SLEC head touts TEDA’s success

Vic Lafont, executive director of the South Louisiana Economic Council, spoke to the Terrebonne Economic Development Authority last Thursday about cooperation between the four parishes which constitute the council: Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary and Assumption.

Based at Nicholls State University, the council facilitates business development in the four parishes.

“Our job is to sell the region,” Lafont said.

Charles Gaiennie, a spokesman for the council, demonstrated the online site Bayou Region Explorer, which offers convenient information for businesses seeking to locate to the four-parish area.

He said many businesses seeking to become established in Terrebonne may not understand the difference between Schriever and Dulac.

“We can change the perception of our region to people out there,” he said.

Lafont said he would like to see the other three parishes in the council’s region establish economic development authorities like TEDA.

“Before TEDA, we had no one to work with,” Lafont said. “We had to go to the chamber and the tourist commission. I wish we had a TEDA in all four parishes.”