00:25:26.124 --> 00:25:29.026
On August 29th, 2005,

460
00:25:29.061 --> 00:25:31.028
Hurricane Katrina
hit New Orleans

461
00:25:31.063 --> 00:25:33.263
as a Category 3 storm,

462
00:25:33.298 --> 00:25:35.132
sparking the unimaginable.

463
00:25:37.135 --> 00:25:39.269
At around 5:00 A.M.,
the wall system

464
00:25:39.304 --> 00:25:41.738
built to keep
surging storm water out,

465
00:25:41.773 --> 00:25:43.840
called levees, broke,

466
00:25:43.875 --> 00:25:46.076
causing rising water
from the lake and the canals

467
00:25:46.111 --> 00:25:48.879
to flood around
80 percent of the city.

468
00:25:48.914 --> 00:25:51.148
New Orleans
was beyond devastated.

469
00:27:02.387 --> 00:27:06.256
It was--I mean, it was a lot,
'cause I was not only seeing

470
00:27:06.291 --> 00:27:08.125
images of the park flooding,

471
00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:11.194
but the neighborhood
that I live in,

472
00:27:11.229 --> 00:27:13.330
and, um, the--everywhere,

473
00:27:13.365 --> 00:27:16.366
like, my entire life
being flooded.

474
00:27:16.401 --> 00:27:18.335
You know, I, uh--I evacuated

475
00:27:18.370 --> 00:27:21.672
to some family--family property

476
00:27:21.707 --> 00:27:24.841
in, uh,
kinda more central Louisiana,

477
00:27:24.876 --> 00:27:28.345
and I was really surprised
at how bad, you know,

478
00:27:28.380 --> 00:27:30.347
after, you know,
the initial storm had passed,

479
00:27:30.382 --> 00:27:32.149
and then, of course,
there was the levee breach

480
00:27:32.184 --> 00:27:35.686
was the--really the nail
in the coffin for New Orleans.

481
00:27:35.721 --> 00:27:39.022
I was really surprised
at how bad things had gotten.

482
00:27:39.057 --> 00:27:42.125
I knew that we had been dealt
a really bad hit,

483
00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:44.094
and you know,
certainly looking at

484
00:27:44.129 --> 00:27:47.197
what was on local networks,
national networks,

485
00:27:47.232 --> 00:27:49.199
radio stations, and so forth,

486
00:27:49.234 --> 00:27:52.069
and I think the more
that I was watching that,

487
00:27:52.104 --> 00:27:53.470
you know, the more disheartened,
the more depressed

488
00:27:53.505 --> 00:27:55.138
I was getting.

489
00:27:55.173 --> 00:27:58.175
My home, for example,
had six feet of water

490
00:27:58.210 --> 00:28:01.111
inside the house, and when
you have six feet of water

491
00:28:01.146 --> 00:28:06.083
that was the soupiest,
murkiest water possible,

492
00:28:06.118 --> 00:28:08.385
with every chemical
you could imagine in it,

493
00:28:08.420 --> 00:28:12.155
sitting in a home for,
you know, four to six weeks,

494
00:28:12.190 --> 00:28:14.024
what it did is it
devastated the homes,

495
00:28:14.059 --> 00:28:15.959
because you had wind damage,

496
00:28:15.994 --> 00:28:18.995
and then you had flood damage,

497
00:28:19.030 --> 00:28:22.899
and as a result of that,
the mold was tremendous,

498
00:28:22.934 --> 00:28:24.901
because after
the storm went past,

499
00:28:24.936 --> 00:28:27.904
the heat was very high,
so you have all of these homes

500
00:28:27.939 --> 00:28:30.507
that now are--no ventilation,
they're all tightly built,

501
00:28:30.542 --> 00:28:32.375
and now the mold
is all over the place.

502
00:28:32.410 --> 00:28:36.012
So, Hurricane Katrina just
devastated Eastern New Orleans.

503
00:28:36.047 --> 00:28:37.748
Just imagine a home.

504
00:28:37.783 --> 00:28:40.350
It was a mess, the smell.

505
00:28:40.385 --> 00:28:43.220
The other thing that was
onerous about it all

506
00:28:43.255 --> 00:28:45.388
was you could smell
death in the air.

507
00:28:55.133 --> 00:28:57.434
We have to go down Jacob,
I need to see my house.

508
00:29:19.424 --> 00:29:21.391
Hard to believe I lived in it.

509
00:29:24.296 --> 00:29:26.062
Oh, God.

510
00:29:28.400 --> 00:29:30.100
This is the inside
of the garage,

511
00:29:30.135 --> 00:29:32.102
Eric's flag is still hanging up.

512
00:30:11.409 --> 00:30:13.376
Oh, my God.

513
00:30:26.324 --> 00:30:28.592
Look at all that stuff.

514
00:30:38.637 --> 00:30:41.171
Fell right in the middle
of their yard.

515
00:30:46.144 --> 00:30:48.211
See the holes in the roof
we had to punch out to get out?

516
00:30:48.246 --> 00:30:50.380
Can you imagine being
in the house and floating?

517
00:31:15.607 --> 00:31:18.541
Well, the park had a levee
running around it,

518
00:31:18.576 --> 00:31:21.177
but it was
basically a small levee

519
00:31:21.212 --> 00:31:23.313
just to keep the water
from the park

520
00:31:23.348 --> 00:31:25.515
going into
the surrounding areas,

521
00:31:25.550 --> 00:31:27.651
and that's why we had
our own pump station installed

522
00:31:27.686 --> 00:31:30.453
on the park, so we were
maintaining that water

523
00:31:30.488 --> 00:31:33.323
from going to other places,
going to other properties,

524
00:31:33.358 --> 00:31:36.559
like I said, but, you know,
to envision what happened,

525
00:31:36.594 --> 00:31:38.395
no, I don't think anybody
envisioned that

526
00:31:38.430 --> 00:31:41.331
that would happen
to not only Jazzland,

527
00:31:41.366 --> 00:31:42.499
but the city of New Orleans.

528
00:31:42.534 --> 00:31:45.402
Just the magnitude of that loss,

529
00:31:45.437 --> 00:31:48.238
and that--the damage
that was done.

530
00:33:05.316 --> 00:33:08.218
In every single
building here,

531
00:33:08.253 --> 00:33:11.654
you can see where
the water was standing

532
00:33:11.689 --> 00:33:14.491
in all of these buildings.

533
00:33:14.526 --> 00:33:19.429
All right, so we're walking into
the simulator bays now

534
00:33:19.464 --> 00:33:22.432
to the SpongeBob ride,

535
00:33:22.467 --> 00:33:25.301
and while some of it
has been gutted,

536
00:33:25.336 --> 00:33:28.772
here is one of the final...

537
00:33:33.845 --> 00:33:35.645
...simulator bays.

538
00:33:38.083 --> 00:33:40.650
This way.

539
00:33:45.490 --> 00:33:47.257
Oh my God.

540
00:33:58.803 --> 00:34:02.639
This bay still has
the screen in it.

541
00:34:02.674 --> 00:34:04.407
Whatever is left of it,
at least.

542
00:34:04.442 --> 00:34:06.576
Well, yeah.

543
00:34:06.611 --> 00:34:08.545
Wow.

544
00:34:18.456 --> 00:34:22.392
So, this over here is the
park administration building.

545
00:34:28.900 --> 00:34:31.501
Oh my God.

546
00:34:36.374 --> 00:34:38.275
-Oh my God, look at this.
-Yeah.

547
00:34:44.516 --> 00:34:46.282
Jazzland.

548
00:34:46.317 --> 00:34:47.784
Oh, jeez.

549
00:34:47.819 --> 00:34:49.819
You know what this was?

550
00:34:49.854 --> 00:34:52.789
This was the park's
audio system.

551
00:34:52.824 --> 00:34:55.558
-The thing playing music.
-Yeah, ambient music

552
00:34:55.593 --> 00:34:58.828
probably would've been
played through here.

553
00:34:58.863 --> 00:35:01.564
-Holy Christ.
-The equalizer tracks,

554
00:35:01.599 --> 00:35:02.732
it looks like
it had three of them.

555
00:35:02.767 --> 00:35:04.734
Look at where the water was.

556
00:35:04.769 --> 00:35:07.370
-The water line is right here.
-Yeah, each little line

557
00:35:07.405 --> 00:35:10.406
that you see going down is where
the water sat as it receded.

558
00:35:10.441 --> 00:35:13.143
-It's amazing.
-That is unbelievable.

559
00:35:13.178 --> 00:35:16.412
-"We're going live."
-"We're going live in '05!"

560
00:35:16.447 --> 00:35:19.849
Everything is
stuck in time here.

561
00:35:19.884 --> 00:35:22.585
"Suggestions sell...earn those."

