Owner of St John restaurant in the French Quarter isn't happy with the state of the city

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Friends of Saint John,

It is with a heavy heart but an even heavier mind that I have to tell you that our beloved restaurant is closed indefinitely. There are probably only a handful of people who know the tremendous struggle it is to operate a restaurant in New Orleans, much less the French Quarter. It is a labor of pure passion, a reverence for a city steeped in tradition and culture, an unseen or heard calling to preserve our fading glory as a destination for celebrations and music that fill the streets and the aromas of kitchens trapped in a time of simplicity and elegant nostalgia. But that is my job as the owner – to provide the cover of success and stability to the guest. It is my job to provide the illusion of prosperity to the public. The weight is overwhelming.

The City of New Orleans is in crisis, and it is being played like an old rerun of a comedy of errors. We have become blinded by the light of poor leadership and a mayor who left the building long before the curtain has even dropped. That lack of accountability runs from our city hall down to the very companies that paint an even lighter shade on our portrait of the New Orleans that once was. I'm speaking of Entergy NOLA (Entergy Louisiana). I could loop in the Sewage and Water Board but why beat a horse that has been dead and buried.

Entergy New Orleans has shut off the power to our building, a building that we do not own, a building that they do not even have the slightest idea of who is responsible for the meters that THEY own and installed or where those meters even exist on the property. So, like all things NOLA, we pass the buck to the next administration or business owner to deal with the pile of inadequate leadership and accountability. $40,000…forty-thousand dollars, that is the bill that they are saying we need to pay for a ghost meter that they cannot even determine its location on the property. The level of harassment and utter terror that they have inflicted on myself and my company is no longer acceptable.

This is the second time that Entergy New Orleans has done this to my business, the first being during the great lockdown of covid when they auto drafted $35,000 from our bank account due to a billing error. I will pretend no more to accept that this is the New Orleans that I grew up in and that we are powerless to combat these inadequate and absent officials who we look to for support. The line has been crossed for the last time. I will no longer accept the fact that we have to spend another second waiting for this administration to further destroy our culture.

Local Businesses are the heart and soul of this city and have always been the first to help out in crises and support the community. Even in the worst of economic times for our city, we still give and give. I will give no more. It is time that we stand up to OUR city officials and turn this city around before it's too late. I will die on this mountain if I have to, but I have been dying for far less for far too long. I will mourn the loss of Saint John, but it will not be for long.

- Cook

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