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Ron Forman recently celebrated his 50th anniversary at the Audubon Nature Institute, which was called the Audubon Park and Zoological Gardens back when he joined the organization in 1972 as Mayor Moon Landrieu’s City Hall liaison.
Five years later, Forman was named Audubon’s president and CEO and embarked on a campaign to lead its transformation from an “animal ghetto,” as it was derisively called at the time, to one of the premier zoos in the country. In the decades since, he has grown the Audubon Institute’s portfolio to include the Aquarium of the Americas, Butterfly Garden and Insectarium, Louisiana Nature Center, Woldenberg Park and Species Survival Center.
A tireless cheerleader for the city and its hospitality industry, Forman is focused on a four-year strategic plan and $100 million capital campaign that includes an overhaul of the aquarium, expansion of Woldenberg Park and the redevelopment of two miles of downtown riverfront. He sat down recently to discuss his vision for the riverfront and why the city’s tourism sector matters now more than ever.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Why the strategic plan and new investment? Was Audubon losing visitors to its attractions?
No. But we are heavily dependent on tourism. We figured out a long time that New Orleans, with a population of 1.2 million, is fairly small, and building world-class attractions, education facilities and conservation centers in a city this size is limited. So, we joined forces with tourism a long time ago, knowing that if you add 15 million tourists to population of 1.2 million, you have an audience of 16 million. So that is how we have grown. But the only way we can survive is by having a base of tourism … because we have to raise roughly $1 million a week from admissions. We were doing that until COVID hit, and we had to lay off 700 employees. We were struggling without tourists, with everything being locked down. So, that’s when we came out with a four-year plan. We learned after Katrina that when you’re down you rebuild, you reinvest everything you have.
Tell me about the plan.
We put together a $100 million campaign. In 2023, we begin year four of that plan and this year we are opening our facilities in a whole new way. Family tourism is the fastest growing sector of the tourism industry overall. With that in mind, we are completely redoing the aquarium. It will open later this year, and then we are expanding Woldenberg Park, with some of it opening in 2023 and some in 2024. The idea is to make the river a destination and to create river access at the foot of Canal Street that is pedestrian friendly. Then, we will expand the riverfront park two miles down to the Industrial Canal. So, we are opening the riverfront for all those neighborhoods from the Warehouse District to the Bywater. If you want to bike to work or jog you’ll be able to. This isn’t some dream. This is happening now, and a lot of this will be done by September.
You mentioned the two miles going downriver. Does that include the redevelopment of the warehouses at the edge of the French Quarter?
We are in a partnership in building a riverfront park that includes the French Market Corp. and the city, and an easy thing to talk about is building a park there that will allow the river for the first time to be the front porch to all the neighborhoods in that area. So we are working on plans for that park. On one side, there will be a bike trail. On the other there will be a pedestrian walkway and landscaping. Then there will be green space in between. We will keep some of the wharves and upgrade them for a multiuse purpose. We don’t know what it is yet
So that would be the Esplanade and Gov. Nicholls Street wharves?
Right. And that is the planning phase we’re in right now. We have the agreement to design, build and operate something there. We are working with the mayor and the City Council in a partnership with the surrounding neighborhoods.
When you say multiuse, do you mean retail? Entertainment? Housing?
All we can say for sure right now is it will have bike paths and jogging paths and green space, but there will be a need to have revenue generating facilities to pay for the operations. The aquarium pays for Woldenberg Park. The zoo pays for Audubon Park. We don’t get operating money from the public. We would love nothing better than if someone came in and said, here is $70 million. But no one is doing that. So, we have to generate revenues in another way.
How is Audubon paying for the strategic plan?
All the improvements are led by Audubon. But we are working with the federal government, the state, the mayor of New Orleans, and we work with the business community, and we do our own fundraising so we are raising the money from a lot of different sources. Most of our funds — probably 70% — comes from the public, whether that’s city bond money, state capital outlay or a dedicated millage. We raise the rest from donors.
You’ve talked about the importance of tourism to the Audubon Institute. Don’t you worry we are putting all our eggs in one basket? If New Orleans is nothing but a Disneyworld, where middle-class families cannot afford to live, how is it a real viable city?
There is no question we have to diversify our economy every chance we get. It’s got to be on all our minds. There are times when we do a better job than other times. Tulane is investing a lot with higher education. Health care is growing strongly. I don’t think it is totally accurate to say New Orleans is not working hard to diversify our economy. Solid investments are being made in all of them. It’s not enough. I don’t want to say we don’t have a problem. We have to keep focusing on diversifying our economy. But tourism not only serves economic development; it brands New Orleans as a great city. It shouldn’t be our only industry, but it is the easiest to grow. I am optimistic but a realist, also. We have to keep the pedal to the metal and always look to grow economic development with diversity and opportunity for all people.
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