Hey Georgia......welcome to REALITY

[Indentured Servant]

Originally Posted by johnatl

Of course I have been to Chicago, many times in fact. I guess it makes a whole lot of sense to compare the two cities - right? And I really don't care if you went to GSU or not. To claim that downtown Atlanta doesn't have density is idiotic for someone who should know better.

Let me retrack by first asking you what your goal was in stating that what was going on in Downtown Grand Rapids looked liked a typical suburb of Atlanta? Why the subjective juxtaposition by you....then you get upset with my for my subjective juxtapostion of Atlanta to Chicago? The high rises in Atlanta are too far spaced apart....elongating the downtown area and not really making it walkable. Your downtown goes to mid town and up through buckhead with a lot of space in between. I live in Minneapolis now and all the buildings are pretty close together.....like most Northern Urban downtowns.

[Indentured Servant]

Actually.....GR would not be the first place in Michigan I would recommend. That would be A2.....Ann Arbor.

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by johnatl

That's basically like saying that part of the Titanic hasn't started taking on water yet. Things are not as rosy in Grand Rapids as this guy would have you believe, trust me.

I never said things in GR were rosy, I said better than most of Michigan.

[thenewNewEnglander]

Originally Posted by Indentured Servant

I think what is clear from that list is which areas are overdependent....or hard hit, by a particular sector of the economy. Detroit = Autos, NY = Financial. Atlanta = Housing/Real Estate. Of those.....the only REAL production economy is Detroit. Real estate should not drive an economy nor money trading. Those should be secondary and tertiary to a production economy.

Damn straight and well said Indentured. Growth is not an industry and is never infinite. Basic economics tells us that all economies are cyclical, not even centrally planned economies can expand forever.

[thenewNewEnglander]

Originally Posted by johnatl

Atlanta is way more diversified than your simplistic Housing/Real Estate economy label. Real estate is and has alway been a big part of the local economy, but it is by no means the driver in any way.

Phoenix, Las Vegas and Miami all fit the bill way more than Atlanta does.

Oh, and your pcitures are nice - but that looks like typical suburban Atlanta development.

You are absolutely true when pointing out the fates of Phoenix, Vegas, and Miami...

and those pics look like new development EVERYWHERE in AMERICA today... not just Atlanta

[thenewNewEnglander]

Originally Posted by Indentured Servant

Let me retrack by first asking you what your goal was in stating that what was going on in Downtown Grand Rapids looked liked a typical suburb of Atlanta? Why the subjective juxtaposition by you....then you get upset with my for my subjective juxtapostion of Atlanta to Chicago? The high rises in Atlanta are too far spaced apart....elongating the downtown area and not really making it walkable. Your downtown goes to mid town and up through buckhead with a lot of space in between. I live in Minneapolis now and all the buildings are pretty close together.....like most Northern Urban downtowns.

It is true that Atlanta is very spread out. Long term this wont matter as it will fill in with continuous development. But for the mean time its a bit impractical. And eventually it will in fact be huge. But then it will also just become all of the things that Atlantans criticize about various Northern cities...

It aint all gonna be shiny and new, clean, or friendly.