Atlanta's population after annex (East Point, College Park: schools, college, authority)

[Psykomonkee]

IF Atlanta (city) were to annex land from other counties to form one large city, (maybe forming the land annexed from other counties into boroughs like NYC did) [excluding land that is already incorporated], what would Atlanta's population be?

For the purpose of this, I'm imagining Atlanta annexes: South Fulton, Clayton and DeKalb... I'll leave the Northern Counties alone, cause we all know how that will go.

[Brian]

This would be awesome!

The population could be over 3 to 4.5 million?

I would rather that they copy the way London did!

[Gulch]

If adding unincorporated South Fulton, Clayton, and DeKalb, probably 650-700K?

[bryantm3]

i would rather see another layer of government that blankets the inner metropolitan area, including all of fulton, dekalb, clayton, gwinnett, cobb, and douglas. it could be the metro atlanta regional authority or something like that— they did this in toronto a while back. the larger government could cover regional issues like transportation, water, electricity, schools, etc., and the cities and counties could retain power over most local issues. the authority would be made up of representatives from the counties and municipalities. it could be structured sort of like the U.N., where the larger cities like atlanta would have veto powers.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

i would rather see another layer of government that blankets the inner metropolitan area, including all of fulton, dekalb, clayton, gwinnett, cobb, and douglas. it could be the metro atlanta regional authority or something like that— they did this in toronto a while back. the larger government could cover regional issues like transportation, water, electricity, schools, etc., and the cities and counties could retain power over most local issues. the authority would be made up of representatives from the counties and municipalities, with the mayor of atlanta having limited powers in the regional entity like veto powers.

So, basically a beefed-up ARC with teeth?

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Psykomonkee

For the purpose of this, I'm imagining Atlanta annexes: South Fulton, Clayton and DeKalb... I'll leave the Northern Counties alone, cause we all know how that will go.

The last thing COA needs is to add more poor areas.

If the city is looking for annexation partners it needs to be pitching to the Druid Hills/Emory area, and possibly the area in DeKalb between Decatur and Brookhaven.

[glovenyc]

Will never happen (especially in the Northern counties). We all know how Georgians hate all things "government"

[SAAN]

Other counties dont want to pay the highest water bills in the nation that the city of Atlanta probably has if it expands.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by arjay57

The last thing COA needs is to add more poor areas.

If the city is looking for annexation partners it needs to be pitching to the Druid Hills/Emory area, and possibly the area in DeKalb between Decatur and Brookhaven.

Wholly agreed. Growth in population for growth's sake alone, is particularly unwise.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by Gulch

If adding unincorporated South Fulton, Clayton, and DeKalb, probably 650-700K?

Nope, you're off by half. Here are the current populations:

City of Atlanta - 443,775
Clayton County - 261,532
Dekalb County - 699,893
East Point - 33,712
College Park - 13,942
Hapeville - 6,373
Chattahoochee Hills - 2,378
Fairburn - 12,950
Palmetto - 4,488
Unicorp - ~20,000

Total population - 1,499,043

I don't think this a good idea though (or possible). I think the current borders of the city of Atlanta are as big as they could reasonably be, if not too large.