Our leaders at the Gold Dome have failed us. Atlanta's economy, its success in the business world is dependent on its competativeness.
Here's an example of why our elected officals are letting us fall behind--no light rail.
Rivalry to be economic King of South heats up
From his 15th floor City Hall aerie, Mayor Pat McCrory sees what Atlanta’s missing.
To his left sits the soon-to-be-completed NASCAR Hall of Fame. Straight ahead is the headquarters for GMAC Financial Services. And, running up the spine of this slim and sleek city, rolls a Euro-sleek light-rail train.
Atlanta offered big bucks for NASCAR, tried to land GMAC and has suffered a long, unrequited romance with light rail. Charlotte, like a feisty, undersized boxer, punches above its weight
“We could’ve easily become a Knoxville, Greensboro or Richmond,” McCrory said. “Instead we compete, fortunately, with Denver, Dallas and Atlanta.”
Charlotte, the Queen City, maintains pretensions of one day surpassing Atlanta as economic King of the South. Sam Williams, head of Atlanta’s Chamber of Commerce, says dream on.
“We don’t really compete tooth-and-nail with Charlotte because the companies we go after (are) in the international trade, logistics and biomedical fields and they’re not looking to go to Charlotte,” he said. “Dallas, Tampa and northern Virginia — those are our consistent competitors.”
But some observers say recent missteps by Atlanta — over traffic, transit, water, the environment and politics — may enhance Charlotte’s position.
Nothing underscores Atlanta’s angst like the state legislature’s refusal last month to let the region decide its transportation fate. A traffic-choked Atlanta threatens to repel businesses and individuals. Growth could slow to a crawl.
“We’ve had the opportunity to learn from Atlanta’s mistakes,” McCrory said in a recent interview. “We’ve seen how to grow and how not to grow. We’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. We’ve had the advantage of growing up second.”
And, for the foreseeable future, that’s where Charlotte will remain. With nearly three times the population and a much more diverse and global economic base, Atlanta won’t relinquish its top-dog crown anytime soon.
Charlotte will bide its time, happy with its steady rise from textile town to banking capital. It too experiences bigger-city growing pains. The recession gobsmacked the city’s financial industry. Charlotte must get its economic house in order.
But once it does …
“Clearly the gap has narrowed,” said John Connaughton, an economics professor at UNC Charlotte. “Will Atlanta always be bigger? Yes, during the lifetimes of most of the people here today. Long term? That’s anybody’s guess.”
No comments:
Post a Comment