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Mayor I see theres a lot going on there. My daughter wants to move there and she has two kids (twins girls).She is very quiet and tend to stay to herself. Shes trying to find a job there before she comes in the healthcare field. Is there good public transportation until she get a car. Is crime high there if so what parts? I would consider coming there too but these are some of my concerns too. We want to know what areas should she avoid and which should she consider. Give me your totally honest feedback because you speak so highly of macon but I haven't heard about some of the badd.
Let me give you a different viewpoint of things there in Macon. I personally think the place has undiscovered potential mostly because of backwards thinking and good ole boy politics. Well the good ole boys only look out for themselves and prefer to pit its citizens against themselves while giving themselves raises and lavish vacations. Therefore, minus the idiots in control (which does seem to be improving slowly) Macon and its entire Metro area are in desperate need of new people to move into the area with quite a bit more culture built in beyond what its 75-100 mile radius can give them. Macon needs to stop looking north to Atlanta to change its diapers and graduate to pull-ups at the very least. It has been pouting and stewing in its own vegetative methane for nearly half a century. It had one last explosive yearn toward greatness in the '60s because of mucho federal dollars and enough state and federal political backing to help at that time. The entire area needs to stop warring with its neighbors that encompass its metro area. That being said and without further ado the answer to some of your questions:
Great place to raise kids that will have lifelong friendships with some of the south greatest people. Just do not send them to public schools; the private schools all have a great staff and are affordable enough that even your lower middle class workers can send their kids there.
It is a place where no matter what your personality is. You can find a group to fit your needs or make your own group. Small packs of friends generally work well there without the need to be a social butterfly trying to take on the world.
Public transportation is nonexistent and what little they have only visits the poorest of burrows because anyone that can afford to do better fights to keep the public transit out of the neighborhood. A good reliable auto is a must have anywhere in GA just simply because Georgians refuse to condense themselves enough to make a transit system feasible. I completely understand why too. I really miss having a yard of reasonable size to stretch my legs out in; but, save $600/month by living in an area where I only have to use my car when I want to, instead of having to use it for every single errand.
Yes, crime is high in Macon; but can be easily be avoided because the crime generally is against one another that fit well in a one category, eg. drugs, extremely poor, homelessness, which runs rampant along any major interstate & rail system in America. Choose your friends and neighbors with some basic common sense and do not befriend the supposedly helpless addicts of whatever the latest syndrome is and you will be just fine.
Areas to avoid coming from and ex-real estate agent of the area:
In Macon itself -
-anything south of Vineville Ave
-anything east of Pio Nono
-strictly avoid anything on or near Gray HWY, south Macon above and especially inside the 75/475 split heading north until you are north of Vineville Ave
-DO NOT TRUST ANYONE that says Wildwood Subdivision is a good starter subdivision. It may not make you go broke when you sell but the subdivision has its own special case of problems although the areas immediately surrounding it are acceptable.
-The Wimbish area is still pretty good; however, the apartments and low-income housing in the area are making it less so with each passing year
-The further west you go from downtown the more you can widen your search if you look at a map you can almost draw a line with the roads to the west from Peirce/Pio Nono following Vineville to Ayers to Tucker to Heath basically anything north and west of these roads and you'll be fine. Best recommendations closest to downtown would be Arkwright, Wesleyan, Riverside then Ingleside and in that order. Branching out from there would generally cause the need for more money than a start up family could afford. In addition, if you really investigate it enough you could potentially get close to a bus stop in those areas too. However, I certainly would not recommend their use.
-The medical field is a definite plus in your daughter's favor there as that seems to be the only business that thrives no matter what the economy does especially in this area where bouts of economic boom and bust come seemingly every 5 years. It is a total roller coaster ride but someone with wits and determination can use this to their benefit easily there.
Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions or would like more specific information concerning areas of employment or housing.
It always amuses me when these "Macon is great!" threads pop up. It seems lots of realtors and Macon development folks frequent here.
You'll notice almost all of this new development is way outside of the actual city. That is because it is a rat hole, and people are rightly fleeing to the suburbs.
The Middle Georgia area is a very nice place to live, don't get me wrong. I hope people who are moving to the area realize the difference between Warner Robins, Centerville, Perry, Byron, and other new areas outside of Macon, and Macon proper.
Macon itself is irreparably broken. The city govt is a joke, crime is rampant, and the schools are horrendous.
I could not, in good conscience, recommend anyone move into Macon proper.
It always amuses me when these "Macon is great!" threads pop up. It seems lots of realtors and Macon development folks frequent here.
Please make that ex-real estate folks and or development folks which I just happen to be both. The primary ones on here hyping Macon up are long or lifetime residents hoping for a change because they don't want to leave a place they love and are very much in need of enough caring people in the community to help improve the conditions. Unfortunately, the developments they are discussing are pretty much the same as many of the other failed attempts by cities all over the US striving for greatness only to enlarge their borders of filth in the end. Therefore, while I once did fit your post I like to think that I offer a FOX point of view (fair and balanced) for the city and the state when giving advice. Any place can be home and after living all over GA first then scattered over much of the nation for the rest of the time I have found that all places are generally the same it just depends on what the person makes them to be. All new fascias become old with time, learning to care for them properly is the task that our disposable everything residents are much in need of.
You'll notice almost all of this new development is way outside of the actual city. That is because it is a rat hole, and people are rightly fleeing to the suburbs.
I completely disagree with this "rightly fleeing" statement although I understand why people would want to give up rather than fight a good fight or at least one that worth fighting anyway. It is home and folks largest investment. The largest majority of folks lives are poured into their home and to casually sit to the side or continueing to run away and hope the transitional neighborhood doesn't become your neighborhood is a bad way of seeing things because once a person has reached that point they are already in a transitional neighborhood if by no other means than thought. A city's core can be improved and should always remain the focus of improvement long after it has actually been improved.
The Middle Georgia area is a very nice place to live, don't get me wrong. I hope people who are moving to the area realize the difference between Warner Robins, Centerville, Perry, Byron, and other new areas outside of Macon, and Macon proper.
Now don't you think if all these people moved back into the core of what created the entire area & demanded better instead of moving further and further away that both of the statements immediately above and below would auto-repair themselves. It doesn't take a genius to figure this out, just someone who is willing to see beyond the plastic wrapper.
Macon itself is irreparably broken. The city govt is a joke, crime is rampant, and the schools are horrendous.
I could not, in good conscience, recommend anyone move into Macon proper.
Good for you. You have discovered your conscience but now let’s probe a little more and discover that recommending people to give up so easily and continue to give in to the failures of the government, which is controlled by the people in the core, and not those living on the edges. Oh wait I think if we re-read that sentence we'll find understanding of the real problem. It isn't with the "city proper" it is with the idiots that leave and force the folks that obviously don't how to take care of themselves into the care takers of everyone. Makes sense to me, come on now if you leave nothing but crack heads, homeless and poor people in a city do you really think that leaving them there to control the situation is going to make your life any better. Just because you live comfortably outside the bubble, do you really think the problems living next door will never affect your life? Hmmmm... case in point: New Orleans very obviously has huge problems and while we all know it has more than its fair share of ill willed residents it also has the comfortable suburbanites living in pockets all around it. Nevertheless, when things like Katrina happen who ends up paying for it? It certainly isn't just the people living in the core it ends up being the burden of the entire nation and the ones that are affected the most by it aren't the poor people in the core it's the ones that are blinded with the it’s not my responsibility disease living on the edges. The poorest and least enabled people of the community are suddenly forced into new areas and new lives and are suddenly empowered to take control of their lives while the ones on the edges are left behind to clean up. If the suburbanites would take the incentive to repair the small issues at the core before they become everyone's problem then we would all be much better off. Why do you think that so many people have decided not to return to New Orleans, they finally got their ticket out of the hell that once was their life. I wouldn’t want to return to a community that has allowed much of its citizens to live in such conditions either. Look at it a little more widely now, even the money people of an area become less and less of the true money people without investing in the future of what made their families rich to begin with.
