Moving (Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Monroe: real estate, Home Depot, neighborhoods)

[lisaurart]

Originally Posted by okiemoving

What about Shreveport-Bossier city do you love? I am from a university town in Oklahoma and would love to find an area like that in Louisiana. A place with a lot of business, shopping, parks and those kinds of things. I am also a teacher and education is so important to me. I have taught in low-income ethnically diverse schools my entire career...

I want to find a place that is safe, clean, nice homes,... Would you descride Shreveport/Bossier city in this way?

Also, do we choose Shrevepor or Bossier City?

Thanks

I can answer this as well as we lived in Bossier City for 14 years and hope to return to the area after 3 years abroad. Bossier City is a city of about 60,000 but has a lot to offer for a city it's size, a new convention center with great concerts and a minor league hockey team, loads of fun to attend! A BEAUTIFUL, upscale, riverwalk shopping area, low crime, good economy, good schools, and to be fair, benefits from Shreveport's great Art communities and festivals, shopping, etc. Shreveport has some great areas as well but has with any city it's size, some bad areas. Some good schools in Shreveport, many not so good. Hope this helps.
Not far from Dallas area as well.

[chaparrall442]

Tell us a little more about the kind of lifestyle- I too travel the state and LA has a variety of lifestyle towns.

Will he be flying frequently? Are you interested in small towns or cities?

Church?, type schools, social desires, arts, culture, outdoors, recreation? answer these and we can provide a better solution

[CiCi23]

Okay I will tell you how I view the cities in the state. I live In Shreveport. Alexandria is very industrial and not anything to do at all.. The south region, NO, umm it's detroyed. Baton Rouge is not bad. But I like where I live. Shreveport/Bossier City area has so much to do. You would like it here.

[Vampgrrl]

The south region isn't destroyed.
I work in New Orleans in a real office building with eletricity n everything.
Northshore is ok, Metarie is ok (if not looking a little dated).

Life is gud on the Sliver by the River. =)

[Rmaf623]

Originally Posted by CiCi23

Okay I will tell you how I view the cities in the state. I live In Shreveport. Alexandria is very industrial and not anything to do at all.. The south region, NO, umm it's detroyed. Baton Rouge is not bad. But I like where I live. Shreveport/Bossier City area has so much to do. You would like it here.

Compared to larger cities, Alexandria might not seem to have a lot to do. Alexandria is somewhat lacking when it comes to entertainment, but there are at least some things to do. If you enjoy golf, minor-league baseball or like the outdoors, you definitely won't be bored. There are also plenty of restaurants, shopping centers, etc. However, the downtown area is not heavily developed and does not have many entertainment options (unlike Shreveport-Bossier and Baton Rouge). If you want a lot of nightlife and casinos, I would not recommend Alexandria.

I really don't think of Alexandria as all that industrial. Yes, there are a number of manufacturing plants in the area, but none of them heavily pollute (unlike the oil refineries in Lake Charles and Baton Rouge). There is a paper mill across the river, southeast of Pineville that occasionally smells up nearby areas, but it's fairly isolated.

[Onebolf]

I would also consider Minden, LA. It is about half way between Shreveport-Bossier and Ruston, 30 minutes I think. It is a beautiful small town. Like a Norman Rock. picture. Maybe SBCmetroguy has some insight on this town.

[SBCmetroguy]

Originally Posted by Onebolf

I would also consider Minden, LA. It is about half way between Shreveport-Bossier and Ruston, 30 minutes I think. It is a beautiful small town. Like a Norman Rock. picture. Maybe SBCmetroguy has some insight on this town.

I live just a few miles west of Minden. Until recently it was part of the Shreveport-Bossier metropolitan area. Now it is its own micropolitan area I believe.

It's a nice town, originally built up next to a German settlement called Germantown. The Germantown area is still there, though I've never been.

Minden has a good amount of poverty and crime for a town its size, but it's not hard to avoid. Overall, I'd consider living there if it didn't add an extra 15 minutes to my already undesirable 30-minute commute!

[holloway1010]

In Louisiana the only relatively large cities that are considered to be very prosporous are Lafayette and Baton Rouge. Shreveport and Alexandria are OK but I would not live in them. In Baton Rouge, I would not go for the city proper, your best bet would be looking to the West and North of the Metro area where you can actually still drive without slamming your brakes every 5 seconds. Traffic in the city and in Livingston and Ascension Parishes is a real pain, I can tell you because I pass through all of them on a fairly regular basis. The home cost in those two parishes are outrageous as well.

