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Basically, while Bull Connor in Birmingham was shooting water from hoses at full blast and siccing attack dogs on those Civil Rights protestors, Atlanta was taking a more moderate approach, proclaiming itself as "The City Too Busy To Hate," and when people and started moving down south in the 70s and 80s, Atlanta was considrered to be the more favorable of the two.
Atlanta had the same issues as Birmingham, but had better PR.
Also, years ago, when Birmingham had a chance to expand their airport and make it a hub, they didn't, so Atlanta jumped at the chance. And he rest is history. I think Atlanta and Birmingham were about the same size until the 1950's.
I wouldn't say the city is "stuck in the 60s," but parts of it have seen better days.
Atlanta never had the same racial issues as Birmingham. There had been a large black middle class in Atlanta for many years prior to the Civil Rights Movement and race relations were always more progressive.
Atlanta and Birmingham were about the same size IN 1950...but not prior to that. In 1880 Birmingham was nonexistent while Atlanta was already an established city of 40,000 and well on its way to recovery from being burned to the ground just 15 years earlier. Birmingham came out of nowhere and by 1920 had exploded in population - almost to the size of Atlanta.
By 1960, Atlanta had again left Birmingham behind and had grown much larger at 487,000...as Birmingham began to lose population. So 1920 to 1950 was a brief period of time where the two cities were "about the same size". I don't think Birmingham is stuck in the 60s either (that's when it was declining anyway) because downtown is prosperous, especially around UAB campus - even if the city population is declining.
That's HARDLY my intention, and for those who are familiar with my posts know that's not the case at all. Sometimes I defend Atlanta on here harder than the Atlanta crew, LOL.
Agreed, although I think Austin is our closest regional peer, from a city, metro, and skyline point of view.
no worries, at least you know what i'm talking about...
It's funny how some cities/towns call their central business districts "uptown".... if you hop in a taxi in Chicago or New York and ask for uptown, you will get dropped off in a ghetto.
Not really, but that's an old picture anyway. There are several skyscrapers missing. Here's a better shot (downtown going north past Midtown)
Really? What buildings are missing from the pic I posted? And I mean specifically. I can only think of a couple of buildings of decent size that have been built in downtown Atlanta in the past few years.
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