James May-June 2025 web - Flipbook - Page 31
Christmas parades, nearly 200 beautiful parks, Lake Tobesofkee and jet
ski races….and much, much more. All
bringing people here.
And we’re not done. Our community overwhelmingly passed
renewing the one-cent sales tax— or
SPLOST— for capital projects. So,
we’re going to replace our outdated
convention center, moving it to the
other side of the river and making
it better connected to our historic
downtown. It will be connected to a
new hotel and with our location
at the center of the state,
we will be the new hub
for conferences.
We’re going
to rebuild our
coliseum. While
the current one
has history, it is
long outdated
and there are only
so many improvements that can be
made. We already host
state high school championships, but we could have so
much more.
Thanks to this work and focus,
visitor spending was up 2.1 percent
since 2022, bringing in $458.3 million
to our community and $13 million in
local taxes. That means each household is saving $600 in taxes because
of visitor spending.
The Atrium Health Amphitheater alone was responsible for more
than $20 million of spending in the
community. The Georgia High School
Association’s wrestling residency at
the Macon Coliseum by itself had an
economic impact of $3.35 million.
Thanks to this work and focus,
Newtown Macon was able to earn us
the Great American Mainstreet Award,
and Visit Macon has attracted us
national media attention, including the
Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical
Park being selected for Time’s 2025
World’s Greatest Places list.
All of this and more is helping
strengthen and grow our community. We know that quality of life
is a big factor when the
Industrial Authority is
recruiting new industries. In 2024 alone,
they helped bring
in more than $1
billion in private
investment by our
industry partners,
and that, I know, is
because of the work
of that team and the
experiences created
through our hospitality and
tourism industry.
So, my thanks go to our welcoming community. It’s the people who
live here that are truly our heart, and
they make me proud every day. It’s
uplifting to go to these facilities and
events and see their smiling faces and
to see them interact with our visitors.
Attorney and businessman Lester Miller is the second mayor of Macon-Bibb County’s consolidated
government and the community’s first new mayor
in 13 years
M AY/J UNE 2025
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