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Great ideas. I just fear that Maconites are too jaded and won't support any of it.
Generally speaking, Maconites are a miserable lot.
They have had sports teams, cultural venues, shopping hubs, etc. come and go because they couldn't be bothered to support them. Then they complain about the things are no longer there but they cheer and take great pride in saying "I told you so" when a business closes--especially if it's in the Macon Mall. The mall is beautiful and used to have stores such as Ann Taylor, A&F, Banana Republic, etc. Two or three incidents involving young blacks occured and received over-the-top media average. Suddenly, people wouldn't go near the place, even though it was and STILL IS one of the safest places you can shop in Macon. As a result, that whole area is dead.
They blame politicians for all their woes and in the same breath, go on and on about folks taking not personal responsibility for their situation. And EVERYBODY is playing the race card.
Generally speaking, Maconites are a miserable lot.
They have had sports teams, cultural venues, shopping hubs, etc. come and go because they couldn't be bothered to support them. Then they complain about the things are no longer there but they cheer and take great pride in saying "I told you so" when a business closes--especially if it's in the Macon Mall. The mall is beautiful and used to have stores such as Ann Taylor, A&F, Banana Republic, etc. Two or three incidents involving young blacks occured and received over-the-top media average. Suddenly, people wouldn't go near the place, even though it was and STILL IS one of the safest places you can shop in Macon. As a result, that whole area is dead.
They blame politicians for all their woes and in the same breath, go on and on about folks taking not personal responsibility for their situation. And EVERYBODY is playing the race card.
So yeah, I agree with Maconites--it's horrible.
And you're perfected your thought process via moving to Atlanta, right? Hell yeah! You moved from one turd to another, and you're the new expert!
The best thing that could happen to Macon is the consolidation vote passing, but I don't expect the minority population of the city will want to give up their majority. They'd rather see the city continue to decline than become majority white, and that's a shame.
The best thing that could happen to Macon is the consolidation vote passing, but I don't expect the minority population of the city will want to give up their majority. They'd rather see the city continue to decline than become majority white, and that's a shame.
It's come to a point, though, to where just maybe their greed of wanting that extra white money might be outweighing everything else.
It's worth a shot. God knows it can't get much worse around here.
Location: Metro Atlanta (Sandy Springs), by way of Macon, GA
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adenuff is actually right (for the most part). Crime and mall safety was much, MUCH worse in late 90s and early 2000s. Around the time when the movie theater was across the street. Teens used to be able to walk freely through the mall. It was flooded with gangs and all kinds of craziness in the parking lot, that all walked over to the movies after the mall closed and continued there.
It's been several years now since police/mall security started checking for IDs on the weekend at the downstairs food court entrance, and if you arent of a certain age, they'd tell you that you couldnt enter without a parent/adult. They also made groups stop standing around in the mall and told them to keep it moving. Because of this, the mall stopped being a big "hangout" among high schoolers causing problems out there. The worst of those problems have been over for awhile. Years. Sure, you can name some incidents here and there, but still it was much worse then. You'd think the crime out there was worse now than then reading these people's comments.
Location: Metro Atlanta (Sandy Springs), by way of Macon, GA
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Reputation: 2089
Quote:
Originally Posted by Newsboy
The best thing that could happen to Macon is the consolidation vote passing, but I don't expect the minority population of the city will want to give up their majority. They'd rather see the city continue to decline than become majority white, and that's a shame.
That wouldnt be the reason for the vote to fail. Bibb County would still be majority black, 52.1% as of 2010, so probably a slightly greater % than that now.
They should save up enough money to renovate some of the so call "trashy" homes because if their residents had the money they would do it. The government takes all of this tax money but can't some of their residents out.
Not a native so I do not know how 'the good 'ole days' were. Do not live in Macon so I cannot offer anything but an opinion about living near Macon for a dozen years or so.
Other than a couple of mid sized colleges there is not much there. A crossroads town where two interstates meet. Macon seems more like a smaller town, more like where I live (population 5000), in that it resists change. All of the other like sized towns I can think of off the top of my head are much more progressive. By progressive I guess I mean getting people back down town after work. Perhaps creating an environment that gets people back in town, instead of fleeing to the suburbs until they return in the morning for work.
I was impressed with the renewal Columbus has done downtown. Maybe they call it uptown. On a Tuesday evening there were four different sets of street side musicians playing on Broadway. One and two man bands playing Jim Croce and Jimmy Buffet type stuff. Folks hanging out in patio furniture, bouncing around from one venue to another. From the front of a pizza parlor then across the street to the Irish pub. All this was just blocks from the hood. I have never stumbled onto anything even close to that in Macon. Well, the blocks from the hood part I have. The same holds true for downtown Augusta, but on an even larger scale. No need to even bring up Savannah or Charleston, as they have vibrant down towns in the evenings.
There are two decent sized music venues in the area, capable of handling most of the touring bands out there. Yet other than the national fair and a couple of hip hop artists they sit empty most of the time. The concert schedule for the venue in North Charleston is jam up. I know this because I got stuck in traffic right at the sign. Something for everyone, one right after another. I was even impressed with the schedule at the venue in Columbus. A country act, then the ever popular monster trucks followed by a decent rock act. In Columbus. Macon has cancelled arena football and Travis Tritt. For the next couple of months. This is a city with a metro population of nearly 150,000 folks, if you include Houston County in the mix.
Perhaps progressive was not the word I was looking for. Maybe the best phrase is not stagnant. And that is how I see Macon, stagnant.
Cut the city council in half. Ban criminals. That's right. A condition of their parole should be leaving the city of Macon. Property taxes wouldn't be so high if we weren't losing our tax base. Make it worthwhile for the middle class to move to Macon by giving them a tax break. Macon does it for corporations; do it for individuals too. Install cameras on the streets of Macon. If you're not doing anything wrong, you shouldn't have a problem with it.
Get to the point....... Destroy all those dirty buildings downtown, replace them with lofts to improve the town districts population.... Add shops to fill in for the lofts...
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