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Old 02-07-2014, 04:59 AM
 
58 posts, read 132,222 times
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Why is Shreveport so economically depressed? Can someone offer some insight to this problem?
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Old 02-07-2014, 08:35 AM
 
Location: Louisiana to Houston to Denver to NOVA
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State and local governments, economic crash in the 80s, politics, and "good ol boy" culture.
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Old 02-07-2014, 09:17 AM
 
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Shreveport is Shreveport. Always has been Shreveport, and that's its trouble.

*grin*
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Old 02-07-2014, 11:09 AM
 
974 posts, read 2,178,329 times
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Shreveport's economy evolved (notice I didn't say "developed") around the cotton, timber, oil & gas industries. You had several families in the area who basically controlled a lot of the land & commerce. It was a transportation hub for the railroad but today it's no longer passenger but freight-rail. The civic DNA was one of stagnation. Here's a couple tid-bits to consider:
  • SCHLITZ / STROH'S BREWERY -- They wanted to locate in Shreveport but city fathers were ultra resistant thanks to the heavy bible-culture here. Yet at one time Shreveport was known as "Little Milwaukee" for the number of legit breweries that operated here but were made illegal in the early 1900's (City allowed prostitution district in Ledbetter Heights to remain a few years afterward...go figure!)
  • So Schlitz located in Longview, TX until closure in early 1990's. But for 20+ yrs provided jobs, revenue and taxes to Gregg County that otherwise would've been paid in Shreveport.
  • LOUISIANA DOWNS RACETRACK -- They originally wanted to locate in Shreveport but...same deal as with the Schlitz deal... not in our holy-city. SOOOooooo.... the horsetrack went to Bossier Parish instead in the mid 1970's and is still operating there today.
  • P.S. A few years into successful operation.... Caddo Police Jury & City of Shreveport felt some revenue-sharing should occur from Bossier's taxes on the horse-track....then Bossier Mayor Marvin Anding ( a retired USAF Colonel) basically told them to suck eggs!
  • HONDA wanted to locate a huge distribution warehouse in West Shreveport as the area was geographically suited for their logistics. BUT... got super resistance from city fathers who resented the Japanese (WW2 I suppose) and blocked every attempt. UNTIL... local Shreveport boy FREDDIE SPENCER, a World-Class Motorcycle Racer for Honda won the World Motorcycle Championship in Europe... and helped make that happen.
  • CASINOS -- The first riverboat casino was on the Shreveport side and owned / operated by Harrah's. It was unbelievable that it happened BUT... then Mayor Hazel Beard who publicly announced she wasn't in favor of casinos... grudgingly gave her approval BUT restricted the Shreveport Riverfront to JUST ONE CASINO... which pretty much stymied any casino development for years on the Shreveport side of the river for years. Meanwhile Horseshoe, Isle of Capri and Boom Town went to the Bossier side. It took a few years after Beard left office for things to change in Shreveport...allowing another riverboat. BUT it took a lot to make that happen
  • Some say that Shreveport failed to capitalize on the initial market inertia of the new casinos.... there was an attempt to "revive" the old Shreve Square into a Red River Entertainment District...but it was a poorly thought out plan. The only ones who won out on the deal were those companies that were politically connected for lucrative redevelopment contracts. The management company left town owing millions in bond money borrowed for the development. No one knows if and or when that money will ever be recovered. My guess is never.

Is there a pattern-behavior going on here?
Shreveport has always been Ethnocentric in terms of political and civic ways. And whenever there's a need to address the possibility of change...what do the powers that be do? You'd expect them to LEAD ...be LEADERs... but instead...they spend thousands and thousands and thousands HIRING CONSULTANTS and PAYING FOR STUDIES...and then largely ignoring what they learn that local city planners and econ dev. types have been saying for years. BUT they have to sanction everything WITH ANOTHER STUDY. It has gotten sooo bad that there's a saying: "Shreveport Plans ... but Bossier BUILDS!!" (Look at the BOARDWALK and CENTURYLINK ARENA to name two examples.)

