Jet Service returning to Hattiesburg?

[HubCityMan1912]

In this Year of Our Lord 2005, for a (supposedly) up and coming metropolitan City like Hattiesburg to be without at least connector jet service to hub airports, is virtually the equivilant of a city being without rail service in 1905! (Many of the formerly prominent towns of that period faded largely because of this failure.)

Today, jet service is a key factor in determining success or failure regarding recruitment/retaining of vital industry, education, general economic development, etc...This is the last major modern transportation factor that Hattiesburg/Laurel has now been lacking for some 20 years. (Since the Republicans "de-regulated" the airline industry...We enjoyed jet service via Pine Belt Airport for about 10 years--from 1974 to about 1985.)

Now comes the welcomed news of the new "Micro-Jets", which are being touted to revolutionize especially the smaller airport markets and once again help put destinations like Hattiesburg/Pine Belt back on the map. (Mainly due to far lower initial costs, fuel, and maintenance.)

I haven't seen or heard of any updates or progress in this critical area since the big story in the Saturday 9 April 2005 Hattiesburg American...

Anybody else heard or know of anything "in the works" on this?

What say ye good people? Is this really that critically important? (The Coast and Southhaven say "yes"!)

[jmack]

No Jet service is a shame. We need to be competitive with the Coast but we do have a $5 million dollars extention to 'Rails to Trails'.

What a waste of money.

[HillaryC]

This has always been a One Horse town jmack, and it always will be. You love the coast so much its only an hour drive south. I'm sure there are hundreds of houses for sale down there.

[msjamesray]

No Jet service is a shame. We need to be competitive with the Coast but we do have a $5 million dollars extention to 'Rails to Trails'.

What a waste of money.

Who do you ever see riding on that trail, I think that that land would have served better as a road to be traveled by us every day, the trafic flow in hattiesburg is too cramped to be spending money on a bicycle trail.

[msjamesray]

Hillary, I have to agree with jmac, the trail is an un needed expense, that money could have been better used,say for roads...

[Tully Mars]

Hillary, I have to agree with jmac, the trail is an un needed expense, that money could have been better used,say for roads...

I am afraid that I must strongly disagree with the sentiments posted here concerning Longleaf Trace. First of all, to understand the financial justification of the Trace you must first understand that monies used for the Trace did not originate from the same budget line items as do monies to be used for surface transportation improvement.

I personally use and enjoy the Trace as does my family and countless other friends from the Pine Belt and beyond. The Trace is nationally recognized as one of the premiere Rails to Trails facilities in the nation and it has attracted visitors from throughout the continental U.S.

If you have broadband I would encourage you listen to the following file. While I am not typically a fan of NPR I have to say that this commentary is dead-on.

http://www.mylongleaftrace.com/Feedback/llt1.wav

[Wayward]

Not sure how this relates to jet service at the airport ... but I'm in strong agreement with Tulley on this one. The Long Leaf Trace is a serious asset for the area. :thumbs_up

Wayward

[AlphaMale]

I respect all of your opinions but I don't see the Trace as anything more than a weekend option for exercise. I'm sure some people love it but most people would rather that much time, effort of so many official and money to be utilized for the masses to enjoy.

[Tully Mars]

I respect all of your opinions but I don't see the Trace as anything more than a weekend option for exercise. I'm sure some people love it but most people would rather that much time, effort of so many official and money to be utilized for the masses to enjoy.

I am not quite sure that I understand your last sentence but I'll make an attempt to respond.

I see the trace as so much more:


It is an economic development tool
It provides excellent public relations for Hattiesburg and surrounding communities
It also provides a safe path for students who live in apartments along 7th street to get to campus.
It provided an opportunity for public officials from three counties and four municipalities to cooperate and work together like no other project before it...I believe that this has lead to a higher level of communication and cooperation between these entities on other matters.
It created jobs and work for those who designed the facility, those who built it and those who now manage it.
It took what would have been an eyesore and turned it into a functional and FREE public facility.
It brings people to the area from other parts of the state and country who spend money here.
Given time I could certainly come up with more benefits of the trace that go well beyond the obvious.

[Lylabean]

Could Hattiesburg really support this microjet service? Granted I don't know that much about this but it seems these microjets main purpose is to divert air traffic from the big airports...so I can see why Southhaven and the Coast would be interested as they are closer to bigger airports and travellers. Would travellers really save any time to fly into Hattiesburg(not unless Hattiesburg is their destination) instead of Jackson?


