Relocating to Shreveport/Bossier City...some heads-up?

[BeenThereDunThat]

If you work at the ITC, you'll want to keep close so as to avoid the drives. Bossier city traffic on Airline can be a pain. But if you locate north of I-220, you can jump on I-220 E and get off at Hwy 80 for an easier commute to ITC. You could check out the Red Chute neighborhoods Hwy 80 E as rental possibility. Or for apartments... there's Villagio on hwy 80 not far from ITC. These are newer apts.

You're right about the PayDay Loans / Pawn Shops. These popped up after the Oil & Gas Bust in the late 1980's and they flourished. With Oil dropping below $40 and Nat Gas Shale just above $2, you'll see more unemployment in those sectors which will drive the loan-shark & pawn biz.

Biggest job growth has been in retail as merchant corridors have developed with more shopping centers, etc. But median incomes aren't great. Bossier's is around $45K (med. hshold), Shreveport's is around $35K. Area suffers from lower higher ed attainment, conservative projection bias, parochial politics and insidious corrupt practices that have been so long ignored or reported about that it seems to be accepted as the status quo.

Good luck on your relocation. Keep in mind that Bossier Parish is a super-conservative place and about the second or third question you'll get is what church do you attend. Oh and get used to being big on all things LSU. Folks here worry more about who's on the LSU Tiger coaching staff than who is their senator or congressman.

[JWG223]

Originally Posted by BeenThereDunThat

If you work at the ITC, you'll want to keep close so as to avoid the drives. Bossier city traffic on Airline can be a pain. But if you locate north of I-220, you can jump on I-220 E and get off at Hwy 80 for an easier commute to ITC. You could check out the Red Chute neighborhoods Hwy 80 E as rental possibility. Or for apartments... there's Villagio on hwy 80 not far from ITC. These are newer apts.

You're right about the PayDay Loans / Pawn Shops. These popped up after the Oil & Gas Bust in the late 1980's and they flourished. With Oil dropping below $40 and Nat Gas Shale just above $2, you'll see more unemployment in those sectors which will drive the loan-shark & pawn biz.

Biggest job growth has been in retail as merchant corridors have developed with more shopping centers, etc. But median incomes aren't great. Bossier's is around $45K (med. hshold), Shreveport's is around $35K. Area suffers from lower higher ed attainment, conservative projection bias, parochial politics and insidious corrupt practices that have been so long ignored or reported about that it seems to be accepted as the status quo.

Good luck on your relocation. Keep in mind that Bossier Parish is a super-conservative place and about the second or third question you'll get is what church do you attend. Oh and get used to being big on all things LSU. Folks here worry more about who's on the LSU Tiger coaching staff than who is their senator or congressman.

Agreed. Also high-school. Make up a lie about where you went (locally), and research the HS for those years so you can claim to have gone to school with a few people/know what happened those years in general. Otherwise noone there will like/trust you on casual meeting, if you can't provide a good BS story about which HS you went to locally. Be ware, though, they are all rivals, some more than others, so choose your cover story well!

So much fun to be had in that town...not.

*Disclaimer* Sorry, I just drove through that dump on the way to some training in S LA, and a flood of disgust just welled up in me, and I had to vent on this forum*