Lake Charles is growing (Westlake: property tax, budget, financed)

[pandorafan5687]

I still see a few well kept neighborhoods in LC but the city is way too expensive. Borderline ghettos? Are you sure it's not because they've become "too ethnic"? The lakes haven't been clean since the 70s. But I sadly thing that something terrible is going to have to happen in LC that leaves 75-80% with signifacant damage in order to wake people up.

[pandorafan5687]

Originally Posted by bpollen

Lake Charles is EXPENSIVE to live in, and has SUPER LOW WAGES. A VERY HIGH CRIME RATE. VERY EXPENSIVE HOUSING COSTS.

Sales tax on groceries? Seriously????? Almost NO states tax groceries.

Calc Parish sales tax is 10.75%. Let's say that again: ALMOST 11 PERCENT SALES TAX. 5.75% on FOOD NECESSARY TO LIVE.

Want to buy a house that costs $230,000 in Houston or Dallas? EXPECT TO PAY $270,000 for a similar house in Lake Charles, and that will be in a high crime area, a flood zone (expect to pay FLOOD INSURANCE), or way out in the boonies in Moss Bluff, 20 miles from medical and entertainment services.

Auto insurance is significantly higher. I paid $900 a year for auto insurance. It's $1,200 in Lake Charles.

Homeowners Insurance is about $1,200 a year in Dallas or Tyler TX. Here it's $2,000 a year because this is a hurricane area...and the choices of companies to cost shop are practically nonexistent.

In short, your cost of living is significantly higher here than almost anywhere in Texas, and your opportunity to make money here is significantly less.

There is a REASON that so many people in the state are poor. It's very hard to get ahead here and prosper. Add to that the fact that the state is in FINANCIAL TROUBLE...so taxes will be going up.

Want a moving company? There are a couple, but not many more. Want internet? BEWARE CAMERON COMMUNICATIONS, that is the only service in certain areas, and minimal internet is OVER $100 A MONTH (they force you to pay for having a landline phone, whether you get one or not...what are you gonna do about it, is their attitude. Ha. They laugh at you.)

Do NOT move to Louisiana, unless you have to for your job or for family reasons. Move to Texas, and you will start to prosper. Much higher wages, more cost competition for services, lower rental and buying prices. More people who are more exposed to the world and not so...what's the word? In a bubble and unaware of the world around them.

Louisiana is an industrial state. They gave up their beauty and natural resources for oil, instead of courting non-destructive businesses. Whoever runs the state and cities (except maybe Lafayette) is short sighted and/or on the take. No doubt grew up there and also lives in a bubble, unaware of the world around them.

Illiterate rate is also high. Lake Charles is now one big high crime flood zone, and dirty. What were nice subdivisions when I left decades ago are now borderline ghettos, with trash in front yards and burglaries on every block, plus a little vandalism and the occasional murder.

Oh, and Medicare is $200 a month MORE in Lake Charles than Texas. That's $2,400 a year. Because the people in La. are so unhealthy, I suppose, that they turn in a lot of claims.

Get out, if you can. It really is that bad. Louisiana has no one to blame but itself. It chose to tax food, sell its natural beauty out to the energy and chemical industries, not attract retirees (who have money to spend and are law abiding), raise sales taxes to nosebleed rates. At every turn it shoots itself in the foot. Compare to the mid-size city of Tyler TX that tries to attract retirees. Clean, low cost, low taxes, good internet and broadcast tv, lots of medical services, low cost medical. Few chemical businesses (which destroy the environment and affect the water quality).

I don't say these things lightly. I am French. My family has lived in SW Louisiana since the 1700s. My grandma spoke French before English. My Dad is fluent in French. We are Louisianians. But bad things have happened in the years that I've been away. First and foremost, people have to have a good standard of living and the opportunity to prosper. It's not enough to keep people poor, but then say "Well, you get some crawfish here!"

People who think L.C. is suddenly going to become somewhere where people want to live are spittin' in the wind. I've heard this for decades. Not gonna happen. It could have, but it went another way. It's more divided now than ever: there is an extremely wealthy class (who live separate and apart from others...down in Grayville and on Shell Beach Drive), and then there are the others who scrape to get by, getting paid very little and paying high rates for sales taxes, and a state income tax, and taxes on food for their children. Then they are told, "But get to live HERE and soak in the ambiance and frenchiness!" Well you can do that and make a good living, too, you know. It's not required to pay an extra 11% for food for your children, in order to soak in ambiance. I'd like to know who thought it was a good idea to tax food, knowing that this would mean that some families would go without a couple of meals, in order to pay that tax?

If I had stayed here all those years ago, I would still be poor. But I moved and started getting paid decent wages, paying a lower cost of living, lower taxes. More competition to buy household items and groceries (no taxes on food). I gradually got ahead, paid off my house, retired a little early. That would not have been possible in Louisiana. Plus I'm super healthy, having lived in a non-industrial zone for decades. And eating healthier (you have to fight the pressure to eat unhealthy in Louisiana). Go to WalMart, and you'll notice that most people there are overweight. That is not what you see in other cities outside of Louisiana. That is not normal.

I like Dallas myself but I must ask you why you'd move back to LC if you had such a better life outside this city? You really don't have anyone to blame but yourself. Unless someone put a gun to your head and forced you to drive back here, you can't put anyone else at fault. You KNEW that coming in. You knew exactly what you were getting into. I can't say that you have my sympathy.

[pandorafan5687]

LC kind of "sold its natural beauty" in the 20s when the port was built. That said, I do wish we'd come up with some more environmentally friendly ways of this type of production.

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by pandorafan5687

LC kind of "sold its natural beauty" in the 20s when the port was built. That said, I do wish we'd come up with some more environmentally friendly ways of this type of production.

It's crazy but California has experienced growth in it's economy while defying Trump's environmental regulations, or lack of, despite evidence that less regulation grows economy. Companies are moving there because of their high standards. Louisiana would NEVER adopt those kinds of policies.

[pandorafan5687]

The production of chemical products is a big contributor to the Louisiana economy, that said we could certainly be more environmentally friendly with our approach. Idk but maybe it's going take a wild fire or a flood to wake LC up. LC could be a lot more than what is is.

[pandorafan5687]

I'd like to see the lake area expand in the technology and research sectors.

[supfromthesite]

Originally Posted by annie_himself

Yet they own 90% of the wealth.

can I get a source for that statement?

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

can I get a source for that statement?

I'm on my phone right now but it's definitely a known fact. I'm talking nationally, numbers are different locally.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

Lol! The 1% pay near 50% of all income tax!

Keep thinking that if it helps you get some sleep!

[cBach]

Originally Posted by pandorafan5687

I still see a few well kept neighborhoods in LC but the city is way too expensive. Borderline ghettos? Are you sure it's not because they've become "too ethnic"? The lakes haven't been clean since the 70s. But I sadly thing that something terrible is going to have to happen in LC that leaves 75-80% with signifacant damage in order to wake people up.

That's a horrible thing to say.

LC did experience something terrible, Hurricane Rita, and it really didn't change the way things are done.

Right now LC is booming, relatively speaking. I've never seen so many hotels go up in the city as right now.

Over $20 billion is being pumped into the economy, you'd expect more than a few hotels, but LC has always been a low achiever.