562
00:35:22.620 --> 00:35:24.754
Holy--look at this.

563
00:35:27.425 --> 00:35:29.425
Oh my gosh.

564
00:35:34.732 --> 00:35:36.566
Wow.

565
00:35:40.605 --> 00:35:41.905
Look at this.

566
00:35:53.751 --> 00:35:55.852
This was
the manager's office here.

567
00:35:55.887 --> 00:35:58.755
This point, this is, um...

568
00:36:00.758 --> 00:36:03.660
This whole office looks like
it was in a shipwreck,

569
00:36:03.695 --> 00:36:06.629
like they just pulled it
out of the ocean.

570
00:36:06.664 --> 00:36:08.665
-Oh, wow.
-Yeah, look at this.

571
00:36:08.700 --> 00:36:11.534
This is where they would
monitor each area.

572
00:36:11.569 --> 00:36:13.603
Yep.

573
00:36:13.638 --> 00:36:17.207
Look at this,
still has the price tag on it.

574
00:36:17.242 --> 00:36:20.476
The month Katrina hit,

575
00:36:20.511 --> 00:36:22.212
2005,

576
00:36:22.247 --> 00:36:24.781
and this office stopped.

577
00:36:24.816 --> 00:36:26.883
Six Flags New Orleans,

578
00:36:26.918 --> 00:36:30.753
Fright Fest 2005.

579
00:36:30.788 --> 00:36:32.755
Of course, it never happened.

580
00:36:32.790 --> 00:36:36.226
Then, the schedules,
August 22nd, 2005,

581
00:36:36.261 --> 00:36:39.929
to August 28th, 2005.

582
00:36:39.964 --> 00:36:41.931
Wow.

583
00:36:43.968 --> 00:36:46.436
Despite the park's
Southern climate,

584
00:36:46.471 --> 00:36:49.906
Six Flags New Orleans was on
a seasonal operating schedule.

585
00:36:49.941 --> 00:36:54.577
The park's last day open
was August 21st, 2005.

586
00:36:54.612 --> 00:36:58.248
Scheduled to open the weekend
of the 27th and 28th,

587
00:36:58.283 --> 00:37:00.016
the park closed
due to storm preparation,

588
00:37:00.051 --> 00:37:03.653
and the plan to open was moved
to the following weekend.

589
00:37:03.688 --> 00:37:05.688
The park never opened again.

590
00:37:11.763 --> 00:37:13.730
Watch out for nails.

591
00:37:43.828 --> 00:37:45.862
Again, look at
the water line in here.

592
00:37:52.503 --> 00:37:54.737
Man, I'm...

593
00:37:54.772 --> 00:37:56.539
What's in here?

594
00:37:56.574 --> 00:37:57.974
-Whoa.
-Clothing area.

595
00:37:58.009 --> 00:37:59.976
-Wow.
-Whoa.

596
00:38:00.011 --> 00:38:02.679
-This is where all the--
-Yeah, you're right,

597
00:38:02.714 --> 00:38:05.581
this is costuming.

598
00:38:05.616 --> 00:38:07.583
Some of them
are still in the bags.

599
00:38:07.618 --> 00:38:10.086
-That's so incredible.
-Yeah, look at that.

600
00:38:10.121 --> 00:38:11.721
That, too.

601
00:38:14.559 --> 00:38:15.858
Look at that, "Men's pants,"
these are all

602
00:38:15.893 --> 00:38:18.861
still in their packaging.

603
00:38:18.896 --> 00:38:21.798
-Just ready for someone to--
-Dry cleaned and ready to go.

604
00:38:21.833 --> 00:38:24.767
Yeah, unbelievable.

605
00:38:24.802 --> 00:38:26.102
Holy crap.

606
00:38:28.072 --> 00:38:29.772
This is, like, the--
this is the warehouse

607
00:38:29.807 --> 00:38:31.841
-where they'd take shipments--
-Yeah, yep,

608
00:38:31.876 --> 00:38:35.111
this is where
they stored everything.

609
00:38:35.146 --> 00:38:36.779
Oh my God.

610
00:38:38.883 --> 00:38:41.918
It's something else.

611
00:38:41.953 --> 00:38:44.087
Look at--look.

612
00:38:44.122 --> 00:38:48.658
The park was gearing up
for a Halloween celebration

613
00:38:48.693 --> 00:38:50.660
at the end of August.

614
00:38:50.695 --> 00:38:52.929
Well, they were gearing up
at the end of August.

615
00:38:52.964 --> 00:38:57.600
So, I think that's why they have
Halloween cups in here.

616
00:38:57.635 --> 00:38:58.901
-Hey, check out these--
-Oh, yeah,

617
00:38:58.936 --> 00:39:01.137
Halloween decorations.

618
00:39:01.172 --> 00:39:03.039
Wow.

619
00:39:03.074 --> 00:39:05.742
Oh my God, man.

620
00:39:05.777 --> 00:39:08.078
This is unreal.

621
00:39:17.021 --> 00:39:19.789
I remember going into the park.

622
00:39:19.824 --> 00:39:23.893
Interestingly, it was
a really nice weather day.

623
00:39:23.928 --> 00:39:26.696
Came back,
actually went into my office.

624
00:39:26.731 --> 00:39:29.899
There were a handful of files
that I wanted to recover.

625
00:39:29.934 --> 00:39:32.835
Unfortunately,
they were unrecoverable.

626
00:39:32.870 --> 00:39:34.604
There was some memorabilia
that I had

627
00:39:34.639 --> 00:39:36.072
that I wanted to recover.

628
00:39:36.107 --> 00:39:39.008
Unfortunately, that too
was unrecoverable.

629
00:39:39.043 --> 00:39:41.878
The office was total trash,
you know, of course, furniture,

630
00:39:41.913 --> 00:39:45.114
like any other Katrina casualty.

631
00:39:45.149 --> 00:39:46.949
The furniture was upside down,

632
00:39:46.984 --> 00:39:49.619
inside out,
water lines on the walls,

633
00:39:49.654 --> 00:39:52.955
you know, mold and mildew
and so forth.

634
00:39:52.990 --> 00:39:56.092
Physically, if you walked
the park itself outside,

635
00:39:56.127 --> 00:39:57.860
it really didn't look that bad,

636
00:39:57.895 --> 00:39:59.695
because we were an outside
facility to begin with.

637
00:39:59.730 --> 00:40:00.830
If you just took
from the midway down,

638
00:40:00.865 --> 00:40:01.831
oh, the park looks fine.

639
00:40:01.866 --> 00:40:03.833
It's when you went into
the actual facilities

640
00:40:03.868 --> 00:40:07.637
that you saw the level
and the extent of the damage.

641
00:40:09.474 --> 00:40:12.875
I will say that Six Flags
Corporate, as a company,

642
00:40:12.910 --> 00:40:16.012
was extremely generous
to the employees

643
00:40:16.047 --> 00:40:18.014
of the New Orleans park

644
00:40:18.049 --> 00:40:19.849
following Hurricane Katrina.

645
00:40:19.884 --> 00:40:23.753
We actually remained on staff
and remained on payroll.

646
00:40:23.788 --> 00:40:25.655
We got paid every two weeks

647
00:40:25.690 --> 00:40:27.990
from the time of the hurricane

648
00:40:28.025 --> 00:40:31.795
until the end of April
the following year.

649
00:40:33.764 --> 00:40:36.999
We had a company-wide
conference.

650
00:40:37.034 --> 00:40:39.469
It was all the parks
in the entire Six Flags system

651
00:40:39.504 --> 00:40:40.670
in San Antonio that year,

652
00:40:40.705 --> 00:40:45.174
that would've been in either
late 2005 or early 2006,

653
00:40:45.209 --> 00:40:49.846
and Six Flags had gone
through a--Six Flags Corporate

654
00:40:49.881 --> 00:40:51.481
had gone through
a management change.

655
00:40:51.516 --> 00:40:53.983
Gary Story was
the president and CEO

656
00:40:54.018 --> 00:40:56.219
when we became Six Flags.

657
00:40:56.254 --> 00:40:58.488
We had a change in leadership,

658
00:40:58.523 --> 00:41:02.191
and at that conference
in San Antonio,

659
00:41:02.226 --> 00:41:04.660
it was me
and another counterpart,

660
00:41:04.695 --> 00:41:05.694
we introduced ourselves to him,

661
00:41:05.730 --> 00:41:07.897
we said, "We're from
the New Orleans park,"

662
00:41:07.932 --> 00:41:10.967
and I said, "We hope that
we have a park to come back to."

663
00:41:11.002 --> 00:41:13.870
And he gave me this look,
and he didn't say anything,

664
00:41:13.905 --> 00:41:15.071
and he just
kind of nodded his head,

665
00:41:15.106 --> 00:41:17.773
and I knew at that moment,
I said, "We're not going back."

