JAZZ FEST WEEKEND ONE Music, food, cubes and more LAGNIAPPE 2025 NFL DRAFT: WILL SAINTS TAKE A QUARTERBACK? 1C
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T h u r s d ay, a p r i l 24, 2025
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S&WB names new executive director Hayman has led Philadelphia Water Department for six years
BY BEN MYERS Staff writer
Randy Hayman, the chief executive of the Philadelphia Water Department, is the next executive director of the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board, following a rare split vote of that board at a special meeting on Wednesday. Hayman will leave his job in Philadelphia in the coming weeks
for the S&WB position, which will pay him an annual salary of $427,000. The 4-3 vote to appoint Hayman followed a two-hour executive session and was done with no discussion. Hayman, who has a law degree from Georgetown University, has led the Philadelphia department for the past six years, earning reappointment last year under a newly elected mayor. The Philadelphia
Water Department is similar to the S&WB in that it handles drainage, wastewater and tap water. Hayman did not respond to messages on Wednesday. Hayman’s salary marks a significant increase over the outgoing director, Ghassan Korban, who has served in the role since 2018 and is leaving in May to return to his home in Wisconsin. Korban’s salary is $377,000.
Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Hayman is joining the S&WB at “a critical time,” as it prepares to cut the ribbon on a new power complex and undertakes a lead pipe replacement project. “We’ve planted seeds that will Hayman bring trust and accountability to our customers — now it’s time to deliver on that promise,” Cantrell said in a state-
‘Preserving our music culture’
ment. The reason for the split vote is not clear, but sources have said the S&WB’s current general superintendent, Steve Nelson, was a favored candidate among some board members and state officials. Nelson, who has publicly acknowledged that he applied for the job, said he is looking forward to working with Hayman. “It is the privilege of my engineering career to be able to serve
ä See S&WB, page 5A
Jazz Fest perimeter beefed up Neighbors weren’t told about additional precautions, they say BY JOHN SIMERMAN Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By DAVID GRUNFELD
The Jazz Fest foundation has purchased the iconic New Orleans French Quarter landmark on Rampart Street where Cosimo Matassa’s recording studio began. Irma Thomas, Fats Domino and other big artists recorded records there.
Jazz Fest foundation buys Cosimo Matassa’s first studio on Rampart Street BY JONAH MEADOWS Staff writer
The nonprofit that controls the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has purchased a landmark of the city’s musical history — the original site of Cosimo Matassa’s recording studio. The building, at 840 N. Rampart St. in the French Quarter, housed the first incarnation of Matassa’s studio, reportedly the first in the city, where the prototypical New Orleans rock and R&B sound was put to record seven decades ago. Located across the street from Armstrong Park, the famed corner at North Rampart and Dumaine streets has been immortalized in an iconic Carnival anthem, one of the many classic records
produced in a small room in the back of the building. Property records show the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation Inc. recently bought the building for $2.3 million. Before that, it had last been sold in 1997 for $360,000 to Rick Woodroof, who did not respond to an inquiry about the property. Kia Robinson Hatfield, director of programs, marketing and communications for the foundation, said leaders of the nonprofit were excited to have acquired a building that has such “profound cultural importance” to New Orleans. “This acquisition represents exciting
ä See CULTURE, page 4A
A plaque on the building notes its historic significance.
Tom O’Connor stood on Fortin Street, between his house and the Fair Grounds racetrack, miffed at a sudden new addition to the scene outside the venue for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Dozens of concrete barrier rails had appeared in a line running down the street, past the festival entrance. A group of plastic street barriers sat at nearby street corners, set there to be filled with water. “How are we supposed to move in and out?” O’Connor asked. More importantly, “How will Shaggy get through?” Local caterer Chris “Shaggy” Davis has made a tradition of leaving mudbugs for neighbors and others to sample for free outside Jazz Fest, to promote the NOLA Crawfish Festival, an event held between Jazz Fest weekends. “It’s my favorite part of the whole thing,” O’Connor said of the crawfish table that Davis sets up in front of his house. Questions swirled around the Fair Grounds neighborhood Wednesday over the new security measures, an unannounced response to the Jan. 1 Bourbon Street vehicle terror attack that left 14 New Year’s revelers dead. Though security for Jazz Fest was not part of a recent report issued by policing guru William Bratton recommending new measures for Bourbon Street and elsewhere to gird against terrorism, police and festival organizers appear to have taken heed of the potential for a similar crowd assault. Festival officials did not respond
Former House speaker Henry dies at 89 BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
E.L. “Bubba” Henry, a self-described country lawyer who rose to the top echelons of Louisiana politics by serving two terms as speaker of the state House during the 1970s, died Wednesday in Baton Rouge. He was 89. Henry, who served while Edwin Edwards was governor, also played a
WEATHER HIGH 85 LOW 70 PAGE 8B
pivotal role by chairing the 1973 convention that wrote the Louisiana Constitution. Henry sought to parlay his powerful roles in state politics by running to replace Edwards in 1979, but he finished fifth in a race won by David Treen. Henry remained an influential figure over the next four years by serving as Treen’s top government adviser. Henry then joined the Adams & Re-
ese law firm in Baton Rouge, where he lobbied the Legislature for insurance companies for decades. “He was a people person and had a good sense of humor, very easy to talk with, very intelligent,” said former House Speaker and Senate President John Alario, who was a young House Democrat from Westwego when Henry
ä See HENRY, page 5A
Business ......................6A Commentary ................7B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
ä See PERIMETER, page 4A
Bubba Henry, left, shares a laugh with John Alario at a 2017 gathering of the people who wrote the constitution in 1973. STAFF FILE PHOTO By BILL FEIG
12TH yEAR, NO. 255