Census: Atlanta set to soon pass Philadelphia (Marietta, Alpharetta: bankrupt, statistics)

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Hey, it was inevitable that an out of state troll would show up in this thread and proceed to troll, and that such person would use the term "snowflakes". That's so 2018.

Fact: Atlanta's best days are most definitely not in the past, but in the future. The city and metro are only on the rise from here, in any given category you want to look at and examine. Except maybe in quaint old-time-y smallness or whatever.

While definitely we have our share of issues and challenges around here, we can be proud and happy to live here. I have my share of complaints, but am very proud to be from here and spent my life here.

Happy Independence Day, all! Cheers.

Happy 4th!

[DavePa]

I'd add even Philly's better days are ahead also. Renewal of its established legacy is still ongoing and all our cities to our Nation. History shows boom periods and regions don't last forever. Best to do Big projects NOW to secure that better future. Hopefully, the legacy of sprawl can be maintained by a energy sources level maintained and infrastructure keeping up.

It takes investment that loving your city alone won't make it stand out in the world of huge city projects and mass transit. I always feel the sunbelt city that tackles new transit the best and urbanized with proper planning ..... will come out ahead. So far old-style street-cars seem to just be a cheaper alternative being chosen. LA seems to realize transit will be its best option to invest. The world isn't building street-car lines.

Best of luck to both Atlanta and Philly in improving and making the best decisions for their future.

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Hey, it was inevitable that an out of state troll would show up in this thread and proceed to troll, and that such person would use the term "snowflakes". That's so 2018.

Fact: Atlanta's best days are most definitely not in the past, but in the future. The city and metro are only on the rise from here, in any given category you want to look at and examine. Except maybe in quaint old-time-y smallness or whatever.

While definitely we have our share of issues and challenges around here, we can be proud and happy to live here. I have my share of complaints, but am very proud to be from here and spent my life here.

Happy Independence Day, all! Cheers.

All I know is that the system does in fact work, as it only took a simple click of the report button to nip that in the bud.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

Just say you didn't like the Black people in Atlanta because it's obvious this is what you mean.

Exactly.

[chiatldal]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

Roswell/Alpharetta/GA 400 corridor is about an equal distance to downtown Atlanta as Plano is to downtown Dallas. If Plano has any advantage of having more these days, the difference is the DFW airport is just to the west/southwest of the Plano Legacy development where Toyota, Hewlett Packard, JCPenney et al have set up shop. Think of DFW being about where Marietta is in relationship to Alpharetta and a 6 lane Tollway connecting it and you have Plano.

Remove the county lines, especially the Georgia ones that are more irregular than jigsaw puzzle pieces (compared to the square shaped Texas counties) and there is little difference. Plano is Dallas's Roswell and Frisco is Dallas's Alpharetta. That some aberration happened in the depression and Milton County joined Fulton is the oddity here. This employment center is just as major to Atlanta metro as Plano is to Dallas metro. Just because it is Fulton doesn't mean a thing in this comparison.

Chop Fort Worth off Dallas and move the airport to the south side add more hills and trees and voila! Atlanta West.

You can't chop Fort Worth off DFW is multi pollar, I'm going sq mi not just distance. Tarrant county is by far DFW second most populated county as it's home to Fort Worth. DFW most populated areas are Dallas, FW and the mid cities. The is equivalent to Atlanta and the immediately North suburbs. Alpharetta is north of Atlanta but function like Irving/Arlington.

Atlanta 5 county core is 1,731 sq mi

DFW Dallas and Tarrant is 1,811 sq mi

Going into in Collin would is stepping outside of Dallas and Tarrant which is like stepping outside Atlanta core 5 counties.

[Sammy215267]

Originally Posted by jjbradleynyc

All of these point above I completely agree with. Great points overall!

Atlanta has been a huge city draw for those coming from the rural/smaller towns in the southeastern US for decades, to get a dose of "big city life." This definitely has made Atlanta the go-to cultural and growth engine city for the southeastern US as a whole--adding to its booming growth over the years.

I've been to Philly many times, and its downtown is very nice and dense and vibrant, and while it has many neighborhoods that are beautiful and desirable, there are many parts of Philly that are absolutely awful, run down and littered with vacant buildings and crime. So, that comes with a city that had its peak population in 1950 of almost 2.1 million, and it has dropped to 1.6 today (although it is slowly growing again).

Lots of folks in the northeast love to diss on the southeast because its easy to do so (cultural twang stereotypes, drawls, hillbilly vibe, redneck, etc). And frankly, as you mentioned, its definitely stemming from a factor of defending their cities that are fading fast in both prominence and population.

Atlanta overall needs to get a handle on the public transportation piece. If traffic and sprawl can somehow be managed, the area will be even that much more of a desirable draw for folks to live.

