Macon's obsession with its downtown (Atlanta, Columbus: construction, university, income)
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They may be peer cities on paper, but Macon most certainly has a bigger pull on Georgia -- and the nation -- than Florence does in South Carolina. Macon is indeed the de facto "Heart of Georgia" and has a vast reach for retail, medical and media.
The Macon Coliseum (now Centreplex) was the largest sports arena in the state when it was built in the early 1970s and still plays host to the state high school basktball tournaments. MCCG is the 2nd-largest hosptial complex in the state after Grady in Atlanta. Macon Mall was once the largest in Georgia. In the 1970s as well, Macon was the epicenter of the Southern rock music craze and at least as well known for music as Athens is today.
For many years, the Macon Telegraph was the 2nd-largest newspaper in the state after the AJC (it is now third, behind The Augusta Chronicle). The same cannot be said for the Florence Morning News, which is not a major player among SC newspapers. Despite its close proximity to Atlanta, Macon is a stand-alone TV market served by all 4 major networks. Florence shares a TV market with Myrtle Beach, 68 miles away.
Further, Florence County has just 137,000 people in 800 square miles -- a density of 171 PPSM. Bibb County has 166,000 people in 255 square miles -- a density of 661 PPSM. Macon is simply FAR more densely developed and urban, with a bigger downtown core, than Florence.
The Macon-Warner Robins CSA is home to 405,000 -- almost twice as many as the Florence MSA.
For certain, Macon has seen better times. But even so, there is no way a reasonable person would call Macon, GA and Florence, SC peer cities. Florence's "peers" in Georgia would be Athens, Albany, Valdosta and Gainesville.
Well Spoken, I definitely agree !!!! My point exactly Macon and Florence are in no way peer cities.
Those population stats clearly show that Florence and Macon are comparable in size, so you've not really disproved anything there. Cities can't really be consolidated with their counties in SC; otherwise, Florence would have about 138K people. Macon is a little bigger than Florence, but again, they are comparable and are definitely peer cities.
I only listed the similarities between the two places; I didn't list everything Florence has either. Florence has a major CSX rail yard, a few other colleges in the metro, and McLeod Regional Medical Center, which is pretty large and important for a city Florence's size.
Macon's downtown is definitely in better shape than Florence's, but in most respects, yes the two are peer cities with metros under half a million and similar amenities and attributes. Sorry, but there really isn't any "long list" you can contrive to make it seem as though Macon is in a league with metros over half a million like Augusta, Chattanooga, Columbia, Charleston, Knoxville, Greenville, etc. and that Florence is a step below. Macon might be closer to that league but it's still not in it.
Whatever, I'm not about to go back and forth with you; There is no one in their right mind with knowledge of both Macon and Florence would agree with you; the're peer cities...... Macon has always been compared to Augusta, Chattanooga, Columbia, Charleston, Knoxville, Greenville and Columbus as comparable size cities.... In some studies; it has even been compared with Jacksonville, Fl. Florence is not even a peer city for Warner Robins let alone Macon. Warner Robins Pop. 66,588 with is nearly doubled that of Florence.
In this recent article it listed cities such as Chattanooga, Tenn.; Asheville, N.C.; and Greenville, S.C., as cities similar in size to Macon that achieved ambitious redevelopment plans.
Whatever, I'm not about to go back and forth with you;
Whatever is right. You are, you have and you always will. It does not matter that we are talking about opinions here, if someone does not share your opinion of Macon you certainly will go back and forth. Like clockwork.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewtownMacon478
There is no one in their right mind ...
And I just love these little digs you make at people who do not share your opinion.
I hate to break this to you, but not everyone sees what you see in Macon. Personally, I see a rat hole, red headed step child of a second tier city when I look at Macon. I see a city that was once much more than it is now. Especially downtown. Both Macon and Florence are very much alike in that they are pass-through towns ... you pass through them on your way somewhere else.
