Growth potential for Columbus? (Atlanta, Savannah: find a job, high schools, universities)

[masterbucket]

Originally Posted by ATLCOL1

You must be kidding. Columbus is adding 30,000-45,000 new residents by 2011 due to BRAC. This doesn't even take into account the Aflac expansion, Kia to the north, and all of the other industry moving to the area. Columbus will regain its 2nd largest city status soon (2010). Columbus will have 15,000-20,000 more people living inside Columbus than Augusta.

Unfortunately the Aflac expansion according to senior execs will not due much for employment overall.....
TSYS new moon road facility will bring in ZERO new positions.
Kia is 50 miles away and will have over 30,000 applicants according to their lagrange hiring office for a POSSIBLE 2500 JOBS.(pay 15-25 hr)
Their is no new industries slated for columbus for next 36 months as stated at last Chamber of Commerce meeting except Cessna(about 50 jobs maybe as most are being brought in from Kansas City)
Panasonic battery plant closing in end of March(250 jobs gone)
And finally the influx of benning soldiers will do more harm to Columbus as the feds are not chipping in towards any upgrades in schools,etc. This will bring in nearly 50 thousand more family members(wives,teenage/college kids) looking for work in an already distressed area.
Look for lower wages and more crime etc for this area unfortunately.

[ATLCOL1]

Originally Posted by masterbucket

Unfortunately the Aflac expansion according to senior execs will not due much for employment overall.....
TSYS new moon road facility will bring in ZERO new positions.
Kia is 50 miles away and will have over 30,000 applicants according to their lagrange hiring office for a POSSIBLE 2500 JOBS.(pay 15-25 hr)
Their is no new industries slated for columbus for next 36 months as stated at last Chamber of Commerce meeting except Cessna(about 50 jobs maybe as most are being brought in from Kansas City)
Panasonic battery plant closing in end of March(250 jobs gone)
And finally the influx of benning soldiers will do more harm to Columbus as the feds are not chipping in towards any upgrades in schools,etc. This will bring in nearly 50 thousand more family members(wives,teenage/college kids) looking for work in an already distressed area.
Look for lower wages and more crime etc for this area unfortunately.

Aflac is creating 2,000 new jobs. Where did you possibly hear that they weren't creating new jobs??

[USA_Mom]

Originally Posted by ATLCOL1

Aflac is creating 2,000 new jobs. Where did you possibly hear that they weren't creating new jobs??

I have friends that work there and we've heard the same 2000 to 2500 new positions opening up.

[ATLCOL1]

Originally Posted by USA_Mom

I have friends that work there and we've heard the same 2000 to 2500 new positions opening up.

I know. The Aflac expansion is one of the largest employment gains the state has seen in years!

[masterbucket]

Originally Posted by ATLCOL1

I know. The Aflac expansion is one of the largest employment gains the state has seen in years!

I understand your need to promote Columbus as we all do but I speak to most of these folks and in the case of Aflac most are sales and customer service phone jobs that Columbus has a glut of and cannot fill....
After speaking to one senior management officer the statement was....If we cannot fill these jobs at a cheaper wage in Columbus in near future we will send the positions overseas.....
Charbroil,Bradley Direct,Many textile Mills(which completely devastated the 2nd avenue bibb city community),Panasonic,Georgia Crown Distributing,Mutec,Glidden,Parisians,Goody Products,Mansours,Freeway Ford,Sunshine has turned over several times,Dolly Madison barely hanging on and countless long standing local businesses gone with nothing entering working market but service jobs mostly part time with no benefits.
Statements have been made that Walmart will cut employees back to 28 hour weeks to save benefit spending if necessary due to a pending recession.
As most honest long term residents in Columbus will say...It has always been a struggle finding a decent job in columbus but when the rest of the country starts having employment issues THEN it really becomes a problem locally as it is at this time and will be in the future.
It seems kind of odd that most stores and restaurants on the north side have been in comparable cities in Georgia YEARS ago and are just now setting up in Columbus and yet folks get excited about an Olive Garden etc.
I guess these folks never got out of town very often.

