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I have lived in Shreveport most of my 53 years & am interested in moving to Lafayette.
An interesting stat that I observed that underscores Lafayette's reputation for being upscale: When comparing Shreveport w/ Lafayette, although Shreveport is about 200K in population compared to about 110K for Lafayette, there are more households in Lafayette in the 40K+ income range than Shreveport at nearly double the size.
I can't wait to move & hope housing prices have eased up a bit by the time I do.
Aside from the fact that gobi's post is nothing more than unwanted spam, I do hope you realize that Lafayette's huge spike in crime will eventually come. But enjoy it while you can. You can't compare Lafayette to Shreveport and not compare it to New Orleans and Baton Rouge as well. Lafayette was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time and is now reaping the benefits of that. Best of luck to them, but remember the old adage "what goes up MUST come down."
Just a note for those of you who think we here in Lafayette are now "booming" because of Katrina you are all sadly mistaken. Yes there have been some changes because of Katrina. Some I would even say benefits for some people/companies. But you all seem to forget, The Hub City is and always has been an "Oilfield" town. We started booming LOOONNNG before Katrina's wrath. The most Katrina gave to Lafayette....more congestion in an already congested Hub.
Just a note for those of you who think we here in Lafayette are now "booming" because of Katrina you are all sadly mistaken. Yes there have been some changes because of Katrina. Some I would even say benefits for some people/companies. But you all seem to forget, The Hub City is and always has been an "Oilfield" town. We started booming LOOONNNG before Katrina's wrath. The most Katrina gave to Lafayette....more congestion in an already congested Hub.
I was referring to oil, not Katrina.
Shreveport boomed because of oil until the mid-80s, and then feel into a deep economic depression for about a decade until the gambling industry came in the mid-90s.
Like I said, what goes up MUST come down. Nothing against Lafayette, it's a nice city... people just need to understand how economies work and how cities can be struggling one year and not the next.
I was reading and I must say I do agree with SBC. I lived in Lafayette for 40 years and have played the oilfield game numerous times. Lafayette is an Oilfield town. Nothing has changed in it no different that it has years ago, except you now have more people, more crime, a very congested town with an infrastructure that cannot support the population, an over abundance of retail outlets that the city had prior to Katrina just twice as many now, more law firms and doctor offices that simply set-up shop in Lafayette since Baton Rouge couldn't support the instant craze. But it still an oilfield town. Where does the oilfield work? Offshore, right. So when the oilfield decides it's time to leave again as it's done for years on end to move everything back to Houston guess what you'll have then? Overpriced empty commercial real estate that no one can afford or want until the Oil companies decide to come back, in which case the great fad of my house is now worth, puts your house now in the drop in price arena. I think people are missing the point on pay scales trying to compare Lafayette as a throbbing metropolis in wages. Wages haven't changed. Sure minimum wage grew a few points but the average blue collar is still ranging in the mid 20's to 30K jobs. Hourly is still $7 to $8 per hour on average. The $40K jobs that seems to fool people are still the lower to mid upper class that are in the legal, medical, and corporate statues of the city. The vast majority of workers in Lafayette are retail and your everyday industrial type earning between minimum and 8/10 per hour. Those that do make the $40K lower middle class are every day working people that work their hearts out in overtime when it's allowed to achieve this type of income. And not all is at will. It's part of the job function. So if you think Lafayette is the next safe haven, I must agree with SBC just remember "what goes up must come down". Don't get caught up in the anarchy of survival based on the deminishing sites of one town that forced another to grow not by choice but by necessity when they weren't ready for it. Because once you get caught in it, the public is the one down the road who eventually pays for all the mistakes made by the government or bad businesses who take advantage of a growing trend.
My comparison using the 40K per household income figure meant to show that people in Lafayette are working at a much higher rate than Shreveport where there is a very large contingent of people who are either very, very low poverty level wage earners and/or on public assistance. There are many issues that create this situation, & w/o being judgmental whatsoever about those issues, it certainly creates a less than healthy situation for the entire metro area as it affects crime, tax base, & too many quality of life issues to list.
Living in Shreveport, when I used the term "upscale", I didn't mean upscale like Beverly Hills, but "upscale" in that it seems from the stats that Lafayette is not a city that has a massive portion of its population mired in poverty. The work ethic of Lafayette's middle class is an appealing part of the city as is their joie de vivre. It is actually a sad situation that I would erroneously use the term "upscale" merely to identify an area that was not saddled w/ crushing poverty.
To those who take offense at comparing stats of various cities, it is unfortunate that it is viewed as trying to "bash" Shreveport, as I am simply reviewing the reality of the impact of the stats on the subjective quality of life issues that are important to me. Many cities have issues that affect quality of life that must be recognized before steps can be taken to remedy/improve/avoid them. Whether the undesirable stat that one chooses to avoid is severe air pollution, inordinately high housing costs, high crime, extreme climates, or crushing poverty resenting that people mention these stats that other cities have or do not have in their quest for an acceptable location for them to live is odd in my opinion. Personally, I am not interested in a city that has inordinately high housing costs, unreasonable air quality, or a cold climate. After seeing the multiple effects on my city of a very large portion of the population being mired in poverty, this has become over the last 10 years a subjective category that is an issue for me.
