Best Place to live in North Louisiana? (Baton Rouge, Shreveport: credit, home)

[ILUVMAINE]

If it's a small town you're looking for then I would suggest Minden or Ruston. Having grown up in Shreveport and lived there until we moved away several years ago - we returned around Christmas time and I was shocked at the changes.

[Bayoukid]

The only reservation I have about Minden is that story I already told about my friends' son being threatened in school by a guy with a knife a few months ago. He wanted my friends' son to give him some kind of little computer he had and "Joe" wouldn't do it. They ended up in a fight and the guy was arrested. This is the first time anything like that has happened to "Joe", but they are understandably upset, especially since the other boy's case was handled by juvenile court and they can't find out anything about the case or when or if he's coming back to school. I'm not sure how often these kinds of things happen, but not often, I think.

I am sure that every school has isolated incidents such as this. Some more than others. I have heard of very few incidents over many years that occured in the schools of Minden. There are also private schools eith in Minden of not far from Minden. Minden has Glenbrook which is a private school. Then there is Mt. Olive Christian School over in Athens, LA which is about a 30 minute drive from Minden. If you don't mind me asking, which school was it that this happened in?


Reading over crime stats of Minden versus some of the other nearer cities, Minden comes in at a little less than half of the national average. Shreveport comes in at almost doubled the national average. Bossier City is just a tad above the National Average. Ruston is about what the National Average is. Monroe/West Monroe is somewhat above the National Average, about what Bossier is. By far, Minden is the safest city in North Louisiana. Minden has also tripled in size over the past 20 years, with many new businesses, housing, population and job opportunites.

[SBCmetroguy]

Originally Posted by ILUVMAINE2

If it's a small town you're looking for then I would suggest Minden or Ruston. Having grown up in Shreveport and lived there until we moved away several years ago - we returned around Christmas time and I was shocked at the changes.

Hopefully that's a good thing? Positive changes? Things are definitely better than they were from 1984-1994 so I hope that's the kind of changes you noticed.

[luvarkansas]

[quote=Bayoukid;3079647] If you don't mind me asking, which school was it that this happened in?[quote]

I don't know the name of the school he goes to. He's in high school, and it is a public school, that's all I know.

[ILUVMAINE]

Originally Posted by SBCmetroguy

Hopefully that's a good thing? Positive changes? Things are definitely better than they were from 1984-1994 so I hope that's the kind of changes you noticed.

During that period (1984-1994) the conditions were horrible. With the oil industry falling apart and the state not diversived enough. We drove down and once we hit the Louisiana state line, we noticed the roads were in terrible shape. Then when we actually got in the city, we couldn't believe all of the house that were for rent, for sale, in foreclosure! Yes, it was a very depressing time. Went back this past Christmas and the city has grown - of course, it still has some bad areas, but nothing like several years ago. You know the ironic thing though - I grew up in Broadmoor AND even during the "depressed" years, it was the same old Broadmoor. Now, I will say that the shopping area around Youree and Ockley are not very nice. Perhaps someone will come in and develop the entire area.

[KGT]

Ruston is a great town. I grew up here. It IS a college town, but it has it's perks. The crime rate isn't near what some of the people on this forum think. We are a closely knit community. We take a lot of pride in our community organizations and our yearly festival. We are a fast growing town. A lot of new home, business, and restaurant construction going on over the last few years. Everyone here enjoys the small town life with the big town perks.

[caze]

Hello I'm Ed and I'm thinking of coming to ruston la schooling at La Tech,what is like for young black male their.I love the state of La.,my parents where from new orleans but moved to georiga.It seems like Ruston is a very nice town!

[kal0824]

I would suggest Shreveport or Bossier. I have lived in Shreveport my whole life. Its a great city you just have to be careful what part you move to.

I would not recommend Natchitoches. It is full of college kids. Its a small city with a university right in the middle of it. Tons of drinking and craziness. I mean unless you like that sort of thing...then Natchitoches would be perfect. I lived there for a semester during college last year...bad idea!

[SBCmetroguy]

Shreveport deserves extreme caution. I never have been one to admit this much until now; but after having just read that another of my best friends from years back was murdered, I have to say it. If you live in Shreveport, please have the means to live in a decent neighborhood. Anyone who doesn't make much money and will end up living in a low-income area, if you have children, find a low-income area of Bossier to live in. My friend's life got screwed up when he moved from Bossier to Shreveport a few years ago, and he brought that with him when he moved to Benton. He was murdered yesterday in Bossier City as a result of this lifestyle which he learned in Shreveport and brought back across the river with him.

Again I'm not saying Shreveport is necessarily a bad place, but if you are low-income and looking for a safe place for children in a low-income area, do not move to Shreveport. I just can't stress that enough. I know a mother who only wanted the best for her sons, but unfortunately she couldn't provide much. So they moved to Shreveport to be closer to work in order to make their lives somewhat better. A few years later she will be burying a son. This is not the first case where I've known someone to be in this situation; unfortunately it happens too often. I lost a good friend in high school to gang violence after his mother moved his family to a ghetto in Shreveport. She was just trying to do what she could to help her family survive, but in the end she buried her son after he was gunned down in the middle of the street like an animal. He was not an animal, but yet another victim of the ghetto.

Elvis Presley's popular song, In the Ghetto, rings true for Shreveport as well as Chicago.

[LOUISIANA'SLEGEND]

Wow SBC.......unfortunately, even though I hate to agree(because i love Shreveport), Shreveport is so dangerous. 3 people I known from around the way has been murdered in the last 2 months. Im in Monroe and I over hear someone mentioning a story about a drive-by shooting that killed a relative. Shreveport has so many good things to offer, but I gotta echo SBC on this one, if you cant afford something nice and away from all the danger that Shreveport's "ghettos and gangs" can bring, you need to stay away it. Take it from me, I personally know these things, I was on both ends, thats why im back in Monroe.

As Far as Monroe's crime, we have some of the best police forces in the state. The crime is in one mostly one particular area: the southside. There are about 12 low income government housing areas (the projects) on the southside of Monroe, so of course with that comes crime. If you look at the stats, 80% of the crime is on the south side, you can avoid the southside of Monroe easily and make a good living. LOL,
those people on the north, eastside, and west(West Monroe also)protect there neighborhoods like their children. If you are seen over there and your not from around you will get mugged and a cop would be there in seconds!!! So dont let the stats fool you like Monroe is full of crime, because the majority of it is empty of it. But, Shreveport..........wow, you better be careful, very careful. Im from the crime side of Monroe, and Shreveport as a whole scares me!!! Its the city fault for focusing on tourism and big business, I swear when i'm in Shreveport I cant find a cop anywhere, but Bossier City's police force is everywhere though, those guys dont play!!!!