There are other things I could go on and on but the crux of this is that the area has always been a "Little-Big Town" in terms of how it responds to things. Bossier is a bit better mainly because the political base is mostly non-Shreveport types, military retirees, commercial developers who call the shots. There's no where near the conflict that Shreveport has. Some could say that it's because of demographics in Shreveport...you have the upper middle-class whites who rule from their gated enclaves and then there's the Af American community that struggles against themselves. Some say that the Af. American community may be getting better at reducing political ineffectiveness after the Mayor Glover "experience". I think there are one or two good Af. American mayoral candidates but they have to get enough crossover from white voters to win and that may be tough.

Shreveport used to have a more East Texas identity up until latter part of the 1980's when they decided to capitalize on Mardi Gras as a tourism economic marketing gimmick. However that has led the area to promote itself as "The Other Side" of Louisiana (which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever)... but that's what $10,000 or so paid to an outside consultant gets you and that's what they came up with. The major thrust of our identity is about "The Party"... the Louisiana lifestyle of food, festivals and fun... and we got a potload of that. What we don't have is better Louisiana restaurants... seriously our local foodscene doesn't even come close to what they have down in Lafayette... and don't even try to compare us with New Orleans...nothing comes close.

The local economic growth the past 5 to 7 years has been mostly retail development (Youree Drive, N. Airline)... Southpark Mall became a "mega church" in name only. Retail jobs have increased but these are low-wage jobs and not strong for middle-class growth. The Haynesville Shale and Filmmaking was a spike but both have slowed to a trickle. NatGas commodities went from $13 to < $5 so no more drilling or big production 'cuz they can't make money at that level. Movies went back to NOLA for better direct flights to LAX and better hotels, restaurants and city conveniences than good ol' Shrevesburg could provide.

We have had political leaders in the past who get elected... find "pet-projects" so their buddies can get construction contracts..and we build those whether we need them or not. Meanwhile the infrastructure is falling apart... we have more than $200 million in sewer / water repairs needed, the EPA has a lawsuit filed against Shreveport for failing to meet safe water/sewer standards...which the city denies is the case ...but now they're realizing they need to do something otherwise people will be ankle-deep in S**t come a couple bad floods.

Our political leadership for our district has been hurt by two things: redistricting so that voting influence stretches from NW La. to the middle-part of Louisiana ...can you say Gerrymandering? Many feel this was done to keep voting districts that favor conservative candidates in the lead. BTW ... the last really big politically pushed economic development project (outside of I-49 which still isn't complete) was the Red River Navigation Project... J. Bennett Johnston, (D) made that happen back during the 70's and 80's and it is a major plus for the area. Yet the recent past congressmen we've had supposedly representing our district have been pretty ineffective...the current one is merely a political party parrot who gets people riled up about issues concerning military member's right to pray... our politics seem to be bent more on emotional issues and not sound, practical ones. I've heard it said more than once that our last couple of congressmen have been " A waste of a suit and good parking space...referring to D.C."
From my past 20+ years of observations... it seems that it takes someone from the outside to see potential here and to drive the engine to make it happen GM was one such operation and Western Electric (later AT&T) was another ... but when those jobs left... it made a major sucking sound. But local folks in power... they still have their money, their influence and they manage no matter what. The middle class? They either leave or grow older and become a revenue source for the two or three hospital groups. We're getting older in Shreveport...not smarter and certainly not richer. Our greatest import is younger, smarter people who either are educated or going elesewhere to get educated... it sucks but despite what Jindal or the propaganda princesses from the C of C, DDA or SBCVB say... it is sucking and sucks still.

As to the answer "Why" (....things are this way in Shreveport?) Persons of potential "good" influence here won't rock the boat simply because they want to "get on board" with what's currently going on. Any attempt to advocate dissent or differences of opinions or criticisms here won't get you invited. It's a mutual -admiration society if ever there was one. Only when someone ticks someone off enough do things happen (e.g. Judy Durham of the Caddo Commission getting indicted for questionable hiring practices.)

