How Atlanta Was Kept Out Of Cobb County By A 10-Foot-Wide City (Decatur: law, authority)

[atler8]

Actually the Georga legislature studied the issue of Atlanta annexation after a referendum of annexation failed to pass in the late 1940's. The legislature put together the proposal in 1951 & passed it which effectively tripled the area of Atlanta to around 118 square miles via what became known as "The Plan of Improvement".
It wasn't a case so much of this area saying "we want in" or that area saying "we don't want in" as it was a case of the legislature deciding how far Atlanta's boundaries would move outward.
Georgia state law was & still is a deterring factor that prevents the easy anexation of land or the easy incorporation of a place into a city or town. The fact that they "freed" Atlanta from the tight & burdensome small city limits boundaries present at that time was viewed in the context of Georgia law & tradition as being a rather progressive move for that era.
The idea of enlarging Atlanta even further north, say into the land that now comprises present day Sandy Springs or further east into central DeKalb County, did not gain consideration then given that the 1951 enlargement plan was thought to be of sufficient size to serve Atlanta's needs for the future.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by atler8

Actually the Georga legislature studied the issue of Atlanta annexation after a referendum of annexation failed to pass in the late 1940's. The legislature put together the proposal in 1951 & passed it which effectively tripled the area of Atlanta to around 118 square miles via what became known as "The Plan of Improvement".
It wasn't a case so much of this area saying "we want in" or that area saying "we don't want in" as it was a case of the legislature deciding how far Atlanta's boundaries would move outward.
Georgia state law was & still is a deterring factor that prevents the easy anexation of land or the easy incorporation of a place into a city or town. The fact that they "freed" Atlanta from the tight & burdensome small city limits boundaries present at that time was viewed in the context of Georgia law & tradition as being a rather progressive move for that era.
The idea of enlarging Atlanta even further north, say into the land that now comprises present day Sandy Springs or further east into central DeKalb County, did not gain consideration then given that the 1951 enlargement plan was thought to be of sufficient size to serve Atlanta's needs for the future.

I do remember talk of Atlanta annexing Sandy Springs and Fulton Industiral and even some of consolidating Atlanta and Fulton. I would say this was around the time of Sam Massell as mayor. I was but a young thing then and my memory is dim, not from forgetting, but from not paying attention better at the time. Do you have any memory on this?

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

I do remember talk of Atlanta annexing Sandy Springs and Fulton Industiral and even some of consolidating Atlanta and Fulton. I would say this was around the time of Sam Massell as mayor. I was but a young thing then and my memory is dim, not from forgetting, but from not paying attention better at the time. Do you have any memory on this?

Yes, Massell tried hard to annex Sandy Springs but they wouldn't go along with it.

There was also strong opposition from black leaders in the city of Atlanta.

[Eunomia]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Eunomia- You are the one evading questions. Can you please elaborate on the places you are referencing? And yes, I am talking more about places that are closed off and actively trying to prevent diversity, not just demographics.

Well that's different from what you earlier wrote when you said, "Any place that is exclusive to any one group is not one of the best communities". That was the reason I questioned you and wanted to know why you considered communities with either no, or hardly any, racial diversity to be inferior. That is also why I asked if you understood that there are communities in the world which lack racial diversity for reasons other than they adhere to some "master race" concept to which you alluded. But now it appears you are saying that a community can be "best" even if it is one race or mostly one race, so long as they aren't closed off and actively trying to prevent diversity. Am I correct?

I also noticed that in that earlier statement you basically acknowledged that there are communities in the world comprised of one (or mostly one) racial group. However, during the course of our discussion you changed and seem to now need me to give you proof of something of which you now claim to be unaware. There are plenty of communities in Asia and Africa in which most, if not all, citizens are of the same race. Even in America (please don't be shocked JoeTarheel) there are communities without any meaningful diversity. Heck, Atlanta has neighborhoods that are almost all black. Is Cascade inferior to Kirkwood because of it's significant lack of white people?

[Fubarbundy]

Originally Posted by Eunomia

That is a pitiful response. All I did was ask a simple question of member jsvh, to which he actually replied. If questions like mine upset you enough that you must jump in and defend others and try to silence me, then I suggest you either mind your own business or else be adult enough to give a substantive answer. You don't know how diverse the members are here, nor is that even relevant to the question I asked of one specific member.

Thought your question was to the whole forum, not just one person, maybe that's what Direct Messaging is for? Appreciate your concern, but I'm not upset, and was not trying to defend anyone or silence anyone. This is a local forum about the Atlanta area, and this thread in particular about the origins of Chattahoochee Plantation as referenced in a WABE article. That's why I questioned the relevance of hypothetically asking about odd unnamed regions of the planet that only consist of a few related family members (kissing cousins, as it were). It just seemed off-topic for this local forum thread and thus inappropriate. My bad.

Wondering now (to make your question relevant), maybe back in the day Cobb was populated by inbred xenophobics? Shudder to think of that!

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Yes, Massell tried hard to annex Sandy Springs but they wouldn't go along with it.

There was also strong opposition from black leaders in the city of Atlanta.

This is an excellent point by arjay.

Like I alluded to in a previous post, black leaders in the City of Atlanta strongly opposed the annexation of outlying areas (like Sandy Springs, parts of Cobb County, etc) because those CoA black leaders feared that the annexation of those then-overwhelmingly predominantly white areas would dilute the power and strength (and domination) of what was then an emerging black majority in the City of Atlanta....An emerging black majority that has culminated in the election of African-American politicians for mayor in 11 straight elections.

[atler8]

Saintmarks
Like you I was young at the time but the main reason I wasn't paying attention to what was going on with annexation talk in the Sam Massell mayoral days was because I didn't live here then. LOL!
Since moving here 35 plus years ago I've read a lot on Atlanta annexation issues because the topic has interested me & that's how I knew about the early 1950's bold annexation move that brought in Buckhead as well as large swaths of land into the south central & southwest portions of the city.
I have come to the conclusion that for a variety of reasons, Atlanta's potential city size was constrained artificially small because of the strict state laws on annexation. Since the 1951 Plan of Improvement annexation I mentioned earlier, those laws have effectively kept the City of Atlanta severely smaller than it could have been, especially in view of the huge size that the metro area grew into.

[mapmd]

I always found city annexation interesting since I live in an area (Baltimore metro) where the city boundaries have been fixed for over 90 years and which only ever saw two expansions. It is effectively a county.

I remember living in Fayetteville, NC where there was contention over annexing some neighborhoods. I don't remember fully , but some of the southern neighborhoods were either very close to or even extending into counties other than Cumberland. In the end it was about wealth and class (the residents of these neighborhoods did not want to pay extra taxes to the city, and the city wanted an increased tax base.

It was the first time I had ever heard of cities "grabbing" territory and I've just always found it interesting that this is the primary way cities in this country are run. A friend of mine lives in Oklahoma city, which after Houston is the physically largest city in the country (I think) and they seem to just keep on expanding.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by atler8

I have come to the conclusion that for a variety of reasons, Atlanta's potential city size was constrained artificially small because of the strict state laws on annexation. Since the 1951 Plan of Improvement annexation I mentioned earlier, those laws have effectively kept the City of Atlanta severely smaller than it could have been, especially in view of the huge size that the metro area grew into.

I'm immediately thinking of places like Dallas and Houston. Metros that aren't that much larger but have core city populations much larger. Houston proper is over 2 million. Even San Antonio is over 1 mil.

[jero23]

It's wonders what extraterritorial jurisdiction provisions of a state code can do for an eager to annex city. Yeah, North Carolina and Texas are 2 states where it is allowed all willy-nilly...