666
00:41:17.808 --> 00:41:20.676
I said, "They're not gonna
rebuild this park."

667
00:41:33.558 --> 00:41:36.225
I don't know that
they thought too much

668
00:41:36.260 --> 00:41:39.529
about any of their parks
in that particular era.

669
00:41:39.564 --> 00:41:41.230
The maintenance,

670
00:41:41.265 --> 00:41:45.001
or lack thereof
at several properties,

671
00:41:45.036 --> 00:41:49.138
AstroWorld was
disgustingly dirty.

672
00:41:49.173 --> 00:41:51.140
New Orleans,
they kept it cleaner,

673
00:41:51.175 --> 00:41:53.809
but it wasn't really high
on their priority

674
00:41:53.844 --> 00:41:55.278
to do any upgrades.

675
00:41:55.313 --> 00:41:57.980
They weren't doing upgrades
at any of their parks

676
00:41:58.015 --> 00:42:00.082
in that particular time,
which is part of the reason

677
00:42:00.117 --> 00:42:01.317
that led
to the hostile takeover

678
00:42:01.352 --> 00:42:02.985
in December of 2005,

679
00:42:03.020 --> 00:42:06.155
it was they were
really just trying

680
00:42:06.190 --> 00:42:07.990
to keep the bills paid.

681
00:42:08.025 --> 00:42:11.160
In 2004, Six Flags
began selling off assets

682
00:42:11.195 --> 00:42:14.230
to try and help pay off
their growing debt.

683
00:42:14.265 --> 00:42:16.232
That year,
the company as a whole

684
00:42:16.267 --> 00:42:19.569
lost over $400 million,

685
00:42:19.604 --> 00:42:21.203
and after Hurricane Katrina,

686
00:42:21.238 --> 00:42:24.206
they determined the damage done
to their New Orleans park

687
00:42:24.241 --> 00:42:26.976
was over $32 million.

688
00:42:27.011 --> 00:42:29.812
The company then embarked
on a long and tedious battle

689
00:42:29.847 --> 00:42:33.082
with their insurance company
over the exact payouts.

690
00:42:33.117 --> 00:42:36.085
In the meantime, the Six Flags
New Orleans parking lot

691
00:42:36.120 --> 00:42:40.089
had been used
as a FEMA trailer camp.

692
00:42:40.124 --> 00:42:42.191
There was definitely
too many things going on

693
00:42:42.226 --> 00:42:44.961
for them to worry
about New Orleans.

694
00:42:44.996 --> 00:42:46.262
New Orleans was not
the only property

695
00:42:46.297 --> 00:42:48.197
they abandoned
at that particular time.

696
00:42:48.232 --> 00:42:51.834
Kentucky Kingdom
was likewise never reopened.

697
00:42:51.869 --> 00:42:53.836
It shut down
about the same time.

698
00:42:53.871 --> 00:42:56.839
AstroWorld, obviously,
was shut down at the same time,

699
00:42:56.874 --> 00:42:58.207
and it had nothing to do
with the hurricane,

700
00:42:58.242 --> 00:42:59.942
it was simply
a business decision

701
00:42:59.977 --> 00:43:02.278
that they needed money.

702
00:43:02.313 --> 00:43:05.915
So they closed down
the parks that were drains

703
00:43:05.950 --> 00:43:10.152
or where they felt like
they could get a quick cash grab

704
00:43:10.187 --> 00:43:12.221
and solve other issues.

705
00:43:12.256 --> 00:43:16.225
With New Orleans,
when Dan Snyder took over,

706
00:43:16.260 --> 00:43:19.895
he had way too many issues
with the rest of the chain

707
00:43:19.930 --> 00:43:21.230
to try to worry about

708
00:43:21.265 --> 00:43:22.431
what was happening
in New Orleans,

709
00:43:22.466 --> 00:43:27.870
and since it was a smaller park
and a smaller profit center,

710
00:43:27.905 --> 00:43:31.240
it wasn't a cash cow for him
to really worry about.

711
00:43:31.275 --> 00:43:34.010
It was, I'll tell you,
it was a little hurtful,

712
00:43:34.045 --> 00:43:35.845
but I think,
in the back of my mind,

713
00:43:35.880 --> 00:43:41.150
we all kind of knew
that it was probably a 70-30,

714
00:43:41.185 --> 00:43:43.886
maybe an 80-20% chance

715
00:43:43.921 --> 00:43:47.223
that we were going
to get this park back.

716
00:43:47.258 --> 00:43:49.925
By 2007,
Six Flags quietly began

717
00:43:49.960 --> 00:43:53.095
removing attractions
from the park for relocation,

718
00:43:53.130 --> 00:43:55.131
never publicly saying
what they had planned

719
00:43:55.166 --> 00:43:56.666
to do with the park.

720
00:43:56.701 --> 00:43:59.135
In 2009, the company
finally negotiated

721
00:43:59.170 --> 00:44:01.303
out of their land lease
with the city,

722
00:44:01.338 --> 00:44:04.874
paying out just $3 million
and giving the land back

723
00:44:04.909 --> 00:44:07.943
to the City of New Orleans.

724
00:44:07.978 --> 00:44:10.413
There's a certain point
where you can't be optimistic,

725
00:44:10.448 --> 00:44:12.314
where you see
Six Flags coming in

726
00:44:12.349 --> 00:44:16.218
and taking rides out,

727
00:44:16.253 --> 00:44:18.154
it's not a good sign.

728
00:44:18.189 --> 00:44:21.257
And they took the assets
that they brought into the park,

729
00:44:21.292 --> 00:44:23.159
any of the assets
that they wanted,

730
00:44:23.194 --> 00:44:26.062
and then those
that they had no interest in,

731
00:44:26.097 --> 00:44:29.198
they left them at the facility,
they left them at the site.

732
00:44:43.481 --> 00:44:47.216
Today, the only visitors
to the park are vandals,

733
00:44:47.251 --> 00:44:49.485
thieves, and urban explorers

734
00:44:49.520 --> 00:44:53.923
curious and eager to capture
what's left behind.

735
00:44:53.958 --> 00:44:57.259
I remember seeing it
really, really early,

736
00:44:57.294 --> 00:44:59.395
like right after
the water receded,

737
00:44:59.430 --> 00:45:01.263
and my heart just broke.

738
00:45:01.298 --> 00:45:05.101
I mean, it looked--
it just looked sad.

739
00:45:05.136 --> 00:45:06.335
It looked empty,

740
00:45:06.370 --> 00:45:09.305
it looked like it had
been hit by a hurricane.

741
00:45:09.340 --> 00:45:11.140
It looked lonely,

742
00:45:11.175 --> 00:45:14.009
and I remember,
because I was in 8th grade,

743
00:45:14.044 --> 00:45:16.312
it wasn't that long ago
that I was here

744
00:45:16.347 --> 00:45:19.014
when everything was lively
and, you know, going on.

745
00:45:19.049 --> 00:45:21.450
And so it hurt my heart
to see it,

746
00:45:21.485 --> 00:45:22.684
that's the saddest thing.

747
00:45:22.720 --> 00:45:27.056
It hadn't really hit me yet
that this was a city-wide thing,

748
00:45:27.091 --> 00:45:30.025
but this was just like
the biggest monument, I think,

749
00:45:30.060 --> 00:45:33.429
that I had personally been to

750
00:45:33.464 --> 00:45:35.498
that was at one time so colorful

751
00:45:35.533 --> 00:45:39.935
and now was all watermarked
and dirty and broken.

752
00:45:39.970 --> 00:45:42.171
It's definitely eye-opening
to see

753
00:45:42.206 --> 00:45:44.006
how easily Mother Nature

754
00:45:44.041 --> 00:45:46.275
can take back things
so quickly, quietly.

755
00:46:02.493 --> 00:46:06.529
Hurricane Katrina left
Six Flags New Orleans destroyed.

756
00:46:06.564 --> 00:46:08.197
It has been 15 years,

757
00:46:08.232 --> 00:46:11.066
and the park sits there
frozen in time.

758
00:46:11.101 --> 00:46:13.068
Would rebuilding a theme park
in New Orleans

759
00:46:13.103 --> 00:46:16.005
fill the hole in the community
and prosper?

760
00:46:16.040 --> 00:46:18.274
Jazzland failed
in just a few years,

761
00:46:18.309 --> 00:46:21.177
but Six Flags New Orleans
was a success.

762
00:46:21.212 --> 00:46:24.146
With $23.2 million in revenue,

763
00:46:24.181 --> 00:46:27.349
the park profited $13.6 million.

764
00:46:27.384 --> 00:46:31.520
However, in 2009,
Six Flags declared bankruptcy.

765
00:46:31.555 --> 00:46:33.489
Ultimately,
the decision was made

766
00:46:33.524 --> 00:46:36.091
to abandon
their New Orleans park,

767
00:46:36.126 --> 00:46:40.296
leaving a permanent scar
in the community.

