Atlanta's not a world class city[CL Article] (Berlin, Buckhead: 2013, transfer)

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by erick295

No kidding. When someone says "while I don't see myself as a left or right perspective," they may as well say "I'm not a racist, but..." You know something bigoted is about to come out when someone starts a sentence like that.

Anyway, this thread was doomed from the first post. You know people can't have civil debates on the Internet.

That probably has something to do with naming a thread, " Atlanta's Not a World Class City".
There's some basis for civil debate.

[Atlwarrior]

People please, as if a World Class city is define by clubs, drunks, and weirdos. Why should Atlanta aim for superficial that other world cities are known for. As an Atlantan I don't have a identify crisis and don't need fashion or some useless form of art to tell me that I have arrived. The transportation, and Downtown night life will come.

[Wayr2go]

Originally Posted by atler8

Wayr
You had me totally with your reasoning @ 3:27 & then CRASH... You lost your theme w/ that last paragraph.
You basically threw everything constructive you'd said earlier out the window with that last paragraph by coming down solely on some liberals. As if the reverse of what you said can't also be sited anecdotally by folks living in red states. It goes both ways... Libs can be selfish & so can conservatives. It's human nature. Go figure.
Sorry you had to go & screw up what started out quite nicely here & which I had initially hoped would direct the train of conversation back to the original story. It's unfortunate that the he said/she said political stuff that someone from outside of Atlanta injected made it into the thread. I groaned at that point when I saw left/right politics enter the fray & knew that the thread was likely doomed.

atler8, i just infused one perspective in the last para. sure there are selfish individuals in every congregation - I'm not denying that but I expect much better from liberals above all given the ideology they associate themselves with. E.g. very recently on a night out with a friend here in Boston I met 2 entrepreneurs who were involved with a startup and the discussion came to a point where one of them said how he thinks Boston is the best city in the US. Now sure, that is his opinion but out of curiosity when I asked him why he thought so this guy mentioned how the city is more educated and progressive than for example the south. He made more remarks but I had to correct him that by education he perhaps meant more people with college degrees. Just one of many 'liberals' I've come across in my time here that ruin what liberalism stands for.

Neverthless, the point that I was trying to make was that its not about left or the right when it comes to progress of a locality/county/city/country. We must lift ourselves beyond that.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Wayr2go

And to be honest - while I don't see myself as a left or right perspective, living in a blue state I've seen many a "liberals" behave more selfishly than any other being alive. Some people love to carry this "I am liberal" tag to sound "educated/progressive" when in real sense that are self-centric self-righteous snobs !

Snobbish behaviour is so declasse. Frankly, the people who engage in that sort of thing are beneath contempt.

As for the selfish ones, let them paddle their own canoe. My friends and I are taking our property and going somewhere else -- where those self-centered types are NOT welcome!

[tikigod311]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

For sure, Atlanta is not a top tier world class city. We are however not mincemeat. I can confidently say that there are maybe 30 or so cities in the entire world that are "ahead" of us. That's not bad considering how many cities there are in this world.

We shouldn't be surprised either that we aren't "there" yet. With the exception of only a few cities with unique circumstances, it takes hundreds of years for a city to reach "world class status". We're well on our way to that now and our cities culture will not allow for us to rest on our laurels at any point for the foreseeable future. While no one in this thread will see that day we can contribute to it by being apart of evolving the cities culture, becoming involved in local politics or planning, and by generally advocating for what type of city we want to be.

Sitting around talking about what Atlanta "isn't" won't get us anywhere.

I love this post. Great point about the 30 or so cities ahead of us, that is spot on. It is something to be very proud of.

[EarlofCardigan]

There are only a few world-class American city: New York, LA, SF, Boston, DC, and Chicago.

I lived in NY and now live in Boston but may move to Atl. Who cares if it's not world class? It's nice, inexpensive, and has good weather.

[glovenyc]

Originally Posted by EarlofCardigan

There are only a few world-class American city: New York, LA, SF, Boston, DC, and Chicago.

I lived in NY and now live in Boston but may move to Atl. Who cares if it's not world class? It's nice, inexpensive, and has good weather.

^^^what he said

[jsvh]

I agree with the underlying message of the article: Cities should focus on being a great place to live and not building huge attractions.

The definition of a "World Class City" is debatable And Atlanta could be in or out depending on how you define it.

[Wayr2go]

Slightly off topic - but did Atlanta's population really decline since 2009? One of the figures shows Atlanta's population in 2009 over 500k and in 6 years its down to 400-something-k. What happened?

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Wayr2go

Slightly off topic - but did Atlanta's population really decline since 2009? One of the figures shows Atlanta's population in 2009 over 500k and in 6 years its down to 400-something-k. What happened?

The 2009 estimates were way off.