Whats Holding Columbus Back? (Atlanta, Savannah: school, stats, airport)

[Columbuskidd92]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

Not sure how these stats show that Columbus is more diverse than the others. Basically all of them are roughly 90% Black/White and 10% Hispanic, Asian, etc.

In raw numbers and percentage Columbus metro is more diverse. The city Columbus is much more diverse than the other 2nd tire cities.

[masonbauknight]

"My neighbors are from Michigan and New York. I just purchase an investment property from a lady who is from Puerto Rico."

Anecdotal, my dear Watson. Savannah, Augusta, and Athens also have many transplants from all over. Any southern city of a decent size would, including Macon, Warner Robins, and Albany. Columbus would have to have some Michiganders and Puerto Ricans, and Asians as well, including Pakistanis and Sri Lankans.

Savannah has many retired transplants because it's become a retirement haven of late; there are 4 universities in town plus two smaller antenna campuses for GA Tech and GA Southern, and these schools bring lots of diversity to town. Columbus has one university (we can't count Auburn, which is well outside the Columbus MSA). Savannah's an old historic port city -- like Charleston or NOLA. It has a richer history than Columbus, and is far more ethnically diverse, sophisticated, and politically diverse than an isolated city on the Alabama border. Athens likewise is more diverse that way. Wake up and smell the coffee.

[Columbus1984]

Originally Posted by masonbauknight

"My neighbors are from Michigan and New York. I just purchase an investment property from a lady who is from Puerto Rico."

Anecdotal, my dear Watson. Savannah, Augusta, and Athens also have many transplants from all over. Any southern city of a decent size would, including Macon, Warner Robins, and Albany. Columbus would have to have some Michiganders and Puerto Ricans, and Asians as well, including Pakistanis and Sri Lankans.

Savannah has many retired transplants because it's become a retirement haven of late; there are 4 universities in town plus two smaller antenna campuses for GA Tech and GA Southern, and these schools bring lots of diversity to town. Columbus has one university (we can't count Auburn, which is well outside the Columbus MSA). Savannah's an old historic port city -- like Charleston or NOLA. It has a richer history than Columbus, and is far more ethnically diverse, sophisticated, and politically diverse than an isolated city on the Alabama border. Athens likewise is more diverse that way. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Not buying it bud.

[-StarBright-]

Originally Posted by masonbauknight

@Nomad. Apologies -- I should have stipulated "Anglo Saxon Protestants and African Americans" instead of just Caucasians and African Americans. Columbus has other ethnic whites, but they're nowhere near as numerous as they are in Savannah. Savannah is an old southern port city, and like Charleston, Mobile, and New Orleans, it has always had more ethnic, religious and political diversity than other southern cities its size: far larger Jewish, Catholic, and other communities have been in town since the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries. Metro Augusta is much larger than metro Columbus, with a strong medical sector, and it has more diversity among its residents and workforce as well. Augusta, Athens, and Savannah all have bigger college-student populations than Columbus. Athens is generally considered a 2nd-tier city in Georgia for purposes of comparison, so I included it. Athens has far more ethnic (and international) diversity than Columbus does because it hosts a huge national university. Columbus is more like Macon or even Montgomery: more diverse than it once was -- there are of course Jews, Catholics, Indians, Pakistanis, etc. in Columbus -- but not at all as diverse as the other 2nd-tier cities. And both Columbus and Macon are more politically conservative than the other 2nd-tier cities, which are practically hotbeds of Bolshevism in comparison. Ft. Benning and the neighboring state of Alabama have a strong political effect on Columbus. In Georgia in 2014, Columbus and Macon are still less diverse, more provincial, and more politically conservative cities than Augusta, Savannah and Athens.

Originally Posted by masonbauknight

@C-kidd. It's about so much more than race. It's everything: political orientation, international presence, openness to other ways, etc. etc. Just to take Savannah alone, its old southern families plus large Sephardic Jewish, Irish Catholic, Greek Orthodox etc. communities have always made it more diverse and sophisticated than Columbus. Columbus is a more isolated southern town than Savannah (and I would also say more so than Athens and Augusta as well) and always has been. While COL is definitely more diverse than it was (no one can dispute that), it is more provincial, more insular, more geographically isolated than the other three. And it remains a very conservative southern military town. I stand by it.

