Tennessee Valley Talk

[jmanhsv]

Article from the Huntsville Times

Huntsville No. 2 in smarts

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

From staff reports

Huntsville Times

Huntsville may not be a huge city, but, according to this month's Expansion Management magazine, it is smart.

The magazine, which helps companies decide where to locate and expand their business, named Huntsville No. 2 on its annual list of top 10 cities for scientists and engineers. The Kennewick-Richland-Pasco, Wash., metro area was at the top of that list.

The designation is part of Expansion Management annual Knowledge Quotient ranking of 362 metro areas.

The survey also ranked the top knowledge worker metros, top metros for university research and development spending and the top metros for college educated workers.

Have you ever noticed that Huntsville is never #1 in anything? We're always #2.

[codyg1985]

Being number 2 is definately better than being at the bottom, or being last.

[jmanhsv]

^True, but I think it's funny that we're never #1 in anything (EDIT: I found one: Hsv was named the #1 mid market in the South by Southern Business and Development). In the last year, the city has been ranked: #2 most affordable, #2 most cost-effective, #2 best value, #6 overall (Forbes), #4 safest drivers, and #2 in quality of life. Source: Chamber of Commerce

Here's the top 10 list from Expansion Management:

1. Kennewick-Richland-Pasco, Wash. MSA

2. Huntsville, Ala. MSA

3. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. MSA

4. Boulder, Colo. MSA

5. Ithaca, N.Y. MSA

6. Ames, Iowa MSA

7. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Fla. MSA

8. Idaho Falls, Idaho MSA

9. Blacksburg-Christianburg-Radford, Va. MSA

10. College Station-Bryan, Texas MSA

Edited April 11, 2006 by jmanhsv

[jmanhsv]

And while we're on the topic of rankings.... I saw this in the Austin subforum. The Green Guide ranked Huntsville the 9th "greenest" city in the nation. Here's what they had to say about the city:

9. Huntsville, AL (score 7.035, pop. 158,216)

New to the top 10 list this year, Huntsville has devoted almost a third of its land to green spaces including undeveloped forest and nature preserves, along with public gardens, parks and waterfront. The city-funded Operation Green Team has been remarkably successful in their public education and city clean-ups, enlisting 12,000 volunteers in their 2005 effort to clean and green the city. Thirteen percent of the population commutes by bus while a trolley is available for special events to reduce congestion, helping clean up their air. The hospital possesses its own light rail system to shuttle staff across its grounds. Although Hunstville relies on coal and nuclear power for the majority of its energy mix, homeowners can purchase solar or wind-generated energy through the Tennessee Valley Authority.

The city is also developing a first-of-its-kind industrial park: 100 percent of all water runoff, says Ben Ferrill, city of Huntsville planner, will be biofiltered with swales, wet ponds and dry ponds. Rooftop runoff is separated from parking and street runoff to capture pollutants on site before they reach the subsurface aquifer.

Thirteen percent!? Yeah, right.

Edited April 12, 2006 by jmanhsv

[AlabamaGuy2007]

River Traffic Halted

Decatur Daily River Traffic

An article in the Daily about the bardge that struck Wilson Dam

[AlabamaGuy2007]

Hey, at one point in time, Forbes had ranked the Huntsville area as #1 for Engineers.

[AlabamaGuy2007]

Here's a thread for anything, anything you wanna talk about in the Huntsville-Decatur Area, as long as it's appropriate of course.

Edited May 11, 2011 by Southron
Threads merged.

[AlabamaGuy2007]

So, let's have sorta a roll call. Tell everyone where you're from.

[AlabamaGuy2007]

Ok, has anyone heard anything about what tenants are supposed to take up shop at "The Crossings of Decatur" ? Cause, I read the Daily everyday, but they haven't said a word about what's gonna be in there except for a Target. They're breaking ground sometime early october, I have a feeling they'll tell us then. But,

If ya'll have any clues, please share them.

[jmanhsv]

^I looked on the web a few weeks back, didn't find anything.

Why not make a new thread about the new center?

[AlabamaGuy2007]

Does anyone know when the new control tower will be finished at the airport. It's just sitting there, dare I say it, topless.

[jmanhsv]

Who's all going/been to Big Spring Jam? I just got back from the Crossfade concert.

