I'm all for Hattiesburg growing and becoming a semi-destination. The economy there has been good for a while. Even if it means USM grows, that means Mississippi will grow (in some positive way) and MSU should benefit as well.
Buy/Sell: Retirement pay + Move to the Golden Triangle...
- Thread starter Maroon Eagle
- Start date
I'm retirement eligible and after this last session, I won't be looking at anywhere in MS to settle once I finally call it quits. These clowns in the state house can stick it. They spent who knows how many millions on that ridiculous SEC2 initiative to get our salaries in line with neighboring states and supposedly be more competitive with private sector and then for 2 years now, have refused to put any $ into raises for employees.
They sat on over 1 BILLION dollars in excess revenue this session, and didn't pass ANY of it on to state workers. But they damn sure make sure their pet projects are taken care of.
State leadership postures and pretends, but they really don't give a rat's *** that people continue to leave this state in droves. It's like they don't want to accomplish anything in that capitol building from January through April.
Now and in the future Mississippi's main attractions are "breathing room" and the chance to get far from the "fast lane". Many in this thread won't agree but in a country becoming more and more crowded and deeply divided like ours these are things that will become more precious and harder to find in the future.
There are people moving to Mississippi from out of state. Its not a ton but they are doing it. See post about Californians moving here.
Also, there are people moving to starkville from out of state for jobs at the university. I know 2 young couples who moved here. They have loved it so far.
I semi-retired from Flowood area a few years ago to Starkville and would do it again no questions asked. I got in before housing prices went up here and Jackson became such a 3rd world country of its own.
I was driving to downtown area on Lakeland every day, it was a 45 minute commute each way during commute time on average day, add a wreck anywhere along the route and I was screwed. I can drive from my house in Starkville to Tupelo in 75 or less minutes (damn I hate West Point and their traffic lights and trains). I can be in Columbus in 20 from my house, Tuscaloosa in 90 minutes or less, Hoover AL just over 2 hrs, Jackson in 2 hrs, The Peabody in 2 hrs 45 minutes. I can hop a commuter flight from Tupelo to Nashville for just over $200 RT (sometimes less) and be anywhere shortly afterwards, Nashville has great connections. There was an article in Columbus paper a month or so ago about American Airlines still wanting to come to GTR airport but waiting out the recession and installation of jetways and 2nd story. About to be $4.5 million terminal built at George Bryan airport, not sure what that will mean other than better private jet service and teams will be able to fly here instead of GTR.
I really like the small town atmosphere here. My longest drive in Starkville, about 15 minutes to Walmart. Its not fine dining but I really like going to Starkville Cafe for breakfast w/ the liars table, a quick trip to Anthony's in W Point for a good steak, some good bar food at Zachary's in Columbus, or very good dinner at Hucks.
A live band is reason enough for me NOT to go somewhere, if Dave's or Ricks has one, I'm going somewhere else. I take in a lot of MSU sports. I saw some of the Templeton Jazz and Ragtime festival last month. I've taken several visitors to the Ulysses S Grant Presidential Library for a tour, toured some of the mansions in Columbus a couple weeks ago, went catfishing on the Tenn-Tom last Sunday. Lots of festivals in the Delta about to crank up (catfish, hot tamale, blues, etc) The Grammy museum in Cleveland (2 hrs away) is excellent and changes exhibits regularly.
I wish the hospital was larger and better but I've heard decent reports about the hospital in Columbus and heard no complaints about NMMC in Tupelo. Starkville may not be for everybody but it "ain't" so bad.
I was driving to downtown area on Lakeland every day, it was a 45 minute commute each way during commute time on average day, add a wreck anywhere along the route and I was screwed. I can drive from my house in Starkville to Tupelo in 75 or less minutes (damn I hate West Point and their traffic lights and trains). I can be in Columbus in 20 from my house, Tuscaloosa in 90 minutes or less, Hoover AL just over 2 hrs, Jackson in 2 hrs, The Peabody in 2 hrs 45 minutes. I can hop a commuter flight from Tupelo to Nashville for just over $200 RT (sometimes less) and be anywhere shortly afterwards, Nashville has great connections. There was an article in Columbus paper a month or so ago about American Airlines still wanting to come to GTR airport but waiting out the recession and installation of jetways and 2nd story. About to be $4.5 million terminal built at George Bryan airport, not sure what that will mean other than better private jet service and teams will be able to fly here instead of GTR.
