Any good reason I should move back to Shreveport? (Scott: loans, house)

[hdwell]

Originally Posted by annie_himself

Doesn't have to be progressive to prosper. There is nothing ultra-liberal about Louisiana at all.
It's much better down here. Lafayette just surpassed Shreveport as the 3rd largest MSA. The improvements being made throughout Lafayette, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans have far outpaced anything north of Opelousas. Baton Rouge alone has fared the economy much better than Alexandria, Shreveport, and Monroe combined; that's without mentioning all the gains the New Orleans area has been a part of.

It's a damn shame that Shreveport can't get it's act together, it's in a pretty strategic location.

What I'm talking about is economically progressive. Texas, Georgia, NC are those states. Probably Washington state as well. Louisiana could do that if it really wanted to. But it takes determination to see it through.

Its not magic but takes a stronger collective will than we have. Whether Shreveport is the worst place in La or not is immaterial to me. I would go to Texas if I were younger and it still mattered. Probably San Antonio or Austin. That's my preference of Texas cities.

[Christine88]

Originally Posted by hdwell

If I weren't living here already and were young (you didn't state your age) I wouldn't come back here. Shreveport and Louisiana aren't the kind of places that a younger person thrives. Probably an older person too, but that's another topic for another day. Both are just too rigidly conservative (conservative in many of the wrong ways) and more progressive areas can solve problems better. Such as underemployment and unemployment. Like BTDT says, try Texas. It's doing better than just about anywhere. Good luck to you whatever you decide.

I'm 25 and yes I'll most likely end up in Dallas if I'm laid off in NC.

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by hdwell

What I'm talking about is economically progressive. Texas, Georgia, NC are those states. Probably Washington state as well. Louisiana could do that if it really wanted to. But it takes determination to see it through.

Its not magic but takes a stronger collective will than we have. Whether Shreveport is the worst place in La or not is immaterial to me. I would go to Texas if I were younger and it still mattered. Probably San Antonio or Austin. That's my preference of Texas cities.

Louisiana has shown progress in that department. The Water Campus in BR is one of them, and the biomedical sector in New Orleans. You're right though.

[Jimbo_1]

Bigger cities almost always offer more opportunities, jobs, money, etc. It just so happens that Texas and its larger cities are right next door. Louisiana is not be the most economically strong state in the nation but it is making some strides.

And, yes, Shreveport does have the worst unemployment rate of the state's metro areas at 6.6 percent but that is still below the national average of 7 percent (not that that says anything about the quality/pay of these jobs).

[BeenThereDunThat]

FWIW: I was at a business meeting where a couple commercial real-estate developers were talking about recent changes coming to Shreveport. One topic was the announcement of the Whole Foods Grocery Store which plans to open by early 2015. The conventional wisdom of WF (and Target, incidentally) regarding coming to a given market has been median-income levels and qualitative demographics... especially education levels as the typical Whole Foods (and Target) customer profiles are better educated, better-income customers.

The thing that was revealed at the meeting was that a typical Whole Foods square footage retail space is 50-60,000 square feet. The proposed store for Shreveport is rumored to be no more than 35,000 square feet or at around half the size of a typical Whole Foods. When I heard this, I mentioned that I noted how the Target Store in Bossier didn't offer full-groceries until about two years ago. The comments I heard is that while Shreveport has population density and improved median incomes...it still is a very "wait & see" market from a national perspective given the education levels aren't impressive. This has always, always...ALWAYS been a problem for NW La. Our best & brightest leave.... it happened in the O&G bust in the mid 1980's.... and it is still happening today.

Until NW La. can address the younger, better-educated "outmigration", economic growth here will be slower on average. Unless we're looking for more medical services & retirement centers as growth, this will be our "Achille's Heel".

[Christine88]

Originally Posted by BeenThereDunThat

FWIW: I was at a business meeting where a couple commercial real-estate developers were talking about recent changes coming to Shreveport. One topic was the announcement of the Whole Foods Grocery Store which plans to open by early 2015. The conventional wisdom of WF (and Target, incidentally) regarding coming to a given market has been median-income levels and qualitative demographics... especially education levels as the typical Whole Foods (and Target) customer profiles are better educated, better-income customers.

The thing that was revealed at the meeting was that a typical Whole Foods square footage retail space is 50-60,000 square feet. The proposed store for Shreveport is rumored to be no more than 35,000 square feet or at around half the size of a typical Whole Foods. When I heard this, I mentioned that I noted how the Target Store in Bossier didn't offer full-groceries until about two years ago. The comments I heard is that while Shreveport has population density and improved median incomes...it still is a very "wait & see" market from a national perspective given the education levels aren't impressive. This has always, always...ALWAYS been a problem for NW La. Our best & brightest leave.... it happened in the O&G bust in the mid 1980's.... and it is still happening today.

