Every Saturday in our Professional Profile we pose the question, “What do you enjoy about Columbia and Marion County?” As Sports Editor Joshua Campbell, who conducts those interviews, has noted, without fail the reply is it’s a small town where everyone knows everyone.
It’s really uncanny how essentially all of the respondents independently come up with the same answer. That just shows the small-town feel is a very important part of the quality of life to residents.
I don’t doubt the truth of that or negate its importance, but I would like to step back for just a moment and point out a few other things that Columbia and Marion County have going for them that make them attractive places to live.
Safety
You can confidently walk down the streets of downtown Columbia and feel safe at any hour. That applies to most all the neighborhoods as well.
Businesses and homeowners don’t have to spend a lot of money on high-security doors and alarm systems. Maybe you don’t recognize that if it’s always been a case, but it’s a big difference from many other Mississippi communities.
Where I previously lived in Indianola, every downtown business in the area near the courthouse had over the past few years seen its doors kicked in by burglars. That included my newspaper, where we had to replace attractive French doors with an ugly-but-stronger security door and install an expensive alarm system. Even my daughter’s little pink bike was swiped off our front porch. Such lawlessness just leaves such a bad taste in your mouth, so it’s nice to be in a safe community.
Education
The Columbia School District is one of the few remaining truly integrated school systems in Mississippi. That is, it has maintained its white-black ratio since the federal integration orders came down in 1970. Most Mississippi communities — think of Hattiesburg and Laurel as examples in this region — have lost that balance, with the public school systems in the cities being overwhelmingly black and private schools overwhelmingly white.
Some of the more rural county districts in the state where there is a lower proportion of black residents have maintained a racial balance, but it’s sad to see the decline of what were once flagship school districts in major cities. Columbia is an exception and should be proud of that, although it’s not the kind of thing most people are comfortable talking about.
The Marion County School District has also been thriving under the leadership of Superintendent Wendy Bracey, and Columbia Academy, Woodlawn Prep and New Hope Christian School provide high-quality options to parents who prefer private education.
All together, it boils down to that the area has a lot of good alternatives.
Again, if you’re used to that you might not appreciate it, but in many of our sister cities there is only one adequate school choice, which tends to drive out young, middle-class families.
Small Business
Columbia maintains a wealth of small, locally owned businesses. Their owners live here and are invested in the community’s success. The profits generated by those firms stay here. They sponsor little league teams and pageants and such. As I’ve said, since Columbia has always enjoyed this, maybe we don’t notice it. But in most other places consolidation has led to the buyout of small companies by national behemoths, who strip mine dollars from the areas where they operate and offer little in community benefits other than low prices.
My point in highlighting these things is that in a sense we are all ambassadors for the place where we live; if we consistently speak positively of it, then it helps create a good impression throughout the region and state of this area, contributing to future growth opportunities.
So think of these as talking points when boosting our city and county to neighbors and friends.
Charlie Smith is editor and publisher of The C-P. Reach him at (601) 736-2611 or csmith@columbianprogress.com.
