As they prepared to visit Dallas, Atlanta’s leaders often spoke about the city as a key rival for business and growth. On Wednesday, they heard that notion confirmed – but the mayor of Dallas.
Speaking to more than 100 key metro Atlanta leaders who are here for a four-day look, Mayor Mike Rawlings said he accepts the idea of ongoing competition between regions.
“I’m a competitive guy – I played football,” said Rawlings. “And you are my main competition.”
He also made it clear he can make the argument that in the tussle between the two, he thinks the upper hand belongs to the 6.7 million person metro region known as DFW – for Dallas-Ft. Worth.
“We are basically one market now and DFW is the fourth-largest in market in the United States,” he said. “There’s New York, Los Angeles and Chicago and then there’s DFW.”
Atlanta may continue to be a popular destination for professionals on the move. But Dallas is more so, he said. “I’ve been told that we are the number one location to drop off one-way U-Haul trailer rentals.”
And the new arrivals represent a range of ethnicities – as well as a host of businesses seeking new homes, he said.
He dismissed the idea that Dallas-Ft. Worth is bound to the past when it comes to economics: The Dallas story is no longer written in oil.
“Dallas is a very diversified economy – only one-tenth of the GDP is energy,” he said. “We have become a magnet for business.”
Speaking on a warm night in the sprawling sculpture garden of the Nasher museum, he mused too, about the city’s arts district. And he argued that when it comes to some issues, competition can be turned from zero-sum to win-win.
Improvements in education, for example, are crucial for both Atlanta and Dallas. Upgrades in one do not detract from the other.
“Compete with us – we want to be the best urban school system in the United States.”
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