Until NW La. can address the younger, better-educated "outmigration", economic growth here will be slower on average. Unless we're looking for more medical services & retirement centers as growth, this will be our "Achille's Heel".

A city where the majority is mostly uneducated and low income it's not going to be a place where any industry is ever going to consider. Think about that. The majority is uneducated lower class. That's a huge problem.

[BeenThereDunThat]

Bentler Pipe-Tubing has a workforce training agreement with Bossier Parish Community College. This is already in motion and a positive sign. It was one of the "tipping-points" in the decision for the German company to locate here....that and the Red River Port location to facilitate shipping to South La. and beyond.

Stuff like this is sorely needed. But a lot of industrial growth in NW La. has been very small over the past few years. Seems the area has lost more than it has gained. Beaird Industries was one boondoggle example ...that and GM.

[Jimbo_1]

Originally Posted by BeenThereDunThat

FWIW: I was at a business meeting where a couple commercial real-estate developers were talking about recent changes coming to Shreveport. One topic was the announcement of the Whole Foods Grocery Store which plans to open by early 2015. The conventional wisdom of WF (and Target, incidentally) regarding coming to a given market has been median-income levels and qualitative demographics... especially education levels as the typical Whole Foods (and Target) customer profiles are better educated, better-income customers.

The thing that was revealed at the meeting was that a typical Whole Foods square footage retail space is 50-60,000 square feet. The proposed store for Shreveport is rumored to be no more than 35,000 square feet or at around half the size of a typical Whole Foods. When I heard this, I mentioned that I noted how the Target Store in Bossier didn't offer full-groceries until about two years ago. The comments I heard is that while Shreveport has population density and improved median incomes...it still is a very "wait & see" market from a national perspective given the education levels aren't impressive. This has always, always...ALWAYS been a problem for NW La. Our best & brightest leave.... it happened in the O&G bust in the mid 1980's.... and it is still happening today.

Until NW La. can address the younger, better-educated "outmigration", economic growth here will be slower on average. Unless we're looking for more medical services & retirement centers as growth, this will be our "Achille's Heel".

A Whole Foods is being built in a low income area of New Orleans and it will be about 25,000 square feet (though, there are some loans from the city involved). The whole building is 60,000 square feet but they are putting some other things in there related to culinary education and other things. I would imagine that Shreveport is a large enough city to where there is an area of the city that has higher incomes and education levels to meet those standards. That would apply even more to the metro area as a whole (though a place like Whole foods seems to stick to larger metro areas).

Originally Posted by Christine88

A city where the majority is mostly uneducated and low income it's not going to be a place where any industry is ever going to consider. Think about that. The majority is uneducated lower class. That's a huge problem.

It is inaccurate to label the majority of the population as "uneducated and lower class." It might be a large portion of the city but not the majority, unless you have high standards for what is considered not being uneducated and lower class. Also a lot of the time when industries are thinking of relocating they take the whole metro area into account.

[Christine88]

Originally Posted by Jimbo_1

A Whole Foods is being built in a low income area of New Orleans and it will be about 25,000 square feet (though, there are some loans from the city involved). The whole building is 60,000 square feet but they are putting some other things in there related to culinary education and other things. I would imagine that Shreveport is a large enough city to where there is an area of the city that has higher incomes and education levels to meet those standards. That would apply even more to the metro area as a whole (though a place like Whole foods seems to stick to larger metro areas).



It is inaccurate to label the majority of the population as "uneducated and lower class." It might be a large portion of the city but not the majority, unless you have high standards for what is considered not being uneducated and lower class. Also a lot of the time when industries are thinking of relocating they take the whole metro area into account.

I don't think its inaccurate at all. Shreveport is like Detroit, most of the educated and skilled people left leaving mostly uneducated and low income. Also Shreveport has an African American majority most of which are historically uneducated and unskilled.

[Jimbo_1]

Originally Posted by Christine88

I don't think its inaccurate at all. Shreveport is like Detroit, most of the educated and skilled people left leaving mostly uneducated and low income. Also Shreveport has an African American majority most of which are historically uneducated and unskilled.

Not really. Detroit is 83% Black while Shreveport is 55% Black. Median household income of Detroit is $27,000 and Shreveport's is $38,500. Detroit's poverty percentage is 38% and Shreveport's is 21%. 12.3% of Detroit has a college education while 24% of Shreveport does. Detroit is the worst of the worst when it comes to statistics like most of these and there are plenty of other cities worse than Shreveport. Shreveport does have a large uneducated and lower class population but it is not the majority of the population. I mean maybe if you mean educated as having a bachelor's degree or higher but few US cities have a majority of the population with that.

Detroit (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau
Shreveport (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau