339 replies to this topic

[dougtha1]

jungletobacco, on Nov 4 2006, 12:07 PM, said:

the Romans said that all road lead to Rome. In Georgia all roads leads to Atlanta.(interstate 20, 85, and 75)
In Florida, there is no "Rome" that all roads lead to and every city has a major tourist attractions.(theme parks and Beaches)

Thats funny but seems to be so true for the moment. Not just on the surface (I-20, I-75/85) but in very way it seems like everything in GA has to go through Atlanta.

[dougtha1]

yerocal, on Nov 4 2006, 11:39 AM, said:

Yes, i agree that atlanta metro is experiencing a lot growth, but i dont think that macon will join it in the next 100 years because there is a lot of connecting to do and there is no cities in the south that no of has a metro which extend that far.  I think macon has little more of and advantage than the other of cities simply because of it's location and what it has to offer. It is indeed close to atl, it has 475,75, 16 and Fast booming WarnerRobins with pop of 56-60,000 to the south with a Huge AF base, booming of growth in jones, monroe & peach counties, which all are growing towards macon, which in the next 10-20 years will be come a small recipcal of what has happen in atlanta and surrounding cities.  If Proposed I-14 and Fall line freeway is completed that will even create more commerical and residential growth.  alot of people seem to under estimate Macon, but trust me it going to be a lot of shock people in future. Also there is so many commerical business and residential awaiting  for approval. In additon, if the passager rail is complete, guess what alot of people who  live in atlanta will probably move to macon  and commute to atlanta to work, because it woud be cheaper to live in macon and take the train to atl and does not means macon wil be part of atl metro, example, you can take a train from Phil to ny city but it not part of ny city metro.

I agree that Macon is underestimated. Mainly because our reputation precedes us. When i lived in Atlanta, i heard so many stereotypes about Macon that I didn't even know existed. But being an "underdog" ddoesn't have to be considered a bad thing.

[wks2003x]

First off, why would any city becoming "the next Atlanta" be anything to be proud of?  Atlanta is plagued with heavy traffic, long commutes, poor mass transit, and the city is a poster child for urban sprawl...Unfortunately, I do see Macon headed in THAT direction faster than the other second tier cities.  Macon will probably never be the next Atlanta, but it is picking up some of Atlanta's bad habits pretty quickly.

It is also, in my opinion, dangerously close to becoming part of Atlanta.  Monroe County is being settled by Atlantans to the north and Maconites to the south...I would definitely pay close attention to the next census report to see which city wins the battle for claims to Monroe in their metro area.  I see a much larger Macon in the future...but I can't imagine it becoming larger than any of the other second tier cities anytime soon.  Augusta, Columbus & Savannah all have equal strengths.  Augusta & Savannah particularly make up for their lack of proximity to Atlanta with strong local attractions.

Population aside, Macon is considered to be Georgia's Second City in terms of importance in some aspects already.  Macon has the largest convention center, mall, suburb, hospital, retail base, and the most highway mileage outside metro Atlanta.  It already has quite a bit going for it.

As far as the retail goes, why not just wait and see what the developers have to say?  Rumors are no fun anyway.  I recall the Saks & Bloomie's rumor for The Shoppes at River Crossing that really turned out to be a Belk & Dillard's.  We have one more department store on the way so far...let's just wait and see what it is.

[dougtha1]

wks2003x, on Nov 8 2006, 04:52 AM, said:

First off, why would any city becoming "the next Atlanta" be anything to be proud of?  Atlanta is plagued with heavy traffic, long commutes, poor mass transit, and the city is a poster child for urban sprawl...Unfortunately, I do see Macon headed in THAT direction faster than the other second tier cities.  Macon will probably never be the next Atlanta, but it is picking up some of Atlanta's bad habits pretty quickly.

It is also, in my opinion, dangerously close to becoming part of Atlanta.  Monroe County is being settled by Atlantans to the north and Maconites to the south...I would definitely pay close attention to the next census report to see which city wins the battle for claims to Monroe in their metro area.  I see a much larger Macon in the future...but I can't imagine it becoming larger than any of the other second tier cities anytime soon.  Augusta, Columbus & Savannah all have equal strengths.  Augusta & Savannah particularly make up for their lack of proximity to Atlanta with strong local attractions.

Population aside, Macon is considered to be Georgia's Second City in terms of importance in some aspects already.  Macon has the largest convention center, mall, suburb, hospital, retail base, and the most highway mileage outside metro Atlanta.  It already has quite a bit going for it.

As far as the retail goes, why not just wait and see what the developers have to say?  Rumors are no fun anyway.  I recall the Saks & Bloomie's rumor for The Shoppes at River Crossing that really turned out to be a Belk & Dillard's.  We have one more department store on the way so far...let's just wait and see what it is.

I think the thread should be called Georgia's Next "big city". I dont think anyone is tryin to be an actual copy of Atlanta. Just the next major city in GA.

Edited by dougtha1, 08 November 2006 - 07:56 AM.

[Pillsbury]

^ Well hopefully something will happen soon with one of our second tier cities, and if it's Macon, i say more power to you.   To be honest, compared to the NC cities our towns are backwards and small.  None of the other cities in this state have progressive leadership.   In fact, this state is plagued by a conservative smell that makes me sick.    

In a rare state of boosting Augusta, however, I will say we did our part in last night's election, electing back a progressive Mayor, and hopefully sending a progressive leader back to Washington to represent our interests there.

[dougtha1]

Pillsbury, on Nov 8 2006, 09:14 AM, said:

^ Well hopefully something will happen soon with one of our second tier cities, and if it's Macon, i say more power to you.   To be honest, compared to the NC cities our towns are backwards and small.  None of the other cities in this state have progressive leadership.   In fact, this state is plagued by a conservative smell that makes me sick.    

In a rare state of boosting Augusta, however, I will say we did our part in last night's election, electing back a progressive Mayor, and hopefully sending a progressive leader back to Washington to represent our interests there.

I didnt know there were any mayoral elections in Ga last night. Who is the new mayor?

[Pillsbury]

dougtha1, on Nov 8 2006, 09:18 AM, said:

I didnt know there were any mayoral elections in Ga last night. Who is the new mayor?

Deke Copenhaver was elected last year in a special election.  He will finally be able to serve a full term this time.  He's been a breath of fresh air in this city.   He garnered 65 percent of the vote, which is something I've never heard of in Augusta.

Good job to Macon as well on last night's election.

[dougtha1]

.

Edited by dougtha1, 08 November 2006 - 04:20 PM.

[yerocal]

yerocal, on Oct 25 2006, 06:24 PM, said:

I think is on it way of becoming Georgia Next Largest  and major city. It has fast growing Warner Robins, Robins AFB, Interstate 75, 475 & 16. Close to atlanta and there is so much Development in Macon.  Macon has huge development spawling going on at every end!

-North Macon Projects-  Market place at Bass-400,000sq, North Winds square-144,000sq, The Open air Mall- the shoppees at River crossing-750,00sq. lull water Village-284,00sq, Bass plantion, providence town centre and Enclave at New Forysth-20370sq.

-West Macon Projects- Zebulon Rd widen to 4 lanes, Macon 3nd Walmart 2and Lowe's  oppus Shoppes and Hotel and apartments developments.

-South Macon Projects- Harltey station retail & commerical, residential developments, Sara less plant, khol's DC, Nicnochi plant

-Downtown Macon Projects-  a New convention  4 star hotel, An entire city block in the heart of downtown is about to be redeveloped into retail stores, offices and 7 luxury condominuims,Riverside Development, Terminal Station Project( Greyhound, Train & Macon Transit Head Quarters) The Beall's Hill project which is the largest of its kind in the state outside Atlanta.

-Macon to Atlanta passager rail project.

- Proposed interstate 14

- Plans for the I-75/I-16 interchange

Watch out Columbus, Augusta  and Savannah because Macon is working hard to claim number 2 in Georgia.

Any opinions!

