New Yorker to Starkville

[Julie4506]

I wanted to hopefully give you a little ray of sunshine on your anticipated move to Starkville. My family and I are also getting ready to move to Starkville in August of this year. We are originally from Texas but living in the Netherlands right now (for the last 7 months we've been here). We are moving as part of a new plant that is being built between Starkville and Columbus. As as result of this plant being built there should be some major changes in the area. While the plant is hiring most of their employees from the surrounding areas, they will be bringing in management folks from Washington state, Texas, and Ohio.

My family and I (as well as the rest of the management team) were originally apprehensive about making a move to Mississippi. We've heard nothing but bad things about the schools, the housing, and the other issues you've mentioned here. After several visits to the area we have found Starkville to be the best of the surrounding areas. It has made most of our group a little more optimistic. There is a lot of potential in Starkville.

I guess your little ray of sunshine should be that you will not be alone in your move. There is a large group of people making the same move over the next six months, just like you. With so many new people running around you are bound to make some friends and I'm confident that, over time, this new influx of folks will make some great contributions to the city (maybe even a sushi restaurant!).

Good luck,
Another Future "Starkvillian"

[jsherman9901]

Originally Posted by Julie4506

My family and I (as well as the rest of the management team) were originally apprehensive about making a move to Mississippi. We've heard nothing but bad things about the schools, the housing, and the other issues you've mentioned here. After several visits to the area we have found Starkville to be the best of the surrounding areas. It has made most of our group a little more optimistic. There is a lot of potential in Starkville.

I looked at Starkville when I moved to the Golden Triangle eight years ago, but chose Columbus; I'm glad I did. Unless you're young or connected with the university, Starkville is overrated, IMO. Because it's a university town, housing is 10-20% higher there than in Columbus, but it's not worth it. Starkville is really a bust for a university town; in Mississippi both Oxford (Ole Miss) and Hattiesburg (U of So. Miss) have a lot more going on than Starkville.

Columbus has its seedy parts (just like Starkville) but it has a lot more charm. You just can't beat all the antebellum homes and the downtown. Right now, Columbus has marginally better shopping and restaurants than Starkville, but that's all about to change. There is a new 800,000sf mall in the works just a couple of miles west of town, and another large retail/hotel/restaurant complex going up on Hwy 45 in north Columbus.

Even though Columbus public schools are not great right now (neither are Starkville's), there are big changes coming. The schools in Lowndes County are really pretty good, and are probably better than the county schools in Oktibbeha.

One other thing about Starkville, there seems to be a good bit of racial tension there, at least to me. I don't feel that so much in Columbus, but it hits me like a brick wall everytime I am in Starkville.

[bassplayer916]

sushi isn't fish...it's what one uses to catch fish

[mississippimom]

Originally Posted by MrMeisterMan

I too lived in NYC, and all over the SOUTH, and I will tell you for sure that Starkville is a real piece of work...so is the rest of the poorest dumbest state in the Union....sorry to say....

Sushi? oih vey, you must be kidding me, right?

If you gotta go, you gotta go....I understand that professionally...been there done that....but pay your dues and go somewhere nicer in the SOUTH....like the University of North Alabama in Huntsville !....great small/big town....well educated too.......certainly not like living in the most repressive State in the USA.....I would not bother

How about the following facts: 1st Nuclear Sub produced in Mississippi, 1st lung transplant, has 1st co-ed college that granted the first degree to a woman, Jimmy Buffet, 3 Doors Down, Bo Diddley, William Faulkner, John Grisham, BB King, Jerry Rice, Tennessee WIlliams, Archie Manning(father of 2 Super Bowl Champion MVPs) Faith Hill , Walter Peyton, Oprah and of course ELVIS. Read some facts before you insult a state and its people.