Why Lafayette is not an Oil Town

[CajunFun]

_ Nothing really controversial (I work in the oil and gas industry). It does provoke a good question, where does our growth come from, and more importantly: where WILL it come from?. It is good not to rely on one sector of the economy for growth and sustainability. The more diverse lafayette becomes, the more prosperous its future. Also interesting was the population through time. The Parish population growth basically followed that of the world, which is a double in population every 40 years. However, the city did not follow that trend, with the largest spike after the railroad came through. Maybe that is what we need. I propose a high speed rail transit system between New Orleans and Houston, with us in the middle. We've got the LAMBDA rail, lets get a SPEED rail too. _

For a couple of years, I have been asking an interesting question, Why is Lafayette here? Which is really a way of asking, Why has Lafayette grown so much?

Think about the other growing urban centers, we have none of their resources. We are not a port city; we are not (or were not) at a major crossroads; we have no major natural resources (the oil is out in the Gulf); we have no major manufacturing; we do not dominate some industry (film, music, publishing, trading, technology, etc.); we have not been a major education center; we are not a banking or financial center; we are not a state capital.

And yet, we have grown. Very, very fast. So why?

I have my own ideas, and I'll get to those eventually. I did a write-up on part of the answer, for Zappi to use on the Engineering website. He's still working on getting that up.

But the short answer is, other cities grow industries; we grow leaders.

Why and how I think we do that, needs more time and space to explain than I have right now. But I will say this: my ideas on Lafayette and UL are why, when people here become so gloomish & doomish, I scoff. I think I know Lafayette's secret. We don't have the resources? We don't have the numbers? We don't have the facilities?

Neither does Lafayette. But the track record is unmistakable: we're doing something that others just don't do.

And I have come to suspect that what it is we have, and what it is we do, we do better than perhaps anyone in the world. If that sounds a bit hard to believe, just go back to my original question: How is it that Lafayette continues to grow, in defiance of all the patterns and predictors? Where is there another city like Lafayette, that continues to grow, without some clearly-defined core asset? Obviously, we have discovered something that most others, perhaps no others, have found out about yet.

Anyway, that won't be the topic of the essay Monday. In fact, that topic is more a result, and less so a cause, of Lafayette's big secret.

[CajunFun]

_ There was actually an article in USA Today about some proposed high speed rail lines. One of them was from NO to Houston. How nice would it be to have that running through Lafayette!
igeaux.mobi _

Wanna monorail?

This is getting some serious discussion around town: The SwampRat.

[Clutch0364]

_ Wanna monorail?

This is getting some serious discussion around town: The SwampRat. _

That would make Lafayette and UL stick out. Great marketing tool!

[LSUTiger4RaginCajuns]

The sweet spot of having an oil based economy is the fact many of the companies have higher than average base pay, excellent benefits (which probably spurred the development of the health industry here) and rapid advancement.

Many young people without college degrees can earn large sums of money working offshore whereas in the health industry you need to be a professional to even begin making equal pay.

Not to mention all the lawyers this town made rich from both industries.

In summary if you have energy and health as your major economic drivers then you can sit back and relax at some of the world's best restaurants per capita than anywhere else in the USA.

GEAUX Lafayette