Well For those who thought Macon would not have a chance to become the next Major city well listen what i have found. It look the local & state Ga Gov. officals has plans for macon too.  Here what they had to say:

Extremely important to us in the Macon and middle
Georgia region, high-speed rail supports Governor Barnes’ One Georgia
Initiative. High-speed rail has the potential to make Governor Barnes vision
of making economic opportunity accessible to all of Georgia a reality.
Because of its central location in our state, I believe that the City of Macon
is uniquely and strategically positioned to be the conduit through which
economic growth and development can be generated and made accessible to
the far reaches of the middle and southern part of our state. Macon is the
shopping, medical, banking, educational and cultural center of the Middle
Georgia region. In addition, Macon is the second largest rail hub in the
Southeast; and we are the last stop on the proposed Southeast Corridor.
As part of the One Georgia Initiative, the state has already begun to
build a foundation for this growth and development in this region the state. . We
in Macon and Middle Georgia appreciate these developments and we
applaud our State officials for their commitment to the One Georgia
Initiative. High-speed rail will ensure that the returns on these investments
by the State are maximized; and it will make more palpable the transfer of
additional state offices and institutions to the Macon and the Middle Georgia
region. As future decisions are made regarding the location of government
offices and institutions, we encourage the State, as well as the Federal
government, to give favorable consideration to Macon and the Middle
Georgia region.

I think Macon is well on its way to becoming Ga's next major city!

[LizellaJacket]

Lets hope we don't become the next ATL.  Who wants to be a city that has no identity?  No one is from Atlanta. It's full of Yankees with overbearing accents who talk about how much better it is up north.



We already have a city like that in Middle Georgia...Warner Robins.

[socaguy]

wks2003x, on Nov 8 2006, 04:52 AM, said:

First off, why would any city becoming "the next Atlanta" be anything to be proud of?  Atlanta is plagued with heavy traffic, long commutes, poor mass transit, and the city is a poster child for urban sprawl...Unfortunately, I do see Macon headed in THAT direction faster than the other second tier cities.  Macon will probably never be the next Atlanta, but it is picking up some of Atlanta's bad habits pretty quickly.

It is also, in my opinion, dangerously close to becoming part of Atlanta.  Monroe County is being settled by Atlantans to the north and Maconites to the south...I would definitely pay close attention to the next census report to see which city wins the battle for claims to Monroe in their metro area.  I see a much larger Macon in the future...but I can't imagine it becoming larger than any of the other second tier cities anytime soon.  Augusta, Columbus & Savannah all have equal strengths.  Augusta & Savannah particularly make up for their lack of proximity to Atlanta with strong local attractions.

Population aside, Macon is considered to be Georgia's Second City in terms of importance in some aspects already.  Macon has the largest convention center, mall, suburb, hospital, retail base, and the most highway mileage outside metro Atlanta.  It already has quite a bit going for it.

As far as the retail goes, why not just wait and see what the developers have to say?  Rumors are no fun anyway.  I recall the Saks & Bloomie's rumor for The Shoppes at River Crossing that really turned out to be a Belk & Dillard's.  We have one more department store on the way so far...let's just wait and see what it is.

I was just wondering where you got your info from when you say Macon has the largest retail base outside of Atlanta.  I would definately think Augusta has Macon beat here, especially since the metro area has 150,00o-170,000 more people than Macon.  As far as suburbs go,  how large is Warner Robbins?  Aiken, Augustas largest suburban city, has close to 30,000 but as far as suburban areas, Evans, an unicorporated area of Columbia County has close to 85,000 people.  Macon might have a larger hospital than Augusta but the number of major hospitals is greater in Augusta than Macon.  Augusta Metro has University Hospital, The Medical College of Georgia, St. Josephs hospital, Uptown VA Hospital, DT VA Hospital, Doctors Hospital, and Eisenhower Medical Center,  the Aiken Regional Medical Centers and  nearly a dozen other smaller, specialty hospitals.

[Pillsbury]

^ Yeah, I was going to mention that about the hospital thing.  I think we have more doctors per capita than any other town down South except Memphis and Durham.   We're like the hospital town.   Same thing with the malls--we had two million square foot malls back in the 80s; people just started dying at one of the malls so they closed it.  Now we have one.  

Yerocal, I hate to tell you (and I wish I could say otherwise) but that high speed rail isn't coming anytime soon.  Look at the governor listed in the article (Roy Barnes)---he and the Dems are gone, along with any chance of rail---although they might widen I-75 to about 20 lanes.

