re: What was the biggest mistake of each of Louisiana's 5 biggest cities?

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New Orleans: ?

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No whataburger

Corrupt politics on both sides of the fence.

Democrat leadership

New Orleans — the self fulfilling prophecy of “white flight”.

For New Orleans it was electing the first Landrieu in 1970.


In 1970, New Orleans had 593,471 people. By 2025, it’s a pathetic 351,399—a 40.8% plunge. Meanwhile, Atlanta grew from 496,973 to 510,823 by 2023. Houston nearly doubled, from 1,232,802 to 2,302,878. Dallas shot up from 844,401 to 1,302,868, and Miami climbed from 334,859 to 449,514. New Orleans’ metro area, at 1,030,000 in 2025, lost 4.3% of its population from 2020 to 2023, the worst drop among major U.S. metros. Compare that to Houston’s 7.3 million, Dallas-Fort Worth’s 8.1 million, and Atlanta’s 6.3 million. Progressives let New Orleans shrink while others thrive.
New Orleans’ economy is a disaster, and the Landrieu-led Progressives are to blame. The port, once a powerhouse, was gutted by automation and containerization, losing jobs while Progressives did nothing. The city’s stuck on low-paying tourism and healthcare, abandoning manufacturing and finance. In 2022, median household income was a measly $51,116, with a shameful 22.63% poverty rate. Atlanta? $81,446 and 17.7% poverty. Houston: $60,426, 19.8%. Dallas: $63,826, 17.6%. Even Miami: $54,858, 21.8%. New Orleans’ big industries—hotels, restaurants, education—pay peanuts, and tech or mining? Barely exist.
Atlanta’s a corporate giant with Coca-Cola, Delta, and UPS, boasting a $473 billion GDP in 2023. Houston’s energy and aerospace hub hits $633 billion, Dallas-Fort Worth’s tech and finance economy reaches $688 billion, and Miami’s trade and real estate deliver $447 billion. New Orleans? A pitiful $97 billion metro GDP. It has Entergy and some tourism cash—$10.05 billion in 2019—but that’s nothing next to its peers. The tech sector’s a joke compared to Dallas’ Silicon Prairie or Atlanta’s tech corridor. Progressives squandered every chance to compete.
Since Moon Landrieu’s election, Progressives have prioritized flashy tourism—jazz, Mardi Gras, Creole food—over real economic engines like Houston’s oil, Dallas’ tech, or Atlanta’s airport hub. They let the port decline, ignored infrastructure, and fumbled major projects like Formosa’s $9.4 billion complex, delayed and stalled. Post-COVID recovery? A total failure. New Orleans, once the South’s third-largest city in the 1800s, is now 53rd nationally, while Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, and Miami dominate. Progressives’ mismanagement turned a vibrant city into a shrinking, one-trick pony. New Orleans is on life support, and the Landrieu Progressives are the culprits. The population’s cratered, the economy’s a disgrace, and other Southern cities have left it behind. The numbers scream failure: $51,116 median income, 22.63% poverty, $97 billion GDP. Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, and Miami prove what’s possible with real leadership. New Orleans is a warning of what happens when corrupt, inept Progressives run the show, and it’s infuriating to watch it crumble.

Any answer you get will only be the second reason why these cities are failing. We are all aware of the first.

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Baton Rouge

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Preventing development in North Baton Rouge

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Lake Charles: Not doing gambling earlier?

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Lake Charles is blue collar and risk-averse, while our sister city Lafayette wanted to become white collar and took swings that had a lot of polarity.

Given the geography and proximity to TX, I'm not sure how much better most paths would have led. We kind of are what we are.

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Lake Charles: Not doing gambling earlier?

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Nope. Letting old money stagnate growth, while Laffyette took it all in in the 70s and 80s. Some of those oil companies that made Lafayette the home of 1000 millionaires in the 80s could be here instead, since it would have been strategically better and closer to the refineries. Instead, the old money on Lakeshore Drive during that time shut it down out of fear of losing their grip on the parish.

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choupiquesushi
St George is bigger than Lake Charles

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St George is a suburb

Lake Charles has its own MSA