Atlanta: Center… or Black Hole?
It took television to really help me understand what Atlanta is. Atlanta is the population hub singularity around which the rest of the South spins. Atlanta has always seemed to be lacking in a unifying single cultural element that binds us together. Things just swirl around. Gravity is the metaphor.
This becomes obvious via Turner South and Fox Sports South. Their broadcasts tailor everything for us. One show visited main streets in Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina, describing them all as “places you could drive to and back in a day!”. That only works if you’re here.
Fox Sports South talked about the Alabama v. Tennessee game as being close to home and a fun day trip. Not if you’re from Charlotte.
Atlanta has so many people that advertisers, retailers, and other Southern Cities build their economic and marketing campaigns around us. We have the ability to drive the region. The question is: ‘toward what horizon should we be driving?’
October 25th, 2005 at 3:40 pm
So does the lack of comments answer your question? I think it does…
October 28th, 2005 at 10:46 am
Last night, I was talking with some folks who made note of the fact that Atlanta is not the only beneficiary of Hartsfield.
Alabama and South Carolina, replete with tax incentives that Georgia doesn’t have, also benefit from Hartsfield, because it’s so easy to fly to ATL, then drive a couple of hours to Alabama or SC. So when jobs come a-callin’, they go to SC and AL for the incentives, but use the ATL airport.