For instance, a sample of the stats that give me a positive image of Lafayette follows. Keep in mind that Shreveport is nearly twice the size of Lafayette, & if these stats are adjusted for this size difference, the disparity is more pronounced: For owner occupied house value of less than 20K, Shreveport has 1172 houses; Lafayette has 175 houses. For household income of less than 20K, Shreveport has 7062 households; Lafayette has 3038 households. Personally, I am grateful that the general public such as myself can access these figures through sites such as this to evaluate what criterion is important to them.
I sincerely hope those who are committed to staying in the Shreveport/Bossier City area have success in modifying the sad, but undeniable fact that far too many of Shreveport's citizens are living at an undeniably crushingly low income level. It will take a deliberate combined effort by multiple entities, both public & private to change this unfortunate fact. Insistence on law & property standards code enforcement must be combined with improving education & job availability to accomplish this. I have been extremely civically active over the last 20 years in trying to achieve these goals, & now feel like any more effort is pointless.
For communities that are losing population for years, like Shreveport & most LA cities, I highly suggest that those of you remaining hear the reasons why people are leaving as people are making these moves for very well founded reasons. The trend that is shocking for Shreveport over the last 10 years is how many of the middle class, established, deeply rooted homeowners who would have retired in Shreveport are moving because of the long-term crime increases. We will show up in a few years on the next census in an undeniable way. After last census, the mayor quipped that, "The 30 somethings voted w/ their feet." The next census will show that the 50 & 60 somethings also voted w/ their feet as well.
ShreveportNative, since you're so stubborn and set in your ways, all I can do is wish you the best of luck. Have fun in Lafayette after the oil empire finally comes crumbling down and people are making pennies on the dollar compared to what they were, and the city is as poverty-stricken as New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Monroe, Alexandria, and every other city in Louisiana.
You've sure convinced us all by now that Lafayette is perfect, so enjoy your perfect life in your perfect little boom town.
My relocation to Lafayette will not be affected by the ebb & flow of a particular sector of Lafayette’s economy such as the oil business as our income is from a regionally based job that is dependant on the national economy, only requiring access to an airport that connects to aviation hubs such as Memphis & Houston.
Your statement that every city in LA is poverty-stricken misinterprets my remarks regarding Shreveport’s long-standing, misguided, unfortunate, & counterproductive refusal to address crime, the abject poverty of a large portion of its citizenry, & the related quality of life issues. As you live in Haughton, located about 20 miles away, the rising burglary rates & deteriorating quality of life issues in Shreveport likely do not affect you to the extent they do for those of us residing in Shreveport.
Completely incorrect is your statement that every city in LA is poverty-stricken. If fact, a recent article containing numerous stats singled out one major LA city which had bucked the statewide trend of LA’s major cities losing population w/ having consistent population growth for 5 years as well as a current unemployment rate of 2.5%. It was not among the ones you mentioned as poverty-stricken.
I do not consider Lafayette to be perfect, did not try to convince anyone it was, & nor did I state it was perfect. My life is certainly not perfect (now or ever), nor would anyone who knew anything about it consider it to be so. It is also not my perception (or words) depicting Lafayette as ever having been a “boom town”. Los Angeles & Dallas qualify as having been “boom towns”, but Lafayette never experienced sufficient expansion in either population or infrastructure to be in the “boom town” category.
It is quite curious that my description of the valid & subjective criterion I have noted in my choices in both leaving my current city & selecting a city to relocate to is met w/ the enmity evidenced in the sarcasm about me & the city I’m considering, as this forum is on a site that contains the very stats that support the comments on which my decisions are based.
My relocation to Lafayette will not be affected by the ebb & flow of a particular sector of Lafayette’s economy such as the oil business as our income is from a regionally based job that is dependant on the national economy, only requiring access to an airport that connects to aviation hubs such as Memphis & Houston.
Your statement that every city in LA is poverty-stricken misinterprets my remarks regarding Shreveport’s long-standing, misguided, unfortunate, & counterproductive refusal to address crime, the abject poverty of a large portion of its citizenry, & the related quality of life issues. As you live in Haughton, located about 20 miles away, the rising burglary rates & deteriorating quality of life issues in Shreveport likely do not affect you to the extent they do for those of us residing in Shreveport.
Completely incorrect is your statement that every city in LA is poverty-stricken. If fact, a recent article containing numerous stats singled out one major LA city which had bucked the statewide trend of LA’s major cities losing population w/ having consistent population growth for 5 years as well as a current unemployment rate of 2.5%. It was not among the ones you mentioned as poverty-stricken.
I do not consider Lafayette to be perfect, did not try to convince anyone it was, & nor did I state it was perfect. My life is certainly not perfect (now or ever), nor would anyone who knew anything about it consider it to be so. It is also not my perception (or words) depicting Lafayette as ever having been a “boom town”. Los Angeles & Dallas qualify as having been “boom towns”, but Lafayette never experienced sufficient expansion in either population or infrastructure to be in the “boom town” category.
It is quite curious that my description of the valid & subjective criterion I have noted in my choices in both leaving my current city & selecting a city to relocate to is met w/ the enmity evidenced in the sarcasm about me & the city I’m considering, as this forum is on a site that contains the very stats that support the comments on which my decisions are based.
Hey, dude, the choice is yours. Have fun in Cajun country. Enjoy your nightly roadkill dishes.
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