Columbus: A New Economy (Atlanta, Peachtree City: university, casinos, dangerous)

[ATLCOL1]

Originally Posted by JLA

It looks like any other downtown area with bars and restaurants. Why do you think people go to those places; for a church services?

Exactly, these people must not go many places. Flip Flops is a lot of fun! Just had a good friend move downtown in some lofts on Broadway. She loves it downtown! Glad to see The Market move downtown too. Can't wait to the new Thai restaurant opens along with the huge YMCA by TSYS HQ. Also, Eagle & Phenix lofts will be opening soon. They are over 30% sold which is great for this real estate market. With CSU's expansion, downtown is looking great!!!

[wisenhiemer]

Originally Posted by ATLCOL1

Exactly, these people must not go many places. Flip Flops is a lot of fun! Just had a good friend move downtown in some lofts on Broadway. She loves it downtown! Glad to see The Market move downtown too. Can't wait to the new Thai restaurant opens along with the huge YMCA by TSYS HQ. Also, Eagle & Phenix lofts will be opening soon. They are over 30% sold which is great for this real estate market. With CSU's expansion, downtown is looking great!!!

You could build a Vegas casino downtown and it wouldn't do a bit of good as the crime levels are worse than ever.
Once this type of thing starts it is nearly impossible to stop it and the city knows they got a big problem on their hands.
Better you folks than us as it is the kind of growth no city wants.

[ATLCOL1]

Originally Posted by wisenhiemer

You could build a Vegas casino downtown and it wouldn't do a bit of good as the crime levels are worse than ever.
Once this type of thing starts it is nearly impossible to stop it and the city knows they got a big problem on their hands.
Better you folks than us as it is the kind of growth no city wants.

Wrong yet again. You see one random fight at a bar and you think the place is infested with crime. Just not true and you know. Why would people be moving downtown as well as new restaurants, lofts, bars, CSU expansion, etc be opening downtown if it was crime infested like you say? Downtown Columbus was bad in the 70's and 80's but not now. I am sorry man, but you are completely wrong.

Here is something for you to chew on for the weekend

NCR plant lifts Columbus spirits

Buildings package helps to seal the deal. Mostly an industrial and military sector, city all set for 870 new jobs.

AJC

Columbus is hearing cash registers sing with the news that NCR will bring a manufacturing plant and 870 jobs to the mostly military and industrial city.

“We have a lot of growth here in Columbus,” said Chris McCoy, general manager of Peachtree Mall in Columbus. “We’re excited about this move.”

NCR, maker of registers, self-checkouts, ATMs and airline check-in kiosks, announced Tuesday it will open a new ATM plant in Columbus, in addition to moving its headquarters from Ohio to Gwinnett County.

For Columbus, it’s believed to be one of the largest growth announcements in nearly three decades from a company not born in the west Georgia city. Pratt & Whitney was the last such company, announcing a major facility in 1982.

To help seal the deal, Columbus pledged to buy a former Panasonic battery plant and build a second, smaller building, both of which NCR will lease. That drew fire from some Ohio politicians when NCR’s press release said Columbus would use federal stimulus funds. One congressman argued it means Ohioans could pay interest on federal money spent to help take jobs from the state. Another called it “dirty.”

Columbus Mayor Jim Wetherington said the city has committed $8 million from its own coffers, as well as $1.5 million in state funding, on the buildings. It hopes to get $5 million in stimulus funds that it would use to offset the expense, but it doesn’t have that money yet, he told the Dayton Daily News.

NCR spokesman Jeff Dudash noted that the work to be done in Columbus is currently done by a Columbia, S.C., company that NCR contracts with.
Wetherington said he understands people in Ohio are upset. “But you know, they announced they were moving, they were looking for sites and our development authority jumped on it,” he said. He said Columbus competed with a number of cities, including Savannah and one in Tennessee, for the plant selection, and he believes the project is a valid use of stimulus money.

“We think this project certainly applies to what President [Barack] Obama said,” Wetherington said. “He wants projects that are ready to go.”
In any case, Columbus expects the NCR facility, which will open this December, to generate $2 million in annual sales tax revenue. It will also add to the city’s corporate A-list, highlighted by locally based insurer Aflac, Synovus Financial and payments processor TSYS.