768
00:46:40.331 --> 00:46:44.333
While Mayor Nagin wanted
Six Flags to come back,

769
00:46:44.368 --> 00:46:46.268
it just really wasn't
in the cards.

770
00:46:46.303 --> 00:46:49.405
I think the crowds
had gone down,

771
00:46:49.440 --> 00:46:53.242
I don't think they drew
as many people out there

772
00:46:53.277 --> 00:46:55.544
for whatever reason,
I don't know.

773
00:46:55.579 --> 00:46:57.279
We all worked so hard

774
00:46:57.314 --> 00:47:00.382
to make the park
an amazing experience

775
00:47:00.417 --> 00:47:04.286
and to try to bring
as many folks as we could.

776
00:47:04.321 --> 00:47:08.390
And we did--we did great volume
in sales of season passes

777
00:47:08.425 --> 00:47:11.560
and group tickets
for weekends, of course,

778
00:47:11.595 --> 00:47:14.129
but we always struggled
with weekday attendance.

779
00:47:14.164 --> 00:47:15.531
You know, it's hard.

780
00:47:15.566 --> 00:47:18.033
We're a smaller market,
so to get folks to drive in

781
00:47:18.068 --> 00:47:20.269
from Mississippi or Alabama
during the weekday,

782
00:47:20.304 --> 00:47:21.403
that's a weekend trip,

783
00:47:21.438 --> 00:47:24.173
so we relied
on the New Orleans market

784
00:47:24.208 --> 00:47:27.142
to support us,
and for better or worse,

785
00:47:27.177 --> 00:47:28.377
unfortunately or fortunately,

786
00:47:28.412 --> 00:47:30.279
depending on how you look at it,

787
00:47:30.314 --> 00:47:32.081
I don't know
if we ever felt the love

788
00:47:32.116 --> 00:47:36.085
that we really should have felt
from people in New Orleans.

789
00:47:36.120 --> 00:47:37.620
Another thing that I think
was a detriment to us

790
00:47:37.655 --> 00:47:39.555
was the fact that it's hot here,

791
00:47:39.590 --> 00:47:41.090
you know, I mean,
there's no denying

792
00:47:41.125 --> 00:47:43.325
that New Orleans is a hot city.

793
00:47:43.360 --> 00:47:48.130
And not having a water park
as a supplemental element

794
00:47:48.165 --> 00:47:50.065
certainly did hurt us.

795
00:47:50.100 --> 00:47:52.134
You know, again,
we were actually planning

796
00:47:52.169 --> 00:47:55.671
to put the water park in
for the--

797
00:47:55.706 --> 00:47:57.673
would have been the 2006 season,

798
00:47:57.708 --> 00:47:59.475
but Hurricane Katrina

799
00:47:59.510 --> 00:48:01.577
certainly had
other plans for us.

800
00:48:01.612 --> 00:48:05.581
For a Six Flags type park,
the numbers were low.

801
00:48:05.616 --> 00:48:07.583
Six Flags parks typically get

802
00:48:07.618 --> 00:48:10.185
at least two million people
a year.

803
00:48:10.220 --> 00:48:12.454
The New Orleans market
is a smaller market,

804
00:48:12.489 --> 00:48:15.491
so the numbers were less
than a million.

805
00:48:15.526 --> 00:48:20.529
But if you look at
locally owned regional parks,

806
00:48:20.564 --> 00:48:23.098
family type parks.

807
00:48:23.133 --> 00:48:25.668
Those attendance numbers
are in the 800,000

808
00:48:25.703 --> 00:48:28.404
to one million range.

809
00:48:28.439 --> 00:48:30.239
Those are numbers

810
00:48:30.274 --> 00:48:34.176
that sustained
those family parks very well

811
00:48:34.211 --> 00:48:37.479
with profit margins
as high as 50 percent.

812
00:48:37.514 --> 00:48:39.615
Six Flags even in New Orleans

813
00:48:39.650 --> 00:48:42.685
had profit margins
of over 50 percent.

814
00:48:42.720 --> 00:48:45.521
It's a smaller market,

815
00:48:45.556 --> 00:48:47.489
but it's still
a profitable market,

816
00:48:47.524 --> 00:48:50.492
and we're not expecting it
to be anything above and beyond

817
00:48:50.527 --> 00:48:52.394
what was necessarily there
before.

818
00:48:52.429 --> 00:48:57.499
If we just do what they did,
we will be doing quite well.

819
00:48:57.534 --> 00:49:00.135
I actually, like the city
would have cared,

820
00:49:00.170 --> 00:49:01.470
I actually sent an email
to City Hall

821
00:49:01.505 --> 00:49:03.672
and I said, "Six Flags
is gonna bail."

822
00:49:03.707 --> 00:49:05.307
Like they're gonna
pay attention,

823
00:49:05.342 --> 00:49:06.575
but I just knew it,

824
00:49:06.610 --> 00:49:10.279
there was no way
that they would stay.

825
00:49:10.314 --> 00:49:12.481
They were in it to, like I said,

826
00:49:12.516 --> 00:49:14.516
get that low-cost investment

827
00:49:14.551 --> 00:49:19.455
where they can put in
$10 million, $25 million here

828
00:49:19.490 --> 00:49:22.391
for new attractions
or expansions.

829
00:49:22.426 --> 00:49:25.327
They weren't gonna rebuild
a park from scratch.

830
00:49:25.362 --> 00:49:29.231
At that time, Nickelodeon
was looking at the park

831
00:49:29.266 --> 00:49:32.634
to rebuild it as
a Nickelodeon theme park

832
00:49:32.669 --> 00:49:34.536
that we tried--

833
00:49:34.571 --> 00:49:36.739
I was working with them
at the time as well.

834
00:49:36.774 --> 00:49:40.642
We tried for about
six months altogether

835
00:49:40.677 --> 00:49:45.581
before that effort
really just hit

836
00:49:45.616 --> 00:49:49.284
one dead end after another.

837
00:49:49.319 --> 00:49:51.520
Mayor Nagin's term was ended,

838
00:49:51.555 --> 00:49:54.323
and Mayor Landrieu
came into office,

839
00:49:54.358 --> 00:49:59.194
so things kind of started
all over fresh with him in 2010.

840
00:49:59.229 --> 00:50:01.230
We proposed to rebuild it
as Jazzland.

841
00:50:03.600 --> 00:50:06.335
This is our plans
for the whole area.

842
00:50:06.370 --> 00:50:09.571
This about a 15-year buildout.

843
00:50:09.606 --> 00:50:13.575
Where the park is,
along with associated lands

844
00:50:13.610 --> 00:50:19.815
to really turn it into a large,
destination-quality resort.

845
00:50:19.850 --> 00:50:23.318
Long term, 15 years,
we'd love to see two theme parks

846
00:50:23.353 --> 00:50:26.588
as well as the water park
and mixed use,

847
00:50:26.623 --> 00:50:29.224
something kind of like
a Downtown Disney,

848
00:50:29.259 --> 00:50:31.260
something that gives
both the locals

849
00:50:31.295 --> 00:50:32.694
as well as tourists

850
00:50:32.729 --> 00:50:35.464
shopping and entertainment
options and dining.

851
00:50:35.499 --> 00:50:37.599
The theme park itself,
right now, we're estimating

852
00:50:37.634 --> 00:50:40.369
about $65 million to rebuild it,

853
00:50:40.404 --> 00:50:42.471
compared to
a brand-new theme park.

854
00:50:42.506 --> 00:50:44.440
A brand-new theme park
would be $200 million.

855
00:50:44.475 --> 00:50:46.442
So it's still
a huge cost savings,

856
00:50:46.477 --> 00:50:49.478
and it's what makes
the project feasible.

857
00:50:49.513 --> 00:50:53.749
You cannot build
a new theme park in this market

858
00:50:53.784 --> 00:50:57.619
because you cannot justify
those costs.

859
00:50:57.654 --> 00:50:59.388
We've looked at every building,

860
00:50:59.423 --> 00:51:02.758
every item, every ride,
everything,

861
00:51:02.793 --> 00:51:04.493
and have individual
cost estimates

862
00:51:04.528 --> 00:51:06.562
for each individual thing.

863
00:51:06.597 --> 00:51:09.498
The concrete is what's primary,

864
00:51:09.533 --> 00:51:13.669
is what makes it the most
efficient use to rebuild.

865
00:51:13.704 --> 00:51:16.605
The concrete and foundations
were built very well.

866
00:51:16.640 --> 00:51:19.641
They're on top of piers
that have supported them,

867
00:51:19.676 --> 00:51:22.878
there's no cracks,
they are structurally sound,

868
00:51:22.913 --> 00:51:24.880
and they can support
the new equipment

869
00:51:24.915 --> 00:51:26.648
that would be brought in.

