Shreveport vs Baton Rouge (New Orleans, Monroe: real estate market, crime rate, neighborhoods)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Good points for Baton Rouge ... (PREMIERE SHOPPING) with Town Center @ Cedar Lodge, Perkins Rowe and THE MALL OF LOUISIANA . ( FAMILY VENUES) at Blue Bayou, BR Zoo, Museums, BREC parks and Libraries. (Young and Large Student Population) Flagship Universities @ LSU and SU and a Community College , States Best public schools in the Burbs and magnet schools in the City. (EVOLVING DOWNTOWN SCENE) with casinos,hotels,Shaw Center, River Center, and 3rd St scene. (SPORTS ) wether it sitting with almost 100k fans at DEATH Valley or jamming Human JUKE BOX football season is a must. and easy access to NOLA make NFL and NBA games real)
Bad ponits for BR... Traffic, Mass Transit (huge opportunities exist), EBR Public school system struggling to excel, Lack of Direct Flights at BTR. EBR Metro Council ;parish versus city government.
Metro Baton Rouge is a Huge asset for South Louisiana and is complimented by short drives to NOLA, LAFAYETTE, Covington and anywhere on the gulf coast for getaways......
So how does SHREVE/BOSS. compare?
Good points for Baton Rouge ... (PREMIERE SHOPPING) with Town Center @ Cedar Lodge, Perkins Rowe and THE MALL OF LOUISIANA . ( FAMILY VENUES) at Blue Bayou, BR Zoo, Museums, BREC parks and Libraries. (Young and Large Student Population) Flagship Universities @ LSU and SU and a Community College , States Best public schools in the Burbs and magnet schools in the City. (EVOLVING DOWNTOWN SCENE) with casinos,hotels,Shaw Center, River Center, and 3rd St scene. (SPORTS ) wether it sitting with almost 100k fans at DEATH Valley or jamming Human JUKE BOX football season is a must. and easy access to NOLA make NFL and NBA games real)
Bad ponits for BR... Traffic, Mass Transit (huge opportunities exist), EBR Public school system struggling to excel, Lack of Direct Flights at BTR. EBR Metro Council ;parish versus city government.
Metro Baton Rouge is a Huge asset for South Louisiana and is complimented by short drives to NOLA, LAFAYETTE, Covington and anywhere on the gulf coast for getaways......
So how does SHREVE/BOSS. compare?
Lol why'd you mention Covington?
Shreveport has the Red Light district, downtown casino's, the Louisiana Boardwalk across the river in Bossier, a much better freeway system, and proximity to Dallas and it's Cowgirl NFL team, as well as the almost World Champ Rangers and the champion Mavericks.
Shreveport has the Red Light district, downtown casino's, the Louisiana Boardwalk across the river in Bossier, a much better freeway system, and proximity to Dallas and it's Cowgirl NFL team, as well as the almost World Champ Rangers and the champion Mavericks.
The household incomes are very high in Covington and it attracts retails that maybe also be in BR and NOLA or elswhere...so decent shopping and restaurants with a short drive.
I don't think Shreveport can compare to Baton Rouge in a number of ways. It already has the stigma of being the "other" side of Louisiana and that tag is there for a reason. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with it, and it is better than living in Dallas, but when you look at the food, events, LSU and being close to the gulf coast, Shevreport is a far less attractive place to live when compared to Baton Rouge. That's just my two cents.
Good points for Baton Rouge ... (PREMIERE SHOPPING) with Town Center @ Cedar Lodge, Perkins Rowe and THE MALL OF LOUISIANA . ( FAMILY VENUES) at Blue Bayou, BR Zoo, Museums, BREC parks and Libraries. (Young and Large Student Population) Flagship Universities @ LSU and SU and a Community College , States Best public schools in the Burbs and magnet schools in the City. (EVOLVING DOWNTOWN SCENE) with casinos,hotels,Shaw Center, River Center, and 3rd St scene. (SPORTS ) wether it sitting with almost 100k fans at DEATH Valley or jamming Human JUKE BOX football season is a must. and easy access to NOLA make NFL and NBA games real)
Bad ponits for BR... Traffic, Mass Transit (huge opportunities exist), EBR Public school system struggling to excel, Lack of Direct Flights at BTR. EBR Metro Council ;parish versus city government.
