Moving to New Orleans? (Baton Rouge, Marrero: 2009, high crime, home)

[Magic Maggie]

I guess someone has to live here...glad its not me. But for raising children and for healthy living, it's the worst.
If you like smoking, drinking, breathing filthy air and polluted water, then its the place for you!! It helps to have a gun and know how to use it too.
The OP is from Colorado. I wouldn't leave there!

[Caa]

Originally Posted by Micktooth

Hi Momma,Last year I did the opposite move, I left New Orleans and moved to Colorado! I'll try to answer your questions as best I can. New Orleans is a very unique city. The people in NOLA hold on to their beliefs and traditions through thick and thin. This has seemed to hurt the city in its recovery from Katrina. "It's always been this way", etc. is a common theme. New Orleans can be a racist community, not everyone of course, but a lot of white people don't trust blacks and vice versa. The population of the city proper has gone down a lot since Katrina but suberbs such as Jefferson Parish to the west and St Tammany Parish to the north have grown. I would recommend living in one of these communities. Metairie and River Ridge in Jefferson, or better yet, Covington or Mandiville in ST Tammany (which is a long drive across the Lake to NOLA). We had to have our children in private schools when we lived there frankly because the education system stinks. You can expect to pay 8-15K per year depending on what type of private school you want. The weather is extremely hot and humid in the summer and most of the rest of the year. Of course, there is always the threat of hurricanes every year. The crime rate in NOLA is out of control. New Orleans is a city comprised of "streets" and not "neighborhoods" per se. Therefore, you always have to be careful where you are or are going. I would not recommend living anywhere on the "west bank" of the River. NEVER go into any areas you are not familiar with. Honestly, since you state that your family is your life, you might want to think twice about leaving CO for NOLA. Can your husband work there temporarily? It is like night and day compared to our life in CO. New Orleans is a beautiful city. However, it has fallen upon some sad and desperate times as of late. You have to decide if it is best for your family to be part of the recovery or not. Good luck in your decision and let me know how else I can help you.

I will say one thing. Louisiana has lovely weather! I came from south Florida where it really is 90 degrees most of the year. here in Baton Rouge, we got down to 34 degrees for most of the winter and had a beautiful fall(leaves changing etc). It is all relative, I think the weather here is the most beautiful in the US! I do not agree with this person regarding weather, the rest I do agree with though. But I believe that New Orleans will only get better over the years as many people are sinking tons of money into it-Donald Trump for one!

[Caa]

Originally Posted by masse1ta

I just don't get what the big deal is to everyone. I've lived in New Orleans for almost 2 months now and not once have I felt like I was in any danger and I've been to some of the worst parts of New Orleans.

Sure, the humidity sucks but it's not that bad. I feel as though worse things could happen in life.

Every big city has it's unfortunate issues. But for the most part, if you mind your own business and don't get involved in any questionable behavior, you will be fine. Common sense.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking to raise a family here or anything either but I feel like people are exaggerating a lot of things

I totally agee here as well. I lived in Florida and talk about humidity--it was 90 degrees on Christmas and 85 percent humidity. Baton Rouge was 60 and wind chill 50! There are worsr cities in which to live, try Maimi talk about corrupt and God forbid you speak-gasp- English, those people will run you off if you don't speak Spanish-crime is high there too!

[Teamfour]

If you want to live among people who want everything for nothing, have an entitlement mentality, are lazy, and just don't give a RA, then move on in.

I have been in the area for years and have had it with this social environment. I'm moving out ASAP!

[jbaudoin1]

Mamma, you sound just like me except I am clawing at every option to get out of Louisiana. I can tell you love your babies, so I promise not to sugar coat!
Aside from the EVERYDAY crime, my only horror story is:
My step-sister was thrown in her car off of Bourbon Street, abducted by 2 African American males, beaten beyond recognition, taken to a motel in New Orleans East (about 30 minutes from French Quarter) and repeatedly raped.
I have lived here all of my life, my whole family is here, as is my husband's. The great thing about New Orleans is that it is very traditional, the food and fun is wonderful, and it's all about family here. But none of those things are enough to make me stay here. I am looking for a safer place for my little boy.
If you are coming to live here listen carefully...
Stay away from the city at night. Don't go wothout your husband or someone. If you are going to live in the Metro New Orleans area I have 2 words RIVER RIDGE! Very nice, very safe and a little pricey too, but still a great opportunity for your kids. Like I said I have been here forever, feel free to send a message if you have any questions. Hope I helped, good luck!

[telepicker]

My wife, son and I will be vacationing in CO next week - our 3rd time. It's a beautiful state, and we'd like to live there.

We moved to Northshore (Mandeville) in 2004 - I took a hospital CEO Job. The only reason we considered such a move was that our youngest son had graduated high school (PLano, TX) and we thought it'd be an adventure. If we had children to educate, we would not have moved there.

We've lived in CT, PA, MD, TX, and LA, and I have to say, LA in general, and NO in particular are the pits. We visited NO regularly, and it is (was?) a fun city, great music and food, but so decrepit, so filthy, so dangerous. I know it's an old city, but Europe has much older cities that have been well kept, manicured in many cases, and CLEAN (uh, maybe not Italy). There's no reason for such neglect, except perhaps laziness.

