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Ok, and how is that important to the rest of the country???
Houston is home to some of best hospitals in the country as well, and Austin or Dallas could possibly compete for technology. Boston isn't the best at what it does. History and Education are important, but just because Boston has great schools; I don't see how that is benefiting the rest of us, especially when there are tons of other great schools in the country as well.
I'm not saying Houston doesn't have great hospitals, as I know the medical center in Houston is absolutely enormous. I also know there are some great schools in the Houston area.
I'm not trying to say other cities are bad because of this, I'm just saying Boston is very good. I think many of you are taking what I'm saying as an attack towards others, which isn't my intention at all.
There are two incorrect and invalid points in the above statement:
1. The GDP (economic output) of Boston, San Francisco, and Atlanta are each ranked in the top 10 in the U.S. - and neither city's economy is "considerably larger" than Atlanta's...the economies of these 3 cities are very similar in size.
2. NYC is ONE city ("cities like NY have..."?) ABC, NBC, Fox, and CBS all have corporate headquarters in NYC, though I'm not sure what that has to do with anything because no one was comparing NYC to Atlanta. It doesn't make Atlanta's television networks any less important - after all, they are cable networks, not broadcast networks...TBS, CNN, TNT, Cartoon Network, TCM, The Weather Channel, SportSouth, etc.
Some FACTS about CNN...it was the first station to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television network in the United States. CNN is currently the #2 rated cable network for news. CNN International airs in 212 countries and its coverage is second only to BBC.
Three more false/incorrect statements that display your lack of knowledge on the Olympic Games:
1. Apparently Atlanta IS "important enough to have ever held the Olympics" - the proof being that ATLANTA HELD THE OLYMPICS IN 1996. There is nothing to debate about this fact, and it's rather embarassing for you to make that feeble attempt.
2. Atlanta winning the competition to host the Olympics is not a "mystery". The IOC's process for choosing a host city is well-publicized and documented...
a. cities are nominated by the national committee of the country where they are located.
b. each nominated city is evaluated by the IOC to ensure that it has the capability of hosting a successful Olympics.
c. the IOC selects a list of finalsts, and each competing city submits a bid.
d. the host city is chosen based on the evaluation and bid.
Atlanta submitted an excellent bid to the IOC in addition to having the facilities and venues needed to host. THE END...if it was a mystery to you, it should be solved - so let it go.
3. Atlanta hosted the SUMMER Olympics...there is a huge difference in the size and importance of summer and winter host cities. Sorry, but being chosen to host the SUMMER Olympics does validate a city as "important" and it places Atlanta in the company of London, Bejing, Athens, Barcelona, Seoul, L.A., and Moscow - the 8 most recent hosts. The Winter Olympics is normally hosted by a small city such as Turin, Nagano, Lilliehammer, and Albertville (3 exceptions - Vancouver/Calgary/SLC). I think most people are aware of this difference existing between the winter and summer Games - and now, so are you.
I'm not sure if you were still trying to bash Atlanta with this statement, but it's a very weak argument. Of course Fortune 500 headquarters are extremely important to a city in several ways...revenues, sponsorships, name/brand recognition, reputation, job opportunities, investment in the community, etc. Again, I think most people know this fact - and now, so do you.
Truthfully...none of your points are valid, and it really wasn't necessary to dump on someone's opinion of the 5 most important U.S. cities. I would actually place Atlanta in the 10 most important U.S. cities rather than the top 5 - even though NBC headquarters is in NYC and neither Olympic hosting nor Fortune 500 companies aren't important.
I'd say Boston having an economy that is 20% bigger than Houston/Atlanta would be "considerably larger", but if you don't that's fine.
Point taken as far as the broadcast power of Atlanta. I admit it's definiltey one of the powers in the nation as far as television broadcasting goes.
I'm still not sold on the "We had the Olympics, so we're important" theory, but ok. Though I will admit it does seem the summer Olympic cities are more important than their winter counterparts...which in my opinion makes it even more bizarre that Atlanta was chosen to host. You said London, Bejing, Athens, Barcelona, Seoul, L.A., and Moscow are the 8 most recent Olympic hosts...I wouldn't put Atlanta anywhere near any of those cities as far as importance goes, would you?
When I was talking about the Fortune 500, I wasn't attacking Atlanta. I actually was talking about Fortune 500 companies with a good friend of mine the other day and then I saw someone bring it up here, so I commented. It wasn't directed at any city or any particular company, just directed at the argument that having Fortune 500 companies makes that area important. As I mentioned before, some of the largest of the Fortune 500 companies are the most inefficiently run companies in the country.
None of my post was meant to attack Atlanta, it was just to show why I don't think Atlanta should be considered one of the Top 5 most important cities in the country. I love going to Atlanta, and I have no reason to bash it. You're far too quick to assume anyone making points against Atlanta is based on some secret hatred for it.
SF has a strong case for a rank of #5 if you include San Jose, Palo Alto, Oakland, etc.: its home to hightech industries (Google, Apple) and first rate universities. Boston makes a reasonable case too: medicine, first rate universities.
That said, I sense a certain amount of anti-sunbelt bias. (The argument that places like CNN/TBS/TNT don't count because they could elect to go somewhere else is particularly silly. That could be said about virtually any institution).
