re: Home Sales in BR Decline; LP and AP Increase

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So you are telling me that areas with a mostly good public school network are more desirable than areas with a mostly shitty public school network?

This isn't exactly shocking news.

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LINK

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LINK

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Wow. This has been going on for a while.

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Livingston and Ascension were the only parishes in Louisiana with an overall population growth of more than 20 percent. Both had major growth of all three races measured: black, white and Hispanic.

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I didn't know that. Interesting stats. I figured that the north shore would produce massive numbers as well.

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“(There is) a broad pattern, not necessarily consistently in each decade, of younger, child-bearing aged residents moving out of (East Baton Rouge Parish) and into Livingston and Ascension,” Stonecipher said.

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Basically the people in that 30-50 age group are at or approaching their peak earnings. They are a valuable group to have within your tax base.

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"People with young children all want the same thing: a safe place to raise their kids with access to good schools," LSU sociology professor Troy Blanchard said. "Ascension and Livingston have those characteristics."

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It seems like Baton Rouge could counter this with either better public schools or by attracting a shite load of young people who don't rely on or require good public schools. I'm not sure if they are having success in that area. It seems like proximity to LSU would help with that.

Downtown and the overpass area are head and shoulders better than they used to be. Nightlife is much better than they were when I started at LSU. That seems indicative that younger people are around, and possibly more DINKS (dual income, no kids) and younger professionals.

It was a major win to have IBM move downtown. A lot of tech companies follow the silicone valley model with their office campuses....which are sprawling buildings in a suburban area. Baton Rouge bucked what was an IBM and tech major trend in that respect. The city needs more economic "wins" like that.

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But as the areas grow, retail growth will follow, and the parishes will likely start to grow more independent, Blanchard said. Their growth may begin to depend less on East Baton Rouge Parish as residents from other parts of the state, and even out-of-state, move there to live and work.

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Baton Rouge needs to address this now. Memphis had this pattern for decades and they are having trouble reversing the trend. It will only get more challenging the longer they wait. Memphis has seen some success in improving mid town and downtown, but it has a long road ahead of it and major financial challenges that Baton Rouge does not have yet.

Up here, the upper middle class and eventually the new money start to leave and establish cohesive suburbs with a lot of spending power and elite private and public schools. Retailers start to move out there as they city hollows out. It isn't long before the major employers eventually start following their employees to the outlying areas. Fed Ex, IP, Thomas and Betts, Helena Chem, etc....they are all in far eastern Memphis or in the suburbs. Autozone and First Horizon are the only ones left. I think Medtronics is going to move soon.

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I don't think so. The suburban areas around Baton Rouge are not even close to developed on the scale of other suburban areas around the country. As long as the suburban areas develop main traffic arteries that flow better than Baton Rouge, and provide better public schools, they will continue to grow.

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This is a good point. The Baton Rouge suburbs are not organized well at all, and they seem to be making the same mistakes Baton Rouge has as far as land use.

No butthurt here, big guy.