Big Economic Honor For Mobile

Alabama Mobile National magazine ranks Mobile in top cities for recession recovery.

by Steve Alexander

Published: Fri, June 12, 2009 - 6:46 pm CST Last Updated: Fri, June 12, 2009 - 7:50 pm CST

There's word of another economic prize for the City of Mobile.
Forbes Magazine has named Mobile as one of the best cities in America for recession recovery.
The magazine said it named Mobile because the economy is diverse and the city has seen job growth in different areas.
Barbara Drummond with the City of Mobile Mayor's Office said, "Mobile has been very successful in its economic initiatives and they've attracted a lot of new industries from Austal, Thyssenkrupp and, hopefully, EADS."
Mayor Sam Jones and other city officials left Friday morning for the Paris Air Show.
Earlier this week, the mayor talked about his plans when he gets there.
Mayor Jones said, "We have some meetings set up with EADS, Northrop Grumman, with three of their suppliers that we are still trying to court to come to Mobile, to bring some jobs to Mobile to improve the economy."
And the mayor's office said the Forbes article is icing on the cake.
Drummond said, "It sends a signal to those other industries that are out there that are looking for locations that Mobile has the right stuff."
Forbes said it also considered other factors in its rankings.
It cited Mobile's 8.5% unemployment rate.
The national average is 9.1%.
Forbes also mentioned incomes and home prices.
Melissa Morrissette is with LLB&B Real Estate.
She said, "In Mobile, our median sales price is about 75% of what the national average is, so you're actually getting a lot more house for the money here than you are in other places in the country."
Morrissette said the timing of when the recession hit Mobile may also have had an effect.
She said, "I think that Mobile did not start off in the recession as quickly as other people. We certainly have been affected by it, but we didn't probably have as far to fall, because it came to us later than it came to other places."
And Morrissette said some new figures on home sales for the past month show there's reason to be optimistic about the future.
According to Morrissette, "Our average sales price and our median sales price have increased in the past 30 days, so we're starting to see a tiny shift up, which is great."

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Mom2AngelBaby Says:

Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 10:18 pm

I won’t comment on this articale..but gezzz,,,the crime rate is surely soaring!!

Alabama Patriot Says:

Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 8:22 pm

Just wondering - in an age of electronic communication that is utilized by all of the governments and businesses around the world - why did the mayor and his group of companions spend our taxpayer money in today’s tight economy to go to Paris instead of having video-conferences and webinars that would have accomplished almost the same thing and not cost nowhere near as much. I would venture to guess that the mayor wanted to have a vacation mixed with business. Also, did he spend our money to wine and dine the corporations they visited? I bet he did, without feeling one bit of guilt or remorse. Anyway, the battle for the tanker is being fought in the United States (not Paris) and a lot of money needs to spent here towards that end, too. Just asking since the mayor said the city is cutting back on expenses across the board and this should pertain to him and the city government as much as anyone else - no exceptions. I hope that all of the thousands of dollars that he is spending in Paris account for something and are not just thrown away. Just my opinion.

southfan1981 Says:

Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 8:42 am

Unemployment rates do not account for long term unemployed, those who did not qualify for benefits and those who have used up their benefits. In other words, it’s a fairly meaningless statistic!

alabamaoutlaw Says:

Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 4:40 am

I think they have the wrong Mobile if you really look around there is nothing going the way it’s supposed to .The steel mills have ground to a halt ,The race track dead in it’s tracks no investors bender filling bankruptcy Austal loosing jobs the aircraft contracts are gone where in the world do they see all this growth.Let us know maybe joe Q public could invest in a decent fund.But i don’t see it .If there was anything else out there the Mayor would be bragging about how he had brought it to town .
Alabamaoutlaw

rmseek1234 Says:

Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 9:46 pm

I think it is good news too, BUT-looking at it realistically, is it accurate? By that I mean-TK has some operations on hold,not providing the economic growth expected. In addition, much of the labor is reportedly, not local. EADS is still up in the air. With Dems in control, who do you think their favorite is? The one in their back pocket-Boeing.I would think the recent Air France crash won’t help either. As to Austill, weren’t there recently significant layoffs? The Splenda plant is shutting down, as are many businesses left and right. Are we not going to see the recession as hard as other parts of the country, or have we just been “temporarily” spared? As to the unemployment rate-how do they figure that? Is that people who have actually LOST a job, or does it consider all those toking on their porches, drinking their MD 20/20 at 8am, that NEVER work? If you figure THOSE numbers into it-we ARE doomed.lol

I personally haven’t buried my money or built a bunker(yet-lol).