Scared by crime stats (Shreveport, Bossier City: hotel, college, casinos)

[Mobilemom52]

I have tickets for the AdvoCare (independence) Bowl and hope to drive over from Mobile (Boston College alum.) I saw something on Twitter today that makes me rather nervous; it cited crime stats that showed that the Shreveport area has more crime than 94% of cities in the country. Yikes!

I'm a woman and may be driving over by myself, as my husband has to work and the daughters and sons-in-law I could entice into coming over with me are out of state this year. The hotel I'm staying at is the Homewood Suites not far from Independence Stadium. I don't really plan on being downtown, except for driving through to get to my hotel.

Am I overreacting? Is this a situation where the crime is concentrated in certain areas, as is the case here in Mobile? How safe are the areas near the Homewood Suites and the stadium?

Thanks for any info; it will help me decide if I'm nuts to go by myself or not (I would hope to meet up with other BC fans once there.)

[annie_himself]

The stadium is in Queensboro and near the Shreveport Club. I'd say the area is fine. A local will be here to help. I don't know much about Shreveport.

[BeenThereDunThat]

FWIW... you should be ok staying at Homewood Suites... and once in the stadium you'll be fine... here's the deal:
West Shreveport is not the best area but the hotel should be ok... the area around the stadium is typical like most cities...it was located in an area that is economically disadvantaged... but the security around the stadium will be at an all time high so no problems there.

If you decide to venture around the city before or after the game...here's what I would recommend:

Bossier City Boardwalk: this is a really popular area with excellent security and lots to do as far as shopping...dining... walking around the riverfront.

The downtown area of Shreveport... it's hit or miss... I'm from here and I don't really go down there because it's lacking IMHO.

Instead... check out the Youree Drive Corridor or Line Avenue ... there are lots of restaurants and decent places to enjoy a libation or two. My favs are Winecountry Bistro and Superior or Giuseppe's or Chianti's.

[Mobilemom52]

I was able to get a good friend to accompany me, and we had a perfectly wonderful time, despite the miserable outcome of the game.

The Homewood Suites was terrific - clean, well-equipped and easy to access, just off I-20. It turned out to be a perfect place for getting easily to Independence Stadium. We had no problem parking; we got there early for the BC FanFest get-together at the Hirsch Memorial Coliseum next to the stadium. Clearly, the area around the stadium is disadvantaged, but we had no problems.

Ours was a pretty brief visit (2 nights) but I would certainly go back, were BC to play again. I'd want to see the Riverwalk and some of the casinos; I was surprised how many there were. We didn't really get to try area restaurants, as the hotel breakfast and "manager's reception" (aka "dinner") were pretty good and we were exhausted.

All in all, a very pleasant visit, with really nice people.

[BeenThereDunThat]

Originally Posted by Mobilemom52

I was able to get a good friend to accompany me, and we had a perfectly wonderful time, despite the miserable outcome of the game.

Ours was a pretty brief visit (2 nights) but I would certainly go back, were BC to play again. I'd want to see the Riverwalk and some of the casinos; I was surprised how many there were. We didn't really get to try area restaurants, as the hotel breakfast and "manager's reception" (aka "dinner") were pretty good and we were exhausted.

All in all, a very pleasant visit, with really nice people.

Glad you had a good time! Sorry about the game, it was a bit lopsided. The weather was perfect compared with other years.... I was surprised at how early the game was ...in past years it started much later.

If you comeback... I would encourage you to avoid the heat of the middle summer... it can get brutal.
Springtime & Fall is my favorite times of year.

P.S. I love Boston and the Cambridge area along the Charles.

[Chance and Change]

Many areas are not what the media claims when it to be comes to people patronizing the business and venues there during business and event operational times.
Any city has good and bad publicity. Any city has areas both so called good and so called bad areas, that one probably equally so would not go to at 2-3 am. during regular business hours, people are not reporting a mass of incidents via their shopping or other patronage in areas.

In many areas, the crimes which take places are among its own residents, and when result are posted, often time it is people who know each other and have a particular beef with each other.
One thing most cities both in this country and foreign countries have is a very strong opposition against Tourist being hurt, and that means tourist from other areas or other cities, states or nations.

There was a time when black people could not feel comfortable going to white communities, because of rowdy youg white males and even older adult males harassing and even violently attacking them. This has not been a commonality in the black communities, many times whites who patronize business in black areas are appreciated and welcomed and often times the business owners in these areas are pleased that white people have relaxed enough and feel and appreciate social equality enough to come to the black community to share their business engagements.