What do you LIKE about Baton Rouge ? (New Orleans, Gardere: insurance, crime rate)

[Victorbrowne]

Originally Posted by southland

Depends on what you are willing to pay.

Corporate Blvd is pretty nice with lots of new EVERYTHING. Old Hammond, Perkins, Siegen, Bluebonnet, and Airline all have new apartment homes.

If you are going condo, then they are great places all over the city.

Depends on your price range and where you are working.

Thanks. I am interested in an Apartment and not looking for a condo. I will be working in the Nesser area. Are there any new high rises with shopping and nightlife nearby?

[alireland]

hi,
I'm Irish and have received a scholarship to to a Masters in LSU. i am moving to Carlotta street- Can any one tell me if this is a relatively nice area? I have never been to Louisiana before, most of the posts on this forum talk about how people are afraid of crime........Is it very bad? I am certainly not naive, I Know there are bad areas in every City, i was just surprised at the amount of apprehension of people preparing to move there. apologies for the add on, for some reason i cannot create a new thread or post.

[darylwi]

Carlotta is basically a student residential area near the north gates. It is known for it's party scene. If you don't mind the noise that will definitely occur, you shouldn't have much to worry about crime wise. The area stays fairly active most hours of the day and night, especially during the semester.
It does offer easy access to campus.

[darylwi]

Originally Posted by Victorbrowne

Thanks. I am interested in an Apartment and not looking for a condo. I will be working in the Nesser area. Are there any new high rises with shopping and nightlife nearby?

No real high rise apartments and condos except for maybe The Meridian (off of South Sherwood Forest) and a few other low rise structures (mostly condos).
You might be interested in looking at the area around Perkins Rowe (Bluebonnet and Perkins Rd near the Mall of Louisiana) or The Millenium Towne Center on Jefferson Hwy just north of Old Hammond/Corporate. Both are pretty close to shopping and nightlife activity.
If you're wanting upscale, you'll do better being around Towne Center in Bocage (Jefferson Hwy at Corporate Blvd area).

[bayouman68]

My wife and i will be travelling to Baton Rouge in Nov. for the Ole miss game to root for our Tigers. We've been there for games but never stayed overnight. I would appreciate suggestions on hotels in SAFE areas. It's hard to tell which are safe off the internet. Close to campus would be good. Mod. priced. Thanks for any help and GEAUX TIGERS!!!

[darylwi]

Having just come out of BTR, I say good luck. Hotels are going to be booked for a while. The city just got hammered by Gustav. At this point, you should just look for whatever you can get and then maybe check back with us on here for opinions. I doubt you'll be able to be real choosy now. The safe areas closest to campus: Acadian Thruway and College Drive area (that includes Corporate, Congress, Constitution, Bennington). Downtown there is a Hilton and Sheraton (both expensive). After that, I would suggest Bluebonnet.

[Siscoe]

Originally Posted by bayouman68

My wife and i will be travelling to Baton Rouge in Nov. for the Ole miss game to root for our Tigers. We've been there for games but never stayed overnight. I would appreciate suggestions on hotels in SAFE areas. It's hard to tell which are safe off the internet. Close to campus would be good. Mod. priced. Thanks for any help and GEAUX TIGERS!!!

It may be possible to find something by then, but you better start looking now and making reservations now. I have spent all day calling all over the place for a place for my husband. Everyone is booked up from BR to Lafayette and even in the opposite direction to Hammond and Covington. Several said they were booked through November.

Start with well known chains that are typically in better area. They tend to cost more but you can usually trust their locations. Also google search for hotels and look for a hotel row. Areas with hotel rows tend to be better too.

Worst comes to worst, start looking for B&B's or try Craigslist for one of those condos that rent by the night.

Good luck!

[Anne Hutch]

Originally Posted by Caa

BRMan, I think you and I are twins in a previous life! Every time you say something, it is the same thing that is on my mind. C'mon folks, katrina was 3 years ago and this is the way Baton Rouge is now, not much different than before! Traffic was always bad here and really it is not bad on the off times or weekends! Just go to Miami and see how bad the traffic is there,(24/7 bottleneck) then you will see what I mean. It is all relative to what you are used to! I have a friend from Pennsylvania and he says the traffic is nothing here comapred to there, and he said the people here driving in the traffic are much nicer than those in Pa! Now as far as crime, I agree with BRMan again. Crime is up almost everywhere in the US especially due to increase drugs all over. I lived in Florida and the town I lived in was "crime free" until the latin Gangs moved in, now, watch out and lock your doors and windows. So, really the post Katrina BR is not unlike most average cities now! Plus, I am tired of everyone saying how bad BR is! It is a great place to live! Also, I really do not see much panhandling anymore!

Over here off O'neal Lane we have one dude that lives under the I-12 bridge. He rides his bike up and down O'neal and has a girlfriend or whatever that I see him with from time to time. He goes to mcd's and the subway shop. From what I see, we kinda look out for him. I'm glad to see him when I do. I like knowing he's okay. One day, he had a sneezing fit and was acting crazy like...well, just crazy. We called for someone to help him and watched from a distance to make sure he was okay. We were a car full of girls and a baby so we didn't want to approach. I've seen other dudes around town but they don't bother anyone and they seem to have their own little spots. In other cities, the homeless are more pestering and they run in packs, some of them. I don't like that. Here, they are like stray cats that kinda grow on ya.

[Anne Hutch]

Originally Posted by BRMan

One thing, too, about the water is that it's soft. Meaning you need less soap when doing the laundry, and Cokes and tea taste better.

Soft soap makes for bigger bubbles in the bath, too!!!! And I don't know about y'all, but all I drink is tap water. I love it. LOVE IT!!!

[selaguy]

Originally Posted by BRMan

Since the idea of Baton Rouge scares so many people, I thought it'd be nice to shed some positivity on this thread:

1. LSU football and the tailgating atmosphere on Game Day
2. Lack of bitterly cold winters (In my memory, 1989, 1995/6, and 2000 were the coldest winters I remember) means you don't need to buy a lot of winter clothing
3. Fairly good variety of restaurants here
4. People are not very pretentious here
5. Our economy is doing decently right now
6. The experience of a crawfish boil
7. Cost of living is manageable
8. You have a variety of people from the Deep South, Cajun Country, New Orleans, East Asia, India brought here by the universities, government, and the petrochemical industry
9. Good growing season for many fruits/vegetables
10. The Baton Rouge water

I like Chelsea's underneath the Perkins Rd. overpass
I like the LSU Lakes
I like the dog park near the lakes
I like Towne Center
I like Perkins Rowe
I love that there are so many CC's Coffees.
I love Arzi's on Government. The food is the best I have ever had.
I like that our economy is fairly stable even though the country's is "rough" at the moment.
And lastly, I like that I finished college at LSU! I am not very fond of LSU or football or anything, but of course I'm proud I finished and therefore happy that LSU exists.