Albany & Macon make Top 10 list of America's Most Impoverished Cities

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by Hot_Mike

I was try to make a point, every city has a good areas and bad area. It is what it is.

So we are in complete agreement.

[Hot_Mike]

.....it comes down to how high-end, exclusive your good parts are and dangerous, crappy your bad parts are. Im guessing thats how forbes came up with the list.

[southgeorgia]

Originally Posted by Bulldawgfan

So... I guess you are agreeing with me that the airport in Albany appears larger than the one in Macon.

No I don't agree.

Coincidentally, I was at the albany airport yesterday; and by the naked eye observation, it doesn't appear larger to me. I don't know actual square footage, but the terminal "looks" smaller, and traffic is non-existent. Hanger space is also sparse.

Like I said; they're very close in actual size but I think macon might be slightly larger.

Anyhow, they both serve their purpose. I thought you may have been comparing albany's reg'l airport w/ macon's smaller downtown airport.

[Saintmarks]

I don't have a dog in this fight and have laughed at the Macon vs. Columbus vs. Augusta spats that I have read on here before but would add this:

I believe Augusta and Columbus's consolidated city limits skew the comparison to a degree. I would like to see statistics based on both Columbus' and Augusta's pre consolidation city limits. Would think they wouldn't fare much better than Macon or Albany. Or Conversely, draw up statistics if Macon and Bibb were consolidated and Albany and Dougherty were consolidated. Most of the poorer underperforming areas of all southern cities are in the historical city limits. Wealthier areas will be found outside in the county, consolidating would boost those numbers for sure.

[King_X]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

I don't have a dog in this fight and have laughed at the Macon vs. Columbus vs. Augusta spats that I have read on here before but would add this:

I believe Augusta and Columbus's consolidated city limits skew the comparison to a degree. I would like to see statistics based on both Columbus' and Augusta's pre consolidation city limits. Would think they wouldn't fare much better than Macon or Albany. Or Conversely, draw up statistics if Macon and Bibb were consolidated and Albany and Dougherty were consolidated. Most of the poorer underperforming areas of all southern cities are in the historical city limits. Wealthier areas will be found outside in the county, consolidating would boost those numbers for sure.

Exactly....this is a true statement, so I dont understand why people have "problems" when this point is made.

[King_X]

Here's another point, lol and it's not that hard to see to any one with common sense.

Consolidation of Muscogee and Richmond makes the overall area appear safer than before consolidation
just like Macon "statistically" appears worse than Columbus and Augusta because of non-consolidation.

If Macon-Bibb became consolidated over night......and Columbus-Muscogee/Augusta-Richmond unconsolidated ....lol the actual environment would remain the same...despite the "shift" of stats.......you're still no more or less likely to be a victim of a crime just because your crime rate dramatically dropped or increased on paper

We're talking about roughly 40% of what is considered "Macon" not even accounted for....

[nortonguy]

Columbus is consolidated with the entire Muscogee County. Their crime stats will stay the same. Augusta is not consolidated with the entire Richmond county. Hephzibah, Blythe, Mcbean, are not Augusta. Their isn't alot of people in those cities, but the land area is quite big. If you look at Richmond county crime stats instead of Augusta-Richmond county. Augusta would appear to be even safer. You would add a 5,500 city Hephzibah, 1000 person city blythe, and 600 person area Mcbean. There is hardly any crime in these rural areas Hephzibah, Blythe, or Mcbean. Hephzibah is becoming more a suburb now. But Its still kinda rural in nature.

Savannah wasn't listed.

Violent crime per 100,000 people. The lower the number is, the safer the city is.

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/data/table_06.html#m

Athens 329.8
Augusta 382.1
Albany 402.2
Columbus 490.9
Atlanta 527.3
Macon 528.7

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by nortonguy

Columbus is consolidated with the entire Muscogee County. Their crime stats will stay the same. Augusta is not consolidated with the entire Richmond county. Hephzibah, Blythe, Mcbean, are not Augusta. Their isn't alot of people in those cities, but the land area is quite big. If you look at Richmond county crime stats instead of Augusta-Richmond county. Augusta would appear to be even safer. You would add a 5,500 city Hephzibah, 1000 person city blythe, and 600 person area Mcbean. There is hardly any crime in these rural areas Hephzibah, Blythe, or Mcbean. Hephzibah is becoming more a suburb now. But Its still kinda rural in nature.

Savannah wasn't listed.

Violent crime per 100,000 people. The lower the number is, the safer the city is.

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/data/table_06.html#m

Athens 329.8
Augusta 382.1
Albany 402.2
Columbus 490.9
Atlanta 527.3
Macon 528.7

I am not sure if you are responding to my previous post, I was wondering what a comparison between Columbus and Augusta using their pre-consolidation city limits would look like compared to other GA cities that haven't consolidated with their county. Comparing Augusta-Richmond minus their three small towns vs. the whole of Richmond County WITH the three towns would not show any measurable difference.

Augusta merged with the county in the early nineties, Columbus and Muscogee merged in the late 60s or early 70s. Augusta had dropped below the 50,000 population mark prior to consolidation (think Valdosta or Warner Robins), Columbus was just a little over 100,000 (similar to current Savannah).

The crime statistics in these boundary lines prior to consolidation would shoot skyward from where both are now in their larger land areas.

[dawniebelle]

Personally, I think it's good for Macon to be on the list. It keeps people from moving there. Maybe it will stay quieter for a period of time.