“This move by NCR puts our city a little bit more on the map in terms of opportunity for investments,” said Aflac Chairman and Chief Executive Dan Amos. “We’ve got all the right things in our community —- it’s a great place to live, only 1 1/2 hours from an international airport in Atlanta and we have easy traffic.”

Neither Columbus nor its top companies have been immune from the recession, with Synovus in particular feeling the pain of the banking slump, but its unemployment rate is on the low side for Georgia cities. It was 8.3 percent in April, vs. 9.1 percent statewide.

Aflac plans to add 2,000 new employees over the next three years. Later this year, Kia will open its plant in West Point, about 40 miles north. An expansion at Fort Benning, a major Army installation, will bring an additional 25,000 to 30,000 military employees and their families to Columbus.

The region has added more than $3 billion in new capital investment and 20,000 new jobs during the last 10 years, according to the Valley Partnership, a regional economic partnership set up to attract investments to the area.

“This is pretty exciting for west Georgia when you add the impact of Kia, the Aflac expansion not long ago and the new people moving into Fort Benning,” said Ken Stewart, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. “This is just one more great expansion for them.”
At full capacity, the new NCR plant will have an annual payroll of more than $35 million, according to Wetherington.

NCR already is hiring for positions in engineering, materials management, quality assurance, finance and direct labor. Jobs are listed on the NCR Web site and the Georgia Department of Labor Web site. A job fair is planned for June 13 in Columbus, at which NCR hopes to fill 88 production positions. Separately, the company will be looking for 26 professional positions, including engineering and management slots, and 88 material handlers and assemblers, according to the Web site.

Average pay for jobs at the plant will be $40,000, NCR officials said.

Man, you just can't hide all of the good news .

[wisenhiemer]

Originally Posted by ATLCOL1

Wrong yet again. You see one random fight at a bar and you think the place is infested with crime. Just not true and you know. Why would people be moving downtown as well as new restaurants, lofts, bars, CSU expansion, etc be opening downtown if it was crime infested like you say? Downtown Columbus was bad in the 70's and 80's but not now. I am sorry man, but you are completely wrong.

Here is something for you to chew on for the weekend

NCR plant lifts Columbus spirits

Buildings package helps to seal the deal. Mostly an industrial and military sector, city all set for 870 new jobs.




Man, you just can't hide all of the good news .

Glad you are happy but we have had NCR up here for years with higher pay and much better conditions.
That print is obviously more self promotion and is dated too(June 13 job fair....2000 people show up for 85 jobs?)
You are obviously some young kid trolling around by your replies so I will let you clean your gun and get your holster on and let you get ready for a fabulous night on the town....lol

[ATLCOL1]

Originally Posted by wisenhiemer

Glad you are happy but we have had NCR up here for years with higher pay and much better conditions.
You are obviously some young kid trolling around by your replies so I will let you clean your gun and get your holster on and let you get ready for a fabulous night on the town....lol

Like I said, you are clueless . Have a good one, hope traffic on 54 isn't too bad yet. Man, PTC and Newnan use to be nice, but the quality of life and massive layoffs from Delta have hurt the place bad. Oh well, charge the golfcart up and go to Starbucks at The Avenues to cool off, I think it would do you some good .

[wisenhiemer]

Originally Posted by ATLCOL1

Like I said, you are clueless . Have a good one, hope traffic on 54 isn't too bad yet. Man, PTC and Newnan use to be nice, but the quality of life and massive layoffs from Delta have hurt the place bad. Oh well, charge the golfcart up and go to Starbucks at The Avenues to cool off, I think it would do you some good .

Thanks and don't forget your bulletproof vest!!

[ATLCOL1]

Originally Posted by wisenhiemer

Thanks and don't forget your bulletproof vest!!

Have fun sitting in traffic

[wisenhiemer]

Originally Posted by ATLCOL1

Have fun sitting in traffic

At least we have traffic to sit in.
Be careful out their tonight and keep your pistol loaded.

[ATLCOL1]

Originally Posted by wisenhiemer

At least we have traffic to sit in.

You can keep the traffic. That's why your quality of life is getting worse by the year. Choke on your smog. That's nothing to brag about .

[wisenhiemer]

Originally Posted by ATLCOL1

You can keep the traffic. That's why your quality of life is getting worse by the year. Choke on your smog. That's nothing to brag about .

Columbus has failed several air quality tests recently and you guys are still using covered wagons.
Maybe its all the beans you folks are eating.....rofl