In-town job growth (Atlanta, Sandy Springs, East Point: 2013, insurance, crime)

[jsvh]

In-town job growth | Atlanta Forward

News of employment activity in downtown Atlanta was topped off recently when we learned Coca-Cola expects to relocate at least 500 workers to the city core from the ‘burbs in Cobb County. Is Atlanta experiencing a sustainable in-town jobs migration? Today’s guest columnists weigh that possibility as well as its regional significance.

I have seen America’s future prosperity. It is downtown, and it gets to work by public transit.

That’s why companies like Coca-Cola, Panasonic, Athenahealth, ExactTarget and Asurion Insurance Services are moving jobs into Atlanta. Like smart companies in most U.S. cities, they are voting with their feet for a winning urban future.

There’s no stampede yet back to the city. The long-term thinning of jobs continues. However, a recent Brookings Institution study found that “job sprawl” slowed during the Great Recession, if only because job loss was greatest in outlying areas. That was more true in the metro Atlanta area than nationally.

I’m betting on the back-to-the-city crowd. Why? Because employers on the transit grid have fuller access to regional labor markets. Because tech-savvy Millennials are giving up car ownership in record numbers. Because locating on transit says a company favors energy-efficiency, workforce diversity and quality of life — winning corporate traits.

The shift of jobs outward and away from the urban core can create a host of regional challenges. It can mean a strain on infrastructure, more cars on the road, longer commutes and higher transportation costs. And it can make it harder for low-income residents to reach employment opportunities elsewhere. Research at the Brookings Institute has found that, though 88 percent of the region’s poor lives in suburbs, less than a third of suburban residents have access to transit; those who do can reach only 17 percent of the region’s jobs in a 90-minute commute.

A region can grow outward in smart ways — encouraging dense and mixed-use development in both the urban core and in suburbs, and linking up planning around jobs, housing, transportation and land use. Without policy action to encourage a different course, renewed job growth will likely bring a return to “job sprawl” as usual.

[JoeTarheel]

Yay Atlanta!

[arjay57]

I sure hope we get some jobs back. Between 2000 and 2009, we lost 90,000 jobs -- nearly 20% of our work force.

[Atlanta_BD]

Maybe moving more jobs back into the city will force transit to improve. But by the same token, if 88% of the region's poor live in the suburbs (no surprise since only 8% of the metro pop. in general lives in the city) and there's no good transit there, is there any incentive for transit to be improved so the poor can have access to work? People are already against transit because they fear it would bring the poor and in turn crime into their communities.

It all goes back to the question of will MARTA expand enough so that everyone who wants or needs access to transit can have it, whether they live/work in the city or the burbs. Also many people who are gainfully employed by these companies who live in the 'burbs, do they want to live in the city?

[JoeTarheel]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

Maybe moving more jobs back into the city will force transit to improve. But by the same token, if 88% of the region's poor live in the suburbs (no surprise since only 8% of the metro pop. in general lives in the city) and there's no good transit there, is there any incentive for transit to be improved so the poor can have access to work? People are already against transit because they fear it would bring the poor and in turn crime into their communities.

It all goes back to the question of will MARTA expand enough so that everyone who wants or needs access to transit can have it, whether they live/work in the city or the burbs. Also many people who are gainfully employed by these companies who live in the 'burbs, do they want to live in the city?

What is it with people claiming that MARTA doesn't go to the suburbs? It goes to several suburbs...Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, College Park, Decatur, East Point, Doraville, Chamblee, Avondale Estates, etc.

I'm not sure that the perception of crime associated with MARTA is quite as strong as it was in past decades. That's kind of an outdated outlook as Atlanta's suburbs have diversified and it has been proven that suburbs don't turn into crime fests when MARTA comes to town.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by JoeTarheel

What is it with people claiming that MARTA doesn't go to the suburbs? It goes to several suburbs...Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, College Park, Decatur, East Point, Doraville, Chamblee, Avondale Estates, etc.

It does go to the suburbs but doesn't cover the suburbs well. It only goes so far. And many suburbs that have MARTA, the major thoroughfares that should have buses going all the way down them, don't. If you don't live right on MARTA in these burbs, you still can't get around because it's not expansive. And the lack of sidewalks makes things worse. There are still many burbs MARTA doesn't cover that would benefit from it in terms of people going into downtown to work.

Originally Posted by JoeTarheel

I'm not sure that the perception of crime associated with MARTA is quite as strong as it was in past decades. That's kind of an outdated outlook as Atlanta's suburbs have diversified and it has been proven that suburbs don't turn into crime fests when MARTA comes to town.

Yet this is still the reason why people say they don't want MARTA to expand into certain areas. People are against transit in the region. As long as that is the case, it won't improve. Even if more companies move to downtown, which would be great, it would still be difficult to get to work if you don't live right on, or very near to MARTA. So those employees who live in the burbs with the relocation, if they don't live right on MARTA, it still doesn't benefit them if they don't want to/can't live in the city along transit.

[JoeTarheel]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

It does go to the suburbs but doesn't cover the suburbs well. It only goes so far. And many suburbs that have MARTA, the major thoroughfares that should have buses going all the way down them, don't. If you don't live right on MARTA in these burbs, you still can't get around because it's not expansive. And the lack of sidewalks makes things worse. There are still many burbs MARTA doesn't cover that would benefit from it in terms of people going into downtown to work.



Yet this is still the reason why people say they don't want MARTA to expand into certain areas. People are against transit in the region. As long as that is the case, it won't improve. Even if more companies move to downtown, which would be great, it would still be difficult to get to work if you don't live right on, or very near to MARTA. So those employees who live in the burbs with the relocation, if they don't live right on MARTA, it still doesn't benefit them if they don't want to/can't live in the city along transit.

Okay I misread your post...you didn't actually say that MARTA doesn't go to the suburbs. Of course MARTA could be expanded to other suburbs, but it's never going to be a way to move around once you get there. There will have to be local systems that connect to MARTA, like the streetcar or a bus system (some suburbs do have buses).

Suburban MARTA stations are treated like commuter rail...thousands of people park and ride MARTA to work, so it doesn't just benefit people who live near a station. And I think you're making a huge assumption about perceptions of MARTA in the suburbs. What you describe is from 20-25 years ago, but the mood has shifted a great deal since then. The last votes on MARTA were in 1971 and 1990, and Gwinnett (not sure about Cobb) has since become more than half minority. The demographic shift of these suburban counties really makes a huge difference in attitudes toward transit.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

People are already against transit because they fear it would bring the poor and in turn crime into their communities.

It's too bad folks can't get over those old myths. Study after study has shown that rail transit is not associated with crime.

The Geography of Transit Crime

Rail Transit and Neighborhood Crime

The Effects Of The Announcement And Opening Of Light Rail Transit Stations On Neighborhood Crime

The Myth of the Commuting Criminal - Emily Badger - The Atlantic Cities

However, once people get something in their head, regardless of whether it's actually true or not, they don't like to give it up.

What I can't figure is this -- where do they think all the crime they're having now is coming from, since they are miles away from any form of public transportation?

[midtown mile girl]

I hope intown hiring picks up, that's where my job search is concentrated.

[noah]

Best of luck. In my six years living in Midtown I haven't been lucky enough to find an attractive job intown, luckily Midtown puts us in a great position to be able to commute to many areas of the metro - I sure would like to work intown but it could be worse then the quick 10 mile drive up to Cumberland.

Originally Posted by midtown mile girl

I hope intown hiring picks up, that's where my job search is concentrated.