I love how you explain and it put it perfectly that the city had a population of 2.1 Million at its peak. Things happened economically and Philly took a hit...not as bad as Detroit and a few other cities. I don't know if Philly could ever get back to 2 Million people but the room is there. I think with any major city there will be many nice areas and unpleasing areas on the eyes and i think some people don't understand that.

I always feel that alot of people want the big populations for their cities but don't want to deal with what comes along with that.

[primaltech]

Philadelphia has excellent bones. Atlanta can only look at that street grid and drool. Not the straightness of it, but all the connections.

Infrastructure is truly Atlanta's biggest issue to work on. Regardless of density levels (Atlanta will never be a northeastern city in that department), there needs to be more and better roads and streets, and more transit.

The bright side of the sprawl, is there is SO much room for infill development inside the perimeter.

[architect77]

Originally Posted by citidata18

Actually, much of Atlanta's inward migration has been from cities in the Northeast and Midwest. Many of the natives have been pushed out to either the smaller cities in GA or the far outlying counties in Metro Atlanta that are still rural.

You can't turn a corner here (literally) without running into transplants from NYC, Chicago or Detroit. The main draw has been low COL (especially for New Yorkers), warmer weather / sunny winters and jobs (especially for Detroiters after the auto industry collapse).

Atlanta is the "down South" alternative for the Midwest for sure, just like "the beach" for a lot of them is Florida's pan handle on the Gulf coast, which is certainly beautiful but not as "ocean-y" as the Atlantic Coast.

It's interesting how Americans travel within the country but tend to stay within their time zone. (Calif.-Seattle, NY-FL)

You definitely don't see many Illinois license plates in North Carolina, but there are far more NY/NJ/MA transplants there than in Atlanta.

Basically it all boils down to the two types of people: big-city types vs. everyone else.

Indeed those from the Northeast who are only comfortable in a big city atmosphere are all in Atlanta, but for the other 70% of Americans for which that's less of a priority, North Carolina's cities as well as mountain and coastal areas are more popular with the Northeast crowd, as they perceive NC on par with the standards of Northeastern states.

Even Californians are choosing to relocate to NC in such numbers to rank 5th in where Raleigh/ Wake County's new residents are from.

Even though Atlanta has tons of transplants from everywhere, I still contend that it's the most familiar, least intimidating option for Southerners and as a result they comprise the majority of non-natives.

I mean, how many people are originally from Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi?

A butt-load....

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by architect77

Atlanta is the "down South" alternative for the Midwest for sure, just like "the beach" for a lot of them is Florida's pan handle on the Gulf coast, which is certainly beautiful but not as "ocean-y" as the Atlantic Coast.

It's interesting how Americans travel within the country but tend to stay within their time zone. (Calif.-Seattle, NY-FL)

You definitely don't see many Illinois license plates in North Carolina, but there are far more NY/NJ/MA transplants there than in Atlanta.

Basically it all boils down to the two types of people: big-city types vs. everyone else.

Indeed those from the Northeast who are only comfortable in a big city atmosphere are all in Atlanta, but for the other 70% of Americans for which that's less of a priority, North Carolina's cities as well as mountain and coastal areas are more popular with the Northeast crowd, as they perceive NC on par with the standards of Northeastern states.

Even Californians are choosing to relocate to NC in such numbers to rank 5th in where Raleigh/ Wake County's new residents are from.

Even though Atlanta has tons of transplants from everywhere, I still contend that it's the most familiar, least intimidating option for Southerners and as a result they comprise the majority of non-natives.

I mean, how many people are originally from Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi?

A butt-load....

And yet again with your usual 'North Carolina is superior' meme. Why don't you just move home?

[jjbradleynyc]

Originally Posted by citidata18

Actually, much of Atlanta's inward migration has been from cities in the Northeast and Midwest. Many of the natives have been pushed out to either the smaller cities in GA or the far outlying counties in Metro Atlanta that are still rural.

You can't turn a corner here (literally) without running into transplants from NYC, Chicago or Detroit. The main draw has been low COL (especially for New Yorkers), warmer weather / sunny winters and jobs (especially for Detroiters after the auto industry collapse).

Yep, most definitely agree. My comment was not so much of a reason citing why Atlanta is growing in general, but moreso indicating that Atlanta has been a "magnet" for southeastern folks to move to over the years, which may not be much overall numbers-wise, but Atlanta's influence on the southeast is huge.

I live in Athens, GA currently, but am moving to Atlanta come September this year. I travel into Atlanta often for work, and the inner city development and growth, just from 5, 6 years ago, is really striking to see. The city is definitely building upwards, and in a lot of areas where there was nothing very significant in terms or residential or office--as recently as 2010--are now whole neighborhoods that are thriving. Think Old Fourth Ward, Cheshire Bridge, Atlantic Station, parts of Midtown, etc.