Around Town: Here Comes The Boom (Economic, That Is)

Growth and growing pains are coming as Northwest Georgia’s economy expands along with the rest of the state.

What’s the target? Rural Georgia.

“Companies that are changing the global economy love rural Georgia,” Georgia Chamber President and CEO Chris Clark told the Rome News-Tribune during a visit with the Rome Floyd Chamber last week.

But there’s two problems — workforce and housing challenges.

“For every three jobs advertised... only one person is looking for a job,” Clark said. “And that’s not going to change for a while.”

That means companies need to make sure they’re working to keep their employees, especially through new growth opportunities.

“Show your employees that you have the best pathways for growth,” he said. “Because almost 80% of them are on Indeed.com looking for a new job right now.”

Congrats grads

For many, graduation is the culmination of years of hard work, determination and extracurricular activities.

We’d like to commend all our graduates on the work they’ve put in to get to this point.

We’d also like to thank those educators who put students’ needs first and who go above and beyond their normal duties and time commitments to make sure students have the best chance to succeed. Our educational system as a whole is increasingly bogged down by politics and bureaucracy, making it tougher and tougher for educators to actually just educate students.

We appreciate the administration, faculty and staff of our local schools who wade through all the paperwork to get to our students and uplift them each and every day.

Teachers take that time off and get your rest before the next school year.

The profession post-covid has been a difficult time, but please don’t give up on your passion to educate our children.

The morale of the educator community was hilariously (and accurately) portrayed in the Saturday Night Live skit — run on May 11 during Teacher Appreciation Week no less — “Y’all won.”

The skit talks about the give-and-take between teachers and their students and the issues that seem to have cropped up since the pandemic.

“From every teacher to those rude, sticky, illiterate children, we give up,” one of the actors said as her fellow teachers gathered to deliver a final, “Y’all won.”

It’s not over yet, teachers. People have gone a little crazy over the past four years; we’re just hoping it’ll equalize and we can exchange this new normal for a little bit of sanity.

Game, set, match

The much vilified Rome Tennis Center has been quietly going about its business bringing hundreds upon hundreds of players and their families to Rome. It seems almost weekly there are professional tournaments, college conference championships, wheelchair tournaments or league state tournaments.

We don’t have to remind you that every time those events bring people to town, that means dollars are being pumped into our community in a variety of ways. And for those who still think the courts don’t benefit them, during the school tennis season, the Rome Tennis Center is used as the home courts for several local tennis teams on which OUR children play.

No Rush on E. 6th Ave.

There is no longer a Rush on East Sixth Avenue — Dr. Rush, that is. The dental practice of Kyle Rush DMD (with its friendly and comforting staff) has moved to a new and bigger location (not far from the previous office) to better serve their clients. The new location is 710 E. First St., formerly the Neely Center.

Popcorn & Politics

The second verse of the 2024 election season is almost over. After the primaries, we move on to the bitter fight that is the race for U.S. President.

But until then, we have two pretty important races. One: Floyd County’s chief law enforcement officer, the sheriff. Two: the custodian of some of the county’s most important records, the clerk of court.

Here’s the thing, this race is going to be determined by who the candidates associate with. Barbara Penson and Robbie Whitfield have been backed by a GOP spinoff party and Dave Roberson and Mary Hardin Thornton, it looks like, by the rest of the community.

Those numbers add up. Hopefully, we’ll see some community interest (and more ballots cast) today.

Condolences

Our community lost two men recently who have had an impact on Rome, each in their own way.

Bob Blumberg was a downtown fixture. One-time owner of Johnny’s New York Style Pizza, Bob was well known and well liked in the Rome community. He brought a wealth of business expertise to the community and shared his experience and knowledge with those who asked.

He was a mentor to other local entrepreneurs and business owners.

We remember Bob speaking at career day events and to local high school students about his experience in the world of business, offering them invaluable advice from which they could learn.

Bob made a big impact on the downtown Rome scene and he made many friends in the process.

David Prusakowski was a well known and well liked insurance agent in town. His professional and personal network extended to a good deal of the community.

In 2008 we saw David introduce himself as a new State Farm Insurance agent to a large gathering at the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce’s Business Before Hours event.

Since that time he made a name for himself in the insurance and business sectors.

We also saw David being active in a variety of community activities and lending his time and resources to several local organizations.

These men, each in their special way, contributed to our community’s growth and left their mark on Rome and Floyd County. The Rome News-Tribune would like to extend our deepest condolences to their families and friends.