Shreveport: Catch-22 if ever there was one. And so it has been and remains to this day!

Last edited by BeenThereDunThat; 02-07-2014 at 11:27 AM..
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Old 02-07-2014, 01:15 PM
 
58 posts, read 132,222 times
Reputation: 63
Quote:
Originally Posted by BeenThereDunThat View Post
Shreveport's economy evolved (notice I didn't say "developed") around the cotton, timber, oil & gas industries. You had several families in the area who basically controlled a lot of the land & commerce. It was a transportation hub for the railroad but today it's no longer passenger but freight-rail. The civic DNA was one of stagnation. Here's a couple tid-bits to consider:
  • SCHLITZ / STROH'S BREWERY -- They wanted to locate in Shreveport but city fathers were ultra resistant thanks to the heavy bible-culture here. Yet at one time Shreveport was known as "Little Milwaukee" for the number of legit breweries that operated here but were made illegal in the early 1900's (City allowed prostitution district in Ledbetter Heights to remain a few years afterward...go figure!)
  • So Schlitz located in Longview, TX until closure in early 1990's. But for 20+ yrs provided jobs, revenue and taxes to Gregg County that otherwise would've been paid in Shreveport.
  • LOUISIANA DOWNS RACETRACK -- They originally wanted to locate in Shreveport but...same deal as with the Schlitz deal... not in our holy-city. SOOOooooo.... the horsetrack went to Bossier Parish instead in the mid 1970's and is still operating there today.
  • P.S. A few years into successful operation.... Caddo Police Jury & City of Shreveport felt some revenue-sharing should occur from Bossier's taxes on the horse-track....then Bossier Mayor Marvin Anding ( a retired USAF Colonel) basically told them to suck eggs!
  • HONDA wanted to locate a huge distribution warehouse in West Shreveport as the area was geographically suited for their logistics. BUT... got super resistance from city fathers who resented the Japanese (WW2 I suppose) and blocked every attempt. UNTIL... local Shreveport boy FREDDIE SPENCER, a World-Class Motorcycle Racer for Honda won the World Motorcycle Championship in Europe... and helped make that happen.
  • CASINOS -- The first riverboat casino was on the Shreveport side and owned / operated by Harrah's. It was unbelievable that it happened BUT... then Mayor Hazel Beard who publicly announced she wasn't in favor of casinos... grudgingly gave her approval BUT restricted the Shreveport Riverfront to JUST ONE CASINO... which pretty much stymied any casino development for years on the Shreveport side of the river for years. Meanwhile Horseshoe, Isle of Capri and Boom Town went to the Bossier side. It took a few years after Beard left office for things to change in Shreveport...allowing another riverboat. BUT it took a lot to make that happen
  • Some say that Shreveport failed to capitalize on the initial market inertia of the new casinos.... there was an attempt to "revive" the old Shreve Square into a Red River Entertainment District...but it was a poorly thought out plan. The only ones who won out on the deal were those companies that were politically connected for lucrative redevelopment contracts. The management company left town owing millions in bond money borrowed for the development. No one knows if and or when that money will ever be recovered. My guess is never.

Is there a pattern-behavior going on here?
Shreveport has always been Ethnocentric in terms of political and civic ways. And whenever there's a need to address the possibility of change...what do the powers that be do? You'd expect them to LEAD ...be LEADERs... but instead...they spend thousands and thousands and thousands HIRING CONSULTANTS and PAYING FOR STUDIES...and then largely ignoring what they learn that local city planners and econ dev. types have been saying for years. BUT they have to sanction everything WITH ANOTHER STUDY. It has gotten sooo bad that there's a saying: "Shreveport Plans ... but Bossier BUILDS!!" (Look at the BOARDWALK and CENTURYLINK ARENA to name two examples.)