Remember the gyro scooter (codenamed IT) a few years back that was touted to revolutionize how people would get around cities? I wonder if these microjets will take off (no pun intended) or flop?

and I do not believe money spent on the Trace is wasted...everytime we go to the trace there is plenty of people bike riding, roller blading or just walking..it's a nice escape from the "city" without having to go very far.

Lynn

[Wayward]

Excellent points Tulley ...

Concerning #1 ... A quote from today's Hattiesburg American. "Kristie Fairley, manager of Hattiesburg's Visitors Center, said people often include some type of outdoor recreation in their vacation plans. She said the trail attracts people who otherwise wouldn't come to the area."

And to expand on #6. Not only does the trace remove a massive eyesore, such as the track removal work currently underway along 4th Street between USM and downtown, it assures that a large slice of pristine wooded area area will be preserved in a number of areas.

And AlphaMale ... there's certainly nothing to stop the masses from enjoying. Exercise and fresh air ... good stuff. :smt001

[AlphaMale]

I am not quite sure that I understand your last sentence but I'll make an attempt to respond.

I see the trace as so much more:


It is an economic development tool
It provides excellent public relations for Hattiesburg and surrounding communities
It also provides a safe path for students who live in apartments along 7th street to get to campus.
It provided an opportunity for public officials from three counties and four municipalities to cooperate and work together like no other project before it...I believe that this has lead to a higher level of communication and cooperation between these entities on other matters.
It created jobs and work for those who designed the facility, those who built it and those who now manage it.
It took what would have been an eyesore and turned it into a functional and FREE public facility.
It brings people to the area from other parts of the state and country who spend money here.
Given time I could certainly come up with more benefits of the trace that go well beyond the obvious.

I have to admit, you started my day off with a laugh (..safe path for students to get to class...). Now that is funny.

My last sentence was referring to your point 4. So many officials are involved and I just wish they would have utilized their efforts on a cause that would benefit more people.

I'm sure you could combine all the revenue generated from this walking track for the next 10 years and not but a dent into the cost to manage, build and maintain this track.

The track will be used as an economic tool about as much as the train depot downtown.

[R1ZOOM]

I have to admit, you started my day off with a laugh (..safe path for students to get to class...). Now that is funny.

My last sentence was referring to your point 4. So many officials are involved and I just wish they would have utilized their efforts on a cause that would benefit more people.

I'm sure you could combine all the revenue generated from this walking track for the next 10 years and not but a dent into the cost to manage, build and maintain this track.

The track will be used as an economic tool about as much as the train depot downtown.


A lot of the trail money comes from grants or private donations. Taxpayers bear little to no burden for this trail. Additionally, just because you don't enjoy being outdoors and exercising that doesn't mean that a lot of other people don't. Personally I seldom ever use the trail, but I realize the value of it to bicyclists, joggers, walkers, roller bladers, etc. It also provides an excellent family venue for a weekend morning, afternoon, or all day. Finally, as far as traffic congestion goes, the trail has moved a lot of recreational bicyclists from W. 4th Street and other busy streets, providing a safer place for them, and frreing up traffic that was often backed up behind bicyclists. I used to live on W. 4th Street and I can recall many times being held up in traffic behind a pack of bicyclists sharing the road with cars.

As far as building something for the masses to enjoy, I think your comment in itself is very selfish, implying that since you don't use the trail nobody else does either, or the people that do are unimportant. I challenge you to go to the Jackson road station on any weekday evening, or Saturday and see how many people are there using the trail. They've had to expand the parking area to accomadate all of the people using the trail.

[AlphaMale]

I don't want to beat a dead horse but you assume I don't like exercise or use the trail. Both assumptions are false. I like the trail. I think the trail is something a lot of people use and enjoy. I'm sure there are several people from out of town who utilize the trail. I was only agreeing with the other poster on the time and expense to build and maintain. I'm sure some private money was included in the funding but a huge majority of the 5 million pricetag was from tax revenue. There are teachers being let go from their jobs, medicaid is broke, schools underfunded and rising cost to operate government. I just feel this project and its expansion should not be a priority when government is broke.

[R1ZOOM]

I agree there's a lot of other failing areas that the money could be put to use in, but at least I can see where this money is going, and the public does benefit from it, unlike so much other government waste.

[Tully Mars]

I have to admit, you started my day off with a laugh (..safe path for students to get to class...). Now that is funny.

My last sentence was referring to your point 4. So many officials are involved and I just wish they would have utilized their efforts on a cause that would benefit more people.

