Macon, GA?!?!?! (Columbus, Savannah, Byron: live in, safety, moving to)

[speckledgold]

Reading all of these threads about Macon is shocking. These wildly exaggerated negative comments are seriously ridiculous.

Macon is a beautiful city, and getting better each day. There is plenty to do, and I have never felt unsafe. Yes, there is crime, and yes, there is poverty - but these are unescapable on this planet if you live near other human beings, period. Macon is not particularly bad, and those suggesting surrounding cities reputed to be "safer" owe that safety to their comparatively diminuitive size - naturally. Thus far, I have lived in Atlanta, Gwinnett County, Macon, New Orleans (post Katrina), Miami, and Osaka (Japan) - there have been plenty of times I have felt uneasy or unsafe in my life, but never once in Macon.

Downtown is my favorite part of Macon. Especially the Macon Arts Exchange, but also the restaraunts, highly pedestrian friendly streets, harmless homeless folks and the nightlife. Macon is simultaneously a quiet city and one boasting a plethora of activities, events and festivals. The local women's college has begun offering a monthly local produce market, the local downtown bookstore has weekly free performances by local artists, the downtown location of Joshua Cup also offers live music regularly, and most people have heard of the festivities associated with First Fridays, when people who may not otherwise associate with each other coexist and socialize peacebly (for those in fear of crime, police presence is very pronounced for your safety during first Fridays downtown).

The Macon Mall, in comparison to the Mall of Georgia near where I used to live is smaller and not as clean - but that is hardly a fair comparison. Malls are malls, attract youth, and are inherently problem ridden. The nearest mall to my summer home in New Orleans doesn't allow those under the age of 16 in after 7pm because of how serious the problems were here. Macon is not exceptional, nor terribly afflicted with this problem. I have heard that it becomes unsafe at night, corresponding to hours when the mall is CLOSED. Unless you are in the habit of going to the mall during non-operating hours than you should not have a problem there. And for the faint-of-heart, there is a new outdoor Mall off of Riverside full of a more generic upper-middle class suburban shopping experience. This is one of the things I love about Macon - it has all of your bases covered! Sometimes I want to go to Goodwill or Macon Rescue Mission, but I admit there are times that I just want something from Victoria's Secret or Kohls.

As for the comparison of Macon to Warner Robbins, I suppose if you are a WASP wanting to raise children, Warner Robbins is a good option because it is still close enough to Macon that you can get there for your cultural and entertainment needs. But honestly, I cannot imagine wanting to live there, not because of the sonic booms due to the military presence, but because Warner Robins is an incredibly generic and uniteresting place. When raising children, I can definitely see the appeal of that, and the security such a place lends, but for the other 60 to 80 years of your life, I cannot imagine suffering it.

I currently live on the northern edge of Macon, but I would prefer to live downtown. Downtown is beautiful - Macon has a lot to offer. Certainly, like any other place with so many people, it has its share of problems. But I feel that moving away from places simply because they are not perfect causes them to deteriorate even further. It is good people that make a place good - and I encourage any of you good people to visit or relocate to Macon to capitalize on what it has to offer, and contribute a little more "good" to the world otherwise full of such horrid violence, prejudice and anger. I'll see you around, in Macon!

[speckledgold]

Also someone commented on Warner Robbins schools being some of the best in Georgia.... I believe that honor goes to the Gwinnett County Public School System - a county with little need for private schools.

[afonega1]

Originally Posted by speckledgold

Reading all of these threads about Macon is shocking. These wildly exaggerated negative comments are seriously ridiculous.

Macon is a beautiful city, and getting better each day. There is plenty to do, and I have never felt unsafe. Yes, there is crime, and yes, there is poverty - but these are unescapable on this planet if you live near other human beings, period. Macon is not particularly bad, and those suggesting surrounding cities reputed to be "safer" owe that safety to their comparatively diminuitive size - naturally. Thus far, I have lived in Atlanta, Gwinnett County, Macon, New Orleans (post Katrina), Miami, and Osaka (Japan) - there have been plenty of times I have felt uneasy or unsafe in my life, but never once in Macon.

Downtown is my favorite part of Macon. Especially the Macon Arts Exchange, but also the restaraunts, highly pedestrian friendly streets, harmless homeless folks and the nightlife. Macon is simultaneously a quiet city and one boasting a plethora of activities, events and festivals. The local women's college has begun offering a monthly local produce market, the local downtown bookstore has weekly free performances by local artists, the downtown location of Joshua Cup also offers live music regularly, and most people have heard of the festivities associated with First Fridays, when people who may not otherwise associate with each other coexist and socialize peacebly (for those in fear of crime, police presence is very pronounced for your safety during first Fridays downtown).

