Atlanta's not a world class city[CL Article] (Smyrna, Alpharetta: 2014, homes)

[Ant131531]

I pretty agree with this article. Small Excerpt below with link to full article.

Atlanta's not a world-class city | Opinion | Creative Loafing Atlanta

There's nothing like living in a "world-class" city. And by some accounts, Atlantans do. Read some lists of world-class cities and Atlanta consistently ranks in the top 40. Attend any ground breaking or ribbon cutting or read a politico's press release and you are sure to come across the phrase. We are home to the world's busiest airport and Fortune 500 firms. It's the most powerful economic engine in the Southeast. It must be true.
But we need to stop referring to Atlanta as a "world-class" city. Our focus on this meaningless phrase and the "iconic," "transformative," and "catalytic" projects that we hope will thrust us into some elite group distracts us from — and often runs roughshod over — the smaller, necessary, and more rewarding local projects that create vibrant neighborhoods, the true lifeblood of any world-class city......................

You can't tell me Atlanta's a world class city when:

1)Downtown is dead past 5:30
2)Lack of vibrant urban, walkable neighborhoods.
3)25%+ of your downtown is just parking lots.
4)Subpar public transportation system that struggles with corruption and improvement
5)Half of the downtown area won't get development because of the 'riff raff' element

[DaBurgh]

Meh, 150 years ago nearly 50% of Atlanta homes and businesses were destroyed and the few thousand citizens it did have were forced to evacuate. Now take a look at what Atlanta has become today, and I'd say it's quite a feat.
How many of the "world class cities" were in near ashes 150 years ago?

[dreDREb13]

The only thing that confuses me about this article is that it seems to demonize the Falcons and Braves stadiums for destroying neighborhoods, as if the new ones being built are detrimental for the city. I mean, I don't see what the new Falcons Stadium is going to do to the neighborhood any more than the Georgia Dome already has. And Turner Field's gonna be gone eventually, and if GSU has its way, it'll be quite the boon for the neighborhood.

There are plenty of criticisms to lob at the city, I would agree. And I do think there's a strange trend throughout the city to rely on developers to bring us the urbanization that people are craving for. The problem is, you can't trust in a developer to spur a city to become a city. You need strong public officials and persons in city offices to fight for the integrity of the city. Plus, you need an idea and plan that you can stick to and force developers to adhere to.

That was the issue with the Fuqua Beltline development. Was the dude an ******* for not working with the city? Sure, but he had no legal obligation to do such a thing--and the people in charge didn't do enough to make their plans succinct. If the Beltline wants its vision to become a reality, they have to have the city on board. You can't come up with a vision and then just hope that a bunch of private investors will see it your way too.

The ultimate problem, I think, is that the city still lacks an identity, and so it's hard to fight for some vision of the city when no one seems to know what that vision is. That being said, I think we're still going to see an actual city grow out of this place in the next 10 to 20 years. Those terrible strip mall suburban eyesores in the middle of the city will, I hope, one day be redeveloped to actually work for pedestrian and transit-oriented traffic.

[Gulch]

Once again, the perfect way to describe our slice of the world is this:

"Atlanta: It's getting there."

I agree with the author's sentiment, but to worry about comparing Atlanta to New York reeks of insecurity.

[JC84]

^LOL

As a city/metro area it almost feels as if we're a teenager going through one awkward phase after another. Snowpocalypse 2014 was like falling on our face in front of everyone in gym class. We're going through a clumsy growth spurt, but we'll get there. Time will help us form our identity.

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by DaBurgh

Meh, 150 years ago nearly 50% of Atlanta homes and businesses were destroyed and the few thousand citizens it did have were forced to evacuate. Now take a look at what Atlanta has become today, and I'd say it's quite a feat.
How many of the "world class cities" were in near ashes 150 years ago?

Berlin, Paris, London, but more like 70 years ago.

[DaBurgh]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Berlin, Paris, London, but more like 70 years ago.

LoL,capital cities of countries that had already attained world class status at that time 70yrs ago.
That's a fair comparison to Atlanta which was the size and importance of somewhere like the city of Cumming today
LOL

[Wayr2go]

Infrastructure is what will make (or atleast put it on a path to) Atlanta an inch closer to the world class city it espouses to be. I've only been to ATL once but what I observed and what appealed, atleast to me, was the wide open spaces - a little too much of it ofcourse. ATL may not be NYC but is that really the standard of a World Class city where housing makes you rethink whether you are a citizen of the free world or a caged prisoner paying for your own time. The traffic of NYC would drive any normal individual insane - tourists and short term residents (some become long term) enjoy NYC because of the glam and entertainment/things to do it has to offer and many become long term residents not by choice but more so by need (occupational reasons).

ATL has 4 really good universities (I won't take any talk about MIT/Harvard etc. I've seen/lived closed to them and I was utterly unimpressed).

ATL has a downtown big enough that could become a real major attraction combined with midtown as its extension + some of the areas 5 miles in all directions if the right mix of investment (business + entertainment) is promoted. Offer subsidies to companies to make them bring jobs out to downtown ATL. While that happens, an effective plan to connect downtown with the neighboring suburbs in all directions (much like a web)as far as Smyrna John's creek/Alpharetta/Douglasville, Lithonia, Snellvile etc. be all connected to each other + the downtown via public transport. This would make residents ditch cars to travel around in these areas. Bring in entertainment units in these areas that cater to these areas standalone so the "suburbs" become self-sufficient yet retain enough uniqueness to make people travel around.

Once this is achieved as the word spread -many more people will be attracted to call the city home from across the world/country and ATL will not only develop into an exemplary world class city - it will see plentiful increase in its revenue + ability to fund its continued growth to develop as a 22nd century city.

Its doable -needs a plan an a push from the residents + politicians. Politicians alone wont and cannot make decisions as much as you'd like them to. Public must collectively mandate this agenda

[afdinatl]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

I pretty agree with this article. Small Excerpt below with link to full article.

Atlanta's not a world-class city | Opinion | Creative Loafing Atlanta




You can't tell me los angeles is a world class city when:

1)Downtown is dead past 5:30
2)Lack of vibrant urban, walkable neighborhoods.
3)25%+ of your downtown is just parking lots.
4) 1:30 am last call
5)Subpar public transportation system that struggles with corruption and improvement
6)Half of the downtown area won't get development because of the 'riff raff' element of skid row/etc

Fixed

[arjay57]

The city of Atlanta ought to be focusing infrastructure and parks in the places where people are living, working, fixing up their homes, going to school, shopping, dining, paying taxes and doing what good citizens do. That will reap immediate dividends and attract more like-minded and like-acting residents. The tax base mushrooms, schools improve significantly, and businesses move in. That means more of the communities that we associate with being desirable urban places to live, work and play. Look at Midtown, Springlake, Virginia Highland, Garden Hills, Morningside, Buckhead Forest, Candler Park, Haynes Manor, Kirkwood and our many other success stories.

The way to build success as a city is to replicate and nurture what has proven to be successful. Reality tells us what people want.

Once we've got these areas squared away, it will be time to turn our attention to under-developed zones where we hope people will someday move.

But let's be sure not to get our priorities backward.