870
00:51:26.683 --> 00:51:30.319
So things like Mega Zeph,
which has steel infrastructure,

871
00:51:30.354 --> 00:51:34.289
that can be rebuilt for
$4.5 million to $5 million

872
00:51:34.324 --> 00:51:36.325
versus building new
that would have been

873
00:51:36.360 --> 00:51:38.293
about $15 million.

874
00:51:38.328 --> 00:51:41.697
Right now, I have my sights
on the Six Flags site,

875
00:51:41.732 --> 00:51:44.833
which we are now running numbers
for demolition,

876
00:51:44.868 --> 00:51:46.368
really as I speak.

877
00:51:52.843 --> 00:51:55.811
-Honestly?
-Did you not know?

878
00:51:55.846 --> 00:51:57.779
-No, you want me to be serious?
-Be absolutely honest.

879
00:51:57.814 --> 00:52:01.550
Yeah, they've been saying that
for 10, 15 years.

880
00:52:01.585 --> 00:52:04.887
They stopped talking about it,
you know, late 2006,

881
00:52:04.922 --> 00:52:06.421
nobody really said anything,

882
00:52:06.456 --> 00:52:07.689
and then you'd see
like a news article

883
00:52:07.724 --> 00:52:08.623
in the Times-Picayune
and they go,

884
00:52:08.659 --> 00:52:10.726
"Oh, well,
somebody's buying the park.

885
00:52:10.761 --> 00:52:11.727
Let's see if they rebuild it,

886
00:52:11.762 --> 00:52:14.463
or let's see
if they build a subdivision,

887
00:52:14.498 --> 00:52:17.366
or see if they build
like a shopping mall,"

888
00:52:17.401 --> 00:52:18.434
and then it was nothing.

889
00:52:19.870 --> 00:52:22.437
I really doubt
an amusement park

890
00:52:22.472 --> 00:52:26.708
could ever be
in that site's future.

891
00:52:26.743 --> 00:52:31.547
They know that it's an issue
with trespassing.

892
00:52:31.582 --> 00:52:33.682
They feel that getting rid of it

893
00:52:33.717 --> 00:52:39.454
would be the easiest solution
to keep the trespassers out.

894
00:52:39.489 --> 00:52:43.192
Unfortunately, that doesn't do
anything for the neighbors.

895
00:52:43.227 --> 00:52:45.527
It's still a blighted,
abandoned property

896
00:52:45.562 --> 00:52:46.728
that would be sitting there.

897
00:52:46.763 --> 00:52:51.466
It is surrounded by vacant land
that hasn't been developed

898
00:52:51.501 --> 00:52:52.600
for the last 20 years,

899
00:52:52.636 --> 00:52:55.704
there's no reason to suspect
that a demolished park

900
00:52:55.739 --> 00:52:59.441
would all of a sudden
be attractive and be developed.

901
00:52:59.476 --> 00:53:00.308
If you have the funding,

902
00:53:00.344 --> 00:53:03.712
if you believe
that you can do this,

903
00:53:03.747 --> 00:53:05.414
bring the park back up,

904
00:53:05.449 --> 00:53:07.849
why would the city
not want to do that?

905
00:53:07.884 --> 00:53:10.219
Why would the city
not want to go with you?

906
00:53:10.254 --> 00:53:12.788
You're trying to get me
into trouble.

907
00:53:12.823 --> 00:53:15.557
We know that
the previous administration

908
00:53:15.592 --> 00:53:18.493
didn't necessarily
support development

909
00:53:18.528 --> 00:53:19.761
in New Orleans East.

910
00:53:19.796 --> 00:53:22.831
The current administration
seems more open

911
00:53:22.866 --> 00:53:24.900
and wanting to do things
for New Orleans East,

912
00:53:24.935 --> 00:53:27.869
but there is
a perception issue.

913
00:53:27.904 --> 00:53:30.639
The people of New Orleans East
are not given credit

914
00:53:30.674 --> 00:53:34.576
for the quality of life
that they really do have.

915
00:53:34.611 --> 00:53:36.778
It's a nice neighborhood,
there are great people

916
00:53:36.813 --> 00:53:37.979
that live in New Orleans East.

917
00:53:38.014 --> 00:53:40.649
That was some of the things
that the developers sold us,

918
00:53:40.684 --> 00:53:42.684
saying it's gonna be
just like you living

919
00:53:42.719 --> 00:53:43.919
a block away from Disney World,

920
00:53:43.954 --> 00:53:46.521
and your property value
will soar,

921
00:53:46.556 --> 00:53:49.658
but since Katrina, 2005,
it's been sitting dormant,

922
00:53:49.693 --> 00:53:51.660
empty, and ruined
since that time,

923
00:53:51.695 --> 00:53:54.429
so how is that gonna
make a positive effect

924
00:53:54.464 --> 00:53:57.499
on your home,
on the value of your home

925
00:53:57.534 --> 00:53:59.534
when you've got
an eyesore like this?

926
00:54:08.712 --> 00:54:11.480
I would think that if this was
in Downtown New Orleans,

927
00:54:11.515 --> 00:54:12.681
it wouldn't take this long
for the city

928
00:54:12.716 --> 00:54:14.583
to actually do something
with it.

929
00:54:14.618 --> 00:54:16.451
By being out here
in this neighborhood,

930
00:54:16.486 --> 00:54:18.787
or whatever, I guess
they just take their time.

931
00:54:18.822 --> 00:54:21.056
We're talking 2005
and now we're in 2020.

932
00:54:21.091 --> 00:54:22.791
Take a walk up on my deck

933
00:54:22.826 --> 00:54:24.626
and you take a look
over the back,

934
00:54:24.661 --> 00:54:26.295
and what I remember seeing
years ago

935
00:54:26.330 --> 00:54:27.963
was a bunch of forest,
beautiful,

936
00:54:27.998 --> 00:54:30.299
and now you come up here
and, of course,

937
00:54:30.334 --> 00:54:32.834
the first 100,
200 feet you see the trees,

938
00:54:32.869 --> 00:54:34.636
but then you see
a parking lot that's empty

939
00:54:34.671 --> 00:54:36.605
with rusted-out lights,

940
00:54:36.640 --> 00:54:37.573
and then you see
the roller coaster

941
00:54:37.608 --> 00:54:39.308
off in the distance
that's sitting dormant,

942
00:54:39.343 --> 00:54:41.677
just sitting there and whatever.

943
00:54:41.712 --> 00:54:44.713
We just hoped that the city
would do something with it.

944
00:54:44.748 --> 00:54:48.950
My home was valued more in 2005

945
00:54:48.985 --> 00:54:51.586
than it is
currently valued today.

946
00:54:51.621 --> 00:54:53.522
Whereas the rest
of New Orleans,

947
00:54:53.557 --> 00:54:55.657
outside of Eastern New Orleans,

948
00:54:55.692 --> 00:54:58.827
the values have surpassed
the pre-Katrina values.

949
00:54:58.862 --> 00:55:01.063
So from--if you're a resident
and you're sitting there

950
00:55:01.098 --> 00:55:03.598
and you're kinda waiting
for things to come up,

951
00:55:03.633 --> 00:55:05.801
and one of the crowning
elements of blight

952
00:55:05.836 --> 00:55:08.103
that is depressing
the values of properties

953
00:55:08.138 --> 00:55:09.871
is this Jazzland site.

954
00:55:09.906 --> 00:55:13.008
So it's been frustrating
for our residents

955
00:55:13.043 --> 00:55:14.743
for a long time.

956
00:55:14.778 --> 00:55:18.647
And the problem is
there's not a plan yet

957
00:55:18.682 --> 00:55:20.515
to do something about it,

958
00:55:20.550 --> 00:55:22.751
so residents have just
been sitting there

959
00:55:22.786 --> 00:55:25.754
with major investments
and, for many people,

960
00:55:25.789 --> 00:55:27.356
the biggest investment
they'll make in their lives

961
00:55:27.391 --> 00:55:28.857
is in their homes,

962
00:55:28.892 --> 00:55:30.892
and they're seeing those values,

963
00:55:30.927 --> 00:55:32.761
in many cases,
they're upside down.

964
00:55:32.796 --> 00:55:35.831
He will be the moral compass
of this city.

965
00:55:35.866 --> 00:55:37.566
We need a champion

966
00:55:37.601 --> 00:55:40.569
who will guide a master plan
to completion.

967
00:55:40.604 --> 00:55:43.071
We need a champion
who will bring serenity

968
00:55:43.106 --> 00:55:45.640
and safety back to our streets.

969
00:55:45.675 --> 00:55:47.976
We need a champion
who will pave our roads

970
00:55:48.011 --> 00:55:50.545
while paving the way
for a new generation.