[DaGABoyStinger]

socaguy, on Nov 12 2006, 10:25 PM, said:

I was just wondering where you got your info from when you say Macon has the largest retail base outside of Atlanta.  I would definately think Augusta has Macon beat here, especially since the metro area has 150,00o-170,000 more people than Macon.  As far as suburbs go,  how large is Warner Robbins?  Aiken, Augustas largest suburban city, has close to 30,000 but as far as suburban areas, Evans, an unicorporated area of Columbia County has close to 85,000 people.  Macon might have a larger hospital than Augusta but the number of major hospitals is greater in Augusta than Macon.  Augusta Metro has University Hospital, The Medical College of Georgia, St. Josephs hospital, Uptown VA Hospital, DT VA Hospital, Doctors Hospital, and Eisenhower Medical Center,  the Aiken Regional Medical Centers and  nearly a dozen other smaller, specialty hospitals.

Well Socaguy, I think some of the reasons why Macon is advantaged in this could be a bunch of things.  Some in particular are with Macon's demographics.  They may have fewer Total people in the area, but actually from what I heard they actually may have the largest people with incomes over $50,000.  Apparently Macon may have the most rich people out of the other 2nd teir cities.  But maybe Savannah and Augusta are really close too.  I think someone needs to do some research to be sure of this to be sure.

With Savannah's islands, and Augusta's affluent Medical and SRS employment base we shouldn't be too far behind.  Columbus I'm not so sure about, though.

Warner Robins should be close to that of Evans if not a bit over 100,000

[dougtha1]

Pillsbury, on Nov 13 2006, 09:24 AM, said:

^ Yeah, I was going to mention that about the hospital thing.  I think we have more doctors per capita than any other town down South except Memphis and Durham.   We're like the hospital town.   Same thing with the malls--we had two million square foot malls back in the 80s; people just started dying at one of the malls so they closed it.  Now we have one.  

Yerocal, I hate to tell you (and I wish I could say otherwise) but that high speed rail isn't coming anytime soon.  Look at the governor listed in the article (Roy Barnes)---he and the Dems are gone, along with any chance of rail---although they might widen I-75 to about 20 lanes.

Im not sure about the retail, ill let someone else answer that but as far as the largest suburb, Warner Robbins is almost twice as large as Aiken with a poulation of 57,907. (www.city-data.com/city/Warner-Robins-Georgia.html), and as far as the largerst hospital goes, in terms of BEDS/PATIENT CAPACITY, MCCG is second only to Grady Memorial.

From north to south and east to west, The Medical Center of Central Georgia is the largest tertiary care center between Atlanta, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida, and Augusta, Georgia, and Birmingham, Alabama.

MCCG evolved into a 603-bed, full-service, acute care hospital that now serves an estimated population of 750,000 residents and is now the second largest hospital in the state of Georgia. Accredited by the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the medical facility has a primary service area of thirty counties in Central Georgia, including Bibb and the neighboring counties of Crawford, Houston, Jones, Monroe, Peach and Twiggs. The Medical Center typically treats patients from nearly 80 percent of Georgia’s 159 counties......

The Luce Heart Institute will feature 13 procedure labs, sixty 23-hour-stay beds, 42 recovery rooms, and 10 diagnostictesting rooms .... (opens in 2007, see the Skyline Thread for pic)

This brings our total beds to 737 beds. Grady has 953,beds MCG (Augusta) has 603 beds.

And as far as rail goes, yes the project has lost a lot of steam but Gov. Purdue who is from the Macon Area is still in office so you never know what might come up. But one thing we are sure of is that Macon is get a 14 lane freeway. Im not sure what to think about that yet.

[dougtha1]

socaguy, on Nov 12 2006, 10:25 PM, said:

I was just wondering where you got your info from when you say Macon has the largest retail base outside of Atlanta.  I would definately think Augusta has Macon beat here, especially since the metro area has 150,00o-170,000 more people than Macon.  As far as suburbs go,  how large is Warner Robbins?  Aiken, Augustas largest suburban city, has close to 30,000 but as far as suburban areas, Evans, an unicorporated area of Columbia County has close to 85,000 people.  Macon might have a larger hospital than Augusta but the number of major hospitals is greater in Augusta than Macon.  Augusta Metro has University Hospital, The Medical College of Georgia, St. Josephs hospital, Uptown VA Hospital, DT VA Hospital, Doctors Hospital, and Eisenhower Medical Center,  the Aiken Regional Medical Centers and  nearly a dozen other smaller, specialty hospitals.