Summary:
If you let somenone without a voice speak for everyone, you will never be heard.
I would agree with you that Macon is like the poorer parts of New Orleans.
I would have to disagree with the rest though. I'm an idiot for leaving? It's a great big world. Why should I force my family to live somewhere like Macon? The best thing you can do for your family is to move somewhere better.
Why is it the responsibility of others to fix the city's problems? That is the responsibility of those who live there. If you feel some sort of guilt over being successful, and want to live next to a housing project, and force your kids into dangerous, sub-par schools, that is your choice.
I realized that nothing would ever get better in Macon, and voted with my feet. Best decision I ever made.
I would agree with you that Macon is like the poorer parts of New Orleans.
I would have to disagree with the rest though. I'm an idiot for leaving? It's a great big world. Why should I force my family to live somewhere like Macon? The best thing you can do for your family is to move somewhere better.
Why is it the responsibility of others to fix the city's problems? That is the responsibility of those who live there. If you feel some sort of guilt over being successful, and want to live next to a housing project, and force your kids into dangerous, sub-par schools, that is your choice.
I realized that nothing would ever get better in Macon, and voted with my feet. Best decision I ever made.
Because whether you decide to stay and fix the problem at the core or decide to turn a blind eye to what is going on in your back yard (you still live in the area just not in its core) the problem still remains yours to bare no matter what farm, subdivision, city, county or state you live in. You, no matter how far you separate yourself from the rest of your community are still a part of the big picture. Sure you can run from the issues at hand for a long time and may never even be directly affected by them yourself to a point that you can see. Just where do you think your tax dollars are going? They certainly aren't going to the dirt roads in the county where only 5 people live. Your money, even if you don't realize that it was ever yours to use, is going into those burrows where 50, 500 or 5000 people live on one block. Whether it is fair or not this is what happens. The money from our government (the taxpaying people of America) goes to where the largest numbers of people are and naturally so. The country folks are out voted every time by simple mathematics and sheer numbers. So tell me; would you rather your money be wasted on people that don't know how to manage it or others like yourself that could potentially put the money and efforts to benefit a greater number of people that actually want help and not the freshest shipment of crack? Just saying if you look at the whole of the matter and not just the edge of your nose you might find where large groups have their advantages. One person is enough to make a difference they just have to be on a stage where people will buy tickets to view 'em and don't need to know every neighbors barn or crooked tree in the country to find it. While you and me might not mind the inconvenience of living way outside of town and rather enjoy it as well, our interest are represented by the folks in town. I am not blaming you for choosing to move to the country if that’s what you truly desire. If you are one of the many that leave town to live on yet another small lot out in the middle of now where you are simply setting the gages for failure in a new area then yes you are to blame. So what you are out of the burrows of city central just to be in the burrows of urban sprawl. The problems catch up to you no matter where you go. Let me lay it out a little more you.
I grew up on a 4,368 acre cattle farm on the south side of ATL and wasn’t even considered part of the metro area. Well now the family farm in sitting right smack dab in the middle of some of the most affluent people America has to offer. We have international corporate headquarters with 20 story parking facilities next to our catfish pond. We have some of the best golf courses the south has to offer and resort type living all around our once serene and void of city conflict home. It has been there and in the family since 1643 and continues to slowly erode away because of family members that decide to run away from the issues of having people in our back yard (no matter how big it is) just like you. Even with as perfect of an American dream my hometown sounds to be we deal with paying for our neighbors every single day, rich and poor alike. Who do you think pays more taxes the superstar baseball player neighbor of ours living in a huge mansion on a small lot or my family living in an old run down 3/1 farm house sitting on several hundred acres. Sure our family could have sold out and let it the city swallow our farm and all it has to offer. At the same time our persistence to stay along with other large land owners in the area is what attracted the money people. They only wanted a beautiful back drop & a 20 min commute into downtown instead of the hour long commute of our neighboring counties where everyone moved so not to deal the very issues you do not want the hassle of dealing with. Guess what, turns out everyone else did to and my once very country home is now surrounded on all sides by the metro ATL area. We started with