Lake Charles--rentals and schools?

[pepper320]

They were kind of everywhere...the more reasonable people seemed to be near the university. I ran into some real wackos up in Moss Bluff. If you go on hotpads.com, you can probably see what I am talking about. I've heard good things about Lafayette, but it is an hour outside of LC.

I hope LC takes off how the people are expecting it to, otherwise it's going to be a very dire situation there. It seems to be an old industrial town, crossing their fingers for a revival. It reminds me a lot of the Quad Cities Area (QCA) in Iowa and Illinois.

[rgathrights]

Originally Posted by DonnasMan

Wow! Not what I expected to hear from you, pepper320. So, where were these crazy landlords in their pickups? Was that down near the university?

If we are going to negatively judge the community based on the fact that we drive trucks...

Other large rural metropolitan areas like Houston and Lafayette have the same truck issue. Please don't assume we are all <insert the negative impression/stereotype>.

I enjoy driving my pickup around the area because it gives me room to store tools, hauling oilfield trash, hundreds of seedling trees and equipment for my forest lands in Calcasieu Parish. A small group of us in the area are using our large trucks to restore Longleaf pine forests to abandoned oilfields across Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. So please tell your family to be kind to truck owners because some of us are actually doing good for the environment.

[pepper320]

No no, I'm not judging based on trucks. We have a ton of trucks up here too. It was more of the few people I had to associate with whilst I was down checking out housing. The truck thing was nothing, just an observation that all of the landlords were driving one. The high rent and grasping at second-hand information about the economic climate down there was my problem with it.

It just seems like people are putting all of their eggs in one basket.

And I wish I had a truck right about now! They are super handy for all of things you mentioned. We've used my father-in-law's to haul stuff many times. :-)

[DonnasMan]

When I get to LC I will be in a p/up truck every day. Nothing wrong with driving trucks, but that is a lot of money to spend on rent in Louisiana. That's the kind of rent we hear about in large northern cities. The absolute cheapest I have seen for a house is $1350. Mobile homes are a little cheaper, but still high. The people who they think are making that kind of money will not arrive until those big projects are completed.
The company I am coming there to work with will be building 100's of single family homes in the parish for the families that will be moving there. The key to that statment is "will be."
I have seen one study that says 6000 to 8000 new homes will be needed in southwest Louisiana area. Plus I know of at least two groups that are very interested in the Avondale shipyard, now that it is up for grabs.
rgathrights, I am glad to see somebody replanting the pines. They did that down here too. The phosphate mines wipped out the woods, but then replanted those old mine grounds with pine forests.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by pepper320

They were kind of everywhere...the more reasonable people seemed to be near the university. I ran into some real wackos up in Moss Bluff. If you go on hotpads.com, you can probably see what I am talking about. I've heard good things about Lafayette, but it is an hour outside of LC.

I hope LC takes off how the people are expecting it to, otherwise it's going to be a very dire situation there. It seems to be an old industrial town, crossing their fingers for a revival. It reminds me a lot of the Quad Cities Area (QCA) in Iowa and Illinois.

If you want reasonable/sensible people then you are searching in the wrong part of town. Those kind of people live in the Charpentier District and send their children to Catholic schools. Look around where Pujo/Reid St and Clarence/Reid St. intersection is. That is where you want to be if you want intellectuals. But you will have to pay $$$ to send your kids to ICCS or St. Louis High School. Also, very walkable with sidewalks and you can even bike to Bord Du Lac Park at the Waterfront and the Civic Center.

I only pointed out the public schools because that's what you wanted. But if you're willing to fork over for private schools, then you will have a much different experience.