"especially since the metro area has 150,00o-170,000 more people than Macon" i


m sorry but the whole Macon/Warner Robbins CMSA is 376,588. Augusta/Aiken is 477,441. Ure 100,000 more, not 170,000. Im not sure if it is possible to find out the total retail square footage fo a whole city. Or a whole metro area.

Edited by dougtha1, 13 November 2006 - 09:48 AM.

[PJA]

As far as income Augusta has the highest median income outside of Atlanta metro.  This was taken from the official census website.

http://www.census.go.....a revised.pdf

[Pillsbury]

Thanks PJA, I'd remembered reading something about that not too long ago.

[Pillsbury]

dougtha1, on Nov 13 2006, 10:22 AM, said:

Im not sure about the retail, ill let someone else answer that but as far as the largest suburb, Warner Robbins is almost twice as large as Aiken with a poulation of 57,907. (www.city-data.com/city/Warner-Robins-Georgia.html), and as far as the largerst hospital goes, in terms of BEDS/PATIENT CAPACITY, MCCG is second only to Grady Memorial.

From north to south and east to west, The Medical Center of Central Georgia is the largest tertiary care center between Atlanta, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida, and Augusta, Georgia, and Birmingham, Alabama.

MCCG evolved into a 603-bed, full-service, acute care hospital that now serves an estimated population of 750,000 residents and is now the second largest hospital in the state of Georgia. Accredited by the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the medical facility has a primary service area of thirty counties in Central Georgia, including Bibb and the neighboring counties of Crawford, Houston, Jones, Monroe, Peach and Twiggs. The Medical Center typically treats patients from nearly 80 percent of Georgia’s 159 counties......

The Luce Heart Institute will feature 13 procedure labs, sixty 23-hour-stay beds, 42 recovery rooms, and 10 diagnostictesting rooms .... (opens in 2007, see the Skyline Thread for pic)

This brings our total beds to 737 beds. Grady has 953,beds MCG (Augusta) has 603 beds.

And as far as rail goes, yes the project has lost a lot of steam but Gov. Purdue who is from the Macon Area is still in office so you never know what might come up. But one thing we are sure of is that Macon is get a 14 lane freeway. Im not sure what to think about that yet.

You know, I really try not to take this too seriously, but no one suggested that MCCG was anything but what was claimed.   We moved on, talking about total beds.   You're right MCG has 603 beds.  But, next door (literally) is University Hospital, which has 551 beds.   The VA Medical Center (downtown, next door also) has 155 beds while the Uptown VA Medical Center has about 165 beds.  I don't know how many Doctors Hospital has because I didin't see it on their website, by they have the Joseph M. Still Burn Center, which if you catch on fire in in GA, SC, or western NC, they you take here.   As well, Saint Joseph Hospital, a Catholic hospital, has about 231 beds.  Eisenhower Medical Center on Fort Gordon has about 300 beds.   Those are the big ones.  I'm not going to go into the little podunk hospitals that are all over Columbia County and Aiken County ---these are all hospitals within Richmond County.    Nor am I going to go into all over the specialized hospitals, like Gracewood or Georgia Regional, et al.  

As far as rail goes, Sonny-do is a Republican who has expressed no interest thus far in providing this state with any rail alternatives---I'd love to see it though.

Also, our metro population is 515,000 people now.

Edited by Pillsbury, 13 November 2006 - 11:40 AM.

[krazeeboi]

LizellaJacket, on Nov 12 2006, 07:06 PM, said:

Lets hope we don't become the next ATL.  Who wants to be a city that has no identity?  No one is from Atlanta. It's full of Yankees with overbearing accents who talk about how much better it is up north.

Any growing, successful city is going to be full of transplants looking for a better life and better opportunities; Atlanta provides that and you're an example of that as far as education is concerned. Attracting lots of people hardly means the city has "no identity." It's got one, although it may not be your particular ideal of what a positive identity for a Southern city is.

[jungletobacco]

What does Macon have to offer to the world? really.... Savannah and Augusta are the next in line just because they have a strong tourist base, which is motivation bring more and more growth to their cities. Macon is about to be swallowed by the Atlanta sprawl, ..........I guest thats growth, huh? Besides being the next Atlanta, Macon will be Atlanta!!!!! Thats funny!!!