Things That Starkville Needs
- Thread starter ArcherSPS
- Start date
Maybe so but it's the same for every city in America.
Trust me, when someone is researching moving to a new city, they look at school ratings way before they count the number of Top Golfs or laser tag joints.
Trust me, when someone is researching moving to a new city, they look at school ratings way before they count the number of Top Golfs or laser tag joints.
It's probably plenty nice and easy to get in and out of.. but I am not in or anywhere close to Atlanta. I live in Dallas home to the 4th largest airport in the US plus Love Field which is probably pretty high up the list and the home of Southwest. It's an 8.5 hour drive or 7 hours to fly to Starkville from my house. My wife called me from her office in NYC at 1:30 pm and will be home by 7:00pm tonight. Flying to GTR only works if Atlanta is on the way and you like changing planes.
It's $400 cheaper and 1 hour plus faster each way for me to fly to New York and stay 2 nights at the Grand Hyatt than to fly to Starkville and stay 2 nights at the Days Inn to watch a home football game. For all practical purposes, I would fly to Jackson, Birmingham, or Memphis and get a rental... Birmingham is the cheapest option, but timing is limited as SW has only two direct flight from Love to Bham.
So GTR sucks in my book. An airport with 1 destination is not a good one. Bham is the best of the bastards, but with with mechanical/rain/weather issues it's a risk of getting stuck for hours or having multiple connections to get back and forth.. not to mention the 2 plus hour drive in a rental from Starkville to Bham.
So, I apologize for the runway joke, I am sure it's the king ding-a-ling of runways, but connecting in Atlanta makes zero sense for me. Therefore, Starkville needs a real airport.
View attachment 13200
View attachment 13201
View attachment 13202
View attachment 13203
Last edited:
Are you just clueless as to how the world works? Yeah let’s just build a DFW in Starkville.
First of all, it’s not about you. It’s about the demand. And GTR is plenty good for people who need to come to he area, for now. It’s not holding the economy back, out it that way.
Second, if they do add a flight to Texas, it should be United to Houston. More MSU people there.
Just an FYI - Meridian has daily flights to Dallas.
Last edited:
Settle down there butt hurt.... I am not advocating for a ten terminal international airport...
It's a far stretch from DFW and it's 1850 daily flights to 250 destinations and GTR's 4 flights to 1 destination. I bet there's a happy ground ... How about 2-4 more flights a day to the west? I am good with Houston, though DFW is much better to connect from since it is nearly twice the size . It's not an unrealistic hope.
Now with all this said, I am not under any illusion this will actually ever happen. The question is what does Starkville need... I am of the opinion that a single destination airport is like a having one way highway through town.
They used to have a DFW flight. Not sure what happened there. Either way, a TX flight to one or both cities will be important going forward for student recruiting and the rise of people working remotely. I agree there.
He has no idea what you are talking about. It is very easy to see he has not had to deal with any business west of the Mississippi who had to fly over their destination, catch another plane and fly back West to get there.
His answer to fly into Meridian should tell you a lot.
Starkville is lucky as hell to have GTR. Tuscaloosa doesn't even have commercial airline service, neither does Oxford or Auburn. You have to drive to Birmingham, Memphis or Montgomery, respectively. People are so dumb about this subject. A 45min plane ride to the busiest airport in the world (3 times a day) is a pretty good perk for a town of 25k to have. Plus it's convenient for MSU with team travel and recruiting.
Regarding new Westbound service, I think it will take a little more regional investment and procurement to get a flight to IAH or DFW.
R
RPOdawg
Guest
This would be cool. What starkville really needs is a rooftop bar like they have at Auburn. But let’s start with a quality steak restaurant.
Yep, they really are. IBleedMaroonDog and JoeLeeSocks are perfect examples.
I also agree with the rest of your post. Thad Cochran came through for us in the beginning.
I wonder how many people realize that there are unmanned aircraft being built by Boeing for two major military programs at GTR?
This is what could revolutionize the Delta if we would jump on it early. I mean Ole Miss is already doing stuff with it. We have the land. We have the agriculture research. We even have drones to do whatever it is they do. We got the gambling part right, finally got the lottery right, why can't we get this right?
About the same number who have zero clue about all the high-tech stuff going on on the Coast.
R
RPOdawg
Guest
Because we have people in this *** backwards state that think weed is an addictive gateway drug that tears apart families. Once the old geezers die off it will get legalized. We’ll be one of the last state’s to do it imo.
What does Marijuana and Hemp need to grow. Fertile soil and heat. The delta has both!
