re: Are there any cities in Louisiana that aren't suburbs that you would say are improving?

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Are there any cities in Louisiana that aren't suburbs that you would say are improving?

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BR and NO are improving

The French Quarter is relatively safe with the National Guard patrolling, and the new waste management team has it no longer sticky and smelling like piss.

Now it just smells like all of the skunk weed in the world. . .just like the rest of New Orleans

BR has been improving, ever since Broome was forced to hire a competent Chief

EBR schools are getting better, incrementally. Starting with Drake, the last string of School Superintendents have been moderately effective.

I understand Jefferson Parish also began to improve with some form of tracking (no evidence of that, just something a colleague mentioned)

Depends on what you call improvement. I live in Ponchatoula and while we have more business and infrastructure than 10 years ago. The population increase is a negative in my opinion because this area can only grow so much

Aside from traffic it seems the northshore towns are doing better.

Haughton is doing alright.

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Probably not considered a city by alot of baws but downtown Covington is thriving lately.

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Town/Suburb but yes it is. West St. Tammany is one of the few areas along with St. George that seem to be doing well.

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And not remotely better than it was.

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Thanks Katrina

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There’s just bullshite I don’t deal with on a day to day basis anymore that was unfathomable until we left.

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Care to share? I’m genuinely curious. I feel like I have a good quality of life in my bubble, the major downsides for me are things that can’t really be changed (climate and topography).

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Metairie,
Not a City...
And not remotely better than it was.

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Well, some things are better, and others are worse; compared to say, the 1970s.

THE GOOD:
-- The public appearance of roadways like Veterans Boulevard, Severn, even David Drive is WAY better than it was in in the 1970s. Curb and gutter (no shells and direct pull-offs from parking lots onto Veterans HIGHWAY), landscaping with trees and plants, sign regulations, artwork, etc.

The way it was:


Compare the above to today, roughly the same area (sorry for the Causeway power lines):


A little older shot (early 1960s) showing the type of direct turn-off with shells we had well into the 1980s in some places:



-- Old Metairie was always pretty nice, but now has become an EXTREMELY desirable high-end beautiful enclave; expensive houses on tree-lined streets (thanks to the Metairie Ridge Tree Preservation District); cool old signage and street lights on Metairie Road, nice restaurants and ritzy shops but still some classic charm places like Gennaro's, Sal's Sno-Balls and Oscar's.

-- Lafreniere Park has matured nicely; all of those oak trees planted in the 1970s are fully grown now.

-- Bucktown is slowly becoming Old Metairie II, with lots of redevelopment and the Bucktown Marina Park has come along nicely.

-- Lakeside Shopping Center still going strong and improving through the years.

THE BAD:
-- Outside of high end areas along the Lake and in Old Metairie, definitely a lot of socio-economic/demographic changes not for the better. This is particularly noticeable in multifamily (apartment, etc.) areas: along the I-10 service roads, along the Carrollton/Lake Avenue corridor, and near Fat City. MUCH worse than the 70s. But the downturn is also noticeably in some single-family areas with 1950-70s housing stock.

-- Education: I'm a proud graduate of the regular Jeff Parish Public School system, class of 1982. My classmates are now doctors, lawyers, a general, a colonel, businessmen, engineers, etc. Nowadays, unless your kid makes it into the Academy system in Metairie (Metairie Academy, Airline Park, and Haynes) you NEED to send your kids to catholic or private school.

-- Mardi Gras: Metairie Mardi Gras has become a JOKE. Used to be every day or night from Atlas Friday to Argus on Fat Tuesday. And while none of the parades in the 70s-80s themselves were the level of Endymion or Bacchus (for extravagance) or Rex (for beauty in design), they were no worse than any of the remaining New Orleans Mardi Gras parades at that time.

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Town/Suburb but yes it is. West St. Tammany is one of the few areas along with St. George that seem to be doing well.

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does adding a bunch of big box stores, fast casual restaurants, and shitty mass built neighborhoods really “doing well” though?