971
00:55:50.580 --> 00:55:52.948
We need a champion for change.

972
00:55:52.983 --> 00:55:56.752
We need the next mayor
of the City of New Orleans,

973
00:55:56.787 --> 00:55:58.587
Troy Henry!

974
00:56:01.691 --> 00:56:02.991
It was one of
the principle drivers

975
00:56:03.026 --> 00:56:05.927
for me deciding to run
for office,

976
00:56:05.962 --> 00:56:07.929
and for mayor specifically,

977
00:56:07.964 --> 00:56:10.866
was because, I mean,
the executive branch

978
00:56:10.901 --> 00:56:12.801
is supposed to execute.

979
00:56:12.836 --> 00:56:16.671
And we had had
too many politicians

980
00:56:16.706 --> 00:56:19.074
and not enough
managerial experts

981
00:56:19.109 --> 00:56:20.575
that could really understand

982
00:56:20.610 --> 00:56:22.944
how to manage
a complex enterprise.

983
00:56:22.979 --> 00:56:25.881
I just have a vision
for the city that is different,

984
00:56:25.916 --> 00:56:29.151
and having lived in California
and Pittsburgh

985
00:56:29.186 --> 00:56:32.187
and Boston and D.C.
and Atlanta and Houston,

986
00:56:32.222 --> 00:56:35.657
so I've seen a lot and seen
how those cities have grown

987
00:56:35.692 --> 00:56:37.859
and sort of blown past
New Orleans,

988
00:56:37.894 --> 00:56:39.694
and I wanted New Orleans
to have that chance

989
00:56:39.729 --> 00:56:43.765
to realize that same sort
of meteoric growth.

990
00:56:43.800 --> 00:56:46.768
And perhaps maybe
the residents of New Orleans

991
00:56:46.803 --> 00:56:50.105
aren't interested in being
a more cosmopolitan growth,

992
00:56:50.140 --> 00:56:52.107
and maybe they want us
to kind of stay more the same.

993
00:56:52.142 --> 00:56:55.777
But the risk of doing that
is what has happened now

994
00:56:55.812 --> 00:56:58.613
is we're sort of
a one-trick pony

995
00:56:58.648 --> 00:57:01.049
principally
revolving around tourism.

996
00:57:01.084 --> 00:57:05.854
New Orleans East
was really forgotten

997
00:57:05.889 --> 00:57:07.989
for a number of years
after Katrina.

998
00:57:08.024 --> 00:57:11.226
Everything that they've done,
they've had to do themselves.

999
00:57:11.261 --> 00:57:14.229
They were last on the list
for the city.

1000
00:57:14.264 --> 00:57:16.131
But up until
the New Orleans East Hospital

1001
00:57:16.166 --> 00:57:18.733
finally reopened,
if you got sick,

1002
00:57:18.768 --> 00:57:20.135
if you had a heart attack,

1003
00:57:20.170 --> 00:57:23.939
you had to drive 20 minutes
to get to someplace

1004
00:57:23.974 --> 00:57:25.874
so that you could be
taken care of,

1005
00:57:25.909 --> 00:57:27.943
because there wasn't anyplace
in New Orleans East.

1006
00:57:27.978 --> 00:57:29.744
Just like
the previous administration,

1007
00:57:29.779 --> 00:57:30.812
I think they're struggling.

1008
00:57:30.847 --> 00:57:32.948
They want to do something
for New Orleans East,

1009
00:57:32.983 --> 00:57:36.117
but the city doesn't know
exactly what to do.

1010
00:57:36.152 --> 00:57:39.154
So they've hired consultants
to do studies

1011
00:57:39.189 --> 00:57:40.789
and all kinds of stuff,

1012
00:57:40.824 --> 00:57:42.924
but what they really
don't have is a deal.

1013
00:57:42.959 --> 00:57:44.058
They don't have
a development plan.

1014
00:57:44.094 --> 00:57:46.728
So they've gotten these folks
to come up and say,

1015
00:57:46.763 --> 00:57:48.897
"If you do this, this will
make it more attractive.

1016
00:57:48.932 --> 00:57:51.032
If you do this, this will
make it more attractive."

1017
00:57:51.067 --> 00:57:53.802
The long and short of it is,
a person who's got money

1018
00:57:53.837 --> 00:57:56.671
and who's got a deal
is gonna do a deal.

1019
00:57:56.706 --> 00:57:58.139
All of this,
"This is gonna make it better,

1020
00:57:58.174 --> 00:57:59.407
and that's gonna
make it better,"

1021
00:57:59.442 --> 00:58:02.978
that's just moving the chairs
around the deck of the Titanic.

1022
00:58:03.013 --> 00:58:06.047
The city had been
working on a report

1023
00:58:06.082 --> 00:58:07.682
about the best use.

1024
00:58:07.717 --> 00:58:09.217
It was a best use study
for the site.

1025
00:58:09.252 --> 00:58:13.688
They came up with best use
being something

1026
00:58:13.723 --> 00:58:15.824
with a lot of green and nature.

1027
00:58:15.859 --> 00:58:17.959
In the very same sentence,
they said,

1028
00:58:17.994 --> 00:58:19.961
"It needs to be big and bold,

1029
00:58:19.996 --> 00:58:21.897
something that's gonna
bring the tourists in,

1030
00:58:21.932 --> 00:58:24.933
like birdwatching."

1031
00:58:24.968 --> 00:58:26.902
There was complete silence
in the room.

1032
00:58:28.238 --> 00:58:32.073
Obviously, the residents
were not happy at all.

1033
00:58:32.108 --> 00:58:33.975
They want the park to come back.

1034
00:58:34.010 --> 00:58:35.310
From everything
that they've told us

1035
00:58:35.345 --> 00:58:36.544
and from everything
we've read online

1036
00:58:36.580 --> 00:58:40.248
and when we've spoken with them
and met with various people,

1037
00:58:40.283 --> 00:58:41.750
that's what they want.

1038
00:58:41.785 --> 00:58:42.951
After that meeting, they said

1039
00:58:42.986 --> 00:58:44.920
that they were gonna
come out with an RFQ,

1040
00:58:44.955 --> 00:58:47.756
so I think the timing
works to their benefit

1041
00:58:47.791 --> 00:58:51.226
as far as,
"We're doing something,

1042
00:58:51.261 --> 00:58:53.929
we're going to award this
to a developer,

1043
00:58:53.964 --> 00:58:55.330
we're taking steps,

1044
00:58:55.365 --> 00:58:57.832
so please give us your votes
this November."

1045
00:58:57.867 --> 00:59:00.135
The city is fishing,
and they're desperate,

1046
00:59:00.170 --> 00:59:04.839
because it is, you know,
election time in October.

1047
00:59:04.874 --> 00:59:08.076
But I'm also hopeful that,
for the first time,

1048
00:59:08.111 --> 00:59:11.079
they've probably got a--
we believe our offer

1049
00:59:11.114 --> 00:59:13.582
is gonna be
a truly credible offer.

1050
00:59:13.617 --> 00:59:15.317
I wanted to bring back

1051
00:59:15.352 --> 00:59:17.319
a sports
and entertainment complex

1052
00:59:17.354 --> 00:59:19.120
to the Jazzland facility.

1053
00:59:19.155 --> 00:59:21.823
We're one of the bidders
on this project now,

1054
00:59:21.858 --> 00:59:23.925
so our proposal is
to reconstitute it

1055
00:59:23.960 --> 00:59:25.260
as an amusement park,

1056
00:59:25.295 --> 00:59:28.363
adding a water park
and a sports complex to it.

1057
00:59:28.398 --> 00:59:29.864
Our vision is to make this

1058
00:59:29.899 --> 00:59:32.834
a bigger sports
and entertainment concept,

1059
00:59:32.869 --> 00:59:35.070
so that's what we'll be
proposing to the city.

1060
00:59:35.105 --> 00:59:36.938
I don't know if they'll
accept our proposal

1061
00:59:36.973 --> 00:59:38.873
as the right vision.

1062
00:59:38.908 --> 00:59:40.241
Our second alternate proposal

1063
00:59:40.276 --> 00:59:43.778
is we've also had
some discussions with Amazon

1064
00:59:43.813 --> 00:59:46.047
as a distribution center
for that site.

1065
00:59:46.082 --> 00:59:47.882
We're not sure which one
of those two visions

1066
00:59:47.917 --> 00:59:49.250
will end up...

1067
00:59:49.285 --> 00:59:50.852
If we're selected,
we're gonna kind of

1068
00:59:50.887 --> 00:59:53.054
evaluate both of those
principally,

1069
00:59:53.089 --> 00:59:57.225
and whichever one
makes the most sense,

1070
00:59:57.260 --> 00:59:59.327
if we're selected,
we're gonna execute on that.

