Metro Atlanta economy and reputation again at risk with new culture war battles (Religious Liberty, Abortion, etc) (Baldwin: legally, bill)

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

(Remember, it was the Fayette County Commission’s resolution in support of a religious liberty bill that led Facebook to cancel plans to build its data center in Fayetteville.).

Do you have a source for that? This is the first time I'm hearing of it.

My understanding is that it was due to complications with ownership of the land they desired.

[walker1962]

One thing that I see as problematic for Georgia is so much of the state's livelihood is tied to one market/region -Atlanta, which also is the Capital. That is, you have state level politicians directly attempting and occasionally achieving significant impact on issues locally. In a state like Texas or even NC, I think local control is more significant and can counter-balance those on the extreme ends of the political spectrum. Also, I think the state's constitution plays a role. In Texas, the Governor has less power than one would think whereas the LT. Gov and Speaker have significant sway. But also mayors of Dallas, Houston, etc. have representatives who reflect great diversity. LARGE populations and big economic pull those in the capital can't ignore. The City of Atlanta, despite its brand, is itself not very large. I think that hinders its ability to control the narrative like say a Houston or Dallas/Fort Worth.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by walker1962

One thing that I see as problematic for Georgia is so much of the state's livelihood is tied to one market/region -Atlanta, which also is the Capital. That is, you have state level politicians directly attempting and occasionally achieving significant impact on issues locally. In a state like Texas or even NC, I think local control is more significant and can counter-balance those on the extreme ends of the political spectrum. Also, I think the state's constitution plays a role. In Texas, the Governor has less power than one would think whereas the LT. Gov and Speaker have significant sway. But also mayors of Dallas, Houston, etc. have representatives who reflect great diversity. LARGE populations and big economic pull those in the capital can't ignore. The City of Atlanta, despite its brand, is itself not very large. I think that hinders its ability to control the narrative like say a Houston or Dallas/Fort Worth.

TX is different in that it has multiple major cities that can all band together to combat legislation that could negatively impact its metropolitan areas. NC is a different story these days as its state legislature seems intent on implementing a hard-right agenda after the GOP took control in 2010. But things may calm down somewhat since it now has a Dem governor again and the gerrymandering there was successfully challenged in the state courts.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by citidata18

Do you have a source for that? This is the first time I'm hearing of it.

My understanding is that it was due to complications with ownership of the land they desired.

I can’t find the links but this has been written about in the Fayette County media and publicly acknowledged by both the mayor of Fayetteville and the head of the FC Development Authority.

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

I can’t find the links but this has been written about in the Fayette County media and publicly acknowledged by both the mayor of Fayetteville and the head of the FC Development Authority.

Interesting. The Citizen and the president of the FCDA mentions nothing about that in the below article.

https://thecitizen.com/2018/03/14/fa...e-data-center/

I mean, it wouldn't surprise me, but if that was the actual dealbreaker, Newton County isn't much better. See the controversy below about building a Mosque there.

https://www.ajc.com/blog/kyle-wingfi...bxZX0qI3jGQ3I/

Furthermore, if leaders backing such a initiative at the local level is such a dealbreaker, it hasn't hurt the the fastest growing county in Georgia (a county that continues to attract a bunch of tech workers/companies spilling over from Alpharetta and is seeing new housing permits of 3,000 to 3,500 per year) whose Senator was also a co-sponsor of the RFRA last year.

And lastly, if being by the airport was a critical reason for their preference of Fayette County in the first place, they could have just moved a few miles down the road to Coweta County where they have more experience managing such megasite projects and its Senator did not vote in support ot the RFRA, instead of moving clear across the other side of town.

http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/...x?VoteID=14868

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

(Remember, it was the Fayette County Commission’s resolution in support of a religious liberty bill that led Facebook to cancel plans to build its data center in Fayetteville.)

Originally Posted by citidata18

Do you have a source for that? This is the first time I'm hearing of it.

My understanding is that it was due to complications with ownership of the land they desired.

Originally Posted by Newsboy

I can’t find the links but this has been written about in the Fayette County media and publicly acknowledged by both the mayor of Fayetteville and the head of the FC Development Authority.

Originally Posted by citidata18

Interesting. The Citizen and the president of the FCDA mentions nothing about that in the below article.

https://thecitizen.com/2018/03/14/fa...e-data-center/

I mean, it wouldn't surprise me, but if that was the actual dealbreaker, Newton County isn't much better. See the controversy below about building a Mosque there.

https://www.ajc.com/blog/kyle-wingfi...bxZX0qI3jGQ3I/

Furthermore, if leaders backing such a initiative at the local level is such a dealbreaker, it hasn't hurt the the fastest growing county in Georgia (a county that continues to attract a bunch of tech workers/companies spilling over from Alpharetta and is seeing new housing permits of 3,000 to 3,500 per year) whose Senator was also a co-sponsor of the RFRA last year.