The Macon Mall, in comparison to the Mall of Georgia near where I used to live is smaller and not as clean - but that is hardly a fair comparison. Malls are malls, attract youth, and are inherently problem ridden. The nearest mall to my summer home in New Orleans doesn't allow those under the age of 16 in after 7pm because of how serious the problems were here. Macon is not exceptional, nor terribly afflicted with this problem. I have heard that it becomes unsafe at night, corresponding to hours when the mall is CLOSED. Unless you are in the habit of going to the mall during non-operating hours than you should not have a problem there. And for the faint-of-heart, there is a new outdoor Mall off of Riverside full of a more generic upper-middle class suburban shopping experience. This is one of the things I love about Macon - it has all of your bases covered! Sometimes I want to go to Goodwill or Macon Rescue Mission, but I admit there are times that I just want something from Victoria's Secret or Kohls.

As for the comparison of Macon to Warner Robbins, I suppose if you are a WASP wanting to raise children, Warner Robbins is a good option because it is still close enough to Macon that you can get there for your cultural and entertainment needs. But honestly, I cannot imagine wanting to live there, not because of the sonic booms due to the military presence, but because Warner Robins is an incredibly generic and uniteresting place. When raising children, I can definitely see the appeal of that, and the security such a place lends, but for the other 60 to 80 years of your life, I cannot imagine suffering it.

I currently live on the northern edge of Macon, but I would prefer to live downtown. Downtown is beautiful - Macon has a lot to offer. Certainly, like any other place with so many people, it has its share of problems. But I feel that moving away from places simply because they are not perfect causes them to deteriorate even further. It is good people that make a place good - and I encourage any of you good people to visit or relocate to Macon to capitalize on what it has to offer, and contribute a little more "good" to the world otherwise full of such horrid violence, prejudice and anger. I'll see you around, in Macon!

I agree with you.I grew up in Warner Robins.Great town even for a black family like mine.As a single adult i would never move to Warner Robins again.Downtown Macon really is a jewel of a place.It really is beautiful

[ga-bound1]

Wow, what a brilliant laudatory spiel! Viva, Macon! Since I will be moving to the area within a month, that makes me wonder why I set my eyes on Byron and am willing to commute [to Macon] daily... Isn't it because about 98% of this forum are screaming in unison "STAY AWAY FROM MACON!!!"??

[ATLCOL1]

Originally Posted by ga-bound1

Isn't it because about 98% of this forum are screaming in unison "STAY AWAY FROM MACON!!!"??

Yes

[yerocal]

Have of those people that are saying stay away from not even from Macon,

Macon is a nice city and like any other city it has its bad areas of town as well, I a sum you not from this area but if you do decide to move here you will see that the misleading stay ways and hell hole comments are a bunch false, un true bull about Macon....

Byron is also a nice, growing area and not to far from Macon......

[jam 5]

oh my gosh this is my first time reading this about macon i did not no macon had that many cockroaches or was that bad in crime and yaw people in macon talked about how bad and nasty columbus is columbus is not that nasty and dirty as macon is yaw should be ashamed of yaws selfs

[jam 5]

what goes around comes around

[jam 5]

i have also heard that macon is full of blacks being that there are black people mostly in macon is that true or not i want to no if thats the truth please write back and tell me because im not racses against blacks but if macon is full of blacks thats probably why theres that much crime in macon and im scared of blacks and i was going to drive from columbus to macon this week or weekend to visit macon and i dont want to be in the middle of macon where theres blacks in gangs pulling there guns out and shooting at people like i said im not racses but to me it seems like black people are mostly the ones who do the most crime theres some white people that do some crimes but not as bad as black people do

[yerocal]

Originally Posted by jam 5

i have also heard that macon is full of blacks being that there are black people mostly in macon is that true or not i want to no if thats the truth please write back and tell me because im not racses against blacks but if macon is full of blacks thats probably why theres that much crime in macon and im scared of blacks and i was going to drive from columbus to macon this week or weekend to visit macon and i dont want to be in the middle of macon where theres blacks in gangs pulling there guns out and shooting at people like i said im not racses but to me it seems like black people are mostly the ones who do the most crime theres some white people that do some crimes but not as bad as black people do

TO JAM 5
What does the majority race of a city have to do with it, JAM 5, for you to make statements like that really shows your level intelligence and how ignorance and immature you are to stereo types black people and badly as I want to make comments to your statement I will NOT, because I would never want to stoop to your level of ignorance and immaturity. Its great that you take pride in you r city and want to bring out it’s unknown attributes which is cool, but when it appears that you are being out shined when it comes to what’s going on in Columbus, you seem to make these childish comments and then for you to try and slide in an ignorance, racial, stereotypical comments as you did about Macon, Now puts you on the same level competency as the ones “BLACKS” causing the crimes. I would have never thought the professional and intelligent people on this forum would ever post comments like that, but you just prove that some do lack intelligence and that shows a true reflection of your character…. From this point on you may not care me either, but anything that YOU have to say in regards Atlanta, Columbus, Macon, Augusta and Savannah or any topics whether it’s good or bad is meaningless and not worth my time…