You are entitled to your opinion on Macon. But no one is wrong, or "not in their right mind", for disagreeing with you.
How arrogant of you to insist that others must agree with you.
Whatever is right. You are, you have and you always will. It does not matter that we are talking about opinions here, if someone does not share your opinion of Macon you certainly will go back and forth. Like clockwork.
And I just love these little digs you make at people who do not share your opinion.
I hate to break this to you, but not everyone sees what you see in Macon. Personally, I see a rat hole, red headed step child of a second tier city when I look at Macon. I see a city that was once much more than it is now. Especially downtown. Both Macon and Florence are very much alike in that they are pass-through towns ... you pass through them on your way somewhere else.
You are entitled to your opinion on Macon. But no one is wrong, or "not in their right mind", for disagreeing with you.
How arrogant of you to insist that others must agree with you.
Well everyone is entitle to there own opinions; I can care less about yours or anyone else's but when people try make Macon seem less than what it is; that's when I'm going to always step in and counteract those statements. When I stated no one in there right mind or someone who is conducting a true educated peer to peer comparison would never place Macon at the same level or peers with Florence, SC unless they were trying to make it seem less of a place or pick it apart to point out flaws. That's just like you saying Atlanta and Columbia,SC are peer cities. They both are capital cities and economics Hubs in there states but a dummy knows ATL and Columbia are not peer cities regardless of any similarities. Anyone can look at pictures of Macon and Florence or compare both cities websites and economic status in there SC and GA and see Florence is no true peer comparison for Macon And Bulldawgfan everyone knows you of all people have a very long track record of bashing Macon
GREAT LINK! GOOD INFO! I agree, Savannah and Columbus are closer "peers" than Macon and Augusta. But all four remain "second tier" metros in Georgia -- historically speaking and otherwise.
The Macon-Warner Robins CSA combined GMP is $13.4 billion The Savannah-Hinesville CSA combined GMP is $16.9 billion. Columbus-Auburn CSA combined GMP is $16 billion. The Augusta GMP is $19.6 billion. That's not much of a difference, frankly. And population-wise, the four metros are all within 200,000 of each other. That's about the same as one of the second-tier Metro ATL counties like Henry, Cherokee, Forsyth, or Paulding.
For what it's worth, a lot of people outside Georgia think Macon is bigger than it is. Maybe it's the name, the location, or the fact that millions of people pass through every year on their way to Disney World. You gotta admit, both 475 and 75 give the impression that you're in a MAJOR metro area.
Then there's the fact that Macon actually has a skyline ... not much of one maybe, but better than Columbus, Augusta or Savannah!
I can care less about yours or anyone else's but....
Well, which is it? Either you do not care about the opinions of others or you do. No need to answer that, we all know. You will engage ANYONE who does not share your opinion. You will be willing to find the smallest of tiniest differences to show how Macon and Florence are so different. Guess what? They ain't so different. At least in terms of their decaying downtown, which is what this thread was all about. You can post picture after picture of Macon and it changes nothing. When I or others think of downtown Macon we do not 'see' what you see. I think we are more in our "right minds" than those of you who see, well, whatever it is that you see. Maybe you see potential, I don't know, but it ain't reality. And that's my opinion.
To the people of South Carolina, Colombia is just as important to them as Atlanta is to the people of Georgia. Why does it have to be more than that? Because you say so?
Why does there have to a comparison anyway, when the OP made no such statement?
Why can't a guy come on here and ask the simple question of why downtown is so important to the people of Macon without getting hammered for mentioning Florence? In reality he said that the people of Florence were not obsessed with their downtown. That was the only comparison he made. I did not see him make any other comparison, but based on your response I bet he thinks he, somewhere in there, accidentally called them sister cites.
Why is everyone who does not share your opinion of Macon "out of their right minds"? Pathetic.
