Candidate stresses plans for tourism, retirement and parks

A short visit with lieutenant governor candidate John Young gave me good reason to pay more attention to this race. It’s likely that most know the lieutenant governor stands in for the governor when the state’s chief executive is out of the state, or worse, if the governor is incapacitated.

But the duties of the lieutenant governor are much more extensive and concentrate on state’s culture, recreation and tourism offerings. Young was quick to compliment current Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne for administration of the office, but said he’s ready to “take it to the next level.” Dardenne is running for governor.

Young ticked off a few facts about the state’s culture, recreation and tourism industry that voters not know.

“Tourism – a lot of people who are not in the tourism business or industry say, ‘Why does tourism matter?’ Well, tourism matters because it’s an $11.2 billion industry in the state of Louisiana, and these are all based on official numbers from the lieutenant governor’s office.

“It brought 28.7 million people to the state of Louisiana in 2014, employs over 200,000 people statewide, and here’s the big number – it generated, in 2014 alone, $836 million to the state treasury.

That’s $836 million we don’t have to collect from you and me – money we can use to provide necessary goods and services to our people,” he said.

In addition to the tourism element of the work, Young provided an overview the culture aspect. Most of the state’s museums are in the jurisdiction of the lieutenant governor’s office, although a few fall under the secretary of state. In the recreation area, all state parks are under the lieutenant governor’s jurisdiction.

Young said he had visited every state park in Louisiana.

And he was quick to express his concern for the budget cuts that both the museum and park systems have suffered: “They’ve been cut to the bone, we need to make sure they’re appropriately funded,” he said of the park system. He said when the parks suffer budget cuts and reduced use, communities in the vicinity of these parks suffer economically when visitors aren’t buying gas, groceries and spending money at other outlets.

The state’s Main Street Program is also administered by the lieutenant governor’s office. Young said this program helps revitalize downtown and historic areas throughout the state to bring help bring blighted, non-producing properties back on the tax rolls and increase economic activities within those downtown historic areas.

Young said every dollar invested in tourism produces a $38 return; every dollar invested in Main Street Program projects sees a $28 return.

“Bottom line here is the lieutenant governor’s office, unlike most state offices and agencies, is a net producer of revenue. It produces much more revenue that it costs to operate.”

The lieutenant governor’s office is also charged with promoting the state for purposes of retirement. And Young

said we’re about to see a baby boomer retirement movement, which will

represent “probably the wealthiest class of retirees this nation has ever seen.”

Louisiana has what retirees are looking for in the forms of recreation, proximity to universities for the intellectual aspect, relatively low cost of living and mild climate. But Young said a recent Bank Rate survey ranked Louisiana fifth from the bottom as a retirement preference for one reason: Crime. Reducing crime, particularly in New Orleans would be a priority for Young.

As a former prosecutor and assistant district attorney, he believes this skill set will help him target and reduce crime – particularly in New Orleans.

Young said he has already personally visited with 60 of the state’s 64 sheriffs because public safety has to be a primary focus.

“If we don’t have public safety, everything else falls by the wayside. People aren’t going to come live, visit, invest in or retire in our communities unless they feel safe, and are in fact safe,” he observed.

There’s plenty more to the responsibilities of the lieutenant governor, and Young, as well as fellow contenders, Elbert Guillory, Billy Nungesser and Kip Holden will detail those responsibilities as they make their way around the state courting voters.

There’s more for Young – and for all the candidates for this office. Voters should take the time to get to know these candidates and decide who should run probably the only revenue generating office of the state.

Marty Carlson, a freelance writer, has been covering local news for the past 17 years. She can be reached via email at martycarlson1218@ gmail.com.