St. Landry Parish's growth exceeds state average
State in general shows poor growth
By William Johnson   April 9, 2007
wjohnson@dailyworld.com

St. Landry Parish is one of the fastest growing areas in the state.

According to the U.S. Census population estimates released this week, the Opelousas-Eunice metropolitan service area grew 4.4 percent between 2000 and 2006, making it the fifth fasting growing region in the state.

 
  

"This just validates what we are seeing every day," said Gerard Perron, head the St. Landry Economic and Industrial Development District. "Our parish is growing, new businesses are opening up almost every day."

The new estimates are the first official look at state population trends for Louisiana's 23 metropolitan service areas in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. An MSA is a group of interconnected economies covering more than a single municipal area. Most take in at least one parish, with several taking in three or more.

Only Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Hammond and De Ridder grew faster than the Opelousas-Eunice area.

"Of course these are only estimates," Perron said. "I can't wait for the official 2010 Census figures. This is quite a change from 10 years ago when our population was falling."

The fastest growth was seen in the Hammond MSA, up 12.5 percent, followed by Baton Rouge, up 8.6 percent, and Lafayette, up 6.5 percent. All three of these cities benefited from the waves of immigrants fleeing the disaster left behind by the storms. More than half of the population growth in these cities came in a single year, the year following the storms.

By comparison, the census estimate shows most of the southern part of the state in disarray, with New Orleans down 22.2 percent. The Lake Charles, Jennings and Morgan City MSAs all reported losing population as well.

While the Southern part of the state was the hardest hit, the census numbers don't paint a bright picture for the state in general.

Almost all areas are growing at less than the national average with many areas unaffected by the storms showing population losses as well.

The MSAs in the northern part of the state were particularly hard hit, with Bastrop, Minden, Natchitoches, Ruston and Tallulah all showing population drops, some by as much as 10 percent. The Shreveport-Bossier area did show a 2.9 percent growth, but that is less than half of the national average.

Demographer Elliot Stonecipher said the state's poor numbers are particularly troubling when it is realized that the South in general is the fasted growing region of the nation. Half of the nation's 50 fastest growing MSAs are located in the South.

"We have a great climate. We are the only such state that is not growing. Our demographics are markedly negative," Stonecipher said.

He said the state was already in trouble before the storms and warned that if Louisiana doesn't make some fundamental changes soon it will die on the vine.

"The census estimate that was released just before the storms estimated that by 2030 Louisiana was only looking at a 7.5 percent population increase. That put us in the bottom four states in the nation," Stonecipher said.

"Katrina and Rita have simply fast-forwarded us to the point where we can clearly see and say, 'This thing is broken.'" Stonecipher said. "We have got to pick a future that will allow us to grow."

The most important change the state has to see, he believes, is a new tax structure. He believes the state's current high homestead exemption is a disaster. As a result, only about a third of the state's citizens pay any real taxes.

"If you don't tax people equally, they get brain dead. 'If I'm not paying for it, I don't care what government is doing.' I'm concerned the people are not going to wake up in time," Stonecipher said.

He believes this attitude has led to a long history of corruption at every level of government. In turn, that corruption has turned off the good people the state needs to move forward and has drained the resources needed to allow it to recover and modernize.

If nothing is done, he can see only a bleak future. The key, he believes, is leadership. "With the right leadership anyone can be awakened."

Unfortunately, he's not seeing much of that leadership. He believes the problem is that the state's current leaders are basing their thinking on unrealistic numbers. Most came of age between 1960 and 1980 when the state was in the throes of an oil boom. Jobs were plentiful and money was available.

"We grew faster then than the rest of the country during that period," Stonecipher said.

He said those days are long gone, but the thinking remains.

"Everyone is acting on bad data," Stonecipher said. "I wish people would look a the numbers."

While the storms may have sped up the process, he said anyone who studies those numbers already knew the state was in trouble.