My moonshot idea for Atlanta. (Nashville, Clayton: 2014, home, schools)

[Ha-Mez]

New York City was just Manhattan and a portion of the Bronx until in 1898 it consolidated with Brooklyn, Staten Island, part of Queens and the rest of the Bronx. In the 20th century, New York became a powerhouse for Atlanta.

Atlanta is set to grow to 8 million in the next few decades.

A big part of Atlanta's issues come from balkanization- Cobb has its own government, the City and Fulton have their own governments, and then there's DeKalb and Clayton. These governments all control a big swath of the metro Atlanta population, but they are uncoordinated (see: snowpocalypse) and even sometimes antagonistic to one another. If Atlanta is going to gain another 4 million people, this lack of coordination cannot continue. Which leads me to my big, ridiculous solution.

Consolidate all of Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, and Clayton into one single city/county government.

Unlikely? Of course it's unlikely. But still, think about it. One city/county tax. One transit agency. One utilities company. Coordination in infrastructure, planning, transportation, etc. United efforts to attract businesses to the area. City. Suburbs. Rural areas too. One Atlanta to rule them all.

Based on 2010 Census numbers, this huge Atlanta would have a population of over 3.5 million, making it the third largest city in the US behind LA and NY. By land area, it would be far larger than any city outside of Alaska. But land area hasn't been a big problem in other county-consolidated cities like Nashville, so I don't see the huge land area being a big problem.

And that's my big idea. You may now laugh at me and call me stupid.

[cwkimbro]

Its not stupid. I've pondered the same thing.

It still won't happen...

We do need a regional political entity coordinate things if the state won't, which could only happen with a state law. That is the main problem is its mostly state and federal roads that cross county borders.

[Brian]

I would love for that to come true. I could be wrong, but I think it would be easier for Atlanta to model after London rather than New York City.

[sedimenjerry]

Who do you keep and who do let go? I don't want anyone from Dekalb's leadership representing me. Other counties/COA I'm fine with. The balkanization is an issue, but at it's core it's not just because of all these different entities, it's because that's how this metro area really is. This would muddy up local politics. Instead of having these different counties fight each other, it would just be more infighting. If we go back in time and start fresh, maybe it would work similar to Harris County, TX and a large City of Houston, but not likely with this much development having already taken place.

[jsvh]

I have said before I would love something like this.

But it won't happen any time soon.

[demonta4]

I can understand combining the counties but It's not gonna work if everybody is considered Atlanta. We need to keep our city identities. Some of the suburbs have been here as long as or close to the amount of time Atlanta has and they have history that would be destroyed by a large COA. Also local control is important and small city councils are more responsive than larger ones. I think a fully incorporated Atlanta County would be fine.

[Sualpine]

Becoming more like New York City is exactly what Atlanta needs.

[skbl17]

Originally Posted by Ha-Mez

New York City was just Manhattan and a portion of the Bronx until in 1898 it consolidated with Brooklyn, Staten Island, part of Queens and the rest of the Bronx. In the 20th century, New York became a powerhouse for Atlanta.

Atlanta is set to grow to 8 million in the next few decades.

A big part of Atlanta's issues come from balkanization- Cobb has its own government, the City and Fulton have their own governments, and then there's DeKalb and Clayton. These governments all control a big swath of the metro Atlanta population, but they are uncoordinated (see: snowpocalypse) and even sometimes antagonistic to one another. If Atlanta is going to gain another 4 million people, this lack of coordination cannot continue. Which leads me to my big, ridiculous solution.

Consolidate all of Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett, and Clayton into one single city/county government.

Unlikely? Of course it's unlikely. But still, think about it. One city/county tax. One transit agency. One utilities company. Coordination in infrastructure, planning, transportation, etc. United efforts to attract businesses to the area. City. Suburbs. Rural areas too. One Atlanta to rule them all.

Based on 2010 Census numbers, this huge Atlanta would have a population of over 3.5 million, making it the third largest city in the US behind LA and NY. By land area, it would be far larger than any city outside of Alaska. But land area hasn't been a big problem in other county-consolidated cities like Nashville, so I don't see the huge land area being a big problem.

And that's my big idea. You may now laugh at me and call me stupid.

You're stupid. Just kidding.

Like cwkimbro, I've thought about something like this in the past. It's a very, very tall order. You'd have to convince families, for instance, that their way of life wouldn't change if something like this was attempted. Would schools stay 100% local? Would a hypothetical "Greater Atlanta Board of Education" exist, and if so, to what extent would it have power over local schools? Those two questions would really sway a lot of people.

How would taxation change? Would taxes go up overall, or would they go down? How many services would "Greater Atlanta" provide, versus local boroughs/municipalities? Would the permitting and business licensing systems be simplified, or more complicated? These would also affect how people would treat a "Greater Atlanta". One unified set of business licensing rules could make things more attractive for businesses in that they don't have to follow 40+ sets of different rules.

How would people be represented in a hypothetical Metro Council? Specifically, how would seats be allocated such that nobody's influence is diluted to the point of non-representation? How many powers would be divided between "Greater Atlanta" and local boroughs/municipalities? Again, these are things that would sway public opinion.

Now, if events like January 28, 2014 happen more frequently, then the case for some kind of metro government could be strengthened. One of the many issues on 1/28 was the utter lack of coordination between state and various city and county governments. One of the issues with the 2012 T-SPLOST was the utter lack of any kind of regional cohesion: the regional vote wasn't really a regional plan.

- skbl17

[thebigATL]

Petition? I like this idea!

[jsvh]

Here is how I think you get this done:

Step 1: Strip all counties of their home rule powers and create a new "town" / "village" / "incorporated area" tier below a city. Any area that wants more government services beyond the bare courts-and-not-much-else level that counties now provide would need to incorporate into a city or a new more limited "town". Many states already function this way. And it should not be that impossible to get done if you sell it as a step to limit government, reduce duplicative service, and limit county corruption. You could also incorporate all unincorporated space in a county into one town if people did not want to loose services.

Step 2: Give it a few years for this all to shake out and county identiries to fade. Then unite all the core counties into one large "Atlanta County" which at this point would really be little more than an upgraded ARC plus consolidated courts.

Step 3: Pass a measure to re-label "Atlanta County" as a city and all the incorporated spaces inside as "boroughs".

Step 4: Shift government services between the new "Atlanta City" and it's boroughs as needed.