re: Shreveport has a lot of potential,

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Dims

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You’re part of the problem. Get this shite outta here. If only my team was in charge is the tiredest election motivator there is nowadays on both sides. Give me a local official that knows the job description and has evidence based solutions to offer over someone I share a federal political opinion with.
You’re not looking for a leader, you’re looking for an excuse.

I grew up in Shreveport, and loved growing up there. Always imagined I would live there and raise my kids there.

There are two sad realities about Shreveport that I fear can never be overcome.

1. There is an overwhelming majority of the population that is so uneducated that they truly have no marketable skills whatsoever. I have been part of conversations with large companies who have been offered FREE development deals in Shreveport, and they refuse, citing simply a severe lack of employable workforce. We can argue the reasons Shreveport arrived at this unfortunate circumstance but reversing that trend is nearly impossible in this day and age.

2. If you pull up a google map of the city of Shreveport, and overwhelming percentage of the city limits are areas that I honestly would not feel safe even driving through. I would venture to say 3/4 of the city footprint are dilapidated slum like areas that sadly are nothing but havens for drugs and crime. These areas do nothing but continue to grow, and in doing so chase honest working people further and further out of town. This issue also substantiates my first point above.

There are obviously 100 other reasons why Shreveport is slowly rotting away. My family all moved out of Shreveport about the time I was getting out of college, so I truly had no real reason to move back home post graduation.

I still romanticize the idea of moving my family back to Shreveport. Aside from the fact that my career is very far from existing there, the idea in my head of what Shreveport was/is and the reality of the place are very far apart. Its really depressing to drive through town now and see the place literally and figuratively rotting away. Sadly, I, like a whole lot of people I grew up with, don't see a way to ever move back to Shreveport in the future.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Shreveport, growing up in east tx with grandparents living on the border, we always went there to eat at Piccadilly and shop at the mall.

Then in the early 90’a people started getting shot and stabbed in public and we didn’t go anymore and went to Longview instead.

I hung out there a fair bit during summers in college. Actually applied for jobs there after college before going to Dallas. Not much chance I’d move there now with all the hoodlums running rampant.

I’m not sure why black folks keep electing the same types of people to do the same corrupt type shite. I’m not sure why they find white conservatives so untrustworthy when Darnell down the block is the one who killed Pookie and Ray Ray.

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I grew up in Shreveport, and loved growing up there. Always imagined I would live there and raise my kids there.

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So did I. Shreveport was once a great place to live and I had a childhood full of great memories. The decline began in the 80s. The 86 oil price crash put some companies out of business. Others left Shreveport due to downsizing. Cali gangs like the Crips hit Shreveport around 87. Crime spiked and a couple of shootings at South Park Mall essentially put that mall out of business. Then NAFTA sent all the manufacturing jobs overseas. The casinos came and attracted thousands of unskilled workers. White flight was in full swing. Then Katrina relocated hundreds more to town. By 1998 the demographics had changed enough that incumbent Republican mayor Bo Williams was defeated and no Republican has come close to the mayor's office since.

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I know this board likes to blame everything on ‘culture’ but that shouldn’t affect these things:

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I think you should re-examine your supporting examples and consider cause and effect of “culture”.

The boardwalk…is nearly empty because any “free” entertainment venue in the area eventually is over run with “culture”. That element being present deters paying customers, thus lowering revenue for the businesses, which hinders their ability to pay rent. End result is empty spaces.

Infrastructure….allocation of funding and planning is determined by elected officials and those appointed or hired by them. “Culture” has a hive mind, us/them mentality. In elections, that vote is consolidated to support that candidate, typically with a “D” next to the name(which is undeniably linked to soft on crime liberal policies and policies that lead urban decay). Meanwhile the non-culture vote is split amongst other candidates based on reasoning. For those of you that went to public school, you might remember a lesser known minority candidate being elected to SGA or something of the like…consolidated vote.

Empty buildings…combination of the above.


Politicians, leaders, investors….again, policy. Soft on crime approaches lead to violence and safety concerns that drive out the population that pays for everything. Misappropriation of funds. Illegal activities like theft through contracting, nepotistic appointments, absurd salaries, etc. Investors are in the business of making money and none of this adds up to a situation conducive to making money.

Bottom line: elections have consequences. The only way to fix things once they get to this level is to annex new cities and let the old limb die off.

Shreveport has a lot of potential


The definition of 'potential', as I learned many years ago is: NOT WORTH A shite RIGHT NOW.

The demographics, topography, climate, and state the city is located in are all absolute disasters. Only a Louisiana person would think Shreveport is anything but a dumpster fire

The tax base has all moved to Bossier or north or south of town

The Shreveport City Council is the single most backward, business unfriendly city council in the country. I could regale you with stories of potential business start up candidates that would shock you.

I knew one very successful restaurant operator in another city that said he wanted to open a restaurant in Shreveport but said dealing with the city council was a nightmare. He went to another city where his restaurant is thriving.

That’s just one of many stories. Shreveport is doomed because of backward thinking hicks.

They like to tout how progressive they are but that’s totally propaganda and not based in reality. The population is dropping each year. Crime is soaring. It’s so far gone a radical change in approach is too late.

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If they would widen i20 in Bossier and fix the potholes going toward Shreveport it would be great.

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Yeah, right. I20 is wider now so Shreveport is now a great place to live!