Well, which is it? Either you do not care about the opinions of others or you do. No need to answer that, we all know. You will engage ANYONE who does not share your opinion. You will be willing to find the smallest of tiniest differences to show how Macon and Florence are so different. Guess what? They ain't so different. At least in terms of their decaying downtown, which is what this thread was all about. You can post picture after picture of Macon and it changes nothing. When I or others think of downtown Macon we do not 'see' what you see. I think we are more in our "right minds" than those of you who see, well, whatever it is that you see. Maybe you see potential, I don't know, but it ain't reality. And that's my opinion.
To the people of South Carolina, Colombia is just as important to them as Atlanta is to the people of Georgia. Why does it have to be more than that? Because you say so?
Why does there have to a comparison anyway, when the OP made no such statement?
Why can't a guy come on here and ask the simple question of why downtown is so important to the people of Macon without getting hammered for mentioning Florence? In reality he said that the people of Florence were not obsessed with their downtown. That was the only comparison he made. I did not see him make any other comparison, but based on your response I bet he thinks he, somewhere in there, accidentally called them sister cites.
Why is everyone who does not share your opinion of Macon "out of their right minds"? Pathetic.
I'm not even going to waste my time going back and forth with you, about who is greater; the point I was trying to make is that Macon and Florence in most people opinion excluding you and a couple of others are not peer cities. Whether you or anyone else thinks other wise that all up to you.... Its true Macon has experience some decaying times in Down town and a lot of other has too;but some people always try to make it appear that Macon is the only city with flaws; Whether you know it or not there has been a lot of improvements and projects completed in DT Macon within the last 5 years and a lot of projects coming in the future ... Just as Greenville and Chattanooga once had very decaying DT but they were turn around and so will Macon's whether that something you like or not. Now let see how you take that and turn it into something negative, something you do best when it comes to Macon. We all know who's the Pathetic one!!!!
I'm not even going to waste my time going back and forth with you, .... the point I was .....
There you go again. You are full of contradictions today. Either you are or you are not. We all can see what you chose.
This is an analogy of how things go on here. It is very easy to see who are the antagonists in these posts.
Someone could write " the people of Macon are not as concerned about snow removal as the people of Chicago are". You know how you would react? Yes. Yes you do.
You would come back with something like this " It is ridiculous to compare Macon with Chicago, the two cities are not even remotely alike. Chicago has more people and two big airports, a thriving downtown and, and ... and.... everything. No one in their right mind would compare those two cities." (Then you would have posted ten pictures of Macon)
You would have (and have in the case of this thread), totally ignored the point that was made. Rather than saying snow removal is not important in Macon, you would try and belittle the poster for his comparison.
That is what is pathetic.
Now tell me, is the obsession that you Maconites have with your downtown because you want to be like Greenville? Chatanooga? Or do you want to belittle Florence or the OP some more because it is not exactly like Macon?
Location: Augusta, GA ''The fastest rising city in the southeast''
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Newsboy
For what it's worth, a lot of people outside Georgia think Macon is bigger than it is. Maybe it's the name, the location, or the fact that millions of people pass through every year on their way to Disney World. You gotta admit, both 475 and 75 give the impression that you're in a MAJOR metro area.
Then there's the fact that Macon actually has a skyline ... not much of one maybe, but better than Columbus, Augusta or Savannah!
I would have to respectfully disagree by just looking at emporis.. I'm not including the Medical District either into the equation.
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Macon and Florence are in no way peer cities. 
I'm not about to go back and forth with you; There is no one in their right mind with knowledge of both Macon and Florence would agree with you; the're peer cities...... Macon has always been compared to Augusta, Chattanooga, Columbia, Charleston, Knoxville, Greenville and Columbus as comparable size cities.... In some studies; it has even been compared with Jacksonville, Fl. Florence is not even a peer city for Warner Robins let alone Macon. Warner Robins Pop. 66,588 with is nearly doubled that of Florence.
And Bulldawgfan everyone knows you of all people have a very long track record of bashing Macon
