The recent trip to Denver by metro Atlanta leaders exposed several weaknesses that we face as a region.

On the 12th annual LINK (Leadership, Innovation, Networking, Knowledge) trip, about 110 Atlantans took an in-depth look at how Denver has been able to progress in the past decade while metro Atlanta has lagged behind.

MARIA SAPORTA • E-mail Saporta Recent columns • To read more about the trip and post your comments, go to Business Insider.

A number of the people on the trip reflected on our weaknesses upon their return. Incidentally, a metro Atlanta LINK delegation made a trip to Denver in 1997, so this trip gave regional leaders an opportunity to contrast the two cities at two points in time.

What they found in Denver was a region undergoing an aggressive effort to build out a transit system in all directions; a region that has found ways to work together to support the arts, culture, sports facilities and transportation; a metro area with strong and dynamic leaders; and a place that had been confronting some of its toughest problems, such as indigent health care and water shortages, head on.

In every one of those cases, metro Atlanta leaders saw ways that we could improve our environment to become more like Denver.

In fact, the group was so motivated by the end of the trip that it had a lively closing session seeking ways to spark change in Georgia — particularly when it comes to transportation funding.

Sam Olens, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission (which organizes the LINK trips), was most impressed with Denver's ability to place local initiatives on the ballot without having to get permission from the state of Colorado.

By comparison, metro Atlanta leaders, working with a host of statewide organizations, tried to get state legislative approval so regions could go to voters to consider a one-cent sales tax for transportation improvements.

The legislation did not pass. To put it in blunt terms, the state of Georgia wouldn't even give the Atlanta region the right to ask its voters to pass a sales tax increase to pay for its own improvements.

Like Georgia, the governor of Colorado opposed the passage of a transit sales tax for the Denver region. But unlike Georgia, the Colorado governor could not veto a grassroots initiative with broad-based popular support.

"We have gone from fourth to second in having the worst traffic congestion in the country," Olens said. "Clearly other communities such as Denver have come together with regional initiatives for self-funding."

The Denver region also has the ability to go before voters with proposals for a fraction of a sales tax. For example, there's a one-penny tax on every $10 to support the arts and cultural organizations. And there's another four cents on every $10 to support building out a transit system that is dominated by light rail lines.

In Georgia, voters are asked to support a 1 percent sales tax, whether it be for transportation, education or water/sewer improvements. There does not seem to be a mechanism to split that 1 percent among several quality-of-life initiatives. Any change would require approval from the state legislature.

"What we don't have is the legal ability to move initiatives forward with the consensus of our region," Olens said. "This whole idea of letting their citizens vote is really the idea of home rule. The public would have to have a buy-in at the ballot box."

The issue is sensitive because there's a strong sentiment that the state of Georgia is not doing its share to help the region. County and city governments are having to come up with new funding to pay for improvements. "We are inadequately funding our infrastructure such as transportation, water and education," said Olens, who also is chairman of the Cobb Commission. "I support property tax reform, but I also support the state handling essential government services."

Chick Krautler, the ARC's executive director, put it this way when comparing Colorado to Georgia. "While their state leaders are not engaged (in the Denver region), they also are not a stumbling block," he said. "They don't have to get approval from the state to put a referendum before voters."

The Denver and Atlanta regions also differ in the level of regional cooperation.

LINK participants came away from Denver with the feeling that Denver's region has mastered close relationships between the urban governments.

Several gave credit to the mayor of Denver, John Hickenlooper. When he took office, he worked hard to build relationships with mayors from other cities in the metro area, including Aurora. Historically, the mayors of Denver and Aurora would hardly speak to each other.

Today there is a strong Mayors Caucus in Denver that can galvanize the region to effect change. When the LINK delegation members went to Chicago in 2002, the first year that Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin was in office, they saw a similar mayors caucus that was guided by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. When regional leaders returned home, they created the Metro Atlanta Mayors Association.

Because the Atlanta region is dominated more by county governments than cities (only 35 percent of the region's population lives in cities, according to Krautler), MAMA hasn't been as influential as its counterparts in Denver and Chicago.

Krautler also said that Mayor Hickenlooper not only believes that a healthy metro area needs a strong city center, but that a healthy city requires healthy suburbs. "He's looking for ways to co-sponsor activities with the suburbs," Krautler said.

Tony Landers, the ARC director who organizes the LINK trips, put it another way. "They think about how they can effect positive change in a different way than we do," Landers said. "They are thinking about consultations and collaborations in a broader way than we do."

LINK delegations have gone to Denver (1997), Seattle (1998), Dallas (1999), Cleveland (2000), San Diego (2001), Chicago (2002), San Francisco (2003), Boston (2004), Portland (2005), Miami (2006), Vancouver (2007) and back to Denver in 2008.

According to Olens, these trips have helped metro leaders operate better as a region. "I think we probably have a clearer vision of where we want to go as a region," said Olens. "I'm still seeing way too much of this anti-Atlanta attitude across the state."

And until that attitude changes, the Atlanta region will continue to lag behind.