Atlanta’s Real Challenge
Decatur Metro | November 22, 2009This morning’s AJC asks its readers – and many Atlanta experts – “Are metro Atlanta’s growth days gone?”, and then goes on to document metro Atlanta’s financial struggle in a post-Lehman Brothers world.
I humbly suggest that such a question skirts the real issue at hand in favor of easy observation, and is a lot like unharnessing your horse, moving him to the rear of your cart, and commanding “Push!”.
What exactly is wrong with asking “Has Atlanta’s era of unbridled growth finally ended?”.
Well, to me that’s a lot like looking at your house-flipping uncle, who lost his shirt when the housing bubble burst, and worrying about whether ol’ Uncle Teddy can keep risking the farm and coming out ahead. It completely misses the real challenge of a suffering metro area or family member, which is “Can Atlanta/Uncle Ted alter its/his behaviors in an era of new realities?” Can you make the necessary changes or not?
Dang, let’s hope so. Because gone are the days when Atlanta could make no mistakes – or at least not suffer the consequences of mistakes. Growth covered up all wrongs. Develop poorly – build the subdivisions far and wide, jam the highways, underfund your transit. Structure your city budgets under the assumption that growth lasts forever. Because it does, right?
Growth periods are great. But just like too many Snickers bars or too much folic acid in your diet; too much sustained growth will get anyone into trouble.
And now the day of reckoning is upon us, as it is for many cities. It’s time for Atlanta’s leaders and residents to man up and show they can run a 21st century city with more limited resources and an uncertain future. We need to make more thoughtful decisions about growth patterns, cut the fat out of the budget and fund the projects that can prove results.
Thank goodness the era of growth has ended. I’m not sure we could have handled any more good fortune.
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Great perspective on this DM. On the topic of building in particular, it seems that Atlanta has a disproportionate amount of 1) builders/contractors looking for projects and 2) half-abandoned strip malls and commercial space in disrepair. There seems to be an opportunity here in regards to bolstering the lagging local economy, using some of our stimulus funds for infrastructure, and revitalizing some of these dead spaces.
With the commercial real estate market supposedly on it’s last leg, can’t someone figure out how to reward builders for revitalizing existing urban spaces, and likewise discouraging builders that mow down natural spaces for McMalls if there is X percent of renewal space within a 10 mile radius of the new construction?
I’m not anti-builder — i’m anti-sprawl. Would like to see some of our local talented and under-employed builders tackle some of the semi-abandoned commercial eyesores around town.
There are a lot of cities with and without sprawl issues that are suffering to varying degrees at this moment. As an example, I’d assert that NY-metro hasn’t had sprawl since the post WWII/Levittown sprawling. And NY is suffering pretty keening during this recession – especially its real estate business. Houston, which may be the sprawl billboard-child to Atlanta’s poster-child size, has been relatively prosperous during this recession.
Don’t get me wrong. Atlanta’s growth strategies (or lack thereof) and land use controls stink and need major change. And even a red herring reason for change may warrant support. But solely blaming sprawl for Atlanta’s economic woes seems a little too simple – maybe even specious. Indeed, Atlanta’s cheap land, housing, and resulting cost o’ living could have actually been a catalyst for growth.
Whoa whoa whoa. Who’s blaming sprawl for Atlanta’s economic woes? You switched my cause and effect.
I’m saying that sprawl is just one of the many poor long-term ideas that can thrive during a period of cheap financing and prosperity. Sprawl has been great for Atlanta and many other 20th century cities thus far…if you ignore the traffic. But overall, it’s met all of the city’s housing needs for the short-term.
But NOW, all bets are off and model is at risk. NYC and other dense cities don’t have as much risk, simply because they lucked out and were developed prior to the era of cheap oil. Atlanta, more than many other cities, needs to stop being nostalgic about its lovely, old growth past (like this article was) and start being smarter about how it spends its money.
Correct, sprawl is not a growth strategy, and definitely not to blame for the current crisis — it’s an ufortunate side-effect of easy access to funding with no consideration of long-term effects.
“Sprawl has been great for Atlanta and many other 20th century cities thus far…”
This is like saying the morbidly obese diabetic was highly nourished during his formative years. Therefore we wonder why the patient is dying.
Sprawl is a land use abuse that was enabled by subsidizing a single form of transport over others. From regulations forcing unneeded $50,000 per parking space lots surrounding businesses so that non-motorized patrons must subsidize motorists “free” parking. To the gleeful rural politicians destruction of potentially viable public transportation systems like MARTA. This worship of technology has extended to all resoutces including fresh water. Now we are rushing to finance ridiculous and desperate coal-powered automobiles (called pluggables) in order to preserve this already dead way of life.
“Thank goodness the era of growth has ended. I’m not sure we could have handled any more good fortune.”
You prefer today’s 11% unemployment?
Ha! Now I’m getting hit from both sides! Love it!
Ridge…obviously when I say “sprawl has been great for Atlanta” it’s a bit tongue in cheek and only evaluates it in terms of filling an immediate need (more housing). In the long term it will most likely serve as the anchor that pulls many cities under.
DEM…absolutely not. That’s why I scoff at the myopic nostalgia of Atlanta’s recent growth spurt. You think we’d have 11% unemployment if the U.S. was allowed to dip into a small recession earlier this decade and not propped up on artificial gains?
We did have a recession earlier this decade, when the tech bubble burst.
Sorry…I meant to write “larger recession” earlier this decade…
Without a pro-Atlanta governor and a coordinated regional strategy that recognizes transportation, education, and water as critical economic development tools, then yes, Atlanta’s growth days are over. Building a metro area on the idea that creative and professional jobs will simply “appear” every year is every bit as shortsighted as building a city based on auto manufacturing. Focus on quality of life, infrastructure, and aggressive business retention and recruitment or we’re sunk.
Absolutely Bo. The more I’ve thought about this post since writing it originally, the more I’ve realized that I shouldn’t have let the state off the hook. Many folks in ATL already understand the importance of making these changes…in fact many were cited in the article.
The AJC isn’t doing anyone any favors by lamenting Atlanta’s slowing growth. Get over it and see this downturn as our opportunity and promote the heck out of it or “we’re sunk.”
Atlanta is the heart of Georgia. Feed Atlanta with properly evaluated infrastructure building and repair, and you will elevate all of the state. The Georgia legislature is anti-Atlanta, and that is a huge part of the problem.
Well said, and spot on, Carolyn. I do get weary of seeing this Legislature treating Atlanta like the red-headed stepchild, when it’s the main engine that generates the fuel for Georgia’s economy.