[enigmc]

Originally Posted by okiemoving

My husband has just gotten a new job in Louisiana and we can live anywhere in the state. Being from another state we are having a hard time deciding where to live. We would like to live in a more central location to cut down on his travel time. If you have any advise of what city/town to live in it would be greatly appreciated. I am a teacher so having great schools is a must. Thank you in advance for your advise.

Personally, I would recommend the Acadiana region (Lafayette, St. Landry, Acadia, St Martin, and Iberia parishes). I, too, have to travel the entire state for work. I just moved to Opelousas in August 2005. Its been a pleasant surprise. It is a suburb of Lafayette and one of the parishes in the Acadiana region. Having lived the majority of my life in New Orleans, 5 years in Shreveport, and 4 years in Ruston, I am well aware of the differences in the various parts of the state. The people are friendly, the food is great, the cost of living is reasonable, and the location is perfect (20m from Lafayette, 45m from Alexandria, 50m from Baton Rouge, 2h from New Orleans, 2.5h from Shreveport, 2.5-3h from Houston, 4.5-5h from Dallas, 5h from San Antonio, and 4h from Jackson, Ms). Having to travel for work, either driving or flying, this gives me ample options of choice. I decided to build in St. Landry parish because there was just too much of a difference in what I received for my money compared to Lafayette and even St. Martin parishes. There's still plenty of room for growth, and prices are still substantially cheaper than the surrounding areas. In addition, the terrain is much higher, so flood insurance is not required and overall insurance is cheaper. Crime is as expected; nothing alarmingly different than any other town with 25,000 people in it. The city is more culturally even than most of the state, which actually has worked for the good. There's an occasional grumble or too, typically a power trip, but overall race relations are better than most other areas. Not many or any exclusive race or culture neighborhoods. The most astute neighborhoods share professionals from all races, as do the economically challenged neighborhoods. Regarding local jobs, while there are large employers like Lou Ana and the Walmart Distribution Center, the majority of residents work in Lafayette. Moreover, the health sytem provides 2 hospitals, Opelousas General and Doctors, and several doctor's offices and clinics. As for the school system, the better public schools are in the south Opelousas school district and the private school choices are among the best in the state both academically and athletically. As for nightlife, the city is currently trying to get back control of it by limiting the partying to 2am. Currently, clubs are open to 6am, and a court injunction is keeping it that way. There's also a horsetrack/casino in town that stays pretty busy with its gambling, live concerts, and clubs. The city also has the immediate necessities like Super Walmart, Super One, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, etc. One has to go to Lafayette, Alexandria, or Baton Rouge to go mall shopping, though. Finally, as for the culture and more so the people, you'll find them very approachable and better yet attractive (higher ratio of good looking to ugly than a lot of places). Due to recent events and shifts, Opelousas is deemed for growth and expansion. As with any change, there will be both glee and growing pains through this maturation. If you ask further, I can give you both pros and cons on any area of the state. I love the Shreveport/Bossier market. However, being in the nothwest corner of the state, 2-5 hr drives to the rest of the major Louisiana markets will get old. Being a native New Orleanian, biased but honest, there's a little too much going on in that market to live and have to leave his family behind routinely. Moreover, Baton Rouge will be adjusting to tremendous infrastructure problems for some time due to the post Katrina influx. As for Lake Charles/Sulphur, you can get to most markets in 3hr. It's close to Houston, 1.5 to 2hr, and is not a bad place to live. As for being progressive, this market is a tad bit behind Lafayette and Shreveport. Other markets like Houma/Thibodeaux & Hammond are up and coming but definitely are not strategically located. From Monroe to the Miss. state line, there are some diamonds in the rough, but you'll find a much slower pace, a variety of depressed scenarios, and a percentage of people who long either for change or the desire to migrate elsewhere. This area is also not geographically located in an area condusive to travelling the state. This also goes for Ruston/Lincoln Parish, a parish with 2 universities and great family atmosphere, but still is 4.5 to 5hr away from the New Orleans market. Finally, Alexandria/Pineville is perhaps the most centrally located. As for the good, Alexandria is up & coming, slowly progressing, and definitely moving in the right direction in most facets. On the other hand, though, while there, you're bound to have a conversation with one about their time in Lafayette or Shreveport, which seems to be their destinations of choice. Hence, my choice would be the Lafayette/Opelousas market.

[Caa]

I live in Baton Rouge and just love it. It has gotten more congested, but compared to south Florida where we used to live, this city is not busy really! The schools here(private) are great!!! Our daughter goes to one here and it is an excellent school. The restaurnats here are wonderful and if there is a wait at one, there is no wait at another. The people and attitudes have changed a bit, people are not quite as nice as they used to be Pre Katrina, I guess we got burnt out on too many New Orleans type people here, but even that is much better and people are letting me out from a side street again and waving at me as they do so. It is great place to raise a family as well!