Originally Posted by masonbauknight

"My neighbors are from Michigan and New York. I just purchase an investment property from a lady who is from Puerto Rico."

Anecdotal, my dear Watson. Savannah, Augusta, and Athens also have many transplants from all over. Any southern city of a decent size would, including Macon, Warner Robins, and Albany. Columbus would have to have some Michiganders and Puerto Ricans, and Asians as well, including Pakistanis and Sri Lankans.

Savannah has many retired transplants because it's become a retirement haven of late; there are 4 universities in town plus two smaller antenna campuses for GA Tech and GA Southern, and these schools bring lots of diversity to town. Columbus has one university (we can't count Auburn, which is well outside the Columbus MSA). Savannah's an old historic port city -- like Charleston or NOLA. It has a richer history than Columbus, and is far more ethnically diverse, sophisticated, and politically diverse than an isolated city on the Alabama border. Athens likewise is more diverse that way. Wake up and smell the coffee.

I couldn't agree more.

[-StarBright-]

Originally Posted by Columbuskidd92

Do your research. No matter what picture you try to paint Augusta,Athens and Savannah will always be dominated by one race. None of those cities can hold a candle to Columbus when it come diversity.

You're joking right?

[crbinnzz]

Columbuskidd92,
Take a look around the next time your out at the mall, or the movies, or restaurants, or bars. I would estimate 40-60 percent of all consumers you see in Columbus, are IN THE MILITARY, therefore, here for Ft. Benning! That sleaze pit called Victory Dr. has always been the mirror avenue of other close proximity roads next to infamous military bases. Ft. Gordon, Camp Lejeune, Ft. Collins, Ft. Stewart, Ft. Campbell, Ft. Hood, Ft. Bliss, MCAS Beaufort, Parris Island: All have those strips of civilian roads adjacent to their borders that are filled with Strip Clubs, Credit Catalog sales, Pawn Shops, Sex Shops, Car Lots (that are basically loans sharks) and Military Surplus Outlets. I just hope that more bases will close around this country, so that these establishments will close. Why is the Columbus the only city in Georgia that sounds off that God-awful siren on Saturdays at Noon???? That isn't Benning dominating Columbus????? Wake up, Columbuskidd92!!!!!!

[bigsurluvr]

Originally Posted by crbinnzz

I just hope that more bases will close around this country, so that these establishments will close.

Uh. Did you really just say that?!? Wow. (I do agree that "those" type of establishments are annoying and have probably always been around bases.... at least they were when I was in the Army back in the 70's in California.... but to say you wish more bases would close so those establishments will close.... I'm kind of speechless about that).

[Columbus1984]

Originally Posted by bigsurluvr

Uh. Did you really just say that?!? Wow. (I do agree that "those" type of establishments are annoying and have probably always been around bases.... at least they were when I was in the Army back in the 70's in California.... but to say you wish more bases would close so those establishments will close.... I'm kind of speechless about that).

I agree. Wishing people would lose their jobs and reducing our military is truly horrible.

[masonbauknight]

@bigsur, c-kidd. I agree with you. As the poster dpatt.marine says, a mega-military base like Ft. Benning is both a positive and a negative for Columbus. There are net positives, and the Columbus metro economy depends of Benning for much of the area's core dynamism. Few other Americans cities (Fayetteville, NC, San Antonio, TX?) are so dependent on servicemen and their families.

[crbinnzz]

So, preferring to reduce a military that is already too big and way over budget is a bad thing? I'm not wishing anyone to lose their job (it sucks, I was without one for 2 years during our latest depression) but the over expenditures of our military is a sad state. There are other areas and departments of our government that could use a good makeover and money pumped into...Army Corp of Engineers is a big one. Let's all think about how many Interstates, bridges, schools and airports are in CRITICAL need of repair. Instead of keeping decrepit bases open, use that $$$ towards repairing our inner infrastructure. I'm simply stating that we have too many bases, with too much money leaking out of each one...