Wal-Mart moving out of a Louisiana town

[Mikejesmike]

That means Lafayette has approximately 2,340 people per sq. mile, making it quite a bit more densely populated than Shreveport which comes in at approximately 1,942 people per sq. mile. Baton Rouge is more densely populated than both, though, with approximately 2,835 people per sq. mile in the city limits. Wow. But then look at Kenner... HOLY WOW... 4,667 people/sq. mile. And then New Orleans has approximately 2,689 people per square mile!?!? that just doesn't seem right to me. Baton Rouge is pretty densely packed-in, but moreso than New Orleans??

New Orleans is about 180 sq miles, but 99.9% of it's population lives on about 74 sq. miles, giving it a rating of about 6,541 people per sq mile. It was even higher back in 1960 with people living on about 54 sq miles. Giving it a rating of about 11,621 per sq. mile. Then in 1965 at about 700,000 people the density would be about 9,459 per sq. mile if New Orleans East was around and 12,963 if it wasn't.

[dimebag1980]

Speaking of Wal-Mart... I've heard a rumor (and I stress the word rumor) that Wal-Mart has been looking at property on Hwy 157 near the Pilot truck stop and Waffle House. As much as I'd love to have a Wal-Mart in Haughton again, if one were built where the rumor mentions, Haughton wouldn't progress but rather would come to a stand-still.

See, I live in that area, which is the actual town of Haughton. During the Summer, we literally have weekly power outages due to the strain from all the new residents in that area. In addition, we just have 2-lane roads in that area. Homes would have to be relocated and Hwy 157 would have to be widened to at least 3, but preferably 5 lanes. The Hwy. 157 bridge over I-20 would have to be widened as well, so you're looking at a multi-million dollar project. Also, the entire power system servicing Haughton would have to be reworked and expanded in order to support a store of that size. Otherwise, the weekly power outages would become steady, hourly power outages. A Wal-Mart store would literally zap the city of Haughton of all its electrical power.

Bear in mind I've also heard similar rumors of Wal-Mart stores in north Shreveport, Benton, and south Bossier as well. I highly doubt any of these will happen, at least not in the next few years.

Also, Haughton once had a Wal-Mart, but it was closed and moved to Bossier City about 10+ years ago because the population of Haughton couldn't support it. The population of Haughton has grown, but not THAT much!

[DaltonGA]

New Orleans is about 180 sq miles, but 99.9% of it's population lives on about 74 sq. miles, giving it a rating of about 6,541 people per sq mile. It was even higher back in 1960 with people living on about 54 sq miles. Giving it a rating of about 11,621 per sq. mile. Then in 1965 at about 700,000 people the density would be about 9,459 per sq. mile if New Orleans East was around and 12,963 if it wasn't.

Yeah, since the entire Orleans Parish and the city of New Orleans are exactly the same entity, the lesser developed swampier northeastern part of the parish is included in the area of New Orleans. There was a time when the area was to be drained and developed, thank God it wasn't or the Katrina devastation would have been worse. Not just because it would have been a developed area that flooded, but marshes, swamps and wetlands provide a natural buffer to surges and floods and that system would have been destroyed.

The same drainage scheme was to have happened to Southeast Florida to drain the Everglades. To be honest, there is no telling what kind of destruction to the natural hydraulics system this could have, this could affect not only absorbing the excess floodwater from tropical storms and hurricanes, but could possibly reverberate into the Florida Acquifer to the north which has already been damaged by development and farm runoff as the acquifer is underneath a large area of South Georgia and South Carolina as well.