Alexandria vs. Monroe (New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Pineville: crime, homes, neighborhoods)

[aexman]

LSU Tiger Z71, Sorry if it sounded like I was putting Monroe down. I was trying to illustrate the difference in two cities that were similar once. Unfortunately, there are great differences. Monroe's economy is in the tank. Anyone disputing that fact is not dealing with reality.

Look at the latest census bureau population estimates for Louisiana Metro Areas. The top 3 in growth between 2000 and 2008 are Lafayette, Baton Rouge and Alexandria. Alex grew 5.6% in those eight years. Monroe's growth rate was 1.6%. Significant population growth spells economic opportunity and prosperity. A stagnant growth rate means people are leaving for greener pastures.

Sorry if, this upsets people like Louisiana's Legend. The unfortunate components of Monroe's decline are all obvious in his posting.

Here is the Census Bureau website for the disbelievers:
http://www.census.gov/popest/metro/CBSA-est2008-pop-chg.html Open the report titled: Cumulative Estimates of Population Change for Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Rankings: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008f

[LOUISIANA'SLEGEND]

Wow......that was so cute how you use stats from the census bureau. Applauds, yeaaaa!!!!

So say something like.........umm, i dont know, a bunch of hurricanes hit southeast Louisiana alot during that same time frame of 2000 to 2008 and displaced and scared alot of people away from the southeastern region around New Orleans? What If many people didnt want to leave there home state and wanted to stay here with friends and family? The biggest question I want to ask is: If they lived in an area where neighboring cities were not as fragile when it comes to hurricane damage and the atmosphere was similar in those neighboring cities as it is New Orleans, wouldnt that cause an increase of population growth to those neighboring cities?

I think if you answer those common sense questions, which I just pop outta my head, you'd get my point.

I mean aexman, oh buddy, oh pal, we live in Louisiana my friend. You really believe we made that much progress in the last 8 years here in Louisana for us to make some population booms here as the ones the census shows? NO!!! The state as a whole is declining in population due to bad governing and education. I didnt wanna get into stats, but look at what New Orleans lost. Where did they go? Half went out of state, half of the other half went to Baton Rouge. The rest was sprinkled across the southern Louisiana area and the northern area got the left overs.

Your little itty bitty 5.6 had nothing to do with your city having a better economy, because I come to Alexandria alot, I know whats there!!!! And its not growth!!

[Prejean]

I travel louisiana as a marketing rep. I am fairly famliar with all the major cities. Right now i live in lafayette. I have to take aexman's side of this question.

I have observed that alex is a much cleaner town than monroe. You notice more curbside garbage and discarded household objects. Also there seems to be a lot of open ditches in monroe. I also see lots of people selling stuff off the hoods and trunks of cars parked at abandoned businesses in monroe. You don't see that in alex or laf. This makes you think that there must be a lot of unemployment and crime.

Alex seems more modern and uptodate than monroe. It seems to be growing a lot faster too. There are several high rise buildings going up. I think the one by the mall is a new hospital. I really like their new airport. Its much nicer than ours.

The other thing is how you feel when you are working in a certain place. I never feel really safe in monroe. I don't get that feeling in alex.

Hang in there aexman, alexandria is a winner.

[Innotech]

I havent been to monroe, but I drove to Alexandria a few times with some friends to visit the store anime4ever located on Masonic drive by the Alexandria mall. Going through the town, it certainly looked very clean and commercial to me. Certainly not rundown in that area, or in any area ldeading up to that. If theres one thing I didnt like about Alexandria, its that outdated and terribly designed traffic circle. In Europe, they dont have traffic circles much anymore, they have what are known as roundabouts, and this is a much more efficient and safe design. I think alexandria should look into redesigning that particular junction. It was downright scary driving on it.

