Posted on Fri, May. 09, 2008

-- Ready for some good news? We heard quite a bit of it at this week's Southern Gaming Summit.

Like the extension of the GO Zone legislation has a very good chance of passing the U.S. Congress. That means another billion "with a B" dollars of tax relief sure to bring more investment on the Coast, said John Hairston. He is both a banker at Hancock Bank and a commissioner with the Mississippi Gaming Commission, so when he brings good news, people really listen.

Gov. Haley Barbour said the legislation isn't especially controversial and "should" pass. Everyone understands the time it took to clean up the debris from Hurricane Katrina was longer than expected, which he said made it impossible to start major projects.

Hairston had heads spinning with more good news:

• "Jobs are back and growing," especially in Jackson County.

• Commercial investment is up 67 percent since the storm.

• The average price of a home on the Coast is $166,368, which is 6.4 percent higher than last year.

• "We have 3,000 homes available for sale now." That might seem like a glut in other parts of the country, but here available housing is good news.

• Many new doctors have joined Coast hospitals since the storm.

• Margaritaville Casino is under construction and six more casinos are at various planning stages, "from ready to spend money to kicking the tires."

"Sounds like a good place to spend money," Hairston remarked, and investors and the government are. "Massive amounts of cash flow are occurring on the Coast right now," said Hairston, and only 43 percent of what FEMA has allocated for hurricane recovery has actually been spent. That means there are still a lot of projects like the $355 million infrastructure project in Biloxi still to come.

Bruce Frallic, executive director of Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, has plenty of reason to be optimistic with the number of airlines up from 4 to 18 since Katrina, and 8 nonstop destinations. "Where opportunity meets profit" is The Great Motivator he said is bringing flights to the Coast and expansion to the airport. And he pledges, "There's other things that are going to happen."

Look beyond the price of fuel and food, and thankfully, there is still lots of good news here at home in South Mississippi.

Just Krewson is a column of opinion by staff writer Mary Krewson Perez. She can be reached at 896-2354 or at meperez@sunherald.com.