FOX NEWS: 7 Surprising Ways Atlanta Competes With Silicon Valley

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by OneTrickNet

The reality is that Atlanta's culture doesn't attract innovators and thought leaders. It attracts those looking for the black mecca, neighbors from less economically viable states (looking at you, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina), and traditionalists looking for an increase in quality of life.

Nice to know that Black folks from SC, Mississippi, and Alabama (and interestingly the rest of Georgia, which I wouldn't exactly call "economically viable," was excluded for whatever reason) are automatically excluded from being "innovators and thought leaders" because of their race and where they were born. This is probably the most elitist, racist, and xenophobic crock of $HI+ I've ever read on this forum.

For Silicon Valley's economic success, it's still soulless suburbia that lacks diversity and an urban sense of place. Its only saving grace in this regard is being near San Francisco. Atlanta doesn't need to be another Silicon Valley to be successful and indeed has been successful without it. The city evolved from being a smallish Southern rail hub to being a top 10 metropolitan area in the U.S. and that's no small potatoes.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by bu2

Before you try to be the next "Silicon Valley," this article is a must read (no, I don't subscribe to GQ, just read it in a waiting room).

Silicon Valley is Lying to You | GQ

uh huh! excuses excuses lol

[skbl17]

Have to agree on the point that Atlanta should find ways to keep Tech grads in the state. Heck, from the politics to the flag rallies I'm not even sure if I'd want to live in Atlanta post-graduation. I love MARTA, but even that wouldn't keep me here if nothing changes.

- skbl17

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by OneTrickNet

I think compete is the wrong word. Atlanta has a lot going for it, but it'll never replace the true Silicon Valley.

Why?

You're not going to attract young people from California to Atlanta. I'm part of a recruiting team and it's very hard to get new talent out here. Whether you like it or not, Atlanta is in the South, in the bible belt. Talent from California - where they're surrounded by world-renowned innovative thinkers - do not want to come to a place where there are Confederate flag rallies. Or where hip-hop and your next recording deal is the most important thing. Heck, the city can't even figure out how to keep interstate lights on.

The reality is that Atlanta's culture doesn't attract innovators and thought leaders. It attracts those looking for the black mecca, neighbors from less economically viable states (looking at you, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina), and traditionalists looking for an increase in quality of life.

Until Atlanta promotes itself as a place for innovators and thought leaders instead of the above, you're not going to get to this new Silicon Valley that everyone keeps saying we are.

Man, you figured out how to insult nearly every single Georgian in one post. Well-done.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by skbl17

Have to agree on the point that Atlanta should find ways to keep Tech grads in the state. Heck, from the politics to the flag rallies I'm not even sure if I'd want to live in Atlanta post-graduation. I love MARTA, but even that wouldn't keep me here if nothing changes.

- skbl17

I think that's happening now with all of these companies locating in Tech Square; those are good jobs near the university in a highly urbanizing, energetic, transit-accessible district with a reasonable COL relatively speaking.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

uh huh! excuses excuses lol

Well when the choices are reading about Ben and Jen's divorce or Golf Digest when you aren't a golfer...

[therealpattman]

My only gripe against the state of Georgia has been the fact that all of it's balls are in one court and not more evenly spread among it's other cities. In regards to Atlanta as a city I think it's pretty remarkable the city is home to a number of fine institutions of higher education such as GA Tech, Georgia State, and the Atlanta University Center with Spelman, Clark Atlanta, Morris Brown and Morehouse College, not to mention if the city can somehow annex Druid Hills, Emory and the CDC would join it. That's a ton of young talent being produced in the same city. For all the crap Atlanta gets about failing to compete against the likes of Silicon Valley, name another city that has a booming film industry which is being talked about as the next Hollywood, a host of universities to produce a wide variety of talent, the number of fortune 500 and 1000 companies that are either located or doing business in the area, while maintaining a strong southern culture with a vast history that combines both Martin Luther King and the Confederacy in same location, is or has hosted multiple national and international events like the 1996 Olympics, not to mention the city is the capital of it's state. To me it seems the options in Atlanta are far greater then those found in Silicon Valley. For all of that I think the city is doing pretty well for itself.