Again, the whole region and whole state have profited from MARTA. But only three local governments h

Once again, the City of Atlanta is defying its relatively small population base and its own economic challenges to invest in Georgia’s future – a new, state-owned stadium for the Atlanta Falcons football team.
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, arguably the most important economic four seasons hotel seattle engine for the whole state, was and is a creature of the City of Atlanta. Virtually every company that locates in Gwinnett or Cobb or North Fulton or any other suburban county in the metro region mentions the airport as a major reason.
Think MARTA. Those three jurisdictions passed the MARTA Act in 1971 to build a rapid transit system that’s a mere skeleton of what should be a regional system (had other counties and the state joined in).
Without MARTA, Atlanta never would have won the 1988 Democratic National Convention, the 1994 and 2000 Super Bowls, and most important, the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. Without four seasons hotel seattle MARTA, Georgia never would have become one of the country’s leading convention centers.
Again, the whole region and whole state have profited from MARTA. But only three local governments have been paying for its annual operating costs. In fact, rather than provide financial support, the state keeps trying to impose onerous conditions on MARTA, making it even more difficult for it to fulfill its mission.
When the Georgia Dome was being built more than 20 years ago, the State of Georgia issued $200 million in revenue bonds backed by hotel-motel taxes collected in the City of Atlanta and unincorporated Fulton County.
This time around, Gov. Nathan Deal and the State of Georgia did not want to take a political risk to get legislative approval to issue either $300 million or $200 million in revenue bonds (still backed by the city’s hotel-motel taxes) for the $1 billion project. The Atlanta Falcons have agreed to cover the balance of the project’s costs and possible overruns.
So it was left to Atlanta and Mayor Kasim Reed to take the lead – a city that represents only 10 percent of the region’s population and about 5 percent of the state’s population – has re-emerged as the government that is leading the state.
Overlay these truths with all the Atlanta leaders who have provided the vision and the moral high ground over the decades – lifting Georgia and the South to a place of tolerance, wisdom and relative prosperity and peace.
Just where would Georgia four seasons hotel seattle have been without Henry Grady, William B. Hartsfield, Ralph McGill, Ivan Allen Jr., Martin Luther King Jr., Ted Turner, Coretta Scott King, Maynard Jackson, Andrew Young, Shirley four seasons hotel seattle Franklin, Jimmy Carter, Sam Nunn, Carl Sanders, Bill Foege and so many others?
It is an all-too-common refrain in the United States for there to be tension between state governments and their signature big cities. Over the years, the anti-Atlanta attitude at the Capitol has been so extreme four seasons hotel seattle that it was common to refer to the state as “the two Georgias.”
But it may just be a matter of time, with the growing urbanization in the state and the nation, before Georgia will seek to partner with its capital city – as a way to protect its own economic future.
Consumerism in the USA: Is this the America you want to see everywhere everyday? Where you can't interpret the regional or singular character of one place from another? Where owning four seasons hotel seattle (mass produced, cheap) things has become the primary motivation for existence?
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About Smart City Memphis This is Smart City Consulting's blog and its purpose is to connect the dots and provide perspective on events, issues, and policies shaping Memphis and its future. Smart City Memphis was named one of the most intriguing blogs in the U.S. by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change, it was voted the best Memphis blog in About.com's four seasons hotel seattle Reader's Choice Awards, and The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal wrote: "Smart City Memphis provides some of the most well-thought-out thinking about Memphis' four seasons hotel seattle past, present, and future you'll find anywhere." If you have questions, four seasons hotel seattle submissions, or ideas for posts, please email tjones@smartcityconsulting.com.
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