shreveport vs. lafayette business climate

I call on many industrial supply accounts in both cities. Shreveport is riding the start of a 15-30 year wave in the Frac Drilling Industry. Business climate in that area has never been so good.Lots of big boys setting up shop and spending big bucks.If the projections are correct this should continue for quite a while.
Lafayette, tightly tied to Offshore Drilling Industry.Up until the spill it had enjoyed 5-8 years of real good growth but not much diversity. At the present time it stands to get better only because it was so bad the last twelve months.
Having extended stays in both cities I can easily say that I would prefer to live in Lafayette.Anything specific you want my opinion on just ask.

Lafayette did crack the Top Ten "America's Best Affordable Places to Live in 2011" by Yahoo. Thought I would pass this along as Laffy is in this discussion.


America's Most Affordable Places To Live 2011

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I call on many industrial supply accounts in both cities. Shreveport is riding the start of a 15-30 year wave in the Frac Drilling Industry. Business climate in that area has never been so good.Lots of big boys setting up shop and spending big bucks.If the projections are correct this should continue for quite a while.

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I assume you're including Bossier City in that assessment. A lot of people who work in Shreveport live in Bossier causing the housing market much better in Bossier.

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Bossier City is like the Westbank.

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I have no idea what the Westbank is.
But normal murder rates are:
Shreveport: 50
Bossier: 1

30-something couples moving from Shreveport apartments to their first homes are building in Bossier.

Bossier is the highest population growth parish in Louisiana.

Benton and Haughton will soon join Airline and Parkway as 5-A High Schools. Shreveport 5-A's are shrinking as folks come across the river to live.

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30-something couples moving from Shreveport apartments to their first homes are building in Bossier.

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What 30+ year old couples, that don't live in a metropolis, live in an apartment?

(excluding med school students)

Building in a city doesn't really help the housing market. They are creating more supply without adding to the demand. They are building in Bossier because they probably can't afford to build in Shreveport where land is more expensive.

Why is having a huge high school so great? You want to go to a school with smaller classrooms.

How many private schools are in Bossier?

Ah, you're way behind the curve. Let me get simple for you so that even you might understand.

20 somethings don't get married. If they do they live in an apt. even with baby after marriage.

But nearing 30 ya gotta get a house. Do you want a house in Shreveport? Nope. High crime. High taxes. Property taxes are about to go up again.

So, that demographic builds in Bossier even if they still work in Shreveport. It's a 10 minute drive across the river.

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They are building in Bossier because they probably can't afford to build in Shreveport where land is more expensive.

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Nope. Comparable land is more expensive in Bossier.

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Why is having a huge high school so great? You want to go to a school with smaller classrooms.

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I'm talking about demographic shifts. I'm using HS classifications as evidence. Now, if you want to talk about class size, Shreveport is going to 35 students per class because they are going bankrupt.

They laid off 60 teachers. Bossier is growing. Schools are getting larger because of demand but class sizes are stable. Bossier is hiring.

But if you really like living in Shreveport, knock yourself out. What neighborhood do you live in?

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Bossier is the highest population growth parish in Louisiana.

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No, it's not. Here is a link that compares 2000 numbers to 2010 numbers.

LINK

If you're using percentage growth Livingston and Ascension both have Bossier easily beat. If you just compare total number then several parishes have more growth including Lafayette.


Also, no one asked about Bossier, try and stay on subject.

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What neighborhood do you live in?

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Pierremont/Spring Lake in Shreveport

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St. Charles Avenue Uptown NOLA

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Also, no one asked about Bossier, try and stay on subject.

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Bossier City and Shreveport are the metro area. They are divided only by a bridge over the Red River. However, because they are different parishes, unlike Alexandria and Pineville they have different tax rates and governing bodies.
Shreveport is black and liberal.
Bossier is white and conservative.

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Bossier City and Shreveport are the metro area. They are divided only by a bridge over the Red River. However, because they are different parishes, unlike Alexandria and Pineville they have different tax rates and governing bodies.
Shreveport is black and liberal.
Bossier is white and conservative.

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Shreveport is much larger and the center for most of the larger businesses in the metro area. This includes large attorney firms, banks, financial companies, oil and gas companies, etc. While both have their drawbacks to doing business, Bossier has a bad reputation for being a "good old boys network." Shreveport suffers from some of the same ills as well. Bossier may have a higher average school system but the top schools in the area would undoubtably be located in Shreveport. More people than one would think from Bossier send their kids to Loyola. As for colleges I would imagine anyone would see LSUS and Centenary as being better options than BPCC.

As to the original topic, Lafayette always has seemed more progressive. Shreveport suffers from the Baptist belt influences. With a population in Shreveport much larger than Lafayette there seem to be more large scale grocers and developments in Lafayette. Lafayette definitely appears to rely on the oil business as a bigger percentage of revenue than Shreveport which was forced to diversify more after the bust due to declining reserves.