The news that the River Parishes area is helping lead the state in industrial investments and also in top average weekly wages is welcome news to those parish leaders and economic development specialists who are working to promote our area for more new industry, business and homeowners. The struggle to keep our local economy moving in the right direction is one which never ends and sometimes is affected by influences beyond our control. However, the word that the area, especially in St. Charles and St. James parishes, is growing and booming is good for all of us, for we will all benefit. A strong economy with a vigorous tax base will help our schools and our public services and provide a better quality of life for all of us. We will continue to enjoy amenities available in urban areas while enjoying the pleasures of small-town life. Inevitably, as people continue to pour into the River Parishes region, the character of our community will change to a more suburban, if not urban, tone. It is our challenge to work and keep the small-town qualities which attracted people here in the first place. So it’s our own personal characters which will continue to make the difference. We who may have lived here for generations have to be an example to newcomers and keep the best qualities of living in the River Parishes alive for generations to come. We do that through our children; we need to do that with our new neighbors. As wages and career opportunities continue to expand and develop, we should also keep sight of what it is which makes us the “best along the river” and keep that into the new century and beyond. From our churches and festivals to our schools and public support of service organizations, there’s much here which is rare elsewhere. Let’s keep it that way.

L’Observateur