Everyone, particularly in gov't has their hand out. LA has worked for decades developing their well deserved reputation for skim. I can imagine what's happening to the BILLIONS the Feds have poured in...

OTOH, we found Mandeville pleasant and reasonably priced, but I'd hate to travel to NO and back every day - it's got to be close to an hour commute each way at rush hour. Still, I remember reading that Fontainebleu HS had proudly added a chem lab. I had a chem lab in HS 40 years ago!

After Katrina, my hospital closed, Northshore real estate values leaped, and we beat a hasty retreat back to TX.

The money would have to be REALLY BIG for me to move to NO from CO, or TX, or any other place we lived.

[san phlegmatico]

I have to say, LA in general, and NO in particular are the pits

Just another soulless wonder who doesn't get New Orleans.

Oh, these people have always existed. Even before Katrina. It's just that it's basically en vogue to trash the city, its screwy politicians, its inequities and problems, its general disdain for meticulous vision and "efficiency" -- it's inability to conform to the American mold for what a city should be and how it should act!

What's funny: New Orleans couldn't care less what the nation, what the masses, think of it. It couldn't care less that it marches to its own drummer, and that that drummer has a drinking problem and is thus off-beat. It acknowledges it's penchant for excess, yet it chooses to embrace its realness. Outsiders call it self-indulgence; New Orleanians call it living.

This fine city couldn't care less that it isn't all white-picket-fence-new-and-sparkly -- it never was! People, it's called The Fonk. NOLA has a vibe like no other city, largely because it has a visceral quality. And if it loses another Northshore commuter to Texas suburbia and a more conventional, cleaner, "safe" life, well -- THEIR LOSS!

Only the native New Orleanians, its adopted sons and daughters, and the true admirers of her singular aesthetic tapestry and undeniable charms will truly understand. All else will hold their noses, scoff, and wag their little fingers. Bad New Orleans! Bad, bad New Orleans! That's fine. NOLA couldn't care less: it's The City That Care Forgot, remember? I guess it's also The City That Forgot To Care, too.

YEAH YOU RIGHT

New Orleans will go on being New Orleans: churning out Marsalises and Lavanos, Prudhommes and Nevilles, Dr. Johns and 'That Lady That Rides The Bike Down St. Charles' for as long as it stands. Seducing new visitors, comforting old friends.

Long Live New Orleans! These uptight, lily-white stiffs ain't got n'clue!

I feel sorry for these people, actually. They're missing out on a rare sublimity in America just 'cause it ain't packaged and shrink-wrapped and put up in a bow. Go back to your bland-azz tract house with your TiVo, SUV, and iPod phone in run-o-the-mill Texas! New Orleans will keep it real: jammin and jukin til the break of day; second-line parades rollicking by technicolor-clad onlookers slingin beads on the neutral grounds of Victorian and oak-lined streets of swampy splendor. Streetcars clanking in the distance, brass bands honking, pungent aromas wafting...

There's only a few of places in America that embody the richness of the Old World from whence this nation was born and that are timeless yet dynamic. New Orleans, Louisiana is one of those places. You betta recognize!

The money would have to be REALLY BIG for me to move to NO from CO, or TX, or any other place we lived.

New Orleanians don't think this way: the sublimities that N.O. has money cannot buy.

WHO DAT

[Vampgrrl]

I wouldn't go as faras to say that ^. This place has serious problems, but at the same time it's not that bad, but it needs to get out of it's own insular funk.

That said I wouldn't live anywhere else, and with a lot of the troublemakers gone...this place will change and for the better.
Keep the Good, toss the garbage.

[nolatx]

You don't know what you've got 'til its gone. There is so much truth in that. I moved to Austin, Texas from NO pre-Katrina back in 2004. Not a day goes by that I don't think about coming home. As a whole, my life has improved and the move has afforded me opportunities that had I stayed, I probably would not have had. I love Austin, don't get me wrong but there is no place in the world like New Orleans.

And when I married my husband three weeks ago, I insisted we elope back home to NO to do it. It was where we had our first date. It was only right. I cannot begin to tell you how awesome it felt to be home again. My wedding, even though it was just the two of us was AMAZING and I couldn't have imagined having it anywhere else. Rev. Tony Rocks!!!! I don't care how dirty, how dangerous, how lewd and unhealthy NO may be, it is home and no matter how far I go, I'll always be proud to call NO my home.

The weather, you learn to acclimate to. The food is awesome. Schools leave a lot to be desired, of course. The people are generally spectacular people. When I moved to Texas (even though it was just a neighboring state, I found the people in general to be way more reserved-- yuck!). Crime is crime. Its in every big city. I haven't noticed much difference in inner city NO than East Austin or San Antonio. I felt perfectly safe walking around the quarter three weeks ago day or night.

Good luck with your move. I hope that if you do make the move, that it gives you the memories its given to me. If I wasn't about to make another cross country move with family in tow, I'd be there in a minute!

[Vampgrrl]

Enough with the New Orleans bashing. Some of us live here and like living here, and we are working to better the city. But I wouldn't be caught dead willingly in another city.