Where should I live in Baton Rouge? (1 Viewer)

[Tapxe]

I'm from Jackson, Ms and hate Baton Rouge. It lacks flavor, culture and anything that sets it apart. It lacks entertainment, style and big events. People hate it because it carries the crime, traffic, noise, pollution and all the negatives that come along with big cities but the payoff is Applebees, Mall of Louisiana, a couple Casinos and that is about it.

Jackson is pretty terrible but it is Jackson, Ms it is supposed to stink. Baton Rouge is an hour away from one of the greatest cities on the planet. A city that chain restaurants really struggle because there is so much local flavor and yet somehow this doesn't trickle over to Baton Rouge. The sad thing is you get that trickle over of flavor and culture to the Ms Gulf Coast even into the Florida panhandle but Baton Rouge can't manage to figure it out. Also, don't act like Baton Rouge's wine drinking society doesn't think just as poorly of New Orleans. I used to here how much they hate the Saints because all they did was lose, how they couldn't stand living in New Orleans because of the traffic, crime and litter. They didn't have a problem gobbling up the high end seats in the dome when the Saints started winning and now they don't have a problem living in a more congested Baton Rouge with a very impressive crime rate.

I know from a personal view, Baton Rouge isn't any more terrible than a lot of cities such as Jackson or Montgomery or Shreveport, etc. The thing that makes it so terrible is the proximity to New Orleans and all the things that make it a world class city but failure to take advantage in any sort of way. It is almost like they are striving to become the Chili's of Cities.

Link?

 

[bigdaddysaints]

Looks like BR is on the right path.
http://saintsreport.com/forums/f3/3...ng-wrong-neighborhood%92-298720/#.UZGCmrXrw0w

Well what do you know.. BR is starting to resemble NO..

 

[Ted]

I grew up in BRLA and tried moving back for three years right after Katrina . I won't get into why I don't want to live there as that has been/will be covered in spades, but as far as where to live...

definitely where will you be working? if your kids won't be going to public school, where will they go to school? traffic was never really an issue for me. People who complain about traffic in BRLA live outside the habitable zone - Govt St to the north, Jefferson Hwy/Essen Lane/Starring Lane to the east, Highland Rd to the south, I-10 and the lakes to the west. I lived near Webb Park (with the golf course Webble Beach) and had an office downtown, where my kids also went to school. commute was never more than 10 minutes for me. Anywhere I wanted to go in BRLA was never more than 10 minutes. people move out to Ascension and Livingston in droves then complain about the traffic. I've seen the same thing here in the DC area - big boom in the exurbs then the traffic gets so bad the houses' values drop by 50%.

so if you're going to be working downtown, LSU or anywhere in the habitable zone, be sure to live in it as well.

 

[yuyi64]

Stay away from the intersection of Scenic and Plank, unless you want to be in the "wrong" neighborhood!

 

[MLU]

Which City Has the WORST Traffic? - weather.com

 

[Twyst]

Which City Has the WORST Traffic? - weather.com

Definitely going to be happy to move away from this Austin traffic soon! Its ludicrous

 

[bigdaddysaints]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/01/19/americas-75-worst-commutes.html

#13, I-10, Baton Rouge
Weekly hours of bottleneck congestion: 93
Worst bottleneck: Westbound, Bluebonnet Rd/Exit 162
Length of worst bottleneck: 1.55 mi
Weekly hours of congestion on worst bottleneck: 19
Speed of worst bottleneck when congested: 20.6 mp

#27, I-10, New Orleans
Weekly hours of bottleneck congestion: 93
Worst bottleneck: Westbound, Bonnabel Blvd
Length of worst bottleneck: 1.27 mi
Weekly hours of congestion on worst bottleneck: 38
Speed of worst bottleneck when congested: 25.6 mp

Hopefully, after all the improvements on I-10 and I-12 BR will drop a few spots.. it's already noticeable on I-12. When the interstate gets better, the service streets will improve..but they really need to do something about the 1-10 bridge over the Miss river.. it's probably cause for most of the traffic headaches..
If I'm in BR during rush hour, its an important trip.. only if I have to..
I just wish they would build some kind of loop.. it's ridiculous to force people who are just passing through to sit in that mess.. but everytime they propose a loop, people start threatening with lawsuits, they don't want it in their part of town, then they start complaining about traffic..
But I will say I have spent my fair share of time sitting on I-10 in Kenner and Metarie also..My wife works in Harahan, if she doesn't leave by 4pm, she just stays at work until 6. If she leaves at 4, it takes about 1 hour 15 minutes to get to Pville.. If she leaves after 4 it'll take her more than 2 hours for her to get home.. Don't talk about if someone decides to have a flat or a fender bender on the spillway, she may as well spend the night..

 

[fleurdegal]

So true.. I too didn't realize it till I moved around a bit, now I'm really conscious of the potential for crime whenever I go home to NOLA.. Not paralyzed by it, just really, really aware of where I am and my surroundings.


And to whoever mentioned the Baton Rouge traffic-- I've lived in BR, NOLA, Los Angeles and Houston and IMO Baton Rouge traffic is the worst there is, and there isn't a close 2nd.

Live in BR for 10 mos. now & hate it. I have also lived in those cities & Big D, traffic in BR is the worst. Can't wait to move back to Nola! Lot of people here like to make snide remarks & look down on N.O. Lot of hypocrites, they just slip around to do their dirty deeds.

 

[St. Widge]

who should be used to it by now and the fact that people act like they're 15 minutes away from everything.

This is and always has been Baton Rouge's biggest problem. You are right that B.R. is simply a generic place with no real culture, but not a terrible place if you don't mind living in Any City USA. I mean, if you live in Metarie or Kenner or Mandeville, the only difference is that you are closer to New Orleans.

That being said, BR is a fairly large city that still thinks and wants to be a small town. As a result, they refuse to change their attitude from a small town attitude and they refuse to do urban planning around being a large city. They still insist that everything is 15 minutes away and they don't have the problem that a large city would have. It's just odd. However, I do think some of that is starting to turn around. They have done a nice job with downtown Baton Rouge in recent years.