So, how does Lafayette compare to the rest of the nation? More often than not, we’re at the top.
The area’s employment growth has put Lafayette in the spotlight numerous times this year. Lafayette was second out of 350 metro areas in Business Facilities’ Job Growth Leaders list— identifying our community as one that’s “ripe for economic growth and a hotbed for job and business growth.” Not only that, in August, CNN Money included Lafayette in its list of 25 communities where jobs are available and are also great places to live. In its July report, IHS Global projected that Lafayette will have the highest employment growth in the nation in 2012 at 8.8 percent. That projection is supported by actual job growth numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In September, Lafayette experienced the largest month-to-month percent growth in employment in the entire country — a whopping 8.7 percent.
Lafayette continues to rank well on Forbes’ annual list of the Best Places for Business and Careers. In this year’s list, the Lafayette metro area had the 10th best job growth among the largest 200 U.S. metro areas. Lafayette also topped Forbes’ annual list of best mid-sized cities for job growth with a growth rate of 5.2 percent between December 2010 and December 2011. Overall, Lafayette ranked fourth among the 398 metro areas surveyed for the list. An interesting side note is that Lafayette was the only metro to change size categories, moving from the “Small” to “Mid-size” category.
Led by employment growth in the energy and health care industries, Lafayette’s overall economy is in excellent shape according to several sources. Lafayette topped Area Development’s list as the best mid-sized city and the best Southern city for economic and job growth. Overall on the list, Lafayette ranked third among all 365 metro areas. Lafayette also topped the short list of the best 25 mid-sized cities for Economic Strength. In addition to being included on the top of the job growth lists for IHS Global and BusinessFacilities, Lafayette was also tops for overall economic growth. IHS ranked Lafayette’s projected gross metro product growth second in the country at 7.5 percent. Lafayette reached the number three spot on Business Facilities list of communities with “Economic Growth Potential” with mentions of the region’s workforce, diverse business base and community collaboration.
Lafayette’s forward-thinking and entrepreneurial spirit are key factors to the community’s success that I mention everywhere I go. Again this year, Southern Business and Development recognized Lafayette in its annual Top 10 issue — this time, as a community that fosters technology. The surge we’ve seen in technology-intensive jobs and companies was attributed in part to growing annual household income and community-wide, tech-focused initiatives such as the Opportunity Machine, LITE and LUS Fiber.
Not only is Acadiana a great place to do business, it is a great place to live — but that’s no surprise to those of us who are residents. You can’t talk about Acadiana for too long before our culture comes into play; and this year, we’ve earned some bragging rights. Following last year’s success in being named the Best Small Town for Food by Rand McNally and USA Today, Lafayette was crowned the Tastiest Town in the South by Southern Living. And, the community rallied behind Festival International de Louisiane in a Reader’s Choice contest hosted by About.com. FIL beat out festivals in Mali, New York, New Mexico and Washington, D.C., to gain the title of 2012’s Best World Music Festival.
These successes in employment and business growth and cultural endeavors make Lafayette a great community that’s headed in the right direction. According to a Gallup poll released in March, Lafayette is the second most optimistic city in the nation. Nearly 76 percent of poll respondents replied positively about the direction in which our community is headed. And don’t forget that in 2010, Louisiana was recognized as the happiest state. As I like to point out: Lafayette and Acadiana are the greener pasture.
Over the past few years, nearly all of these lists saw big shifts related to ongoing economic conditions in the country. Cities that were once on top have slipped for one reason or another; but Lafayette is one of several communities that has managed to not only remain on these lists but actually improve its position. Coming off of the best year for job creation and business development announcements, Lafayette seems well poised to continue moving up the charts.
Gregg Gothreaux is president and CEO of the Lafayette Economic Development Authority.
MAY 23 Here's a story in the Picayune about some statistics that must come as a blow to folks who believe that any private school can do a better job of educating kids than any public school: Danielle Dreilinger reports that only 30 percent of the voucher kids are passing. That's less than half of the state wide average, she says. It's an interesting statistic because most of the schools (if not all) taking voucher kids have never had their students' standardized test scores released to the public before.
MAY 23 Stephen Sabludowsky blogs on Bayou Buzz about auditor requests here. Recently the state GOP started crowing about a request from the Legislative Auditor, claiming they were being targeted because of their anti-tax stance. (Uh, your what?) Denial and hyperbole aside, the state Democratic party blew holes in that theory with an email announcing they'd received the same request, Sabludowsky writes here.
MAY 23 Jim Brown blogs about the senate race in this post. He says that, given Bobby Jindal's "lack of traction" on the national stage, it might make more sense for the governor to consider running against Mary Landrieu for the senate seat. Since Tim Teeple left the Cassidy team, it makes sense he might land on a Jindal for Senate team, Brown opines.
MAY 23 In this Louisiana Voice post, blogger Tom Aswell writes of rumors that his nemesis, state Superintendent of Education John White, may be soon departing Louisiana for a federal post. It's hard to believe, given his performance, Aswell says, but stranger things have happened. An anti-White BESE member says that, if true, White is quitting before he can be fired.
MAY 23 In this post on American Zombie, blogger Jason Berry writes about the Mother's Day shooting. Mayor Landrieu said that "this is not who we are," but the fact is, this is New Orleans, Berry writes. The violence infused in the city is the result of a culture created by "sins of omission or sins of commission," Berry writes. It's not a problem that can be solved by legislating, policing, praying or publicizing, he says: Someone's got to understand what's happening first.
MAY 23 This post in the Westside Journal tells us what Port Allen Mayor Deedy has been up to lately: vetoing ordinances, apparently. This story is most interesting, however, when it delves into a petition that has been circulating around the city lately. It accuses the former mayor of a lot of nasty things; the former mayor says it is full of lies and "broken syntax" which may be a larger offense in his eyes.
MAY 23 This editorial posted in The Advocate is a bit confusing. The writing is poor - definitely not up to the usual editorial writing standard there - and the point is hard to grasp. Apparently, the writer is saying that privatization of state efforts is OK, as long as there is oversight and transparency, but Jindal's not good at that, and the legislature shouldn't over-react. Okey Dokey. Can't they get one of them Pulitzer-winning people to write an editorial?
MAY 23 This post on The Lens gives you links to a new Google Earth tool that allows you to see any spot on earth transform over the past 30 years. Bob Marshall, who covers the coast for the paper, says that in the case of Louisiana's coastline, it's possibly something you don't want to see, because it's not a pretty picture. There are several clips here, showing critical areas erode away. For Marshall, it was vindication for all those times he was met with eye-rolling when he talked about erosion.
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