You need an infusion of citizens moving to the city. Period. Without that, the city will not change.
To improve that, the state government needs to learn what younger people want, and why they will move to a place. Most Boomers are settled and it will be harder to get them to uproot. It will require a change in how the state does things... basically, the politics need to be more moderate and less red-or-dead. Like it or not, most people younger than 50 are either liberal or independent. Those are the people primed to move to a location for a job, start a family and pour money into a city through taxes. Not saying you need to be California... think more like Virginia or North Carolina. I think there are a lot of lessons to be learned from how those states have moved towards the middle.
To improve that, the state government needs to learn what younger people want, and why they will move to a place. Most Boomers are settled and it will be harder to get them to uproot. It will require a change in how the state does things... basically, the politics need to be more moderate and less red-or-dead. Like it or not, most people younger than 50 are either liberal or independent. Those are the people primed to move to a location for a job, start a family and pour money into a city through taxes. Not saying you need to be California... think more like Virginia or North Carolina. I think there are a lot of lessons to be learned from how those states have moved towards the middle.
It has always been this way, young people always lean left until they learn better.
Politics is not the answer. Jobs are.
Do we need to quit passing dumb laws? Of course. But that is just common sense, not some awesome political strategy.
What we seem to have a shortage of is people who only live here a few semesters but want specific things that don’t translate into profitable year round businesses.
Not saying it is an awesome political strategy, but a sound one.
The way the state is governed now, however, is backwards and constrictive. Why would black, hispanic, gay, young or wealthy people want to move to Starkville and Mississippi in general? Jobs? There are not nearly enough good ones. Weather? If oppressive heat and humidity, plus tornados, are your thing. You can't control those things right now.
But Mississippi can get its act together and be more inclusive, more open, more welcoming, and more tolerant. Those things can happen. Hell... change the flag and see where we can go from there... it is the first symbol of what the state is to most people and it is time to do everything in our effort to end that view.
YES.
Jobs, and only jobs, matter. Why else would people move to Texas? You say Dallas is great, but what built Dallas? JOBS. Certainly not scenery or weather.
Create jobs and people will come.
Now, the question for politicians, is how to attract ENTREPRENEURS, not black/hispanic/gay/young/wealthy. None of those descriptors matter. Entrepreneurs are generally looking for business-friendly laws and MS has those. Secondly they are looking for a workforce. Now you get into the chicken and egg scenario.
Either way, I agree with you, but I just stress that recruiting employers (specifically for the urban areas) is the biggest thing by far. I support changing the flag too. None of those things can hurt.
At the end of the day, creating jobs will happen at the college level. We need to recruit good kids from out-of-state. Some will bring new ideas and end up staying here.
THIS is the primary thing I am talking about. It makes the price higher and convenience is thrown out the window. It is cheaper for me to fly into Memphis, Birmingham or Jackson. Usually, I choose the first two because there is no Southwest into Jackson now.
There used to be a western flight eons ago, wasn't there? I just hate having to spend another 2 hours plus going through Atlanta and their overcrowded airport.
^^^^The easy answer^^^^
Practically everything in the thread is things people would like to see if we had a bigger, richer population, which requires that we have more, higher paying jobs in the area. Starkville is not lacking because it's not "more inclusive, more open, more welcoming, and more tolerant", nor is Starkville's problem a shortage of black, hispanic, or gay people.
It's great to be welcoming and open, and it would help marginally, but the only thing that will move the needle is jobs. To the extent Starkville is lacking, it's because for the majority of MSU's existence, Starkville as a whole has considered MSU a necessary evil, rather than bending over backwards to help MSU grow so MSU could become an even bigger economic driver for the area. How many alumni have started businesses that could have been started in Starkville, or at least expanded to Starkville, if the City of Starkville had tried to be a place that students love rather than a place that tolerates students, barely.
So rather than spending our time now trying to build on a good jobs base, we are practically at ground zero after University jobs. It's obviously gotten a lot better, but we are decades behind where most university towns are.
Within 1 year of my family deciding that we wanted to move to Starkville, I found a job that met my criteria and was hired (in a specialized field). My point is, that in today's economy, if one truly desires to live in Starkville, they can get a job. Obviously there are some caveats to this statement, but in general good jobs are available here. So for the complainers, put your money where your mouth is and move here to be the change.
Just pony up for a private jet card and fly direct from DFW to STF. Problem solved. If you're flying 6-8 people at a time it isnt as unreasonable as you might think.
If Taylor Machine Works were to expand Starkville should do everything to get them.
If Taylor Machine Works were to expand Starkville should do everything to get them.
Last edited: