Comments for Is Lafayette really a 'Cool Town'? at http://www.theind.com , comment 1 to 38 out of 20 comments http://www.theind.com Wed, 22 May 2013 23:28:22 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24613 Whenever I hear ignorant comments about the Catholic faith like Northsidian frequently makes, it reaffirms my decision to abandon the Baptist church and become Catholic. Too much hatred and not enough Christian values are being taught in protestant churches these days! - Carlos the Jackal Sat, 12 Nov 2011 03:38:39 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24609 a major purpose of the conference was to start a conversation. Looks like it worked. - holeinthedonut8 Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:22:37 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24606 Anti-Catholicism is the world’s last acceptable prejudice. The bigot known as “original northsidian” is the Grand Imperial Wizard of Radical Fundamentalism that prefers to attack others better than him instead of trying to improve himself. Very sad… - Proud Cajun Catholic Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:16:46 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24379 Are we cool? Why can't we be hot? Grand Coteau is cool, or hot, but only for about an hour or two; then you run out of things to do. - Holly Golightly Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:40:04 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24361 religious belief does not mean that a city and its citizens are right or even good people, same as any other particular trait. And sorry, but the catholic church has done nothing to improve the situation involving inappropriate actions with children, this will not change until the vatican starts handing over the clergymen who perform these acts to law enforcement to be tried and if found guilty, convicted and sentenced. Now, with that said, Lafayette is a great city with many charms. Proud culture, great atmosphere, and great opportunities for employment in multiple fields. Great places to go and people to meet are the things that make lafayette an enjoyable place to be - forum occupant Sat, 05 Nov 2011 14:52:07 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24343 I used to think Lafayette was cool but now I realize that Lafayette never was especially cool. Just look around...besides the local food and music...what is cool here...ahmmm the oil business?? the amount of concrete and asphalt surfaces, the political climate, dohhh. The reason why Lafayette will never be cool is because it is so anti progressive. Good things take forever to happen and when they do, everyone hates them. For the most part, people are backwards thinking here except for Mr Durel and his gang. The city has moved forward under his administration and seeks to continue to do so but it has absolutley been like pulling teeth to bring the parish out of the 1960s. - jabbajaw Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:30:59 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24324 Sorry Rambeaux. I'm from Lafayette, so I'm not going to Grand Coteau. It's not "cool" enough. Maybe if you guys would raise taxes, give money to NGO's, and get some "sizzle on the steak" over there, make yourselves more friendly to leftists and progressives, THEN I could go over there. Get with the program. - ragin_cajun Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:52:43 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24321 Hey, Ragin, you left out Grand Coteau. Come visit us, especially while you're in a relatively good mood. - rambeaux rawlings Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:35:47 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24312 I think Breaux Bridge and Cecilia are much cooler than Lafayette. Arnaudville is also very cool. Start going north and south, then you would have to include Washington. I've also had a lot of fun in Pierre Part and Catahoula over the years, too. Crowley and Rayne are also very cool, very historic, and close to some the most beautiful spots in the state. Then there's Abbeville. All of these places are certainly much friendlier than Lafayette. I've lived here a long time now, and one of the biggest impediments to growth and development in and around Lafayette is the attitude that Lafayette is "cooler" than everybody else. That attitude insulates us from our neighbors, cuts us off from our TRUE culture and history, and makes us a laughing stock in the rest of South Louisiana. It makes it hard to do business, and it keeps businesses out of town. Let me explain that last point. "Economic Development" is, very rarely, convincing a big company to locate a big office in Lafayette--like Alorica. What economic development is REALLY about, much more commonly, is a local business in New Iberia/St. Martinville/Breaux Bridge outgrows teh home office, or "shop" at the back of the property, and makes a decision on where to lease office space, or commercial/industrial space. When those small local businesses hear stories about MetroCode, Red Light cameras, higher taxes, bad traffic, and high real estate prices, they start looking for places outside of Lafayette to locate. If it's a shop, they'll find something on Hwy. 90 in Iberia Parish instead of Lafayette. They'll consider offices in Breaux Bridge or Opelousas, maybe Carencro. It's cheaper, and there's less traffic, and less of that "Lafayette BS". So REAL economic development would actually call for streamlining permitting and codes, fixing very real traffic problems, and making Lafayette friendly to the young entrepreneurs in surrounding PARISHES, instead of surround states. I don't think going around telling each other how "cool" we are is helping with any of these problems, and that attitude puts people off--the kind of people who are from the surrounding parishes, have family close by, and want to stay here. THEY are the people we should be trying to attract. "We're cooler than you" is not very attractive, people. - ragin_cajun Fri, 04 Nov 2011 09:37:14 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24305 Lafayette is the coolest place between Lake Charles and Metarie. - jabbajaw Fri, 04 Nov 2011 04:31:15 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24287 Well, from reading these comments, it sounds like November 9th will be an exciting day in Lafayette! (Although I hope fewer people use caps-lock in person.) I hope to have the opportunity to move back to Lafayette and work as a creative-type and entrepreneur. I want to create more opportunities there for my generation and future generations. I love the city for the fun and tolerant place it is and for the creative power-house it can be. So, to Colin and the Ind: keep facilitating the discussion! To everyone else: stop taking pot-shots at one another through the catholic church and the gay community. It's really depressing to hear such petty division and such overtired arguments. Definitely leave them out on November 9th. -Sam - Sam O. Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:00:01 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24253 I don't understand how suggesting that we can do better in one economic segment means that the other segment is not important. We do a great job at supporting the Oil and Gas industry in general. It is a vitally important segment of our community. That does not mean that we shouldn't look at the segments that we are not doing so well in. No community should be completely dependent on one economic source. We need to do a better job at keeping more of our graduating entrepreneurs. This is not a sexuality issue or a moral issue -- it is an economic issue. I'm sure that there is room to explore and learn from each other in all sorts of areas including values and morality but I didn't see anything to suggest that the summit was about that at all. I hope that as a community we are able to look at how we might improve, grow and better serve our citizens. I hope that we are not afraid to open a debate and discussion about these things. - David Maynor Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:48:20 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24249 A majority of the people moving here do not have college degrees, You're not sounding very tolerant. We need blue collar workers her and we are "tolerant" of artists without college degrees. How many great musicians in this community graduated in music at a university. Homegrown music has had a huge economic impact here. As to Florida, I don't think he was well received in this community. Plenty of diversity here already. - realitycheck Wed, 02 Nov 2011 08:01:04 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24247 I love innovation and entrepreneurship. I love individual liberty and, of course, I love laissez-faire attitude in the social realm as well as the economic realm. However, I find it VERY hard to believe that these are three distinct entities when they all share one name AND one web site. I also find it hard to believe that this group just wants freedom and tolerance when they back candidates who push for evermore control of others' wealth. There can be no civil rights in a society that doesn't first and foremost respect property rights. - ragin_cajun Wed, 02 Nov 2011 07:41:19 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24242 "The Foundation does not engage in political activism nor does it engage in lobbying. It advocates for LGBT welfare mainly through education of the public and education of elected officials about the importance of non-discriminative legislation and local non-discriminative executive orders and ordinances. The Political Action Committee is mainly concerned with the endorsement of candidates for public office." == The details of tax law. Forum for Equality is THREE different entities. Foundation is strictly educational, has a separate board, and like thousands and thousands of organizations, is recognized as such. Second, there's the regular membership group. Finally, there is the 'political active committee,' which does endorse candidates. (Separate boards, separate accounting; separate donors; separate rules of opperation) Read up on #501(c)(3) and (4) and #527. This is all standard stuff used by non-profit organizations. This is one area where the Forum is truly boring. Please note: Innovation and creativity are the heart of entrepreneurship. Let's celebrate. - Middle of the Road Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:47:14 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24233 One could describe Lafayette cool in the 50's---------60's., hell there was even a place FOR THE GERIATIC CROWD, TOBYS And JACOBS, the Skunk and the Hippie Joint for the really cool dudes, Oh I forgot antisceptically cool, PASA, AcA, OH And CHUCKY CHEESE. Yeah, uh huh, you be COOL. Go head on with ya HUSH PUPPYS........ GOMER. - NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:46:38 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24232 You want to see creativity diversity amongst the artsy bohemians, go to Pickle Park in the late afternoon or early evening, diversittty, I guess so. The police seem to have lost their GPS coordinates for this place, The kids cannot get out of their vehicles to get on the swings and slides, why is it, that you allow the bohemiana to ruin this park with the gutter vuklgarness. "BARNEY NEUSTROM AND CHIEF CRAFT, Are you afraid of who you'll find there. - NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:32:21 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24226 I'd like to clear some things up regarding some of these comments. First of all, some of the more negative comments seem to imply that I am not from here. Just FYI, I was born in Lafayette, and have lived here all of my life. My family is from Jennings. I studied photography at UL, and have worked here since then. Second, nobody said anything about making Lafayette "look like New Orleans" or any other city. I want Lafayette to continue being Lafayette. I also want Lafayette to work harder at integrating and being more tolerant of people from all walks of life, and I'd like to see our region become a place of economic opportunity for people working in ANY field. I am not here to bash Lafayette. I am here to facilitate a public conversation about how Lafayette can improve. We do indeed have creative raw materials that very few regions in the Southern US possess, but do we really use them as well as we could? Do we really work at creating an infrastructure in which we can retain the talent that we have today while attracting the talent that we hope will move here tomorrow? Right now, a lot of people are moving to Louisiana...But let's take a closer look: A majority of the people moving here do not have college degrees, while a majority of the people moving away do have college degrees. As for Historyonyx's comment re: "strong families," I'm not sure what exactly this person means. I don't think that the short piece from the IND says anything about changing our families. This event on Nov. 9 will have speakers and panelists who will speak on where we stand as a region in relation to the factors of diversity, creativity and innovation. As for the LGBT community being "cool," I will say that tolerance of people of all kinds IS "cool." Richard Florida (mentioned above) is often seen as a visionary, and many people in positions of influence in the Lafayette region have embraced his model for economic success. Florida has written extensively on how his research and that of his peers indicates that there is a direct correlation between hot spots for the "Creative Class" and the places where gay people migrate. Like it or not, the LGBT population is one of the best cultural barometers for the creative class. - Colin Miller Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:38:41 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24210 Original Northsidian: I said "addressed the issues"; improved; better for it. Did not say it's all over or a thing of the past. Like the rest of society, Boy Scouts, etc. it is a process still evolving. The first and important step the church took was to finally understand that pedophilia was not a personal moral weakness of the priest made good by going to confession but an actual crime which needed to be prosecuted. The second step was to recognize the extreme damage to victims and all involved and settled claims and even made public apologies. A third step is new policies in place. Other forms of sexual abuse are being addressed as well. The Catholic Church, other churches, organizations and society as a whole is making progress on these issues one step at a time. No kool-aid. That is reality. - historyonyx Tue, 01 Nov 2011 09:55:03 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/9284-is-lafayette-really-a-cool-town#comment-24205 LGBT rebranding itself as "cool"? Taking ownership of "creativity"? Ridiculous!! Diversity is already here and so is creativity. - realitycheck Tue, 01 Nov 2011 09:22:12 +0100