So-so town - Want to leave
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7/4/2008
I read a lot of the reviews on Columbus, GA and I agree with them. Like anywhere in this world, you can make the best of where you are and keep a positive attititude. That said, we've lived here for a total of fifteen years (two stints) and we still don't feel like we belong. We hail from the Northeast.
Positives about Columbus: It is rural and sprawling. Population is around 188K but, unlike real cities, Columbus covers a large amount of space relative to the population. Houses are cheap compared to other parts of the country, but prices are expensive relative to the local salaries. Retail is great if you don't mind big-box, which most of America doesn't seem to mind. There are a handful of nice laid-back parks. To their credit, there is a lot of development dollars going into improving "up-town" (really the old down-town main street) and other local areas, parks, roads and shopping plazas. Strangely, though, many of the nice attractions are heavily underutilized by the locals.
Negatives about Columbus: There is a really slim group of large employers in this town. AFLAC, TSYS and Wellpoint, Pratt and Whitney and some manufacturing firms are present, but the biggest companies are controlled by a small set of entrenched families who coincidentally also control the local chamber of commerce. They really have the ability to control which businesses come to town and the region's median salary. Those same folks happen to be connected with the controlling families in this area, who also have a hand in the "Columbus Consolidated Government". Outsiders are not truly welcome. You have to have connections if you want to be truly successful here. Another problem - disgruntled employees. Because there is a small group of employers, the local companies simply swap off unhappy workers. The result is some form of freaky corporate culture inbreeding. New ideas and innovation are stagnant, and, unless you are "in" with management cliques, you stand little chance of making a difference here. There are also plenty of small-minded "I grew up here" attitudes that are shocked when bad news comes their way or threatens their limited world (i.e. a shooting north of that Macon-Dixon line).
Someone else left a comment about how Columbus simply migrates North. I can affirm that comment. Fifteen years ago, while in the military, we were told that anything south of the I-185 Buena Vista Road exit was bad territory. There was a nice mall on Macon Road and plenty of decent shops. Now, Macon Road is a "bad" exit, Manchester Expressway is questionable, and "new" development has cropped up along the JR Allen parkway (in reality, much of this "new" development is actually shops that moved from Macon Road, Manchester Expressway or down town). The point: Columbusites love something "new". When it is new, a crowd flocks to it. Within a year the newness wears off and people stop going. Then, developers merely build the same thing further up the highway and further the cycle. They call it progress. :-) As further evidence, look at Columbus' bid to become the "Softball Capital of the World" in 96. Columbusites packed the newly built softball complex. After the Olympics attendance dropped sharply and Columbus lost key NCAA competitions. The same can be said about attendance at the minor league Ice Hockey and baseball teams.
In summary, Columbus is a wonderful place for those who really want to just settle down in a quaint area but don't really care for career or social growth.
Paul | Columbus, GA