1071
00:59:59.362 --> 01:00:01.896
Yes, all those things
would be lovely in that area.

1072
01:00:01.931 --> 01:00:05.900
We're getting an Amazon
here in Baton Rouge, a huge one,

1073
01:00:05.935 --> 01:00:07.802
and it does employ
a lot of people,

1074
01:00:07.837 --> 01:00:09.204
but there's just
better locations

1075
01:00:09.239 --> 01:00:10.405
for those things.

1076
01:00:10.440 --> 01:00:11.373
You could even
go down the street

1077
01:00:11.408 --> 01:00:13.141
to the old plaza location

1078
01:00:13.176 --> 01:00:15.310
that the city kind of has
its fingers on,

1079
01:00:15.345 --> 01:00:17.846
because of loans
and taxes and stuff.

1080
01:00:17.881 --> 01:00:20.148
That would be far better
for those purposes

1081
01:00:20.183 --> 01:00:21.816
than the park property.

1082
01:00:21.851 --> 01:00:24.152
We're expecting
to be under construction

1083
01:00:24.187 --> 01:00:26.388
sometime in 2022,

1084
01:00:26.423 --> 01:00:29.090
which means we open in 2024.

1085
01:00:29.125 --> 01:00:30.925
They definitely need

1086
01:00:30.960 --> 01:00:34.062
entertainment venues
to come back.

1087
01:00:34.097 --> 01:00:36.064
The hotels are struggling
right now.

1088
01:00:36.099 --> 01:00:38.433
Many of the downtown hotels
don't even have

1089
01:00:38.468 --> 01:00:40.268
5 percent occupancy,

1090
01:00:40.303 --> 01:00:42.303
and they need something
that's going to help boost

1091
01:00:42.338 --> 01:00:45.106
and bring families
and tourists back,

1092
01:00:45.141 --> 01:00:49.444
so we're hoping maybe
that plays out to our benefit,

1093
01:00:49.479 --> 01:00:50.879
but we'll see.

1094
01:00:50.914 --> 01:00:52.080
In the short term, I mean,

1095
01:00:52.115 --> 01:00:55.250
obviously, these companies
are struggling,

1096
01:00:55.285 --> 01:00:58.853
but the ones that are going
to be able to weather the storm

1097
01:00:58.888 --> 01:01:01.222
have to view a growth strategy.

1098
01:01:01.257 --> 01:01:04.359
So as we emerge
out of this pandemic

1099
01:01:04.394 --> 01:01:08.096
and the depressing earnings
that they've realized,

1100
01:01:08.131 --> 01:01:10.365
it now gives them the ability
to sort of rebound

1101
01:01:10.400 --> 01:01:13.134
in a bigger way
than it even did pre-pandemic,

1102
01:01:13.169 --> 01:01:16.004
because now they've got
more assets

1103
01:01:16.039 --> 01:01:18.073
that are now available
in the marketplace.

1104
01:01:18.108 --> 01:01:22.110
So we think that
they're all hurting right now,

1105
01:01:22.145 --> 01:01:25.947
but we think, come time
where we're now

1106
01:01:25.982 --> 01:01:27.248
redeveloping that site,

1107
01:01:27.283 --> 01:01:29.050
they're all looking
at the future.

1108
01:01:29.085 --> 01:01:31.386
We've always wanted the public

1109
01:01:31.421 --> 01:01:34.155
and the community
to be involved.

1110
01:01:34.190 --> 01:01:38.159
A little less
than two years ago, we said,

1111
01:01:38.194 --> 01:01:40.962
"Well, why wait
until we're open?

1112
01:01:40.997 --> 01:01:44.132
Why wait until
we have the property?

1113
01:01:44.167 --> 01:01:46.000
Why not just do it now?"

1114
01:01:46.035 --> 01:01:48.403
We've created what we call
the Rhythm Section,

1115
01:01:48.438 --> 01:01:52.173
which is
our New Orleans East specific

1116
01:01:52.208 --> 01:01:54.943
community advisory board.

1117
01:01:54.978 --> 01:01:57.245
It's composed of people
that actually do live

1118
01:01:57.280 --> 01:02:00.482
within just a very short
distance of the park,

1119
01:02:00.517 --> 01:02:03.284
and they are with us
every step of the way.

1120
01:02:03.319 --> 01:02:05.120
We get their feedback
and comments

1121
01:02:05.155 --> 01:02:06.154
on everything we do,

1122
01:02:06.190 --> 01:02:09.124
they get an advanced copy
of the RFQ response

1123
01:02:09.159 --> 01:02:12.193
so that they can give us
their feedback

1124
01:02:12.228 --> 01:02:14.362
as to what they want.

1125
01:02:14.397 --> 01:02:18.166
This response is very much
going to be theirs,

1126
01:02:18.201 --> 01:02:19.434
because the park is theirs.

1127
01:02:19.469 --> 01:02:23.438
But I think the idea
of rehabilitating

1128
01:02:23.473 --> 01:02:26.941
and reinvigorating
an amusement complex

1129
01:02:26.976 --> 01:02:29.444
that now has a water park to it,

1130
01:02:29.479 --> 01:02:31.346
that now has
an amusement park to it,

1131
01:02:31.381 --> 01:02:34.115
that now has
a sports complex to it,

1132
01:02:34.150 --> 01:02:36.518
and making it into
a family-friendly destination

1133
01:02:36.553 --> 01:02:39.220
tied in with the cruise lines

1134
01:02:39.255 --> 01:02:42.557
is something that's very unique
and is a unique opportunity

1135
01:02:42.592 --> 01:02:44.325
for us to take advantage of.

1136
01:02:44.360 --> 01:02:46.795
Fulfillment center is great,

1137
01:02:46.830 --> 01:02:48.329
but to me, that would be 1B.

1138
01:02:48.364 --> 01:02:50.965
If I had my druthers,
and if we can make--

1139
01:02:51.000 --> 01:02:53.334
get the commitments
that we need to happen happen,

1140
01:02:53.369 --> 01:02:55.336
you know, I think the sports
and entertainment complex

1141
01:02:55.371 --> 01:02:56.971
would be pretty exciting.

1142
01:02:57.006 --> 01:02:57.905
And I think it would bring

1143
01:02:57.941 --> 01:03:01.075
the rest of the residents
in the region

1144
01:03:01.110 --> 01:03:03.344
back to New Orleans East
with a positive light,

1145
01:03:03.379 --> 01:03:06.147
because recently the things
they've heard most about

1146
01:03:06.182 --> 01:03:08.449
have been crime-oriented things
that have happened

1147
01:03:08.484 --> 01:03:10.218
in Eastern New Orleans.

1148
01:03:10.253 --> 01:03:11.452
I think this would be something

1149
01:03:11.487 --> 01:03:13.822
that would make regional noise,

1150
01:03:13.857 --> 01:03:16.057
it would make--
it would really be

1151
01:03:16.092 --> 01:03:17.992
a reinvigorating
and revitalization

1152
01:03:18.027 --> 01:03:20.361
that is long,
long, long overdue.

1153
01:03:20.396 --> 01:03:25.266
Even if we get
the concessionaire agreement,

1154
01:03:25.301 --> 01:03:28.303
that, come this fall
and they get reelected,

1155
01:03:28.338 --> 01:03:33.141
what's to stop them from saying,
"Okay, we tried, never mind"?

1156
01:03:33.176 --> 01:03:35.376
It's definitely a thought
that goes through our heads,

1157
01:03:35.411 --> 01:03:37.579
because we've been
through this process

1158
01:03:37.614 --> 01:03:39.347
a time or two,

1159
01:03:39.382 --> 01:03:42.317
and there's not a lot of faith.

1160
01:03:51.160 --> 01:03:53.261
Okay, good morning, everyone.

1161
01:03:53.296 --> 01:03:55.530
The Purchasing Bureau
does hereby certify

1162
01:03:55.565 --> 01:03:59.434
they are unable
to perform RFQ #961

1163
01:03:59.469 --> 01:04:02.437
Six Flags/Jazzland site
redevelopment

1164
01:04:02.472 --> 01:04:07.275
on this day, Tuesday,
March 16th, 2021, at 12 P.M.

1165
01:06:43.499 --> 01:06:45.700
Let me just ask you then,
sort of broadly,

1166
01:06:45.735 --> 01:06:48.236
what's your overall
reaction today?

1167
01:06:48.271 --> 01:06:51.372
We are definitely
very disappointed.

1168
01:06:51.407 --> 01:06:55.276
Disappointed, frustrated,

1169
01:06:55.311 --> 01:06:59.414
irate, to some extent.

1170
01:06:59.449 --> 01:07:04.218
We definitely do not feel
like the scoring was done

1171
01:07:04.253 --> 01:07:06.454
in a fair and equitable manner.

