re: Why do people have such a negative view of BR?

Pretty much it. Lived here 50+ years. It has changed for the much worse.

If you’re upper class it’s not bad.

I only go outside of my bubble now for Tony’s and a few other places there are no other options.

They can live in their bubble they created and I will live in mine.

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I lived in BR 30+ years and feel the same except for the schools part. Now living right across the parish line in the AP bc I have school aged kids. Once the kids are all out of school, we'll be looking at moving back to the right areas of BR.

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Exactly what we did.

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Have been here for 15 years. Never been robbed or threatened

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Easy. Don’t set the bar too high.

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Dallas is ten times the size of BR so of course there is more traffic volume. But I tell you, driving around Dallas is not nearly as frustrating. At least the traffic engineers there try

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The DFW propensity to build so many flyovers in a place that ices so often during the winter is perplexing. But, you still have at least six ways to get from one part of town to the other, unlike BR.

In the same timeframe (mid 90s), Austin has built or converted to, 9 tollways (2 page PDF), including at least one with 80mph speed limits, and all are at least four lanes. BR has done nearly jack and shite.

Lake Charles is getting a new bridge, while BR has been arguing for at least 30 years, over closing the Washington Street exit.

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Why do people have such a negative view of BR?

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They live in a fishbowl and have not noticed that most of the issues facing Baton Rouge are similar to, if not less severe than what other many, many similarly sized cities are experiencing across the country.

Strengths - The areas where it's very competitive:
- Industrial base here is incredible; with many lucrative career paths for blue collar workers, electricians, engineers, etc.
- Job market has become more diversified in the last 30-40 years, so the area is less vulnerable to sector-specific downturns
- LSU and Southern aren't going anywhere. I'm not a fan of the trends in higher ed, but it's clear that LSU especially will benefit from growth and investment.
- Costs of living, while growing, is still lower than most of the country.
- It's easier to "keep up with the Joneses" in the Baton Rouge area. There are pockets where consumerism is extreme, but for the most part the focus is on community, family, and church and less on consumerist garbage. That's fairly rare for blue collar areas that have become regional economic powerhouses.
- LSU, the medical businesses, engineering firms, and major industry all keeps a steady draw of people in the area. There's been predictable but positive growth in the metro area, which is now approaching 900,000 people and will probably surpass 1 million by 2040.
- Relative stability of the local housing market: Baton Rouge avoids the most extreme of the RE trends sweeping the country at any given time (good and bad), which makes it fairly safe and predictable from an RE investment standpoint. I've found good people to help me identify opportunities in this area. If you are looking for investment real estate - the ups and downs are less extreme in the Baton Rouge area.

Weaknesses - The areas where I think the city and region are actually worse than average:
- Transportation and drainage infrastructure - we need major investment and planning here, and we need everyone pulling in the same direction for big projects. LADOTD is too incompetent, too slow, and too bloated to help.
- Crime - both police protection and the court system - this is a problem and it likely will get worse when a new DA is installed eventually. There are some absolutely crazy judges in Baton Rouge that create revolving doors in their courtrooms.
- Aesthetic Quality and cleanliness of public infrastructure. This can be solved if local and state government either hired better people or outsourced services entirely. There's too much litter, debris, overgrowth, along public roadways and in public spaces. Entergy does a horrible job keeping the highway and street light bulbs working (and that's their job)

Opportunities - Areas of focus that may become available:
- St. George has potential to be a huge draw of middle class back into EBR if they can get competitive public schools in place.
- Massive investments from new industry sectors, including steel (automotive) and technology could help draw even more economic diversity and growth.
- LSU is not fully exploited as a major economic driver the way that UT-Austin or The Ohio State are for their host cities. LSU getting more competitive with research and recruitment while continuing to be competitive on the athletic field could really change the trajectory of Baton Rouge and the southeast Louisiana region
- Highway Infrastructure - While the new bridge project is controversial in some ways, there's actually broad political support for shoveling cash into highway infrastructure. There's just a lack of cash and structural incompetence at the state level with LADOTD and legislative appropriation processes. Eventually we will have no choice but to invest here, and that will be a local economic boom.

Threats - areas where we could be in trouble
- Selected political sabotage of the oil and gas industry by left leaning politicians at the federal level
- Corrupt and authoritarian EPA that could handicap major industrial investments
- Infrastructure - the lack good, existing highway network and reliable electric grid are already holding the area back. It will become more difficult to address this if the area continues to grow, making major projects even more difficult to execute.
- Natural Disaster - Baton Rouge hasn't had a direct hit from a major Hurricane in a very long time. That doesn't mean it can't happen. It's clear that Entergy and the local power grid are simply not prepared.
- Racial politics, even locally, are still influenced by national trends. We saw that 10 years ago.
- Mid-career upward mobility. We have the gravitational pull for young people, but we fail routinely to keep them here, especially if they are aligned with white colar areas of focus outside of higher education and engineering

When I was a kid, I loved traveling because it often felt like I was traveling into the future. BR in the 90’s and early 2000’s was a pretty sad place, so it was cool to feel like I was 5 years ahead when I would go to California or Orlando.

Now, when I come home, I feel like I’m traveling 20 years back in time. The same crappy buildings are still crappy, litter is everywhere, nothing is maintained. The same problems just get worse and worse. There’s nowhere near enough job opportunities, and the political class could not care less.

Baton Rouge really has nothing going for it outside of LSU if you didn’t grow up here and have all of your family here.

Strengths are 1/4 of your SWOT content, so 3/4 of your information says BR sucks.

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if not less severe than what other many, many similarly sized cities

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Did ChatGPT write that with a straight face?

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it’s bad when your major artery for local travel is a busy interstate

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if they would ever build a bridge around Addis it would eliminate a lot of traffic issues. The planners are idiots I remember when they built Perkins Rowe they did'nt 4 lane perkins til after building PR

This is why…

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sketch out a “crime heat map” on command. Don’t spend time in those areas and the odds that you’ll be a victim of a crime fall off a cliff.

To put it another way, if we split Baton Rouge into two cities, north and south, South Baton Rouge would become a “safe city”

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Read this again - more carefully.
What is considered south Baton Rouge keeps moving further south. And parts of that were never safe.
You should realize how ridiculous this sounds to those of us who left BR as we saw the heat zone was rapidly overtaking what you pretend is a cool zone.
You remind me of a frog in a shrinking pond during a drought - thinking that his tiny area is still okay. "I am safe. Those cottonmouths will stay over in their area..."