Game Over For Atlanta? This guy thinks so... (Stone Mountain, Nashville: neighborhood, colleges)

[jurban8]

Is It Game Over for Atlanta? | Newgeography.com

"With growth slowing, a lack of infrastructure investment catching up with it, and rising competition in the neighborhood, the Capital of the New South is looking vulnerable

Bad traffic congestion and other infrastructure ills didn't matter much when Atlanta was the only game in town. For a long time, anyone who needed a presence in the Southeast found Atlanta the easy default answer. In many cases it was the only real possibility.
That's no longer true. Atlanta is now surrounded by upstart, much faster growing cities such as Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham in North Carolina, Nashville, Tennessee and Charleston, South Carolina – all in many ways now have the ambitions once characteristic of Atlanta.

Atlanta's problem lies in its insufficient differentiation from these other places. Other than the airport, a clear major asset to Atlanta, what do you actually lose by moving to Charlotte or Nashville? Your commute is likely to be less. Except for certain groups – African Americans or gays – the city seems to be losing allure.

Atlanta is left as a sort of “quarter way house” caught between its traditional sprawling self and a more upscale urban metropolis. It offers neither the low traffic quality of life of its upstart competition, nor the sophisticated urban living of a Chicago or Boston."

Overly pessimistic, or somewhat observant?

[johnatl]

^Very interesting read, jurban8. Thanks for posting the link.

I think it was pretty observant, but this place isn't going anywhere but up, imo. Once a place reaches this size - and with our diversified economy - it isn't going anywhere. This is no Detroit.

[matt8325]

Originally Posted by johnatl

^Very interesting read, jurban8. Thanks for posting the link.

I think it was pretty observant, but this place isn't going anywhere but up, imo. Once a place reaches this size - and with our diversified economy - it isn't going anywhere. This is no Detroit.

Well, there's nowhere to go but up at this point.

[DeaconJ]

Overly pessimistic...and I'm wondering where these "low traffic quality of life" competition cities are located? I don't know of a major city with "low traffic".

One big difference between life in Charlotte/Nashville and Atlanta is the amount and quality of amenities available. Atlanta has amenities that are found in a city of nearly 6 million, while Charlotte/Nashville have amenities of cities from 1-2 million. Having lived in Charlotte, I can say without hesitation that it's a significant difference.

[back2dc]

This is a very interesting article. Seems to mirror many of the arguments that cycle often on C-D, but manages to cement these arguments onto a wider demographic than found on this forum: namely the American public.

[aries4118]

What the guy doesn't realize (and I don't think his article was totally negative...he gave a lot positive feedback on Atlanta as well), is that Atlanta is the Capital of the American South.

Atlanta has reached a size (like johnatl mentioned) and a status (the de-facto capital of region that functions like semi-autonomous region/country) which means that it is not going anywhere. There is no game over, nor will a "diminishing" take place.


(However, I do like how the guy implies that now is the time for Atlanta to take the classy step and polish/augment its urban, sophisticated characteristics.)

[jurban8]

Yeah when the guy asks what you lose by moving to Nashville or Charlotte, my mind starts thinking nightlife (however anemic), arts, diversity, shopping, restaurants, the list goes on.

[johnatl]

Originally Posted by back2dc

This is a very interesting article. Seems to mirror many of the arguments that cycle often on C-D, but manages to cement these arguments onto a wider demographic than found on this forum: namely the American public.

What a strange observation. We must have read two very different articles.

[neil0311]

I do business in the Atlanta area and also spend time in Charlotte (heading there in the morning) and I can tell you that Charlotte is no Atlanta, at least from a business perspective. Not saying Atlanta is perfect, but comparing Nashville, Raleigh, or Charlotte is a bit overstated.

[mike1986]

That guy seems to have a chip on his shoulder. Are other cities in the South growing and prospering? Yes and that's a good thing. However, none of those cities/metros mentioned (Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Nashville, and Charleston) have ever grown as fast as Atlanta. I am not talking about percentages, but actual number of people (you can look it up on the census website and compare them all). This guy apparently didn't do his research. All of those cities/metros are experiencing a slow down in growth, so why doesn't he write an article about how the game is over for those places too? Yes, things have slowed down, but they have slowed everywhere. Atlanta is not the only place experiencing this and despite the slow down, Atlanta has added more than twice the amount of people and jobs then all of those cities. Atlanta can't annex a majority of Fulton/Dekalb counties like Charlotte continues to do with Mecklenburg County, which is why Charlotte appears to be "bigger" and growing faster people-wise when it really isn't. Finally, the city of Atlanta is not losing its "luster". If anything, it's becoming more popular. I'm sure a lot of you have read the numerous articles about people moving back into the city or are more receptive to moving intown instead of the suburbs.

PS - I am from Charlotte and I now live in Atlanta. I have no desire to move back to Charlotte and I am not African American or gay! The airport is not the only thing going for Atlanta. What about all of the colleges in the Atlanta area? You stand a lot to lose in that aspect - there are more options for quality colleges and degrees in the Atlanta area than all of those places except for maybe Raleigh-Durham. Plus, all of the amenities (every major league sport, better concerts, Piedmont Park is great, better and more diverse nightlife, shopping, and dining, Six Flags, Aquarium, World of Coke, CNN Center, Stone Mountain, plus all of the wealth and businesses that are already here).