I really like the small town atmosphere here. My longest drive in Starkville, about 15 minutes to Walmart. Its not fine dining but I really like going to Starkville Cafe for breakfast w/ the liars table, a quick trip to Anthony's in W Point for a good steak, some good bar food at Zachary's in Columbus, or very good dinner at Hucks.
A live band is reason enough for me NOT to go somewhere, if Dave's or Ricks has one, I'm going somewhere else. I take in a lot of MSU sports. I saw some of the Templeton Jazz and Ragtime festival last month. I've taken several visitors to the Ulysses S Grant Presidential Library for a tour, toured some of the mansions in Columbus a couple weeks ago, went catfishing on the Tenn-Tom last Sunday. Lots of festivals in the Delta about to crank up (catfish, hot tamale, blues, etc) The Grammy museum in Cleveland (2 hrs away) is excellent and changes exhibits regularly.
I wish the hospital was larger and better but I've heard decent reports about the hospital in Columbus and heard no complaints about NMMC in Tupelo. Starkville may not be for everybody but it "ain't" so bad.
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That’s good to hear.
Maybe they’ll stay.
Having said that, I know more than a few higher ed folks (at State, Ole Miss, & Southern Miss) who’ve moved onward— mostly because of better opportunities they found and they couldn’t advance further at their schools.
Which incidentally was similar to my situation until recently.
Advancement is through promotion. I reached the point where I can’t go further several years ago and at the same time whatever outside opportunities that came up would be considered lateral moves at best.
It got to be really constricting until I qualified for state retirement.
I don't see big names beyond a couple old ones for the country music festival. Let me know when a current name like Brett Eldridge or Lainey Wilson play Meridian. College towns generally have a decent music scene. OM is kicking the **** out of State in that respect. Meridian can get a play or musical at one of the theaters but that's not my thing. I'm sorry, but Meridian doesn't compare to Starkville. For anything really. Food, music, housing, are not close. I've looked at both the last 6 months.
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OP wants good live music without crowds of people there to see it. This seems exceedingly hard to find on the reg.
People just really like fresh taters.***
The answer to your question is yes to both. There are lot's of California refugees in Idaho. But they choose Idaho over other red states like Texas, Tennessee, and Florida not because it's closer, but because of the mountains/natural beauty/outdoor recreation. Boise is actually the 3rd largest city in the Rockies behind Denver and SLC... And it's booming with tech stuff and several corporate HQ's. While Western Montana and Wyoming are great to visit, it's a tough place to live. Cities like Bozeman (55,000) and Jackson (11,000) are just way too small to support a real economy, so Idaho grows faster than those two states because it has a real city to drive the economic engine of the state.
I can't explain how amazing the outdoor recreation is here. Within minutes of our house we have world class rafting, hiking, alpine skiing, nordic skiing, snowmobiling, fly fishing, hiking, backpacking, kayaking, mountain biking, golf, elk hunting, camping, boating, stargazing... It's hard to beat the Northern Rockies if you like any of that stuff and Idaho is almost completely covered in mountains. And even the parts of the state that aren't in the mountains, like the southern agricultural snake river plain portion of the state is at least within viewing range of the mountains.
I remember when we first moved here from TX, the CA refugees asked why we would leave Texas. I explained the outdoor stuff and I also told them that Texas today is where CA was 40 years ago and we know how that movie ends. Idaho is where Colorado was 40 years ago and I like that movie ending a whole lot better.
Hattiesburg is a great place. Best in the state other than the coast.
You’ve likely not paid much attention this go around.
