This county has become a suburb

Instead of a big sign which says ?Welcome to the Nursery Capital of the World? greeting motorists as they enter Warren County?s borders, maybe we should go with a more accurate sign which reads ?Welcome to the suburbs.?

Whether you like it or not, Warren County has become a suburb of Nashville, Murfreesboro and perhaps even Chattanooga and Franklin to a degree, with a large portion of our workforce strapping in every morning for a 45 to 90 minute commute to work. With the departure of Carrier and other plants, the only alternative for good-paying jobs is to go out of town.

Although we may not realize it given our loss of jobs here, the country itself is, despite a war in Iraq and the aftereffects of Hurricane Katrina, in good economic shape. Have you noticed there aren?t many political commercials this year bashing the economy? That?s because it?s relatively strong throughout most of the country as it?s enjoying its upward swing. For some reason, Warren County is always behind the curve as we were enjoying a good job market here during the last national recession but things have gone to pot even as the rest of the country is doing better.

The reason for this is our dogged reliance on assembly plants. These businesses will always come and go on 20- to 30-year cycles as the companies know it?s easier just to build a new plant once one is antiquated rather than to retool one. This means we will have sharp drops in employment here so long as we rely on these type jobs, especially now with the world economy where Mexicans and Chinese will do it at a fraction of the cost in their countries.

While jobs are leaving Warren County, seemingly on a steady basis, have you ever wondered why it?s virtually impossible to buy building land in McMinnville due to its high demand, and who is living in all these fine new houses being built? If we?re in such bad condition, where are the jobs that are feeding our area.

Well, they?re not here. Instead, folks have discovered a boom town called Murfreesboro just 45 minutes away, a short stop on the highway to Nashville where there are also good-paying jobs to those with experience and education. And, with improvements on Nashville Highway now under way, look for this trend to double as plants get harder to get here while people learn you can get a better pay scale by driving down the road a short distance.

I?m not saying this is completely bad. Unlike some folks who want this place to grow like Murfreesboro, I?m an old-school kind of guy who likes the smaller city life. The last estimates showed us growing by about a percent, which I think is a good, healthy growth. Have you been to the urban sprawl of Murfreesboro lately? Did you know Rutherford County now has well over 200,000 people? While it may be good for commerce, it?s not a place I?d want to live in with its traffic and increasing crime rate.

Actually, I think it?s a slower pace of life and a lower cost of living which keeps people coming back here even though they may work elsewhere. They?ve found they can go make good money by running with the rat race in the large towns but come back to their safe haven in Warren County at the end of the day to live the part of their lives which matter.

Sure, it?d be nice to have more locally grown employment opportunities but I think the wave of the future is for the Nursery Capital to go hand in hand with the Suburb title.

Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].