There are other things I could go on and on but the crux of this is that the area has always been a "Little-Big Town" in terms of how it responds to things. Bossier is a bit better mainly because the political base is mostly non-Shreveport types, military retirees, commercial developers who call the shots. There's no where near the conflict that Shreveport has. Some could say that it's because of demographics in Shreveport...you have the upper middle-class whites who rule from their gated enclaves and then there's the Af American community that struggles against themselves. Some say that the Af. American community may be getting better at reducing political ineffectiveness after the Mayor Glover "experience". I think there are one or two good Af. American mayoral candidates but they have to get enough crossover from white voters to win and that may be tough.

Shreveport used to have a more East Texas identity up until latter part of the 1980's when they decided to capitalize on Mardi Gras as a tourism economic marketing gimmick. However that has led the area to promote itself as "The Other Side" of Louisiana (which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever)... but that's what $10,000 or so paid to an outside consultant gets you and that's what they came up with. The major thrust of our identity is about "The Party"... the Louisiana lifestyle of food, festivals and fun... and we got a potload of that. What we don't have is better Louisiana restaurants... seriously our local foodscene doesn't even come close to what they have down in Lafayette... and don't even try to compare us with New Orleans...nothing comes close.

The local economic growth the past 5 to 7 years has been mostly retail development (Youree Drive, N. Airline)... Southpark Mall became a "mega church" in name only. Retail jobs have increased but these are low-wage jobs and not strong for middle-class growth. The Haynesville Shale and Filmmaking was a spike but both have slowed to a trickle. NatGas commodities went from $13 to < $5 so no more drilling or big production 'cuz they can't make money at that level. Movies went back to NOLA for better direct flights to LAX and better hotels, restaurants and city conveniences than good ol' Shrevesburg could provide.

We have had political leaders in the past who get elected... find "pet-projects" so their buddies can get construction contracts..and we build those whether we need them or not. Meanwhile the infrastructure is falling apart... we have more than $200 million in sewer / water repairs needed, the EPA has a lawsuit filed against Shreveport for failing to meet safe water/sewer standards...which the city denies is the case ...but now they're realizing they need to do something otherwise people will be ankle-deep in S**t come a couple bad floods.

Our political leadership for our district has been hurt by two things: redistricting so that voting influence stretches from NW La. to the middle-part of Louisiana ...can you say Gerrymandering? Many feel this was done to keep voting districts that favor conservative candidates in the lead. BTW ... the last really big politically pushed economic development project (outside of I-49 which still isn't complete) was the Red River Navigation Project... J. Bennett Johnston, (D) made that happen back during the 70's and 80's and it is a major plus for the area. Yet the recent past congressmen we've had supposedly representing our district have been pretty ineffective...the current one is merely a political party parrot who gets people riled up about issues concerning military member's right to pray... our politics seem to be bent more on emotional issues and not sound, practical ones. I've heard it said more than once that our last couple of congressmen have been " A waste of a suit and good parking space...referring to D.C."
From my past 20+ years of observations... it seems that it takes someone from the outside to see potential here and to drive the engine to make it happen GM was one such operation and Western Electric (later AT&T) was another ... but when those jobs left... it made a major sucking sound. But local folks in power... they still have their money, their influence and they manage no matter what. The middle class? They either leave or grow older and become a revenue source for the two or three hospital groups. We're getting older in Shreveport...not smarter and certainly not richer. Our greatest import is younger, smarter people who either are educated or going elesewhere to get educated... it sucks but despite what Jindal or the propaganda princesses from the C of C, DDA or SBCVB say... it is sucking and sucks still.

As to the answer "Why" (....things are this way in Shreveport?) Persons of potential "good" influence here won't rock the boat simply because they want to "get on board" with what's currently going on. Any attempt to advocate dissent or differences of opinions or criticisms here won't get you invited. It's a mutual -admiration society if ever there was one. Only when someone ticks someone off enough do things happen (e.g. Judy Durham of the Caddo Commission getting indicted for questionable hiring practices.)