I'm sure you could combine all the revenue generated from this walking track for the next 10 years and not but a dent into the cost to manage, build and maintain this track.

The track will be used as an economic tool about as much as the train depot downtown.

I have put aside my impulse to give you a negative rep point based on this comment because I feel that what I have to say will be more effective in this manner:

I respect your right to disagree with my comments. I do not respect your pathetic attempts to belittle my comments with an attempt at juvenile humor.

First of all I would suggest that you take some time to educate yourself on the way that government funding and budgeting works on all levels. It is rarely a simple matter of moving money from one pot to another. Public monies are typically placed in specific line items for specific purposes. The money used to construct the facility are from entirely different funds that those used to maintain the facility. I will be the first to tell you that ALL taxes are local whether they revert back to a local project from the federal, state or local level. Although In the last 14 years I have successfully applied for and managed millions in grant funds I have always attempted to remain aware of the primary source of those funds...that being all of us who pay taxes.

On the other hand, I don't view the Longleaf Trace as something that was developed for a select few. It is a public facility that is open and available to the public with very little restriction.

As far as a revenue generating facility...that is not even a subject for debate IMO. The facility charges no fees so how is it supposed to produce revenue? There are residual economic benefits from the users spending money on food, gas, etc.

The cost to maintain and manage the facility equates to 1 mil of taxes from each of the following entities: The City of Hattiesburg, Forrest County, Lamar County, Jeff Davis County, The Town of Sumrall, The Town of Bassfield, and the City of Prentiss. I will let you do your own research to determine what that equates to in real dollars but I assure you that in the grand scheme of things it is not much money.

An to correct your last sentence as quoted above...You speak in the future tense, I refer to the Trail's economic development benefits in the present tense because it is occuring as we speak.

[HillaryC]

I know this hasn't got anything to do with Jet Service, but here it goes.
I graduated from USM some 26 years ago, and the problem is still the same today. Somebody maybe Tully, or maybe the founding fathers of the Longleaf Trace(Lynn Catlidge etc.), maybe Shelby, I don't know, but somebody needs to spend some time working on a way find the funds for a pedestrian over-pass near Elams arms. It is ridiculous, kids dodging cars like bugs bunny. All we hear is it is to expensive, blah! blah! blah!

[AlphaMale]

I'm sure it would be a great economic development tool also.

[HillaryC]

funny hawk, but you could be right!

[SoMissTV]

Hi Hillary-

I served on a master plan committee for the university a few years ago. The point of building a pedestrian overpass was addressed within committee. The committee as a whole realized that although the need exists, utilization may not. Try telling a sleepy, hungover college student who is ten minutes late for class that he'll need to climb a flight of stairs to a walkway, and then down another flight of stairs just to cross the street. Nine times out of ten, he'll just cross at street-level. A better solution would be to raise the street-level (or lower it), and build a crossing or tunnel that does not require student to climb stairs. I'm sure someone is thinking that most students aren't that lazy, but trust me, the ones who create the traffic hazards are the ones who will continue to create traffic hazards even if a ped overpass were built. When you have limited available dollars, you have to maximize use, and the general consensus was that the money would be better spent elsewhere to create a greater impact.

[AlphaMale]

I don't believe every student at USM is lazy or a drunk. Congressman Gene Taylor said on WDAM last night that obesity is a problem here in the Pine Belt and people need to use the walking track to get to class. Are the students on the north side of USM more athletic than the south side students? Of course I'm only joking, but when I was a student in the 80's, a student was hit by a car trying to cross Hardy there at Elam Arms. It seems the University could possible be charged with negligence in a lawsuit one day.

[Lylabean]

Everytime I hear about an overpass being built for USM students it reminds me of the overpass Laurel built out of "need" and no one ever used and was eventually torn down(I think..)

students are used to bolting out in front of traffic...on campus at MSU driving was terrible...students acted like they had the right of way!

Lynn

[beggingforrelief]

Lyla, Are you talking about the bridge to no-where built by the famous Mayor Buckalew?

[Sir Mickey Mouse]

The bridge to no where is still in Laurel... but they are moving it to go between some of the stores so that it serves a purpose... going to go between Pasta's/Tiffany's and the art stores

And no, students don't need to be crossing Hardy

[Lylabean]

Lyla, Are you talking about the bridge to no-where built by the famous Mayor Buckalew?

yeah...i think on one side is a parking lot to the farmer's market and the other side is...what..the recycling center? (closest places to the bridge)

I haven't been to Laurel in while...never heard of Pasta/Tiffany's.

Lynn