Jimmie Rodgers has a great lineup this year.
Paul Cauthen, Kingfish, & Jontavious Willis are all young headliners.
And they have a tie-in for their VIP ticket holders to go to Marty Stuart’s Ellis Theater to see Paul Thorn (one of the older performers you’ll see).
They’ve shown younger performers in the past: Marcus King, Southeastern-era Jason Isbell, Lydia Loveless, and St. Paul and the Broken Bones are just a few I can name off the top of my head.
Not hard at all.
I went to over 50 shows last year and was in a crowded GA pit for Billy Strings.
I can’t stand being around people who shout over each other— which unfortunately is par for the course for Mississippi.
This thread seems to have taken a very meandering path to make a simple statement….GTR live music scene kinda sucks. I don’t think many would dispute that. And when I say “kinda sucks” I mean not bad at all by small town MS standards, but probably not as good as it could be compared to Oxford, Hattiesburg, or Tuscaloosa or other large southeastern college towns.
If that’s a deal breaker for a retiree or any other person, then so be it.
If that’s a deal breaker for a retiree or any other person, then so be it.
Yeah, it’s shouting mostly.
People talking and shouting over each other because everyone else is talking and shouting creates noise.
I get horrible sensory overload headaches from that.
But not from loud music because at least there’s a melody.
Weird I know but that’s how it works.
My question for Maroon Eagle is this: You say you like live music. How often do you expect to go out and see it? Once a week? Every day? Once or twice a month?
If it's just a few times a month, can't you just go somewhere and see it? If it's every day, or a few times a week, that's cool and all, but I don't know of anywhere - not just in MS, but anywhere in the world - that would get acts that often that I care to see at least. But hey, we are all different and that's what makes the world go around.
For the record, I don't live in the Golden Triangle. When we moved back from AR, I wanted to move to Starkville, but my wife wanted to move to Tupelo so we compromised and moved to Tupelo. Then, 3 years ago we decided to move to Saltillo. I have what I hope is the house I die in, as morbid as that sounds. I love my place and have done it up like I want to make it ours. The next big project I'm hoping to do is to do a kitchen renovation. I sure like it the way it is, but if I were to build a house, I would have done it differently. I want to do it like I would if we built the house. For my wife, she wants different cabinetry, but for me, I want different appliances.
I digress. I grew up around Birmingham and would HATE to move back. I like the small town atmosphere so much better. Give me Starkville over Birmingham any day of the week or give me death.
It's not a price correction because of massive overcrowding. It's ridiculous COL b/c of refusing to allow construction while piling on regulations to make California more unpleasant at the margins. If they just got semi-serious about allowing development, they could likely get even worse on other policies and still grow.
California didn't always have bad policy. Their gov't employees and politicians are the stationary bandits that struck gold b/c there is a lot to offset how terrible they are.There are people that would rather live in MS for 1/3 the cost, for others it would take 1/4, etc. The former are who are leaving. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. Related: Cali recently surpassed Germany to become the 4th largest economy in the world! Bad policy.
I wouldn’t call it weird, not in a bad way. I would say it’s an awfully specific requirement to use as a basis for judging the area, though.
In the section you replied to, I said I saw over 50 shows last year. Well over 40 of them were in Mississippi. I was making up for not seeing as many in 2020 and 2021 because of the covid shutdowns.
But I don't go to shows just to listen to live music. There has to be quality. Seeing cruddy acts perform is a waste of my time.
Fortunately, Mississippi is blessed with a lot of musicians who are from here & the state gets acts that play here.
Some I saw last year: Bob Dylan, Bela Fleck, Cary Hudson, Robert Earl Keen, Kingfish, & The Melvins.
Cary Hudson may have been the only one who played in Starkville last year; however, Bob Dylan performed at MSU's Riley Center.
But wouldn't it have been cool (or maybe cooler) if Bob played in Starkville?
I don't understand what you're getting at here.
