Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam552311
Those are the facts presented other than projections which do not count.
The chart shows the temp trainee troop flow which is much more than previous estimates with little city cash influx as they are only allowed off base 2 or 3 weekends at most per cycle.
Most of remaining permanent personnel are being courted for housing in
Lee,Russell areas and some of Ft Mitchell but very little in Columbus area due to price gouging by local builders and realtors looking to take advantage of military and civilian personnel.
I have many friends out here that have moved to East Alabama who became disgusted with the greed here locally and save hundreds of dollars monthly in a much better envionment.
Locally owned business prices are just not competitive in current economic times and will likely not survive as jobs and credit continue to tighten and internet sales continues to give the best deals for most military families who buy online now more than ever without having to drive all over.
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Sam, I'm not sure what your beef is. These numbers are presented, well, from the military themselves. If you work on base, you might want to mention to the authors that they've gotten the numbers wrong. Benning representatives are at the table at every single planning meeting. So if there's faulty information, the military itself is to blame. I'll be the first to tell you that anything the Chamber of Commerce is involved in is going to be better or not as bad as it really is, but I'll also tell you that they did not come up with this info in a vacuum. Please, if you have access to leadership, set them straight. We'll all appreciate it.
AND as someone who's a military brat of sorts, I too know for a fact that your assessment of the frequency with which military personnel and civilians visit on- and off-post retail services is not quite or nearly accurate. I shop at both the PX and commissary from time to time. If the entire population of the base didn't shop off base, I'd have to park at the airport and walk to the commissary... (there wouldn't be room to park, in other words). Yes, a big bulk of the military will be transient. No one's arguing that point. That's why there's a blue line and a red line on the chart. It's the red line that most folks in the greater community are focused upon. And I can also say that the spouse and family that comes from the military is based on demographics. In other words, they didn't look to see which soldiers at Ft. Knox were married and had families and how many kids. So obviously there's some margin of error in that number.
For the record, my mother, a captain's widow, who lives off base still has base privileges as do many of her friends. Most shop off base much more than they do on base. The commissary and PX's prices are not overall any cheaper than market prices. Just like any other store, some things are cheaper, others are not. Plus, there isn't the variety that's offered in the general marketplace. Not to mention, it's extremely inconvenient.
Next, as someone who's been in both the building and real estate sales in the region, I can tell you the market sets the price. Homes in North Lee County, AL are generally not cheaper than homes in many areas of Columbus. The price of land determines about 20-25% of the cost of a home. In rural areas, where land is cheaper, the price of the home will generally be cheaper. There are trade offs. For example, when gas gets back to $2.50+ per gallon, the cost trade-off of longer commutes to schools, services, etc. begins to out way the cost of 'intown' living. I myself currently live in Lee County. When I moved there, my car insurance went up significantly (and unexpectedly). Home insurance is more too in areas with all or part volunteer fire services, no EMS and/or very far from police services. So the moral of the story is, there's more to calculating the cost of a location than the house payment and even taxes. And by the way, NO government is soliciting military to live in their jurisdictions. There are private companies who are. Columbus will get many of the non-buyer military folks... or people generally. As credit rules tighten, home ownership is less than likely for many, so apartment living is in more especially young families' future than ever.
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