Betting on Atlanta (crime, job market, college)

[BringBackCobain]

Interesting opinion piece on the "fate" of Atlanta from the New York Times.

Betting on Atlanta - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com

The comments are interesting as well.

In my opinion, if the actual City of Atlanta can get its act together (control crime, lower taxes, increase diversity, improve leadership), it will put the whole region in the right direction.

[Yakuza Rich]

Great article. Nailed so much here. But I see bigger problems here than the author does.

Crime is an issue.

But the traffic is even bigger. I can't remember who wrote about it, but the city had an expert discuss some of the problems with Atlanta and the major one being that the traffic is so bad that companies are not considering moving to Atlanta anymore.

One of the reasons why I'm looking to move is that the job market is not that great, mainly because of the high rate of college grads in the area (like the article points out). That's an issue because while it indicates a high level of skilled people in the area, you need innovators to develop new products and markets so these people can be employed or not underemployed.

The crime was horrible in Atlanta for virtually the past 15 years and it hasn't really effected the economic levels any, IMO.




YAKUZA

[aries4118]

Good article...and hopeful.


I like how he it upon three major points Atlanta has in its favor:


1. Regional dominance/Capital of the American South.

2. Business-friendly environment.

3. Highly-skilled/educated workforce and population.

[marvettecritney]

Good article... I think that we as individuals have to do our part to participate in making Atlanta Metro a much better place....