1172
01:07:06.489 --> 01:07:10.458
This was a day that we had said

1173
01:07:10.493 --> 01:07:12.693
this would probably
be it for us,

1174
01:07:12.728 --> 01:07:15.363
and it still might be it for us.

1175
01:07:15.398 --> 01:07:17.265
We'll all move on
and do our other things

1176
01:07:17.300 --> 01:07:20.601
that we've been doing anyway.

1177
01:07:20.636 --> 01:07:22.804
'Cause it has been
a long nine years,

1178
01:07:22.839 --> 01:07:29.243
and to have the community
and the public

1179
01:07:29.278 --> 01:07:32.080
completely omitted
from the process

1180
01:07:32.115 --> 01:07:33.648
just doesn't give us
a lot of faith

1181
01:07:33.683 --> 01:07:36.684
in anything moving forward.

1182
01:07:36.719 --> 01:07:39.520
When you've got
such a prominent intersection

1183
01:07:39.555 --> 01:07:42.723
that is now
such a prominent eyesore,

1184
01:07:42.758 --> 01:07:45.526
it's kind of demotivating
for people.

1185
01:07:45.561 --> 01:07:48.863
Every day, a vast majority
of numbers in people

1186
01:07:48.898 --> 01:07:51.399
in New Orleans East
drive right by it,

1187
01:07:51.434 --> 01:07:52.633
and they just look at it,
and they just--

1188
01:07:52.668 --> 01:07:54.836
it's a remembrance of the past,

1189
01:07:54.871 --> 01:07:56.637
and it's blight.

1190
01:07:56.672 --> 01:07:58.339
Unfortunately, I think
a lot of people

1191
01:07:58.374 --> 01:08:00.508
have given up on it,

1192
01:08:00.543 --> 01:08:03.377
because when Six Flags decided

1193
01:08:03.412 --> 01:08:06.781
just to take insurance money
or whatever they did,

1194
01:08:06.816 --> 01:08:10.384
I really think they were glad
Katrina came along,

1195
01:08:10.419 --> 01:08:11.519
I think they wanted out.

1196
01:08:11.554 --> 01:08:13.421
I think they wanted
to close the park,

1197
01:08:13.456 --> 01:08:16.624
they had already closed
AstroWorld.

1198
01:08:16.659 --> 01:08:19.794
I think this might have been
a way out for them,

1199
01:08:19.829 --> 01:08:23.698
I don't know.

1200
01:08:23.733 --> 01:08:27.568
Honestly, most people
had given up a long time ago

1201
01:08:27.603 --> 01:08:29.804
on the park ever coming back.

1202
01:08:41.584 --> 01:08:45.419
This is where you would come
to purchase tickets,

1203
01:08:45.454 --> 01:08:47.789
groups sales, will call.

1204
01:08:49.825 --> 01:08:52.360
Season ticket holders, I think,

1205
01:08:52.395 --> 01:08:55.897
entered at the other end,
if I remember,

1206
01:08:55.932 --> 01:08:58.166
and if you were buying
just a ticket for the day,

1207
01:08:58.201 --> 01:09:00.701
you would come up here,
and one of these,

1208
01:09:00.736 --> 01:09:02.703
purchase your ticket.

1209
01:09:07.977 --> 01:09:11.579
This was the main street.

1210
01:09:11.614 --> 01:09:14.882
All the gift shops
were along here

1211
01:09:14.917 --> 01:09:16.450
and were air conditioned,

1212
01:09:16.485 --> 01:09:18.586
which was very nice
in the summer.

1213
01:09:23.926 --> 01:09:25.793
This is heartbreaking to see.

1214
01:09:27.597 --> 01:09:31.599
As the graffiti says,
this could have been beautiful,

1215
01:09:31.634 --> 01:09:33.768
and it was very beautiful.

1216
01:09:38.574 --> 01:09:40.875
I'm very sad now.

1217
01:09:40.910 --> 01:09:43.878
We would come
several times a year.

1218
01:09:43.913 --> 01:09:48.383
Had many, many good times
out here.

1219
01:09:51.520 --> 01:09:52.921
So here we are at Mega Zeph.

1220
01:09:56.826 --> 01:10:02.797
Obviously, the riders
waited in here

1221
01:10:02.832 --> 01:10:05.600
for Mega Zeph
to come around this way

1222
01:10:05.635 --> 01:10:06.968
and pull up here.

1223
01:10:08.771 --> 01:10:12.506
It is obviously very overgrown

1224
01:10:12.541 --> 01:10:16.211
and...pitiful.

1225
01:10:18.547 --> 01:10:21.482
Jocco used to live
up on top of the building.

1226
01:10:21.517 --> 01:10:24.819
He was this big jester guy

1227
01:10:24.854 --> 01:10:28.923
who would laugh at you
and squirt water on you.

1228
01:10:28.958 --> 01:10:32.627
This is where you lined up,
the queue line here.

1229
01:10:34.764 --> 01:10:37.632
It was a little neater
back then.

1230
01:10:37.667 --> 01:10:39.700
We called it the laser tag ride,

1231
01:10:39.735 --> 01:10:41.535
since I own a laser tag,

1232
01:10:41.570 --> 01:10:44.939
and all my kids
would think of it

1233
01:10:44.974 --> 01:10:46.440
as a laser tag ride,

1234
01:10:46.475 --> 01:10:48.643
because you were actually
shooting targets

1235
01:10:48.678 --> 01:10:52.947
with the guns
that were on the cars.

1236
01:11:15.871 --> 01:11:20.041
This is what was Jocco's ride.

1237
01:11:20.076 --> 01:11:21.575
This is one of the cars

1238
01:11:21.610 --> 01:11:23.010
that has been
completely stripped,

1239
01:11:23.045 --> 01:11:24.912
the guns are gone.

1240
01:11:24.947 --> 01:11:27.982
You earned points by tagging--

1241
01:11:28.017 --> 01:11:29.583
talking laser tag talk--

1242
01:11:29.618 --> 01:11:31.986
by hitting the targets,
you would earn points.

1243
01:11:32.021 --> 01:11:33.587
You got a score on the car.

1244
01:11:33.622 --> 01:11:36.758
You can see
where the screens were.

1245
01:11:38.894 --> 01:11:42.596
And it wound all through here

1246
01:11:42.631 --> 01:11:45.866
with different targets to hit.

1247
01:11:45.901 --> 01:11:49.036
It was very colorful,
minus the graffiti.

1248
01:11:49.071 --> 01:11:51.806
Big fleur-de-lis on the front,
all Mardi Gras colors,

1249
01:11:51.841 --> 01:11:54.608
everything was
Mardi Gras colored.

1250
01:11:54.643 --> 01:11:58.012
There was a gun
to shoot targets here

1251
01:11:58.047 --> 01:12:01.816
and a screen for score.

1252
01:12:01.851 --> 01:12:03.017
This one is still here.

1253
01:12:03.052 --> 01:12:05.753
Mardi Gras--
Jocco's Mardi Gras Madness.

1254
01:12:06.155 --> 01:12:07.922
Hmm.

1255
01:12:07.957 --> 01:12:09.890
Everything's gone.

1256
01:13:37.980 --> 01:13:39.680
Here they come.

1257
01:13:43.252 --> 01:13:47.688
Are you happy at Jazzland
on your first day?

1258
01:13:47.723 --> 01:13:49.457
-Yeah, you?
-Yeah!

1259
01:13:53.762 --> 01:13:55.663
It's devastating, I mean,

1260
01:13:55.698 --> 01:13:58.866
to think that the city
let that park get like that

1261
01:13:58.901 --> 01:14:03.170
over all these years,
it makes me very angry,

1262
01:14:03.205 --> 01:14:04.738
and it's very sad,

1263
01:14:04.773 --> 01:14:06.874
because of
all the memories I have.

1264
01:14:06.909 --> 01:14:08.976
Just remembering all the fun.

1265
01:14:10.779 --> 01:14:12.213
If I would be in the car
with someone else

1266
01:14:12.248 --> 01:14:13.781
and we were driving past it,

1267
01:14:13.816 --> 01:14:15.983
I would be cranking
my head around,

1268
01:14:16.018 --> 01:14:19.820
and, like, looking
at what rides are going, and...

1269
01:14:22.057 --> 01:14:24.992
That was really fun,
just to drive past it.

1270
01:14:25.027 --> 01:14:31.031
But now it's--it's just there.

1271
01:15:22.351 --> 01:15:23.951
I find it very funny still

1272
01:15:23.986 --> 01:15:25.986
that when I drive
to my family's home

1273
01:15:26.021 --> 01:15:29.223
and that sign still says
on there, "Closed for Storm."

1274
01:15:31.226 --> 01:15:34.094
Just kinda like frozen in time,

1275
01:15:34.129 --> 01:15:37.998
a suspended animation element
from that park's past.