College Town comparison: Lincoln vs South Bend (Omaha, Madison: houses, employment)

[WyattE]

Ok Husker fans, if you could give a grade for Lincoln being a College Town, what would you give it using the standard grading method? You see, I live in South Bend, home of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. I've been a fan but I'm tired of all the hype each year and the comings and goings of head football coaches. Also, people say you need to experience a Notre Dame Football game in person to understand the Fighting Irish maniacs out there from coast to coast. But I want to know what grade you would give your Husker town as a College Town. Things like places to eat, shop, the look of your town and anything else associated with it and give it a grade. For me, since I live in South Bend, I would give it a D-, but really would love to give it a F since it is so awful looking here. Run down, abandon houses, empty business's galore, the only highlight IS Notre Dame. Sure it is a beautiful campus, giving that an A+, plus some good places to eat and shop, but everything else is deplorable. You would think this place being a top notch college town would be be an attraction but there's only one thing here worth seeing but that is it. So, what do you think of Lincoln. Me being an outsider and not a Nebraska fan, but I am a college football fan, what would you have to say about a Game Day experience minus your views on the football team itself? When I see a Nebraska game on TV, the staium so full of Red, you simply are die hard fans through and through, and to me, the experience would measure up to it in person, but would I be turned off by your town outside of the College Campus? You tell me and give it a grade if you want or simply sound off about Lincoln. Sorry for the long post, but I would love to hear your opinions.

[iamjacobm]

I would call Lincoln a step below the top tier of college towns. I don't think the town can match up with Madison, Austin, Lawrence, Athens, Berkely, or Tempe.

Lincoln has in my opinion the most beautiful state capitol in the country. It really is a striking structure. Lincoln also has a decent urban fabric around campus. There is an old warehouse district that has some decent restaurants.

One of my favorite parts about Lincoln is the drive in. When you get off of I-80 onto I-180 and head about a mile south and you start to see the state capitol and Memorial Stadium creeping up. Get a little closer and you see Haymarket Park(one of the better college baseball stadiums in the country). Soon you will see the new basketball arena right on that entrance too. When you drive in you know right away you re in Husker country.

[Omahahonors]

I've lived in Lincoln and completely disagree, but you and I agree on many things 'iamjacobm.'

Lincoln >> South bend

[GraniteStater]

Lincoln and South Bend have absolutely nothing in common. The Great Lakes Midwest is diverging more and more with the Great Plains West over time.

[Omahahonors]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Lincoln and South Bend have absolutely nothing in common. The Great Lakes Midwest is diverging more and more with the Great Plains West over time.

And there is nothing wrong with the differences as there should be uniqueness in such a vast, populated nation.

I must say that the Great Plains cities are on a heck of a roll with economy, population growth and an on-fire economy.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Omahahonors

And there is nothing wrong with the differences as there should be uniqueness in such a vast, populated nation.

I must say that the Great Plains cities are on a heck of a roll with economy, population growth and an on-fire economy.

Don't get carried away. Douglas and Lancaster counties have not been "on fire" with new employment growth in relation to population growth since 2000. Yes, Nebraska is doing better than average, though.

[Omahahonors]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Don't get carried away. Douglas and Lancaster counties have not been "on fire" with new employment growth in relation to population growth since 2000. Yes, Nebraska is doing better than average, though.

Ummm... Yes we have been doing extremely well. The population growth for the three core counties exceed 14% overall. How is that not 'on fire' when the national population growth average is 9.7%?

We have been pulling in jobs from.. let's see... Took the UP headquarters from Dallas, built a Google and Yahoo datascenter, have had well over a billion dollars worth of new and expanded hospital construction and overall the job growth rate was 22.4% during the decade DESPITE the economic downturn..

We are constantly in the top 10 of every best economy, money earned versus cost of living (standard of living overall), best value, best 'live work and play', best for young professionals etc and you still think we are doing 'okay.' At the same time we are starting to be compared to Portland and Austin in some cases for arts and culture.

It's weird. Given your track history you are revealing some behaviors to me. You really downplay our successes, and you overdramatize stereotypes about the state. It's like as if you follow the mold of people that are threatened by the success our state and it's very bright future. It seems as if you really want Nebraska to not matter, but we manage to creep into your mind somehow.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Omahahonors

Ummm... Yes we have been doing extremely well. The population growth for the three core counties exceed 14% overall. How is that not 'on fire' when the national population growth average is 9.7%?

We have been pulling in jobs from.. let's see... Took the UP headquarters from Dallas, built a Google and Yahoo datascenter, have had well over a billion dollars worth of new and expanded hospital construction and overall the job growth rate was 22.4% during the decade DESPITE the economic downturn..

We are constantly in the top 10 of every best economy, money earned versus cost of living (standard of living overall), best value, best 'live work and play', best for young professionals etc and you still think we are doing 'okay.' At the same time we are starting to be compared to Portland and Austin in some cases for arts and culture.

It's weird. Given your track history you are revealing some behaviors to me. You really downplay our successes, and you overdramatize stereotypes about the state. It's like as if you follow the mold of people that are threatened by the success our state and it's very bright future. It seems as if you really want Nebraska to not matter, but we manage to creep into your mind somehow.

Most of those items apply only to the Omaha metro area. I am focusing on the semantics of the different types of growth. Google and Yahoo have picked Nebraska due to its central location and relatively "cheap" electricity rates. UP Headquarters is good job growth because it represents above average salaries. Healthcare and hospitals are exapanding everywhere right now. The 22.4% NEW job growth figure I would like to see a link regarding that. If It includes new job growth since 2000 that would have to include Sarpy County. All other counties in metro Omaha have had new job growth at under 7.1% with the exception of Saunders County. Sarpy County, per quickfacts census, shows a 53.7% increase since 2000. That might be it...

Lancaster County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau
Look at the statistics for Lincoln. 14.5% gain in population between 2000-2010 but onlya 3.7% increase in jobs between 2000-2008, before the recession began. Lincoln has stability with state government, University of Nebraska, healthcare, and other small businesses, but not fast job growth. Even though it is more of a college town, the percentage of the population living below poverty in Lancaster County has now jumped up to 15.2%. That is high by Nebraska standards.

"It's weird. Given your track history you are revealing some behaviors to me. You really downplay our successes, and you overdramatize stereotypes about the state. It's like as if you follow the mold of people that are threatened by the success our state and it's very bright future. It seems as if you really want Nebraska to not matter, but we manage to creep into your mind somehow"

What is even more strange is that the state of Nebraska still has an out-migration of residents to other states. Job growth alone must not be enough to keep many residents in the state. Nebraska is a much better run state than Kansas, though. Kansas spends an enormous amount of dollars on corporate welfare to lure jobs to Johnson County, a suburb of Kansas City, while mostly ignoring the rest of the state. As someone who has a background in GIS, demography, and planning Nebraska is interesting to study. The state has basically three core centres of population, (Omaha, Lincoln, Tri-Cities), along with a couple of regional nodal small cities. The rest of the state is quickly becoming very low density, with many frontier counties with 7 or fewer people per square mile. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CENSUS_RURAL_AMERICA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPL ATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-07-28-00-02-47 (broken link) Nebraska differs from the Midwest core and Great Lakes due to the lack of diversification or other forms of employment that developed in the more rural agriculture towns.

I am actually looking at the possibility of moving to Des Moines, IA for a new position.

Then I read a story like this and contrast that with the highly optimistic attitude that you have with the current situation in Nebraska- primarily Omaha. I guess I'm just going to have to visit Omaha again soon!
Charlotte Economic Disaster - Unemployment rises above 11%