Augusta booming despite tough economy (Atlanta, Columbus: tech job, statistics, Whole Foods)

[lilmusket]

Originally Posted by g-man430

Ummm...no it hasn't: Augusta-Richmond County (balance), Georgia - Population Finder - American FactFinder 195,182 in 2000 to 192,142 in 2007 is not positive growth. Now let's take a look at Greenville County: Greenville County, South Carolina - Population Finder - American FactFinder 379,616 in 2000 to 438,119 in 2008 is positive growth. Isn't math amazing?

You are right. Richmond County (AKA Augusta) actually has fewer ppl now than it had in 2000. If you compare back to 1990.. Richmond County has gained less than 10K ppl total in the entire last 19 years. In that same time period, Greenville County has gained over 118,000 ppl. So I think it is pretty obvious which has grown more over the last 19 years. Augusta was losing ppl every year from 2000 to 2006. Over the last two years, it has stopped losing people, this is true, but we are talking a very nominal gain, about a few hundred ppl, which is a growth rate of about less than one half of one percent. Not something I would call "Booming".. but hey, whatever floats your boat.

[g-man430]

Oh and regarding the "people can't afford to go to events at the Bilo Center" thing, check this out: Welcome To The BI-LO Center What does it say for the Taylor Swift concert on the front page? Oh wait...sold out. The concert isn't even until September 4th.

[nortonguy]

Richmond county has more people than it did in 2000. But lets stay on the future. Because that's where Augusta is heading. In 2009 Augusta is booming.

G-MAN Greenville can't compete with this.

Look at the jobs coming to Augusta.

"Really, what we're looking at is billions of dollars being invested in this local economy," the mayor said. "To my mind, it is the perfect storm of economic development."

During the next fiveyears, more than $14 billion -- most of it not stimulus money -- will be poured into projects at Fort Gordon, Plant Vogtle and Savannah River Site, creating thousands of temporary construction jobs and permanent high-tech jobs.

"You're talking about almost doubling the size of the region's economy," said Mark Thompson, the Cree-Walker Chair of Business Administration at Augusta State University.

The developments include:
- In Burke County, Georgia Power customers are funding a $6.4 billion expansion of Plant Vogtle nuclear power plant. 4,000 construction workers and up to 1000 long-term

- At Savannah River Site, the U.S. Department of Energy is investing $4.8 billion in a Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility employ 2,000 for construction and up to 1,000 permanently

- About $1.3 billion in DOE funds is going into an SRS Salt Waste Processing Facility employing 400 for construction and 100 long-term.

- From President Obama's economic stimulus package, $1.6 billion SRS environmental cleanup projects, 3,000 jobs

Thats 11,500 jobs coming to Augusta

[cyclingdawg]

If Augusta would get a new arena and new people to run it that know what they are doing instead of that outdated thing they call the James Brown Arena, Augusta would once again sell out concerts. In the 1980's they had several major concerts a year and most of them sold out months in advance.

[g-man430]

What's going to happen to those construction jobs when the projects are completed? What about the 3,000 jobs at SRS when the clean up is completed? Oh wait...

Oh and we can compete with that nortonguy: Greenville rated top 'micro city' | GreenvilleOnline.com | The Greenville News

-All of these new jobs doesn't mean the area will gain a lot in terms of population due to the unemployed people taking them that already live in the area. It will lower unemployment though.

[nortonguy]

11,500 jobs in Augusta. But I must keep going for g-man and mono sake.
NSA 4,000
ADP 1000
T-Mobile 800
Teleperformance 400
Medical District thousands
Doctors Hospital 100
ESI and American Tire 150

[g-man430]

Originally Posted by nortonguy

Richmond county has more people than it did in 2000. But lets stay on the future. Because that's where Augusta is heading. In 2009 Augusta is booming.

Not according to Census: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet...rd=&_industry= 289 less people in 2008 than in 2000.

[g-man430]

Congratulations nortonguy. You made me unleash it:

GHS’ growth, primarily through its new facilities, additional physicians, clinical services and information technology growth, will result in approximately 800 new jobs in fiscal year 2009 compared to fiscal year 2008 - the equivalent of an additional large employer opening in Greenville County. New positions include additional primary care physicians in underserved areas and specialty physicians in key clinical programs, as well as more business and clinical support staff, information technology specialists and allied health-related positions. Out of that 800, approximately 550 new positions are yet to be filled.

Greenville Hospital System | In the News



BMW today announced it will invest an additional $750 million in its Upstate South Carolina factory to add 1.5 million square feet and 500 new jobs on site to produce three models and to increase production capacity to 240,000 units by 2012.

BMW Manufacturing Co. | Printable Version Aerial view of site: http://www.bmwusfactory.com/#/expansion/


-Still don't know what you're trying to prove nortonguy. Everybody knows Greenville is bigger than Augusta. Not sure why you just can't accept that.

[nortonguy]

You and Mono started this good debate g-man. You named 1,300 jobs. I named over 20,000 jobs. Wow you really unleash it. You let me have it this time for sure lol.

Why can't you just accept Augusta will pass Columbia and Greenville by 2015. Then close in on Charleston. Augusta will be bigger than all the SC big three.

[g-man430]

Augusta will never pass Columbia or Greenville. Those metro areas are actually gaining people unlike your metro area which is losing people. Census doesn't lie. Oh and yes I did post 1,300 jobs but that's only a few of the new ones coming to the area. There's many more I could post but don't have to because everybody knows Greenville is bigger than Augusta and is gaining more people too. Your city doesn't even have a Costco. Even Spartanburg has one of those.