Atlanta Rules!
Decatur Metro | December 6, 2010Will this have a tangible impact on the direction of our state government?
I wish I could read this full article from the Atlanta Business Chronicle, but even the first two paragraphs are pretty intriguing.
Atlanta region poised to control legislature
Georgia’s General Assembly is about to be taken over by metro Atlanta, launching a new political era that will have ramifications for key issues facing state government.
For the first time, the post-census redrawing of legislative districts set for next year will put a majority of House and Senate seats inside the 28-county metro region, according to estimates.
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When did they go pay wall??
They’ve had one for more than two years, for certain content. Other content is free.
There may be a 28 county metro area but the concerns of the outlying counties are certainly not the concerns of ITP.
It’s all in how you define “metro”. 28 counties? Seriously? That comes from the metro atlanta chamber of commerce. And it makes sense in that it’s the densest part of the state. But ask people in Warm Springs, Tallapoosa, Adairsville, Winder, and Barnesville if they consider themselves “metro Atlanta” and I bet the vast majority do not. Pretty soon Savannah will be metro Atlanta.
Thanks to all the fine folks who sent me the full article today! I’m speechless!
The article basically goes on to frame the transformation to a majority-Atlanta legislature around water issues and transportation.
Here’s a drop of the water issue…
With non-Atlanta legislators holding a slight majority in the General Assembly during the 2000s, that restriction on interbasin transfers has remained in place.
But with the Atlanta region projected to gain a half dozen seats in the House of Representatives and two in the Senate after redistricting, metro lawmakers could lift those limits and let the water flow from rural areas where supplies are plentiful into river systems that feed Atlanta.
But as for transportation…
“While the census probably shows a population shift into metro Atlanta, that group isn’t necessarily a monolithic bloc,” Lindsey said.
Bullock said the lack of unity among metro Atlanta lawmakers is more evident when it comes to transportation. He noted that the 28-county region includes diverse communities with different interests and political leanings.
“Democrats are found more in the central city in districts with low-income people who need transit to get to work,” Bullock said. “When you move further out, you get people who still want to get to work. But they’re not all that interested in transit. They want limited-access highways.”
Benita Dodd, vice president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, said the legislature’s emerging metro majority probably will advocate relieving the region’s traffic congestion with a mix of “common-sense” rail projects and more highway improvements funded through public-private partnerships.
She said the real loser likely will be a planned network of four-lane highways in rural Georgia, which is still not complete more than two decades after work began.
I wonder what other issues this “transfer of power” might touch…though I certainly agree with the comments that the 28 county area isn’t a unified force of everything that I hold dear.