Is Decatur ready for a rebound in this horrid economy?
(btw, if you only wanna read about Decatur’s economy, just scroll down to the bottom)
I’m thinkin it is. Take a look at the Decatur Daily… If you take out all the stories about what’s happening nationally and you focus on what’s happening in the state, it appears that the economy in Alabama is just business as usual. That’s not to say that there isn’t a problem going on that we just can’t see. There is, we know it. National stock declines have an effect on all publically (sp?) traded companies, and there are a lot of those in Alabama.
First of all, we have been very fortunate. The bank that holds the largest amount of the banking market in Alabama (Regions Financial) has been effected by the economic slump. Forunately for our state, the Southeaster United States isn’t in as bad a shape as the rest of the country. The economic conditions going on will only magnify the Northern cities that are experience a mass exodus of their population. Which cities are these? Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Buffalo. These were the major manufacturing centers of the 20th Century and they’ve been going through a rough time in the past few decades.
Let’s compare these northern cities to some southern ones. New Orleans, Birmingham, Mobile and to some extent Jackson. Detroit and New Orleans, major manufacturing cities, shipping ports and a hub of culture and money. That isn’t so anymore. Pittsburgh and Birmingham. THERE is where you’ll find a HUGE contrast. Read below:
Pittsburgh and Birmingham:
Here’s how I look at it, enormous manufacturing cities all go through I process that I like to call “eating/digesting themselves”. Both Pitt and Bham were huge steel producing cities, so they’re easy to compare. Birmingham has done a fantastic job and the city is in it’s last leg of the digestion process. These cities have to nearly collapse and fail before they can be reborn and turn into regions burgeoning with economic prosperity. Pittsburgh has just begun their journey down the throat. Birmingham was fortunate that when the steel industry in the U.S. began to shrink, the mills went to Pittsburgh. Why was that good? The city had to find a place to create jobs, which is where UAB came in. UAB, the largest employer in the state and a university that has a multi-billion dollar impact on the state’s economy. Yes, Pitt has some great schools, but they have not been the focus of job creation to replace the aging steel industry.
To stop comparing cities, let’s focus on why Alabama is more primed for a rebound than other states. Two main reason, IMO, slow growth (stable economy) and prime developable land.
Take a look at this map:
What do you notice? There’re quite a few red blobs that aren’t all that close together. This isn’t true for a lot of states. Most states have 3 maybe 4 big red blobs with expansive suburban skirts around them. Us, we have a spaced out geography with a lot of larger cities. This is a good thing. This is also why it seems like there is NOTHING between other cities. This helps because cities need to grow towards eachother, so I think that in about 20 years, you could easily see 4 areas of enormous growth and an increasingly metropolitan culture. The areas? Huntsville-Decatur, Birmingham-Tuscaloosa-Gadsden, Montgomery-Prattville, Auburn-Columbus-Opelika. Huntsville and Decatur are spaced perfectly so that the growth between the two could be enormous. I think the Birmingham area will be one of the most populated regions in the SE in the coming decades with Birmingham-Tuscaloosa-Gadsden-Anniston ALL very close, we’re going to see those areas grow closer together and eventually merge into a metro area with more than 2 Million people.
As for the slower growth, that’s our big win. We haven’t had any HUGE peaks like Atlanta or Las Vegas or Phoenix. Thank goodness, lol, people have not invested in the amazing potential in our state, which is something I think will change in the coming years.
NOW, FOR DECATUR!
Lol, I don’t think Decatur’s going to be in such a huge crisis in the next few years. Now, citizens are still going to face the decreased income, as the rest of the country is. BUT, we’re seeing these new stores coming to town, which will only decrease the amount of people that currently drive to Huntsville for what they want. A big cork for this problem is going to be Academy Sports, which has announced that construction will begin in January 2009. That is one part of the market that a store in Decatur has not been able to fill well. So, instead of Decatur Metro Area residents driving to Huntsville outdoor stores, they’ll stay in town. The same will happen with Bass Pro.