[LSU Tiger Z71]

Post Katrina growth contributes to Alex's increase in population in the Census years provided by Aexman (did you forget the L or an Axe Men reference? Alexandria's airport? What is AEX, anyway?") Excluding Katrina, Alex has grown more than Monroe, but this growth doesn't mean that Monroe is bad, your numbers are inflated due to Katrina.. Northeast Louisiana has always had stagnant population growth, like many areas geographically around it and does not have the coast nor oil infrastructure in place as Southern Louisiana. Alex is getting a piggyback ride from its geographical proximity to the Big Three Louisiana metros of Lafayette, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans.

Will not argue Alexandria's airport superiority. Monroe has a long time to do big things with its airport and city leaders have failed in that regard. Monroe enjoys an economy that is performing better than the national average and has plenty of wealth and good quality of life. I'd say Monroe is, at this point, the more matured metro area when compared to Alex. However, Alex is growing fast! I guess I find the Vs. nature of the thread to be silly in start. You can call be biased because I grew up and live in here-- but Monroe has been good to me, my family, and my friends-- and I believe has everything Alex has! Let's just all get along.

[Rmaf623]

I do regret making this thread a "vs" thread. I just wanted a little more discussion of Alexandria and Monroe on this forum. I want both cities to grow and be successful.

[Rmaf623]

Originally Posted by Prejean

There are several high rise buildings going up. I think the one by the mall is a new hospital. I really like their new airport. Its much nicer than ours.

The new building going up by the mall is an expansion to Christus St. Frances Cabrini Hospital. It looks like a nice building, but I don't think that it will be as tall as I thought it would be.

[Rmaf623]

Originally Posted by Innotech

If theres one thing I didnt like about Alexandria, its that outdated and terribly designed traffic circle. In Europe, they dont have traffic circles much anymore, they have what are known as roundabouts, and this is a much more efficient and safe design. I think alexandria should look into redesigning that particular junction. It was downright scary driving on it.

I sometimes get nervous too when driving on the traffic circle. There has been talk over the years for replacing it with an overpass, but still nothing has been done. There used to be another traffic circle at the corner of MacArthur and Bolton, which was replaced with an overpass a while back.

[BlueyedCat]

Originally Posted by Prejean

I travel louisiana as a marketing rep. I am fairly famliar with all the major cities. Right now i live in lafayette. I have to take aexman's side of this question.

I have observed that alex is a much cleaner town than monroe. You notice more curbside garbage and discarded household objects. Also there seems to be a lot of open ditches in monroe. I also see lots of people selling stuff off the hoods and trunks of cars parked at abandoned businesses in monroe. You don't see that in alex or laf. This makes you think that there must be a lot of unemployment and crime.

Alex seems more modern and uptodate than monroe. It seems to be growing a lot faster too. There are several high rise buildings going up. I think the one by the mall is a new hospital. I really like their new airport. Its much nicer than ours.

The other thing is how you feel when you are working in a certain place. I never feel really safe in monroe. I don't get that feeling in alex.

Hang in there aexman, alexandria is a winner.

I'm very familiar with both of these cities as I lived in both of them. Monroe used to be very nice. But over the years it started going downhill and trashy. The best of the best moved to West Monroe. There are many areas in Monroe that I wouldn't drive thru by myself. Day or night. My family has been in Law enforcement many years in the Monroe area and can tell some pretty horrible stories.

Alexandria is growing and is much cleaner and nicer. And much more safer than the monroe area. The job market is better as I have children in that area now. There is more going on and much more to do.

Alexandria gets my vote over Monroe. I hope one day that Monroe gets it's act together and cleans the city up. It was once one of my favorite areas that I lived in.

[Innotech]

but of course you guys do realize that while arguing over cities in Louisiana, NO city is as nice as some of the suburbs near large midwestern cities. Look at a town like Wheaton, Illinois or Naperville to see what Im referring to. I cant think of a singe city in Louisiana that even approaches that level. Which is why arguing about Monroe vs Alexandria is kind of moot. Were all part of a state trying to get its act together after many decades of corruption and neglect. The infrastructure in this state is awful and I really think that will hurt us a lot going forward unless we can come up with solutions quickly.