Others have identified why it matters that Atlanta hosts so many Fortune 500 companies, hosted the Olympics, and is home to a number of first-rate schools. In addition to these facts:
Medicine: The Center for Disease Control (CDC), headquartered in Atlanta, is certainly nothing to sneeze at. Atlanta is also the headquarters of the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association.
Television: I hate to be redundant, but Atlanta's imprint on Cable TV is as large as any city outside of NYC and LA: CNN, TBS, TNT (how many of you watched the NBA playoffs on TNT last night?), Cartoon Network, TruTV (the old Court TV), Weather Channel. Further, as noted, CNN in particular has an international news presence second only to the BBC.
Transportation: World's busiest airport.
Culture: Turn on the radio. Outside of LA and NY, no other city in discussion for the #5 spot comes close to being as important to music today as Atlanta. Based in Atlanta: Usher, Ne-Yo, Akon, T.I., Ciara, T-Pain, Outkast, Keri Hilson. And before someone says, "I've never heard of them," I'll say this: of the top six billboard songs right now, three feature different Atlanta-based artists. All but one of the artists I just listed (Outkast) have songs in the top 25 right now.
I'd also note that Dallas, Houston and Atlanta all have added about 1 million people to their populations in the past 9 years. So while all three had very strong comparative GDP numbers in 2005, I suspect they'd rank even higher if a more recent ranking were it available.
Last edited by Midtownatl; 04-21-2009 at 09:20 AM..
Reason: missed word.
Location: Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tmac9wr
I'm not saying Houston doesn't have great hospitals, as I know the medical center in Houston is absolutely enormous. I also know there are some great schools in the Houston area.
I'm not trying to say other cities are bad because of this, I'm just saying Boston is very good. I think many of you are taking what I'm saying as an attack towards others, which isn't my intention at all.
Funny story about MIT. Throughout my ice hockey career, I played MIT in high school, and then when I went onto college. I played against many colleges, I have to add. In the locker room, there were all these equations and game plays on the board from a game they had played the other day. I mean, what college is THAT smart to work out equations like with physics when it comes to a college sport? Don't think you'll find that any other college in the country lol.
That is something that I notice whenever I am in that area. I have cousins in Palo Alto and it just always seems that San Francisco is "that city way up at the tip of the peninsula".
It seems like it is a world away from San Jose, especially when it is a sunny 95 degrees in San Jose and a foggy raw 50 degrees in SF.
San Jose has a case as being the dominant city of the Bay Area.
1. Washington, DC (the capital, of course it's important)
2. Houston (oil)
3. Atlanta (hub of the South)
4. Los Angeles (biggest city on the West Coast)
5. Miami (gateway to Latin America)
SF has a strong case for a rank of #5 if you include San Jose, Palo Alto, Oakland, etc.: its home to hightech industries (Google, Apple) and first rate universities. Boston makes a reasonable case too: medicine, first rate universities.
That said, I sense a certain amount of anti-sunbelt bias. (The argument that places like CNN/TBS/TNT don't count because they could elect to go somewhere else is particularly silly. That could be said about virtually any institution).
Others have identified why it matters that Atlanta hosts so many Fortune 500 companies, hosted the Olympics, and is home to a number of first-rate schools. In addition to these facts:
Medicine: The Center for Disease Control (CDC), headquartered in Atlanta, is certainly nothing to sneeze at. Atlanta is also the headquarters of the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association.
Television: I hate to be redundant, but Atlanta's imprint on Cable TV is as large as any city outside of NYC and LA: CNN, TBS, TNT (how many of you watched the NBA playoffs on TNT last night?), Cartoon Network, TruTV (the old Court TV), Weather Channel. Further, as noted, CNN in particular has an international news presence second only to the BBC.
Transportation: World's busiest airport.
Culture: Turn on the radio. Outside of LA and NY, no other city in discussion for the #5 spot comes close to being as important to music today as Atlanta. Based in Atlanta: Usher, Ne-Yo, Akon, T.I., Ciara, T-Pain, Outkast, Keri Hilson. And before someone says, "I've never heard of them," I'll say this: of the top six billboard songs right now, three feature different Atlanta-based artists. All but one of the artists I just listed (Outkast) have songs in the top 25 right now.
I'd also note that Dallas, Houston and Atlanta all have added about 1 million people to their populations in the past 9 years. So while all three had very strong comparative GDP numbers in 2005, I suspect they'd rank even higher if a more recent ranking were it available.
Holy Crap! I can't believe I left out the CDC. I think that is extremely important to the nation, it being based in Atlanta is another strong case why it could be number 5. Also I forgot to mention NASA for Houston.
These points being made, I still chose SF as the 5th spot city. The point I wanted to make is that the 5th spot is not so clear of a winner. The top 5 is a very hard list to compile. Perhaps the top 10 might be easier. I guess that's what makes the top 5 discussion so fun because you realize how much this country has to offer. Each poster has very strong reasons why a certain city should be the 5th spot. I am a little disappointed that the South (Houston, Dallas, Atlanta) are not receiving their due recognition. I am also surprised Miami hasn't had a case.
The same reason people are including Cambridge (where Harvard and MIT are) when describing Boston. Trying to make the fairest case.
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to you, it should be solved - so let it go.
