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many as the amount under review. Linda Smith has been waiting since Aug. 25 without a decision on her claim. Smith’s restaurant, the Alligator Creole Cafe, is in Houston, far from where the oil washed ashore. But she said that her top-selling dishes were seafood from the Gulf and that she had to close her doors this summer when she could no longer get supplies. “I’m a little mom and pop establishment,” Smith said. “I would sell 13 or 14 catfish plates a day.” She said that in the months that her claim has been under review, she has had to sell her restaurant’s refrigerator, freezer and china in order to be able to pay rent on the property. Feinberg’s eligibility criteria state his program will evaluate claims based on “geographic proximity to the Spill [sic], the nature of the claimant’s job or business, and the extent to which the claim-
ant’s job or business is dependent upon injured property or natural resources.” But the guidelines do not specify how these factors will be weighed. Feinberg said delays in cases like Smith’s were based on the tough decisions they required rather than mishandling or a lack of capacity. “That’s not a mechanical problem,” Feinberg said. “That’s a problem of, ‘What should we do with that claim?’ And that’s the reason for the delay.” Delays and partial payments on claims have been a source of frustration for businesses in particular. On Nov. 8, Gov. Bob Riley of Alabama denounced Feinberg’s claims process as “extortion” — final payments from Feinberg require claimants to forgo their right to sue — and wrote Feinberg a letter demanding additional information about how he was responding to business claims. Feinberg told ProPublica that about 85 percent of businesses that had been
found to be eligible for compensation had been paid in full, a statistic that was previously not disclosed by his operation. “Be careful in making the assumption that it is inefficiency or incompetence that lies at the heart of delayed business claims,” Feinberg said. “I don’t buy it, I don’t believe it, and we have paid in full thousands and thousands of business claims.” But for claimants like Smith, the reason for the delays matters less than the check that has not arrived. “If you know how to pay the fisherman, why can’t you pay us?” Smith said.
the principle is the same.” The words were taken directly from former President Richard Nixon’s Panel on Oil Spills report, written in 1969. The seven-member commission was chaired by former Florida Sen. and Gov. Bob Graham and William K. Reilly of the private equity fund Aqua International Partners (and a board member of ConocoPhillips). The commission will hold public meetings in December and is expected to release official recommendations in January 2011. To read the preliminary reports, go to www.oilspillcommission.gov. — Kevin Allman
place in America,” he said. “We’re now being recognized nationally for that.” The Wall Street giant is partnering in the venture with Delgado Community College, which will develop curriculum for small business owners to help take their businesses “to the next level,” said Delgado chancellor Ron Wright. The curriculum will cover money management, marketing, writing business plans and other “baseline skills,” he said. Business owners can find more information at www.ecd.org/sb/index.htm. Classes are slated to begin in February. Dina Powell, Goldman Sachs global head of corporate engagement (and former assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs under President George W. Bush), said the firm understands the city’s need for “long-haul” investors and increased access to capital. The Urban League of Greater New Orleans will help identify businesses for the program, and Hope Credit Union will manage Goldman Sachs’ local fund. “Entrepreneurs in this city just won the Super Bowl,” said Hope CEO Bill Bynum. “We found many entrepreneurs in this city just need increased access to capital. … It was a godsend when Goldman knocked on our door.” Landrieu will host a business summit in preparation for the program (“People of New Orleans … Rebuilding New Orleans”) at the New Orleans Marriott from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 30, to discuss economic opportunities for local businesses. Call the Urban League at 620-2332 to register. — Alex Woodward
CorreCtion
In “Bottoms Up, The Bar Guide” we printed incorrect information about Vine & Dine. The Algiers wine bar serves food every day it is open, and its hours are 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Mon.-Fri. and noon to 9 p.m. Saturday. Gambit regrets the error.
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Gambit > bestofneworleans.com > NOVEMBER 30 > 2010
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MORe scuttlebutt page 9
• The government’s estimate of the gusher was 5,000 barrels per day; BP’s estimate was 14,000 barrels per day. The “top kill” solution of pumping mud into the hole was acknowledged to be ineffective with a flow rate of more than 15,000 barrels a day — and the actual total in May was 60,000 barrels a day — 12 times the government estimate. • The U.S. government and BP engaged in finger pointing, with the Obama administration feeling the oil giant relied on best-case scenarios in the containment operation, while BP felt the government’s input slowed down progress. • In June, the government began calling in BP’s industry competitors for advice on conference calls of 30 or more participants, one of whom told the commission the calls were unorganized, had no predetermined agenda and oil company executives were chary of leaving themselves open to legal liability. • Of the five oil giants, neither ConocoPhillips nor Chevron has spent any money at all on cleanup development technologies in the last 20 years. “Adequate public funds must be provided [for cleanup technologies], and these funds must be commensurate with the job that is to be done,” the report concluded. “Placing a man on the moon is a job which could not have been funded in the tens of millions of dollars. Although the development of a technology for handling oil spills in the open ocean is not the same order of magnitude as developing a technology to place a man on the moon or to build a nuclear energy system,
Gold from Goldman
Mayor Mitch Landrieu last week announced that New Orleans has joined Los Angeles and New York City as one of three recipients of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, aimed at developing small businesses and creating jobs in the selected cities. He was joined at the announcement (and at a celebration later with U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu at the home of James Carville and Mary Matalin, who helped lobby Goldman Sachs for the grant on behalf of New Orleans) by members of the City Council and other city leaders. Under the program, Goldman Sachs will offer $20 million in loans for small business development and also will offer business education opportunities. Landrieu said he anticipates seeing a “relentless pursuit of jobs” in the next 12 months. “We are the most immediate lab for innovation and transformation taking