Reasons to love and live in Louisiana (New Orleans, Baton Rouge: apartments, high crime)

[agordida]

hello everybody, I'm new in this forum.

I was thinking about moving to Louisiana from Boston, MA for work relocation.

But I was actually born in Italy, so I don't know much of the culture, attitude and life down there...could you help me out??

Thanks
M.

[agordida]

anybody who replies to me????

[cassarina]

Hi,
I am from Louisiana. I would suggest that you go and visit a few places. Louisiana is a slow and laid back place with a lot of culture. It is a place that I feel you must experience. Other than the major cities it is somewhat rural.
What city are you thinking about moving to?

[shanla]

NO replys because no one can name reasons why we love this state (other than the food)...most were born here and stuck here....its hot, humid, our school system is horrible, not much to see or do, crime and aids is the only thing La can say they are top of the list on

[ShreveportNative]

You mentioned moving for work relocation. Would this narrow your choices of locations? Is your work dependent on a city? Do you want a city or rural atmosphere?

Some LA cities are high crime. Review the crime stats on this site under the cities. This site lists small as well as larger cities. This site also clearly shows the cities that have large populations of the very poor, high or low levels of home ownership, etc. Go back to the home page, access the individual cities, access the links under the cities such as housing data.

When I was comparing cities to relocate to, I was looking for lower crime than my current city, a higher percentage of owner occupied housing, & stats that indicate a healthy middle class. Be particularly careful of housing price stats, as an area that has a huge amount of substandard, low priced housing can artificially make the housing price look better than it actually is. Look at realtor sites to compare apples w/ apples for housing prices. Housing prices will probably be much lower than Boston, apartments will be somewhat lower.

[yogabuff]

I lived 30 years in Louisiana and finally got the opportunity to leave with a company transfer 2 years ago. I have not once regretted leaving. I had 4 children and reared them all telling them to leave Louisiana as soon as they could. They all went to college and moved away and are doing fine.

Louisiana is a great place to visit but live there??? no way. I lived in the north part of the state (different culture than the southern part) but loved to visit the southern part. The policitians have been corrupt since its inception (former Gov. Edwards was indicted so many times even when in office and finally was sent to prison for his corruption).

Schools are terrible Louisiana. If you want a decent education for your children you must send them to private schools. I sure wouldn't go if I had kids and couldn't afford private schools.

[SBCmetroguy]

Originally Posted by yogabuff

I lived 30 years in Louisiana and finally got the opportunity to leave with a company transfer 2 years ago. I have not once regretted leaving. I had 4 children and reared them all telling them to leave Louisiana as soon as they could. They all went to college and moved away and are doing fine.

Louisiana is a great place to visit but live there??? no way. I lived in the north part of the state (different culture than the southern part) but loved to visit the southern part. The policitians have been corrupt since its inception (former Gov. Edwards was indicted so many times even when in office and finally was sent to prison for his corruption).

Schools are terrible Louisiana. If you want a decent education for your children you must send them to private schools. I sure wouldn't go if I had kids and couldn't afford private schools.

How many times must I point out that SOME Louisiana school districts rank highly against other schools across the nation. Not ALL of Louisiana's schools are bad. Many suburban Baton Rouge, Shreveport, and New Orleans schools are EXCELLENT. Stop giving out FALSE INFORMATION about Louisiana schools.

[Timmo]

I, too, moved down to New Orleans from NJ several years ago, so I can sympathize with your naivette about Louisiana. Up North you think everybody thinks and works the same way as you do, and that's where people go wrong. New Orleans is grossly inefficient, corrupt, dilapidated, inconsiderate, and incredibly insular. My advice - Stay in New England! Sure, New Orleans has unique culture, architecture, great food, distinct neighborhoods, and low cost of living (before Katrina). But, the bad side eventually outweighs the good - a lot of crappy, no-good people live here.

[jamibc]

I'm a native Louisianaian & agree that there are positives & negatives there.... as with any state! We've been living in Georgia almost 2 years & enjoy most everything here - find it a better overall life. EXCEPT THE FOOD! Gotta say, hands down, Louisiana has some of the best food around! I've lived in a lot of other states, mostly Southern & that is the one-up Louisiana can always fall back on. I can cook & do, but as far as restaurants go..... mmm-mmm! Natchitoches meat pies, Court of 2 sisters, Pee-Gee's Poboys & ice cream, anywhere in Lafayette!!!!

Wanted to get away a bit from all the home-state bashing....

This might not help a lot in your decison, but please know Louisiana also has some of the friendliest, down-home folks you'll ever want to meet!

[hurricom]

If you want the closest thing to a European city, move to New Orleans. Sure, it has its problems, but you simply will not find a city in the southern US (except perhaps for Charleston) that possesses the kind of cultural gumbo that New Orleans offers. A truly unique city, which in the US, has become a rarity in many ways.