around 3000 people in the entire county back in the ‘50’s to now having a billowing estimated 110,000 as of 2007. So keep running. This nation is growing by leaps and bounds and no matter what folks of metro Macon or metro WR (whatever you folks would like to fight to call it) like to think. You are facing the exact same issues and will never have what was once considered the most valued American dream beyond freedom, a true home, one that not only your entire family is welcome to come back to; but, one that everyone around you is jealous of. With Middle GA’s and for that matter the entire SE’s enormous growth rates, even if move 10 miles further out from the city’s core every 7 years (the traditional best time to sell a home for increased value) you will find yourself sitting right back in the same place needing to move even further out yet again. I challenge you to look at real estate in your area and compare it ATL’s if you will notice Monroe County is shared by both now. Then look to your south Cordele is quickly becoming part of your metro area as well. While not as big as GA’s mega hub of ATL; don’t think that folks aren’t looking to rip folks like you out of their homes to continue these cheap and disposable growth patterns. Oh no our neighborhood of once high quality labors are now poor crackheads, never fear the county next door has plenty of cheap land that our workers now live in. Lets follow them. Are you starting to see my point? I sure hope so because I would hate for more and more Americans to continue to lose sight of what they all voice as important. Stop running and start standing up to what doesn’t suit you and yours. Stand strong and grow what your family has worked so hard for instead of giving it to people for little of nothing. Those large paychecks for selling out when the time is “right†run thin really quick. I realize not many have the opportunity or means to sell off large portions of land for a seemingly get rich quick corporate/developer buyout; but, what you have is yours and should be immovable as a family station. If it’s not what is the value of living in a actual home verses a camper trailer? So American’s like to be a transient society, vacation more. Trends are not favorable for country folks or suburban folks to remain country or suburban and the suburbs and country aren’t made for just anybody. Look at how trashy so many have become because everyone wants to vacate the city just because they didn’t like the new neighbor for whatever reason. Get it right the first time. While you can’t stop who in moves in next door you can stay on top of what you think is right keep it enforced. Who you think is going to move then? Stop enabling those that don’t care.
Yes, millions of dollars of tax money is poured down the drain to support Macon's housing projects, and welfare class. You have third and fourth generation people who have never worked, and have no plans to do so.
The answer is not for my family to move into a bad area to try and manage that tax money more efficiently. The answer is to move away from that mess, and then seek legislation reclaiming our tax dollars.
That is why I said that Macon is irreparably broken. The city tax money is going away fast as everyone moves to nice areas. Every year a higher percentage of the population living inside Macon city limits are on full time welfare. These are folks who expect a free house, free food, and a free check. As that money dries up, the crime rate will just continue to climb.
The problem with Macon is that, driving through, parts of it look pretty. All the 1800's era buildings and cherry trees, so charming. Take Mercer Univ. It looks like a picture postcard. What they don't tell prospective students parents is that their sons and daughters will be within walking distance of gangland.
I wish the gangs would burn down the city once a year like Detroit. At least then people would know what they are getting into.
ulsterscot,
Ahhh yes that does seem productive. I really have no clue about Detroit’s annual burning but if its annual maybe they'll burn the rest of gangs out at one point so that folks who actually care about the town can buy all the burnt areas up and re-establish it as a place worth having. Either way it happens, the only way to improve something is to take action. So are you going to win or forfeit? Enjoy it no matter what and I hope that one day you will see the city turn a new leaf. It will certainly improve your standard of living even out in the burbs.
I hate when People like you are always trying to paint these terrible tall tales and horror stories about Macon, that its not suitable for the common, Good and sensible people to live... Macon does have a bit of a crime problem but, what city of this size and larger don't? "None" It a waste of time to go back and forth with some of you guys about the good and the bad of Macon because you have it already set in your minds that its a hell hole no matter what.... And People are not fleeing from the city of Macon "BUT" the city of Macon is growing over it borders. And the sad thing is most of the people on here who always has something to say negative about Macon are always outsiders who has no clue what happens in the Metro Macon area. But what they see on the NEWS and read in the papers.... everybody with common sense knows that media always makes things worst that it is.......
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