Metro Baton Rouge is a Huge asset for South Louisiana and is complimented by short drives to NOLA, LAFAYETTE, Covington and anywhere on the gulf coast for getaways......
So how does SHREVE/BOSS. compare?
Good points on the pros and cons. So many people only want to post the pros and not the cons. Thanks for showing both sides. I had intended to show both sides, but my post got long and I need to get to bed so I will do the cons at a later date, but I will do them because I think to be truly objective you have to show both sides.
Here are my pros, just drawing comparisons to the pros that you mentioned above. Sorry to have gotten so long with it, I tend to do that.
Shopping: Indoor malls are no longer the way to go, so if the Mall of Louisiana is still a nice mall, that's a very nice point for Baton Rouge. You truly don't see that very often these days. Crime in the Southern Hills area of Shreveport about 20 years ago got so bad that South Park Mall, this area's largest mall, ended up closing. It's now a "mega church" as they call it, which I have no thoughts on either way as I'm an atheist so I don't care what Christians do as long as they don't try to involve me. We still have our two oldest malls, Pierremont Mall and Mall St. Vincent, as well as Pierre Bossier Mall, for what it's worth. Then we have the Shoppes at Bellemead which, while a pretty small outdoor "lifestyle center", has very high-end stores in it as well as great dining. We also have The Shops at Villaggio, which is a lifestyle center with apartments, townhomes and a community lake. Then there is the smaller Windrush Village Marketplace at the Provenance traditional neighborhood development. And finally, there is the Louisiana Boardwalk which, while mostly an outlet mall, has many dining options, a hotel and a theater. And of course, now it will have Margaritaville attached to it. Though it doesn't sound overly exciting, many cities are beginning to copy the design in order to boost tourism in their cities. I don't believe the Boardwalk is a boost to tourism, but it does give people something else to do when they visit.
Family Venues: Splash Kingdom Water Park, formerly Water Town and completely renovated. Gators and Friends Alligator Park and "Exotic Zoo" (which in this case pretty much translates to a petting zoo). Chimp Haven, which is a retirement community for chimpanzees who have been used in show business or science, kept as pets, etc. It also serves as an educational experience for humans, so it is opened a few times each year for public tours. Yogie and Friends Exotic Cat Sanctuary, which rescues and houses large, wild cats such as tigers, lions, ligers, panthers, etc. It's open to the public on Saturdays from April through October. Then there are many parks all around the cities, including the riverfront greenbelts that stretch from the downtown areas all the way out to the southern ends of Shreveport and Bossier City. Libraries, we have tons of them. Every neighborhood in Shreveport has them and then they are scattered throughout Caddo and Bossier Parishes. Not a lot of museums, but there are a few. The main ones would be Sci-Port, which is a museum with an IMAX dome theater and Laser Planetarium; Norton Art Gallery, which is an okay fine art gallery for a city of this size and also has some of the most beautiful azalea gardens in the back that span many acres. On the subject of gardens, I forgot to mention the American Rose Center, which is the largest garden dedicated to roses in the United States and the home of the American Rose Society.
Education: Highly-ranked public schools in Bossier Parish and charter schools in Caddo Parish. Within an hour's drive of Louisiana Tech University, which really should be in Shreveport anyway. Home of Centenary College, which is quite often ranked among the top small and independent liberal arts colleges in the United States. We don't have a flagship university, but we're also not the State Capital.
Downtown: We have an active downtown scene, although it's not as active as we would like. It's a work in progress. But with Louisiana College currently renovating a 7- or 8-story building in downtown Shreveport for its future law school, and Southern University Shreveport soon to be renovating more space downtown to expand its Metro Campus, plus the Shreveport Convention Center, two casinos within walking distance, museums, Riverview Park, Festival Plaza, many hotels, condos and lofts being developed or planned.
mod edit However, both cities have their pros and cons, but if I had to chose, I would go w/ Baton Rouge as my preference b/c I just would rather the southern part of the state over the north. The culture, the cooking, the festivals are just much more enjoyable. BR's crime rate has increased since Katrina, but Shreveport is not w/o it's crime and like BR, Shreveport has some parts that are not so nice (quality wise) either.
Last edited by Sam I Am; 09-15-2012 at 06:47 PM..
Reason: Leave the personal opinions on the poster out of it, please...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $53,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
