re: Shreveport has a lot of potential,

I haven't spent much time there but I grew up in the Rust Belt and lived in NOLA. The "has potential" is a really sad commentary. That means that a city had it all, or could have it all, but can't get out of their own way. In the rust belt, employers would walk away from billion dollar installations because the business climate was so hostile.

And then you have Buffalo, New Orleans, Saint Louis, virtually any previously important port on the Great Lakes or Mississippi. Memphis, Louisville, Erie...

I feel the same way as an outside in Memphis. Really pretty old buildings downtown, half of them abandoned. Once the "capital of the Delta region" and now, who cares??? There is little hay to make there.

I love visiting Memphis because my friends there are fun and well connected so we can have a good time, but I wouldn't want to be Joe Working Class trying to support a family and stay safe.

Any of the cities I've named "has potential" and will never achieve it. The Doug Flutie of cities. They will never get out of their own way. It makes me sad.