There’s an alluring tendency today to reduce all things civic to the bloodsport that is modern politics. The nation, and greater Atlanta, have suffered as a result, because we too often settle for rhetoric and not results.
Railing from both sides of the aisle about bad government is commonplace today. That’s easier, and cheaper, than actually working together to gain significant ground on big, common problems.
All of which makes for the wheel-spinning and mud-churning that’s left much of America’s, Georgia’s and metro Atlanta’s common needs unmet or under-addressed, especially when it comes to public infrastructure.
There’s economic risk in such neglect, we believe. Capitalism, at its core, is an incessant, high-risk contest. There are, invariably, winners and losers.
Cities and regions are like businesses in that they also suit up and wage economic battles. How well companies and metro areas alike allocate always-scarce resources determines who wins or loses..
Victors gain bounty measured in capital, investment and jobs – and all the benefits that those bestow. The same inputs are roughly snatched away from losers and transferred to entities able to run faster, smarter and harder until success is achieved – and sustained.
There really is no stable middle ground on the fields where economic primacy is decided. Those who falter, or drag to a stop, are at risk to be overtaken, trampled and bypassed by those whose energy has not wavered, or flagged. Economist Joseph Schumpeter called this process “creative destruction.”
This concept holds firmly true in assessing the vast Atlanta region as an economic entity. It’s how the rest of the world sees us, even as we view ourselves as disconnected citizens and workers having allegiance only to county X or city Y.
In truth, we are all metro Atlantans — regardless of where our individual pushpin lies on a map that encompasses 29 counties in its broadest version.
We’re a behemoth of 5.5 million people. One that’s grown fast, and gleaned both the good and the not-so-good that such entails.
As a side effect of all that, this metro faces quantifiable, significant risks, whether we adequately acknowledge them or not. They deserve our attention, followed by action sufficient to address them.
A news report in May 31’s The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows that metro Atlanta’s economy lags other, competitor cities some six years after the Great Recession officially ended.
Consider that Dallas, in a state as red as Georgia, saw a 1.14 percent increase in gross domestic product from 2007 through 2013. If you think the Texas energy industry dynamo skewed the result, well, Charlotte logged GDP growth of 1.10 percent during that same period. Where did Atlanta place? We notched a comparatively anemic 0.99 percent rise.
For sure, metro Atlanta’s economy is still firmly competitive among peer cities — for now, at least. But we’re showing worrisome signs of faltering in our pace. That will be the case, we believe, until this metro learns how to work together more efficiently and effectively across geographic and political boundaries.
Our comparative inability to act regionally toward results should worry this metro’s leaders, employers and common citizens alike. Infrequent, but harrowing snow events showcase our weakness in this regard, as do daily traffic snarls. This metro’s fractured makeup, indifference by state leaders and lack of sustained regional cooperation severely handicap problem-solving here. That should change.
Regions that don’t have their act together around big, common issues are like a disorganized, flailing team. They rarely win.
That is where metro Atlanta and Georgia now stands as we continue to be hampered by lack of transportation infrastructure, water wars, education problems and other bugaboos that have made us the darling of regions that compete against us for jobs and investment. Our struggles thus contribute to others’ gains.
While we dither, argue or ignore the obvious, others are building – in red and blue places alike. While the Georgia General Assembly takes yet another year to study the worthiness of transit investment, Denver, Dallas and others are pouring asphalt and laying rail to ease congestion. The same can be said for other issues.
It’s an immutable truth that, in economics and in the life of cities, there is no standing still. You’re either moving ahead, or falling behind.
Atlantans and Georgians should know that, and act accordingly.
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