[HSVTiger]

Does anyone know when the new control tower will be finished at the airport. It's just sitting there, dare I say it, topless.

well it's not really just sitting there, it won't be finished till next year. It's probably around the 160' level

with about 60' still to go (the actual control center)

[AlabamaGuy2007]

well it's not really just sitting there, it won't be finished till next year. It's probably around the 160' level

with about 60' still to go (the actual control center)

Yea, the day after I posted that, I drove to Huntsville and I saw that they had gotten further along with it and said to myself,"Ok, it's NOT, just sitting there."

Awesome, how tall is the current tower?

[AlabamaGuy2007]

Wow, it's been a great month for North Alabama now hasn't it. Here's something from the Breaking News on Al.com. Looks like, a helicopter assemble plant in Albertville 500 jobs, 200 jobs at Gold Kist expansion, and another 300 for Fort Payne for some national retailer.

That's 2,300 big name new jobs coming to North Alabama that we've heard about these past few weeks.

[AlabamaGuy2007]

Decatur City Schools is looking at allowing students from other school systems to join in on the IB program at Decatur High and Austin.

DCS Looking At More Students

I strongly support this, test scores would go up. People might even move to Decatur so that they can live in the district and not pay tuition if they like it enough. This is a great opporitunity that DCS needs to grab.

[AlabamaGuy2007]

So, I've been seeing these comercials on TV about HSV getting these flights from U.S. Airways. I'm confused, did they just as a boat load of flights or what?

[jmanhsv]

^Nope. US Airways made big fare cuts to cities like Louisville and Raleigh. There are no new non-stop flights; you still have to fly to Charlotte or Reagan National to get to these cities.

[AlabamaGuy2007]

^Nope. US Airways made big fare cuts to cities like Louisville and Raleigh. There are no new non-stop flights; you still have to fly to Charlotte or Reagan National to get to these cities.

[rivercity123]

Does anyone have any idea where any new Starbucks might be being built in the area? I keep waiting for Decatur to get one, but, I haven't seen or heard anything about what might happen about one movin here. Any news is appreciated.

[jmanhsv]

^ I heard that the Decatur location will be near Colonial Mall if that helps.

I guess Decatur will be Starbucks #9 for the Huntsville area.

[hughes_22]

Anyone know of any good landplanner/architects in the area that would be able to assist in a lakefront lowrise condo community? I respect all of your opinions greatly. Thanks.

[kayman]

Please read the UrbanPlanet rules.

[HSVTiger]

Another positive report for the city, when all these high rankings will result in exciting developments

not sure. Really it's only been in the past few years that we have begun to see some results, (Bridge Street, Constellation etc)

so hopefully we will see higher things take shape downtown. If I were a developer I would.

By WAYNE SMITH and MARIAN ACCARDI

Times Business Staff [email protected] [email protected]

In a Wall Street Journal feature Monday measuring how cities and states compare on various measures of development, Huntsville was ranked No. 1 among metro areas in the number of engineers per 1,000 population.

The index rates the overall economic vitality of a metro area by looking at a range of factors rather than just one measure. The index takes into account current economic conditions such as household income growth, factors that affect prospective conditions including labor availability and regional cost structure, and potential risks such as employment volatility.

The top 10: Austin, Texas; Fort Walton Beach, Fla.; Corvallis, Ore.; Raleigh, N.C.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Boise City, Idaho; Orlando, Fla.; Huntsville; Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Fargo, N.D.

In the Journal's "Vital Signs" feature Monday, Huntsville was ranked first in the number of architectural and other engineers per 1,000 population - 41.4 - in 2006.

Huntsville led 10 metro areas, including San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif., 31.2; Boulder, Colo., 28; Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Fla., 26.1; Kennewick-Richland-Pasco, Wash., 22.9; Ann Arbor, Mich., 21.9; Fort Walton Beach-Crestview-Destin, Fla., 20.3; Sheboygan, Wis., 18.4; Albuquerque, N.M., 16.6; and Holland-Grand Haven, Mich., 16.

The source of data was the U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau and Moody's Economy.com.

[Alabadrock]

Wasn't the HSV area also ranking number one for the same reason the year before last. I seem to remember that. Another question. What parts of the area are included. Is it just the Huntsville MSA? Or is it the HSV-DCU CSA?