Interview next Thursday morning

[vader]

Good luck, man.

[GAVol]

Originally Posted by (VolunteerHillbilly @ Apr 6, 2006 9:41 AM)

I lived in Macon from 1990-1997 and it was decent enough. It's about an hour to hotlanta and maybe 2 & 1/2 hours to the beach so you can always find something to do. Macon and Columbia, SC have to be the two hottest (huimid heat) places I have ever been. I have heard that Macon has gotten kind of ugly due to a couple of large blue collar employers shutting down coupled with some racial tension. When I was there, coming from the Nashville area, I was really struck by the apparent lack of a middle class. There was an enclave of really well to do people and then a ton of poor people. Geico and Progressive Insurance are both there and they may have added some more mid-level jobs since both of those companies have really taken off since I moved back to TN. I know Warner Robbins a military/aerospace town probably has a lot different dynamic but I never spent much time there. Those are the two biggest cities in middle GA. Otherwise its alot of flat agricultural land, pine trees and kaolin mines.

Macon actually has a huge middle class, it's just that there is a ton of white flight out into the county going on due to weak leadership in city government. We have lost a couple of large employers, but we've picked up a couple too . . . and they are building a Bass Pro Shop here, so what more do you need?? :D

[VolunteerHillbilly]

Originally Posted by (GAVol @ Apr 6, 2006 9:04 AM)

Macon actually has a huge middle class, it's just that there is a ton of white flight out into the county going on due to weak leadership in city government. We have lost a couple of large employers, but we've picked up a couple too . . . and they are building a Bass Pro Shop here, so what more do you need?? :D

Thanks for the info. Most of the people I know who still live there have been part of that flight. I even had a few friends who just up and left for Atl., Savannah, etc. One buddy of mine had a nice house right of Ingleside on Marjorie Pl. and it took years to sell because no one wants to buy in the city limits anymore. I guess most of what I hear is is negative but I appreaciate you clearing it up.

Also, I probably meant an upper-middle class is what seemed to be lacking when I was down there. There just didn't seem to be much in the way of high paying white collar jobs, especially for young people whose families had not lived in Macon since before the civil war.

[GAVol]

Originally Posted by (VolunteerHillbilly @ Apr 6, 2006 11:15 AM)

There just didn't seem to be much in the way of high paying white collar jobs, especially for young people whose families had not lived in Macon since before the civil war.

The jobs are out there, but to some degree, you are right about that. Macon is a large city that hasn't quite outgrown its "blue blood" element. I can see how somebody from outside of Macon; attending Mercer could grow disillusioned with it.

[VolunteerHillbilly]

I knew a few non-Maconites who were able to do all right down there but not many. It definitely was not like Atlanta in the mid 90s where you could send out some resumes and get 20 nice offers from tech start-ups within a few weeks. Just speaking for myslef, I left for college knowing that I would go to law school and knowing that I would come back home to practice so I never really had a need to test the waters of the Macon job market. I just knew some people who really wanted to stay there but seemed to struggle tremendously.