The city of Hammond became the ninth metropolitan area in the state because of
industry and population increase. Because of this new status, the value of homes
and schools increased because businesses were able to contribute
more economically. The Lion’s Roar / William Schmidt
Hammond has become the ninth metropolitan area due to increased industry, population and traffic. This title has led to the growth of the city and brought in more revenue for the city, increasing the worth of homes and schools.
Local businesses in Hammond are receiving further opportunities and advertisement.
“This is a wonderful partnership for Hammond as well as Tangipahoa Parish to be involved in,” said Mayor Pete Panepinto. “Hammond and the surrounding area now have the marketing ability to promote the area because of the resources within this organization. The cost of hiring these resources for Hammond and the surrounding cities in Tangipahoa Parish alone would not be possible [without this status].”
Hammond received the designation in 2012 because of population increase in 2010. There must be more than 50,000 residents to be considered a metropolitan area, and this new area includes other sections of Tangipahoa Parish.
According to Lacy Landrum, director of administration for City of Hammond, the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration uses this classification to distribute transportation funds.
“The City of Hammond has been planning for this designation since the initial release of population numbers from the 2010 Census,” said Landrum. “We knew that our area had grown post-Katrina with people and businesses relocating to the higher ground of Hammond. We carefully selected how we would form planning groups to build a Northshore coalition.”
According to Panepinto, it connects Hammond to a part of a “larger core group” in the Northshore region encompassing New Orleans, Slidell, Independence and Albany. Now that Hammond is part of the bigger picture, it will allow essential economic access, development and business.
“We’ll receive more frequent updates to our economic and employment data for the area,” said Landrum. “This data helps us target workforce development programs and is a useful tool for businesses wanting to move to Hammond. Overall, we hope that we can recruit businesses more aggressively to further our economic development.”
This recruitment will not be difficult with the factors working in Hammond’s favor.
“Attracting businesses from across the country and around the world to this metropolitan region is a larger picture to prospective customers,” said Panepinto. “The ports of New Orleans and the Northshore as well as the interstate crossroads of the I-12 and I-55, I-10 and I-59 corridors are critical for the trucking and the transportation industry. All these assets as a whole help promote Hammond and these other cities to prospective companies considering bringing business and industry to our area.”