And lastly, if being by the airport was a critical reason for their preference of Fayette County in the first place, they could have just moved a few miles down the road to Coweta County where they have more experience managing such megasite projects and its Senator did not vote in support ot the RFRA, instead of moving clear across the other side of town.

Senate Vote #74 - 2017-2018 Regular Session

Here is a link to a story on the Fayette County News website that goes into some bit of detail about the passage of the resolution by the Fayette County Board of Commissioners urging the Georgia General Assembly to pass Religious Liberty legislation into Georgia state law...

County votes to support controversial ‘religious freedom’ bills (Fayette County News, 12 January 2018)


Here is also a link to a story on the Fayette County Citizen newspaper website talking about after Facebook decided against putting their new data center in Fayette County...

Facebook says no to Fayette data center (The Citizen, 14 March 2018)

The story does not cite the passage of the pro-Religious Liberty resolution by the Fayette County Board of Commissioners as the reason why Facebook decided against placing its data center in the county.

But it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that making such a high-profile gesture in support of highly controversial legislation that many think encourages widespread discrimination, starting with and aimed directly at the LGBTQ community, most likely was not at all helpful to Fayette County's prospects of landing such a major economic development project.

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Here is a link to a story on the Fayette County News website that goes into some bit of detail about the passage of the resolution by the Fayette County Board of Commissioners urging the Georgia General Assembly to pass Religious Liberty legislation into Georgia state law...

County votes to support controversial ‘religious freedom’ bills (Fayette County News, 12 January 2018)


Here is also a link to a story on the Fayette County Citizen newspaper website talking about after Facebook decided against putting their new data center in Fayette County...

Facebook says no to Fayette data center (The Citizen, 14 March 2018)

The story does not cite the passage of the pro-Religious Liberty resolution by the Fayette County Board of Commissioners as the reason why Facebook decided against placing its data center in the county.

But it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that making such a high-profile gesture in support of highly controversial legislation that many think encourages widespread discrimination, starting with and aimed directly at the LGBTQ community, most likely was not at all helpful to Fayette County's prospects of landing such a major economic development project.

Like I said, it wouldn't surprise me if that was the dealbreaker.

I know of someone who was relocating out of state to work in Columbus and wanted to be close to Atlanta (because their spouse worked north of the city), yet they had completely written off Newnan from consideration because of the KKK rally and instead shifted their focus entirely to Peachtree City (despite it adding over 15-20 minutes to their commute to/from Columbus everyday).

But every situation is different. With Facebook, for all of the perfectly valid reasons I stated, it's an awfully big leap to make without more evidence to suggest that were the case.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by citidata18

Like I said, it wouldn't surprise me if that was the dealbreaker.

I know of someone who was relocating out of state to work in Columbus and wanted to be close to Atlanta (because their spouse worked north of the city), yet they had completely written off Newnan from consideration because of the KKK rally and instead shifted their focus entirely to Peachtree City (despite it adding over 15-20 minutes to their commute to/from Columbus everyday).

But every situation is different. With Facebook, for all of the perfectly valid reasons I stated, it's an awfully big leap to make without more evidence to suggest that were the case.

HERE’S THE LINK: Apparently the resolution was ONE of the reasons

https://thecitizen.com/2018/12/14/pu...om-resolution/

“Another speaker was Fayette County Development Authority Chairman Darryl Hicks, who commented on issues relating to economic development.

Hicks said Fayette, at one point, was first on the list of a major development last year. Hicks did not note the name, though it was Facebook.

Hicks said the feedback FCDA received indicated that one of the three reasons why Fayette slipped to the No. 2 project site on the list, was due to the religious freedom resolution adopted by the commission.”

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

HERE’S THE LINK: Apparently the resolution was ONE of the reasons

https://thecitizen.com/2018/12/14/pu...om-resolution/

“Another speaker was Fayette County Development Authority Chairman Darryl Hicks, who commented on issues relating to economic development.

Hicks said Fayette, at one point, was first on the list of a major development last year. Hicks did not note the name, though it was Facebook.

Hicks said the feedback FCDA received indicated that one of the three reasons why Fayette slipped to the No. 2 project site on the list, was due to the religious freedom resolution adopted by the commission.”

Thanks!

[LynnHarris1]

The Writers Guild of America released a statement Tuesday saying that if the Georgia legislature and Governor Brian Kemp were to pass the “heartbeat” abortion bill, it might cause Hollywood TV and film production to go elsewhere.

“This law would make Georgia an inhospitable place for those in the film and television industry to work, including our members..."

FULL STORY: https://www.ajc.com/blog/radiotvtalk...OzdiMyKZSC2ZJ/

SOURCE: AJC