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I hope you're right, but when I see people increasingly discuss sprawling way out to Dawsonville, Gainesville and even Dahlonega over considering Macon or Columbus, I have my doubts.
I've heard people in Dallas describe this phenomenom as "Oklahoma line or bust." Well here, it seems to be "Tennessee/North Carolina line or bust."
That said, I suspect the Macon to Atlanta corridor would take off first, since Henry County is the only place south of Atlanta seeing Northside-type growth rates. Plus, it has pretty good connectivity to I-75.
Let's just say, Atlanta is THE most sprawling city in THE WORLD, not just the U.S. Its metro area has only a third of the population of Los Angeles but takes up more space than Los Angeles metro area.
Let's just say, Atlanta is THE most sprawling city in THE WORLD, not just the U.S. Its metro area has only a third of the population of Los Angeles but takes up more space than Los Angeles metro area.
I guess large scale sprawl is a Sunbelt characteristic. Nashville, Charlotte, Houston and especially Dallas-Fort Worth are very sprawled out. Ironically Las Vegas and Phoenix are less sprawled and more dense because of the water limitations and because Vegas is hemmed in by federal lands to the north (where the military bases including Nellis and Area 51 are), Lake Mead to the east and mountains to the west.
New Orleans and its inner suburbs are very dense by Southern standards but the Northshore is very sprawled out. The Northshore is the only place where New Orleans has room to sprawl anyway given Lake Pontchartrain, the bayous, and the Mississippi and the levee system. In fact the actual city of NO would be much smaller than it is now if not for the levees and reclamation of below sea level land. Even many of the inner suburbs like Metairie and Kenner would be underwater if not for the pumping system.
Louisville/KY does feel "southern" to me and I think that is because of their more mild winters. N. KY near Cincinnati though still feels northern/rust belt until one gets further south towards Lexington. I've driven through Alabama once on the way to Florida. Also went to a wedding that was at Cheaha State Park. I really enjoyed the Oxford-Anniston area as well as the national forest. I had no idea that the Appalachian range went that far south. As one who enjoys day hiking and being outdoors, I was impressed by the area. Too small to offer good employment for my wife and I, but overall not a bad place from what I saw.
I think we are just talking about geographic areas. Sunbelt being those areas that usually have more mild winter seasons. Some will have more extreme winter weather events, but only because of the elevation of the mountains.
I've always felt that the "rust belt" Basically where most of the factory concentration was. I've never really visited Minneapolis outside of a few layovers. Over the years, what I did read up on the city, I've never considered it "rust belt." As a lifetime Indy resident, Louisville is close enough to Indy and Cinci that I've always felt it was part of the rust belt, but also considered it "southern" and more of a sunbelt city when it came to winter weather. It is truly kinda a mix city, but the entire Ohio River region has a rust belt feel, if only due to the barges that give it an industrial feel.
To me E. Tennessee is sunbelt. Knoxville and Nashville have similar winters in terms of snowfall and temps. The winters are there, but mild. The only reason some other areas experience really cold winters and/or large snow events is because of the elevation.
Sioux City's big industry was meat packing, not manufacturing. Waterloo's biggest manufacturer (John Deere) is still going strong, it was more automation that lead to reduced employment. Just being a bit run down does not equal Rust Belt. Rust Belt has come to define a geographical area as much as economic, and with the exception of the Quad Cities, Iowa is almost never included in that.
I'd also agree that Minneapolis has never been part of it either. The only parts of Minnesota that might fit the bill are Duluth and the Iron Range.
Sioux City's big industry was meat packing, not manufacturing. Waterloo's biggest manufacturer (John Deere) is still going strong, it was more automation that lead to reduced employment. Just being a bit run down does not equal Rust Belt. Rust Belt has come to define a geographical area as much as economic, and with the exception of the Quad Cities, Iowa is almost never included in that.
I'd also agree that Minneapolis has never been part of it either. The only parts of Minnesota that might fit the bill are Duluth and the Iron Range.
Indianapolis always seemed like a hybrid city to me. It's often compared to Columbus, and there are definitely similarities, but Indy also shared qualities with some traditional Rust Belt cities as well. It seems to now be falling behind some other Midwest cities in terms of overall growth, like Columbus, Minneapolis and even some smaller cities like Madison, Des Moines, Omaha and Grand Rapids.
Indy is actually growing pretty good. Maybe not as fast as those other cities, I don't know. My wife and I built a house in a northern suburb. Land is running $25K/acre for a custom home site (no housing addition) to $20K/acre if you want five acres. If we were in the "must have" suburban county of Hamilton, these figures would be 2-3x as much (the draw is the schools for the most part). Since we've been here, we've seen about 200-300 homes I'd say being built in newer additions in Hamilton County, with costs ranging from $250Kish to $350Kish and up.
I've lived in this area my entire life. The 80s-today were very strong decades for suburban growth. The last ten years our downtown urban core area has seen amazing growth. I never thought I'd see the day where one bedroom apartments (newer, all the furnishings) would go for $1,200/month for Indianapolis. Someone else in another forum said downtown Columbus is at $2,000, which is ridiculous.
Once the whole $15/hour thing works itself through the economy, I imagine some of the mid to heavy industry jobs here that max out in the high teens to low $20/hour could possibly pay all go to $20-$25/hour. Still far from our heyday of UAW auto pay from back in the day, but definitely would increase household incomes for many lower-middle to middle class folks blue-collar households.
New Mexico is seeing remarkably little success compared to other Western states - meager growth and, especially, rapid brain drain.
Agree.
New Mexico is sunbelt....tons of sunshine year round...
nice mix of cultures but little or no growth...brain drain...
too bad for The Land of Enchantment...needs better PR.
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