Atlanta's not a world class city[CL Article] (Boston: real estate, income)

[Pemgin]

Originally Posted by EarlofCardigan

It has no internationally-known landmarks, and it doesn't even have a grand urban shopping district; instead, it has a mall. Atlanta is awesome, but it's not remotely world-class.

Buckhead Atlanta will mitigate that a little.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by EarlofCardigan

That 's part of it, though.

The other parts are that it lacks world-class museums, operas, and ballets. It's not an international political center or media center. Indeed, even CNN had basically jumped ship for NY.

It has no internationally-known landmarks, and it doesn't even have a grand urban shopping district; instead, it has a mall. Atlanta is awesome, but it's not remotely world-class.

The arts are noticeably weak here. I suspect it has to do with that plane crash in the 60s that killed all those art patrons who had gone to Europe together. They lost a generation of patrons. There's a lot of philanthrophy in other areas, but its lacking in the arts.

[Gunion Powder]

Originally Posted by bizchick86

Atlanta is certainly an international city. The article makes a clear point of how it's not world class.

Bingo.

[bizchick86]

Originally Posted by EarlofCardigan

My point is that I'd rather live in Atl than Chi.

So would I. And I prefer to live in Atlanta over both San Fran, NYC, and any other city in America. But that's irrelevant as to the topic of why Atlanta is prematurely calling itself world class.

[Gulch]

The real question we need to ask is this:

Who's Matt Garbett?

[ThreeSides]

Originally Posted by Gulch

The real question we need to ask is this:

Who's Matt Garbett?

A big, smelly, hater! That's who he is!

[GeorgiaLakeSearch]

Originally Posted by Gulch

The real question we need to ask is this:

Who's Matt Garbett?

He is a "community outreach consultant" aka community organizer.

This is typical crap from Creative Loafing.

[dreDREb13]

Originally Posted by EarlofCardigan

That 's part of it, though.

The other parts are that it lacks world-class museums, operas, and ballets. It's not an international political center or media center. Indeed, even CNN had basically jumped ship for NY.

It has no internationally-known landmarks, and it doesn't even have a grand urban shopping district; instead, it has a mall. Atlanta is awesome, but it's not remotely world-class.

Oh, come now. You can't say a city has to be a center of politics. Look at LA or Chicago.

Atlanta's certainly looking to become an entertainment capitol of the south, too, which is undeniably a good thing for making the city out to be an attractive place worth taking a chance on.

I can't disagree with you on the urban shopping district, however. Atlanta is missing that urban culture that exists in cities of a world class stature, though it's certainly growing.

In the end, I think what's mainly important is understanding that Atlanta indeed isn't world class, but it's most certainly work towards becoming such a city. It's got a ways to go, but unless it trips over itself--and hard--I don't think there's anything stopping it from getting to a point that one could undeniably look at the city as the next big thing.

[JoeP]

He is a "community outreach consultant" aka community organizer.

This is typical crap from Creative Loafing.

Oh wait, he's a community organizer?



Well then, great job debunking the article.

[emcee squared]

Originally Posted by arjay57

-- Olympics summer games host city (along with Barcelona, Sydney, London, Beijing, etc.)
-- the CDC and and an NCI designated cancer center
-- world's busiest airport
-- major league sports franchises and two new state of the art stadiums
-- extensive heavy rail transit system
-- internationally renowned universities (GT and Emory)
-- population growth of 1,000,000 per decade in the last 50 years
-- an eye-popping skyline that is instantly recognizable around the world
-- one of the world's largest monadnocks
-- home of the world's 3d most valuable brand
-- home of the world's second largest retailer

We could go on, but how much more do you need to be "world class"?

What does a skyline or a big rock have to do with world-class? Also, there are 12 metro areas which have a franchise of the four major US sports, Atlanta isn't one of them.

Atlanta is an important city, but world-class it is not. There are only a handful of cities that can claim that title with little argument.