You may have eventually intended to refer to my preference of being in an area that appreciates live music but the section you've responded to and quoted is all about my sensory overload headaches.
Different people have different priorities.
But maybe the young employees will start a band and play at Dave's. **
I got friends who are very interested in live music but it’s generally performers who haven’t passed the age of life expectancy in Nordic countries.
The only one you mentioned that I'd even have a slight inkling of wanting to hear was Bela Fleck because of Victor Wooten. I would actually travel if he was playing with Carter Beauford.
Don't care a thing in the world about the rest of them. They could be playing on my back porch and I wouldn't go see them.
Different strokes I guess.
Actually, those aren't in any order of my preferences. In fact, Starkville and the Golden Triangle has very little to offer my interests and hobbies.
I point out these things, as they are important to companies (read: corporations) who look for what their workers will ask if they were to relocate. I can tell you that the more sophisticated companies look at the K-12 strength of an area/region. They know that this will be critical in encouraging some of their employees to relocate to an area.
As for the other things on the list, they are simple itemizations of what economic developers peddle. Ask one some time. You'd be surprised at the types of lists they possess on how an area stacks up to other areas/regions.
I get your point about K-12, but it can be overcome if you are active in your child's education. Case in point - at my last job I had a coworker who has kids. They lived in Aberdeen. The kid who go the lowest on the ACT there was something crazy like a 34 or something. And I remember him telling me his other kids made fun of that kid for scoring so low.
I have every plan on making my daughter do everything she is going to cover in next year's math class over this summer. She might not be able to ace it, but at least she should be familiar with it.
Hell, "Dead Days" prevented concerts at MSU when I attended.
Could be....but the more important points I want to make are these:
The Golden Triangle is but ONE part of Mississippi. Being a native Mississippian and resident there from quite some time, it does hold a dear place in my heart. It pains me deeply to listen to non-Mississippians rip on the state because they don't know it as I have for over 35 years.
So, when I am critical of Mississippi, I am because I *know* it can improve and be better. I just hate it when I see certain events and leadership fumbles that make the national headlines.
Lastly, one of the things I love about Mississippi is the people. While life's journeys have taken me elsewhere, it's the people of Mississippi who are "top shelf"
Again, that's just an agenda in search of a reality. Cali is not refusing to allow construction, there are plenty of housing starts etc. No serious person could say they aren't even semi-serious about allowing development.
And one person's "bad policy" is another person's good policy. Those "unpleasant" regulations do things like protect their water and air, things that all those people living there like more than letting a small section of their economy polite however they like.
They're so terrible that they have the 4th largest economy in the world? Ok Yogi.
Actually, California's builder's remedy for cities/counties without approved housing plans is serious. And there definitely aren't enough housing starts. You can see that by what has happened to pricing.
Those regulations cause rolling blackouts and threaten to leave them without enough water among other things. There are lots of policies where people assess the tradeoffs differently, but California's problems mostly arise from pretending no tradeoffs exist.
They have incredible resources and had a huge head of steam before they got crazy. It's not surprising that they have a large economy. The question is how terrible do you have to be to get people to leave a place with great weather, incredible beauty, and a great economy?
Cost of living is insanely high.
Then you argue that its insanely high because of lack of housing development.
Then I point out that housing has been developed this whole time, its just that housing hasnt kept up with demand.
Then you argue that bad policy is shown in the fact that housing hasnt kept up with demand.
Then I point out that perhaps much of the appeal of the state as a whole is because housing hasnt kept up with demand. If the state were just one large piece of concrete, would it be as appealing?
My parents moved out to the coast, about 30min south of SF, when I went to college. Every visit back 'home' was to a house I didnt know in a town I was only slightly familiar with from when I was a kid. So every day was me getting in a car and exploring. Explore Marin. Explore Muir. Explore Sonoma. Explore Napa. Explore Oakland by mistake and GT17 out as fast as possible. Explore Santa Cruz. Explore Monterrey and Pebble. Explore Silicon Valley. Explore the Santa Cruz mtns. Explore Yosemite.
