One Macon study: Concerted effort needed on longstanding problems

March 10--Schools, jobs and places -- those are the three pillars Macon-Bibb County needs to build as the base for a successful future, according to a "One Macon!" study.

Concerted efforts by educational institutions and private business for better local schools, training for higher-skilled jobs and incentives for local business start-ups, and improved entertainment and civic infrastructure are all needed so Macon-Bibb County can compete with other cities for growth and investment, said authors of the study from Atlanta-based Market Street Services Inc.

But before those things can be successful, the community must address a number of longstanding, interrelated problems. The January 2014 consolidation of city and county governments offers a chance for "unprecedented levels of unity and cooperation" to do just that, according to the study and some of the local figures most closely involved.

"Truly, I think it's a one-time opportunity for us in this community to take us from potential to reality," said Mike Dyer, president and CEO of the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce.

Mayor Robert Reichert agreed on the opportunity and the urgency.

"We're not going to be able to recruit industry if we don't attack some of these community development problems," Reichert said. "Now if we could just get the community to buy into this, we really can create 'one Macon' with one vision, and achieve what we all want for our future. I'm a big supporter of this, and I think the consolidated government has a significant role to play."

The report's concluding section, which deals with putting its recommendations into practice, calls for an implementation committee of local leaders -- already created -- as a "keeper of the goals." Partnership of educational institutions and the businesses that could hire their graduates is critical, but for broader goals everyone possible needs to get on board and help engage residents, the study's authors said.

Full community engagement is essential if the plan is to achieve its highest potential, Dyer said.

Even for the most prominent institutions, such as Macon-Bibb government, the need is for cooperation rather than just taking charge, Reichert said.

"I don't have to drive this bus, but I'm happy to be on board," he said.

Looking at problems

The study began with a competitive assessment of the community, measured against similar areas and dated June 2013. Through comparisons, focus groups and surveys, Market Street found that issues of race, leadership and trust -- all inter-connected -- are at the heart of most local issues, impeding economic growth.

"Participants frequently described Macon-Bibb as a segregated place -- socially, economically, geographically, and in public schools and places of worship," the assessment says.

The quality of local education was identified as a big reason people move away or don't move in at all.

"In the eyes of many input participants, Macon-Bibb's K-12 education system is better described as two systems divided along racial and socioeconomic lines," the study's authors said. "According to focus group participants, one is private, predominantly white, and performing at a high level; the other is public, predominantly black, and badly struggling."

Hard data backs up those perceptions, authors said. Employers told them that local schools seem disconnected from workforce needs. And while local colleges produce many highly qualified graduates, those graduates don't stay here, again hurting local attractiveness to potential new businesses.

Persistent poverty

When adjusted for inflation, local incomes actually shrank between 2001 and 2011, the study found. The rich grew richer, but the already-poor and middle class lost ground.

"Unfortunately, it is fair to say that, as a whole, Macon-Bibb's residents are now less prosperous than they were at the turn of the century," the study says. "There is a particularly large group of people at the bottom of the ladder."

More than a third of local households make less than $25,000 per year, and more than a third of Macon-Bibb's children live in poverty, leaving many dependent on subsidized school lunches or after-school programs for their only meals.

Several of those surveyed, however, cited the Macon Promise Neighborhood as "particularly successful" in helping break the generational cycle of poor education and poverty, by offering opportunities usually only available in wealthy neighborhoods.

"For me, there were no surprising findings," Dyer said. But the study provides hard data to confirm and measure existing perceptions, he said. That will help an implementation committee, which next meets March 18, in setting concrete goals and figuring out how to measure if their efforts are having an effect, Dyer said.

"I think the next step for the plan is to really flesh out all the different objectives we have identified for 2014," he said.

Draft plans from a long list of participating organizations, public, private and nonprofit, are due at the next meeting, Dyer said.

Next steps

The study's remaining sections -- a target business analysis, dated November 2013, and a development strategy, dated January 2014 -- urge pursuit of "clusters" of related businesses: manufacturing, insurance, tourism and others; a better environment for local small businesses; expanded facilities at Middle Georgia Regional Airport and an effort to make joint use of Robins Air Force Base. Local business incentive packages are on par with other communities, but Macon-Bibb needs to market itself better, particularly through social media.

The third major pillar -- "places" -- will require work on Macon's urban core, but that should involve asking residents themselves for ideas, as well as providing incentives for individuals and private business to fix things up, the study says.

Existing projects play into those goals. The authors singled out Reichert's ongoing "Five by Five" neighborhood cleanup program for praise.

"We're going to take the extra step now of trying to ramp up and improve our existing Five by Five program," Reichert said. The block-by-block cleanup began targeting each of Macon's five council wards, but now it will be expanded to operate countywide in the nine new commission districts, he said.

There are lots of existing plans for downtown, the College Hill area and other target zones around Macon-Bibb, and all of those are "kind of folding under the One Macon plan," Dyer said. Those can have greater effect working in harmony, he said.

Major efforts to tear down blighted houses and subsidize repairing them should continue to be pressed, the report says.

"That's another area that we think is specifically designed for our participation and partnership," said Reichert, who has a goal of tearing down 100 dilapidated houses each year.

Sixty-eight abandoned structures have been torn down since the July 1 start of the fiscal year, six more are ready to come down within the next couple of weeks, and another 10 should soon be ready, said Chris Floore, Macon-Bibb public affairs director.

"Looks like we're going to meet our 100 this year," he said.

To contact writer Jim Gaines, call 744-4489.

The Market Street study can be found at www.maconbibbedstrategy.com.

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