Shreveport: Catch-22 if ever there was one. And so it has been and remains to this day!
Quote:
Our greatest import is younger, smarter people
Well I'm one of the young ones who fled Shreveport and though I'd love to move back to my home, I never will as long as it remains the way it currently is.
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Old 02-07-2014, 05:03 PM
 
Location: USA
3,070 posts, read 7,997,557 times
Reputation: 2488
Shreveport is just too full of "old bubba type people" as my step mother puts it. She's right. I hate to be judgmental but sometimes the truth hurts. Like for example, how many do you ever see on city-data? Almost nada. Oh I could go on all night about Shreveport's troubles but I won't.

BTW, my stepmother is from a small town in north Louisiana. She has just happened to travel more and seems more open minded about things than the average Shreveporter
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Old 02-08-2014, 12:41 AM
 
Location: Louisiana to Houston to Denver to NOVA
16,505 posts, read 26,174,242 times
Reputation: 13283
It is strange to have so few Shreveport users here but we don't have many from Lafayette (or any other city outside of NO and BR) either.
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Old 02-08-2014, 04:09 PM
 
974 posts, read 2,178,329 times
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My take on that is that the internet usage in some areas isn't as great as you'd think. I did some research on this subject and a majority of internet access is via cellphone for simple searches and social media but not serious forum reading. Another thing to consider is that Louisiana is a state where less than 25% of the population has a college education so that may play into it.
And then there's the "head-in-the-sand" mentality .... most Louisiana folks just are pretty apathetic towards issues concerning their state. They'll get riled up at church or listening to Rush or O'Reilley about anything to do with Obama or Hillary or Benghazi or ACA..... they still wonder why they can't get Glenn Beck on TV anymore ... but as far as exchange in useful dialogue or consider what's really affecting the state, they'll retreat to cultural relativism, shrug shoulders and say: "it's always been like this...nuthin' I can do about things.." :\

Last edited by BeenThereDunThat; 02-08-2014 at 04:31 PM..
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Old 02-08-2014, 07:59 PM
 
Location: USA
3,070 posts, read 7,997,557 times
Reputation: 2488
Very accurate btdt, this is the kind of relationship you will find in this region with other people. You have to avoid controversial topics like the plague. Other topics especially about Louisiana don't even exist in some peoples minds. So you are really limited to small talk around here-movies, sports, hunting, fishing, etc. That's it!
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Old 03-09-2014, 05:55 PM
 
5,472 posts, read 3,208,747 times
Reputation: 3930
It is rather interesting in the search for people who actually explore subject matter. People get intimidated quickly by most any conversation which string together more than one dimensional subject matter. If it comes to inter-relating factors within a discussion, people go into attack mode or they climb up and get silent.
If any words are used other than the common twenty word vocabulary, people seem to panic and will lash out with condescending commentary.
I think its odd, because everyone I'd think would be of interest to expand their vocabulary and learn new words and usage of Words, which are basically synonyms, which can be beneficial to convey points and thoughts, helping to expand the awareness of perspectives.
Synonymous - examples:
"buy" / "purchase" | big" / "large"| "quickly" / "speedily".
In many ways, If we become more interested in communicating, learning and growing, we can become a very interesting place with great possibility which we can make into our realities. I moved here with many ideas, it was very difficult finding people who had the interest to partner with the concepts and work together. If discussions engage the earning potential, some were even more standoffish, because of "small thinking" and not looking to the growth potentials. In the over- all it was very costly, as the passing of time in these pursuits became expensive.Unfortunate as it is, too many people who have position are too easily intimidated by individuals with ideas ad express thoughts about the detail workings of things. Hopefully this trend of mentality styling as such, can and will make some swift changes in the community days.

I don't mind discussing Historical Relevancy, because the more we can decipher and understand the elements of the historical methodology of how we became a locality and society of this nature of grooming, Then we are better equipped to understand how to grow and how to pursue positive change.

I wrote a piece yesterday, which I wanted to post. But it is of concern it would get mis-understood in the worst of ways. Yet, I feel on the positive aspects, it /could/would be in many ways a good piece to post for exploring factors as to how we became to be as we are within this stagnating circle of complacency. I may post it anyway and hope the fate of good understanding will prevail.

Last edited by Chance and Change; 03-09-2014 at 06:07 PM..
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