“Lafayette receives high marks”

Along the lines of my remarks this morning that Team CajunBot was one among several signs that Lafayette could compete on a national stage to I refer you to this morning’s Advocate story “Lafayette receives high marks.” It looks like I, and CNet, are not the only ones to notice something good brewing in the Hub City.

From the story:

Lafayette continues to receive props for its business-friendly climate and high-tech innovation.

Leading all Louisiana cities, Lafayette ranked 68th in the country for doing business in the latest edition of Inc. Magazine… [the story]

Lafayette showed the highest growth in Louisiana for information technology jobs, which grew 21.5 percent in the last three years.

The only other city in Louisiana with growth in that sector was Baton Rouge, which grew 1.3 percent.

And it’s not just Louisiana in which Lafayette is pulling ahead:

Inc. concluded in its study that high-paying technology jobs have declined in areas like Silicon Valley and Boston and popped up in smaller towns, where the cost of living and doing business is lower and quality of life is high…

“Lafayette continues to be a progressive city, and when you combine that with a business-friendly climate, the reputation we are garnering as a technologically savvy city and the excellent quality of life that we enjoy, it can only help in our efforts to bring business and jobs to this area,” Durel said.

We’re shaping up as a unique place to live and play; a community with a progressive and positive ideas about what is possible; and as a community where we take the future into our own hands. Any successful entrepreneur is bound to feel a kindred spirit.

But wait! There’s more:

In October, Entrepreneur magazine named Lafayette as one of the four most attractive areas in the country for high-tech business.

And at no extra charge:

In 2003, the Milken Institute ranked Lafayette first in growth in wages and salaries out of the largest 200 metropolitan areas in the country…

According to Dee Stanley the good news doesn’t stop there:

And Lafayette’s plans for a fiber-optics network available at low cost to every home and business in the city — coupled with LITE and state initiatives in research — will help attract more attention from high-tech business, Stanley said.

We just need to keep the ball rolling. It’s in our hands.

(Thanks to a blog tipster for alerting me to this story. I wouldn’t have caught it until I had time to read the physical paper. That is, maybe never. 🙂 )