All of that, save Yosemite, was within 90mi of their house. And that was only a little of it all.
That location was 17ing amazing and anyone who enjoys the outdoors or indoors will never want for activity.
But its expensive.
I was talking about CA's small engine law with one of my kids over the weekend. Explained how CA laws eventually impact every other state thru products offered. I saw CA is one of the top 5 economies in the world. That place seems to be doing pretty well, even if they recently lost .03% of their population.
LOL. Understood.
The best performances I saw last year were mostly by younger folks (Billy Strings and Daniel Donato).
Bob's best days have passed him by but I'm glad I saw him in Meridian.
I feel the same about Willie and plan to see him later this year. I don't expect much since he'll be 90 but I really love the openers...
Exactly. Different people have different tastes.
BTW, I kind of thought about seeing the Flecktones play in June (they're touring then) but bad timing & previous commitments...
Half Moon Bay or Montara?
I did a little exploring when I was in Mountain View & visited family in Los Altos back in the day...
Mostly the City & to the south (Santa Cruz and Carmel). Napa & Yosemite are huge blank spots though...
So disappointed I didn't go to either.
You seem to be operating under the assumption that housing starts should always keep up with demand and prices should never rise. Land is a finite resource, so is "good" policy supposed to make living there less desirable so that supply keeps up with demand?
Not serious alert! You seriously blaming rolling blackouts on bad policy, when it's known it's due to corporate greed caused by Republican policy that Cali has rolled back?
Water is a tricky issue. Sure, it would benefit some to penalize agriculture. But that would be bad policy as far as agriculture is concerned. There's a trade off......which you pretend doesn't exist while claiming Cali pretends trade offs don't exist. Irony.
It is in fact pretty surprising that any one state is the 4th largest economy in the world! There are policy reasons why this happened in California and not MS or elsewhere that have nothing to do with natural resources. They used taxes and regulations to invest in themselves, and it paid off, and they reinvested, etc. Other states don't do that, and seek shortcuts to attract jobs. It doesn't work, mainly because so many states are bidding against each other for those shortcuts. Talk about bad policy. Except for the corps reaping the best bids, of course.
Plenty of states have incredible weather., beauty, etc. What they don't have is an educated workforce and modern infrastructure to support modern companies, as well as places workers want to live. That takes taxing and spending as well as support for urban lifestyles.
I'd live in Cali if it wasn't so expensive and the government so over reaching. So, I stay in MS where it's cheap and the government doesn't do enough.
I'd argue that both states' governments overreach.
California purposely overregulates (overreach in favor of the consumer and/or environment) & Mississippi purposely underregulates (overreach in favor of business).
I loved California but you're right: it's so expensive.
HMB4LYF!
They actually lived in this wild little town called Pescadero for a year before buying in Half Moon Bay. They rented this small house on a ranch, and their backyard was the side of a mountain. Like 10' from the house was this giantass rock that went up past where I could see. A couple goats were in a large pen in what was technically their front yard. It was such a trip to be out there, step back, and look at them plus where they were living. Couldnt believe those people had raised me.
They bought a house 2 blocks from the ocean in HMB, walked to work every day, and in general just lived their best life.
That place and area was incredible, at least 20 years ago.
While I could certainly argue that Cali's undeniable success comes from its people-focused policy....there's an argument to be made that instead its at least in part from cutting against the grain. Nearly all the states have been pursuing a low tax, business friendly, F the urban areas strategy for decades, especially the South, and in effect they are all the same and competing against each other for people that want that lifestyle. But who does Cali compete against for its urban, worker-friendly policy style? It's like 40 something states are competing for 50% of the population....and Cali has the rest to themselves.
LOL, @mstateglfr -- And of course you also have a connection to Pescadero...
Those of us on SPS old enough to have been on rsfc know about it.
That was the first town I thought of actually but it's too far south...
Those of us on SPS old enough to have been on rsfc know about it.
That was the first town I thought of actually but it's too far south...