Let us hope Mr Wetherington can focus on Columbus Georgia's economic future......as he is an honest outstanding individual.

[USA_Mom]

Aflac offshoring? That's really anti what the founders believe, but money talks so who knows.

I do have to laugh because I know when we lived there people would get all excited about chain restaurants too and I thought the same thing. I remember seeing lines forming outside Red Robin. It's not that great of a burger place to warrant a wait over 5 minutes.

[JLA]

Here are a couple of bad articles for ya.
Ledger-Enquirer.com | 01/12/2008 | Economic state of Columbus (broken link)
Ledger-Enquirer.com | 01/12/2008 | The 2008 Economic Outlook for Columbus (broken link)

[ATLCOL1]

Originally Posted by JLA

Here are a couple of bad articles for ya.
Ledger-Enquirer.com | 01/12/2008 | Economic state of Columbus (broken link)
Ledger-Enquirer.com | 01/12/2008 | The 2008 Economic Outlook for Columbus (broken link)

I know isn't that great! People are so jealous of the growth Columbus has seen over the last 10 years. This city has only seen the tip of the iceberg. Columbus will be Georgia's fastest growing metro in both jobs and population. You can't hide the facts people!

I am a developer in Atlanta. Developers want to be in Columbus. Columbus is mentioned all of the time up here. The amount of development that Atlanta developers have planned for Columbus in the next 5 years is staggering.

[masterbucket]

Originally Posted by ATLCOL1

I know isn't that great! People are so jealous of the growth Columbus has seen over the last 10 years. This city has only seen the tip of the iceberg. Columbus will be Georgia's fastest growing metro in both jobs and population. You can't hide the facts people!

I am a developer in Atlanta. Developers want to be in Columbus. Columbus is mentioned all of the time up here. The amount of development that Atlanta developers have planned for Columbus in the next 5 years is staggering.

Developers want to be in Columbus because there is nowhere else in Georgia to develop....that was statement made by several city leaders.
As far as staggering amounts of future plans no city leader is aware of this at the last meeting I attended nor at Chamber of Commerce meeting.
It is hard for me to believe that anyone would be JEALOUS of a town getting loaded with stores/restaurants etc.
Local Dept of Labor officials say that Columbus is not growing but going as even the young college trained are moving on and that Benning growth may benefit retail it will do nothing for a better paid workforce.
4-5 Walmarts in a town this size is evidence that there is no surge of Developers interested in Columbus.
If the job market is so good as you suggest why have there been over 4500 applications in 10 days at local Walmart recruiter on Moon Rd.
Also you probably did not notice in the same Ledger that spoke of POSSIBLE growth that Goody on Cargo Dr announced they were closing and moving to Atlanta.
I have lived in Columbus for over 40 years and a supporter but unfortunately Columbus has always waited too long to act for whatever reason.

[JLA]

masterbucket, did you not read that over 10,000 people in the Atlanta area applied for jobs at one Wal-Mart. The articles I posted are based on the information given by the economist who study data trends and make predictions based on the data. Whether you like Columbus or not, it is doing well. Goody's is closing the distribution center and consolidating, I can't blame them for that if it is going to save money, that's just good business sense. Although retail will continue to grow, BRAC is moving a large number of civil servant jobs here also and along with those high tech tanks will come some high tech jobs. A large number of jobs will be generated to support the tanks. This will not happen over night and there will always be young adults who will move away to explore other larger cities, I did it, but I returned slightly older but much wiser with skills in hand and landed a well paying job in Columbus. I have said once I will say it again you decrease your chances of getting a job if you do not the proper skill set. I am one who believes that if you have marketable skills you can find a job just about anywhere, even in Columbus, Macon, Savannah or Augusta. With the said the economic future is bright for Columbus and this area for many years to come. With the textile industry behind us we, this area of the state has moved forward and continue to move forward. Besides, Columbus had transformed itself from a textile town many years ago, it was no easy task but we did it.