Metro Atlanta at a crossroad as issues build (LaGrange, Forsyth: live, moving to)

[waronxmas]

I think the whole "size of the city of Atlanta" argument is a bit overplayed. Yes, in terms of population share and physical size the City of Atlanta is just but a small fraction of the entire Metro. The problem is that people rarely say the other truth: This isn't abnormal.

Boston, Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia, DC, Baltimore, Detroit, St. Louis, San Francisco, Denver, etc and etc all have "small" municipal boundaries with around 10% to 15% of the metro population with in them. The real anomalies are NYC (though only 300 square miles) with his huge central city population and Los Angeles and the Texas cities with their huge municipal boundaries.

The real factor here is a city's relationship with the State government. With the number of counties this State has, and the way it has been gerrymandered, this has resulted in over representation of rural counties that elect lawmakers on a "I hate Atlanta" platform. This would be the same even if Atlanta's city borders were encompassed all of Fulton, Dekalb, Cobb, Clayton, and Gwinnett counties. There would still would be 155 counties to share power with.

[AtlantaIsHot]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

I think the whole "size of the city of Atlanta" argument is a bit overplayed. Yes, in terms of population share and physical size the City of Atlanta is just but a small fraction of the entire Metro. The problem is that people rarely say the other truth: This isn't abnormal.

Boston, Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia, DC, Baltimore, Detroit, St. Louis, San Francisco, Denver, etc and etc all have "small" municipal boundaries with around 10% to 15% of the metro population with in them. The real anomalies are NYC (though only 300 square miles) with his huge central city population and Los Angeles and the Texas cities with their huge municipal boundaries.

The real factor here is a city's relationship with the State government. With the number of counties this State has, and the way it has been gerrymandered, this has resulted in over representation of rural counties that elect lawmakers on a "I hate Atlanta" platform. This would be the same even if Atlanta's city borders were encompassed all of Fulton, Dekalb, Cobb, Clayton, and Gwinnett counties. There would still would be 155 counties to share power with.

It doesn't truly matter about the size of Atlanta in relation to it's metro just because it exists so. Georgia's traditional politics makes it an issue due to the state and suburban counties having such an overtly hostile relationship with the core city. This makes it incredibly hard to act in concert to solve the problems. DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, Cherokee, Forsyth, Clayton, Fayette, Douglas, Coweta, and Henry counties should be in constant discussion with Atlanta and Fulton leaders to study transportation issues. If they all started working together and begin pressuring the state to take action, something could get done. All those counties together account for a huge bulk of the entire state's economic output and population. I don't want the state to ignore the southern half but the anti-Atlanta attitude must end.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by AtlantaIsHot

It doesn't truly matter about the size of Atlanta in relation to it's metro just because it exists so. Georgia's traditional politics makes it an issue due to the state and suburban counties having such an overtly hostile relationship with the core city. This makes it incredibly hard to act in concert to solve the problems. DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, Cherokee, Forsyth, Clayton, Fayette, Douglas, Coweta, and Henry counties should be in constant discussion with Atlanta and Fulton leaders to study transportation issues. If they all started working together and begin pressuring the state to take action, something could get done. All those counties together account for a huge bulk of the entire state's economic output and population. I don't want the state to ignore the southern half but the anti-Atlanta attitude must end.

Atlanta generates most of it themselves. There's a constant barrage of the state owing them something when the vast majority of the wealth is in Atlanta. South Georgia is fairly poor, so it doesn't sit well. It annoys me and I live ITP. I can just imagine how those South and North Georgia rural legislators feel when they hear it.

Mayor Reed has worked well with the governor, but Atlanta needs more of that and less whining. More explanations of how it benefits all the state and not so much, gimme, gimme, gimme. For example how the rail and road network in Atlanta helped bring KIA to the LaGrange area (I'm assuming it was important-I can't imagine it wasn't).

If the 5 core counties could work together, it would deal with about everything significant except for water. That's nearly 80% of the metro area population and 40% of the state.

[AtlantaIsHot]

Originally Posted by bu2

Atlanta generates most of it themselves. There's a constant barrage of the state owing them something when the vast majority of the wealth is in Atlanta. South Georgia is fairly poor, so it doesn't sit well. It annoys me and I live ITP. I can just imagine how those South and North Georgia rural legislators feel when they hear it.

Mayor Reed has worked well with the governor, but Atlanta needs more of that and less whining. More explanations of how it benefits all the state and not so much, gimme, gimme, gimme. For example how the rail and road network in Atlanta helped bring KIA to the LaGrange area (I'm assuming it was important-I can't imagine it wasn't).

If the 5 core counties could work together, it would deal with about everything significant except for water. That's nearly 80% of the metro area population and 40% of the state.

I lived all my life in Virginia until moving to NC. We had the same sort of adversarial relationship within our state. I lived in the far western corner of the state and we always whined about being short-changed by the state. It seemed like all the money in the state went up to NoVa. As the Washington metro gobbles up ever more of the state, several counties were experiencing high-growth. Loudoun county has been one of the fastest growing counties in the US for years. Fairfax county has over 1,000,000 residents and is the largest jurisdiction. We used to joke that the Fairfax county board of supervisors were the real government, not the legislature in Richmond. Now I have grown up a bit and realize that they need more transportation money and school money. That is where the majority of the growth is taking place. I realize that more people requires more maintenance. There is no logical way to justify giving a rural county of 30,000 the same amount of time and money as a 1,000,000 county requires. There's never enough money, not even for the largest. I for one believe Americans demand too much from government. There is not enough money and not enough resources for us all. We all can't get an equal slice of pie and the pie's too small to begin with. It's gonna take some partnerships, private entities, and other new solutions to solve our most pressing problems.

[Atlwarrior]

Originally Posted by glovenyc

The region faces a critical juncture — an “inflection point” — in its history. Unclog traffic, better educate children, find a century’s supply of water, create more decent-paying jobs, cooperate regionally and the 22d century could belong to Atlanta.


Metro Atlanta at a crossroads as issues build | www.myajc.com

Thoughts?

AJC's lack of critical journalism and bias reported is part of Atlanta's problem.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by bu2

One of Atlanta's key advantages is logistics. That gets forfeited if they don't deal with traffic. Everything gets forfeited if they don't deal with water. Education is a potential long term drag.

If GA can get the GA/TN border fixed (moved north to the actual documented line instead of its current position), maybe that would help the water situation. Not that I think it will happen, at least soon...

[bu2]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

If GA can get the GA/TN border fixed (moved north to the actual documented line instead of its current position), maybe that would help the water situation. Not that I think it will happen, at least soon...

LOL. I think they are about 150-200 years late on that.

They should have claimed it when they seceded since they left before Tennessee.

[waronxmas]

One more thing: Atlanta it seems has been at a crossroads since the moment General Sherman stepped off for Savannah. It's just the nature of this town. Things will sort themselves out without any doom or gloom.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by bu2

LOL. I think they are about 150-200 years late on that.

They should have claimed it when they seceded since they left before Tennessee.

The border was originally defined in GA's favor along the 35th parallel. It's the subsequent survey that resulted in the current line being drawn. Which is the true line, the original border definition or the subsequent (faulty according to GA) survey?

Time running out to move Tennessee-Georgia state line before case goes to Supreme Court | Local News | Times Free Press
In Latest War Between the States, Georgia Says Tennessee Is All Wet - WSJ

[jpk1292000]

This series of articles by the AJC is exceptionally poor and pulled out of a time warp. Are they reading actual economic figures from 2015 or from 2013?

Atlanta has highest employment growth among large U.S. metros - Atlanta Business Chronicle