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Atlanta upset over Nashville's recent accolades


smeagolsfree

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I read this article with amusement. :rofl: Couldn't help but just laugh at the fact that Atlanta is jealous of little ole Nashville. What a lot of people dont realize is our time is here for a while and Atlanta has had its time in the spotlight. Atlanta is a great city, but I have to say move over for a while and let other great cities shine. :shades:

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...1/1436/BUSINESS

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I disagree monsoon--this article is obviously in response to the one that appeared in the Atlanta Journal Constitution a few days ago, where the reporter described Tony G's proposal as a threat to erect the tallest building in the South. It even pulls a quote from the Atlanta article.

I do have to take issue with one part of The Tennessean article where the author compares the cities' sophistication as it relates to museums and conveniently omits Atlanta's assets outside of Coke. How about the High, for starters, and the MLK memorial and museum as well.

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I just think there are a lot of people in shock in the Atlanta area that some of the cities in their surrounding area are beginning to provide some competition to them as the premier city in the Southeast in virtually every category. The fact that the Signature Tower was announced is a wake up call to people in Atlanta that everything that happens in the happens in the Southeast doesn't necessarily revolve around them, a view that I think a lot of Atlantans have taken for granted. You take all the recent accolades that Nashville has received as being the number one city in America for Corporate relocation, the Kiplinger study, and another study (I can't remember), and couple that with their loss of some corporate headquarters, a couple of auto manufacturing plants, and the threat of the loss of Delta Airlines, and some civic leaders just may be worried.

Personally, I think Atlanta's reign as the fastest growing "big" city in the Southeast is bound to end relatively soon as it becomes victim to a decreasing quality of life that will result from their seemingly endless sprawl and resulting virtual gridlock on their highways. I predict more people will begin moving away from Atlanta than into Atlanta. This has already happened in California, and areas in Nevada, Arizona and other parts of the West have been the beneficiaries. The beneficiaries of the exodus from Atlanta will primarily be cities in North and South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama.

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Let me first start off by saying that Atlanta is a city and therefore cannot show emotion. I start off by saying that to say that the title of this thread could lead some to believe that the average Atlanta (read as those living in the greater Atlanta area) is upset because of the proposed Signature Tower. Quite the contrary. Until the article in the AJC, most didn't even know it existed. It is unfair to assume that because one person decided to write a filler article about the skyscrapers in Atlanta, Charlotte and Nashville that this article represented the thoughts and feelings of the average Atlantan. It does not.

I will not sit here and type a versus thread. I have no need nor inclination to downplay the current success of Nashville. What I am troubled by however is the need for some to point out Atlanta's negatives to make themselves feel better. Are you not doing the same exact thing that this less than stellar article writer for the AJC did? I can tell you all being that I live here and have lived here for quite some time that the average Atlantan is not really thinking about who has the biggest...I meant...tallest skyscraper. Most in Atlanta don't even know that the BOA tower in Atlanta is the tallest outside of New York and Chicago. Either they don't know or they don't care.

Please do not use one person's filler article to form an opinion about the thoughts of the average Atlantan. For all intent and purposes, we have an Atlanta forum here. Go there and see ALL the dicussion about the towers that will best the BOA tower in Atlanta. They are not there. Every city in the south is experiencing amazing growth from the southern leaders such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston and Miami all the way to Fort Meyers, Fla and Mobile Ala. I am happy for Nashville that the signature tower is proposed. I am one of the Atlantans who have expressed interest in property at Signature tower. I'm sure my family is not the only one. Trust me people....we are not here at our dinner tables bemoaning the idea that we will not have the southeast's tallest skyscraper.

Now to the article presented by smeagolsfree from the USAToday. I read the article and from what I see them saying, everything is correct. For those of us who have been in Atlanta and are old enough to remember Atlanta from the late 70's to early 80's, what we are experiencing is nothing new. All things occur in cycles. This is not the first slump I have seen Atlanta go through. Many who are my age and older who have lived in Nashville can probably remember Atlanta when it went trhough a slump. Does anyone remember Eastern Airlines? While yes there have been many layoffs in the region, this is not something that the average Atlantan is losing sleep over. Is it something that needs to be addressed...yes...go into a depression about....no.

I'm sure there will be more articles in the coming months about the correction that is taking place in greater Atlanta. I'm old enough to understand that you can't always fly high. Sometimes you have to land for a fill up before you take off again. Yes Bellsouth was acquired by AT&T...but trust me, Atlanta will not be the only city in the southeast who feels the affect of such a merger. Sure Atlanta has fallen off a lot of list that it has been on for a decade or more. So have other large cities such as Dallas...and some who have not been on for a while like Chicago and New York. Does this foretell of bad fortune for Atlanta? I think not. What Atlanta will have to do now is mature gracefully. Gone are the days when it could just slap up some tall buildings and boost "hey look at us, we have arrived!" Now the city leaders...instead of having round tables about tall buildings in other cities...should concentrate on increasing the quality of life for the 5.2 million people that call this region home.

The cost of living here has grown tremendously. The quality of life....while relative high considering the amount of amenities for for a city it's size...has diminished somewhat. Public transportation, regional cooperation, parks and recreation, public safety, great schools and decent jobs are what city leaders should be focus on...and quite honestly I think for the most part...with the exception of public transportation...that's exactly what they are focusing on. Believe me....I eat, sleep and raise children here...the average Atlanta is not upset about the prospect of Nashville getting the southeast's tallest skyscraper. For that matter, in the end, Miami could ultimately have that title anyway. I wonder why there was no comparison when their 1200's towers were proposed?

Competition is good...when done in good spirits....the unneccesary denegration of other cities is not. I have wrote the writer of the AJC and scoulded him already. The article was not informative and was a filler at best and unnecessary at worst. Let's hope that we as southern cities can agree that positive growth anywhere in the south is a great thing for the region as a whole.

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All good points and well taken. Did not mean an offense. Its more like the the Tennessean had to respond to the AJC article. I love Atlanta and just thought it funny. I dont think Nashville or Charlotte could ever catch up with Atlanta. There is a lot of pride in all cities. I guess we are trying to ditch the "Home of Country Music" image and it does feel good when we are getting a little jealous attention even if its from the AJC. :)

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Nice post Lady Celeste. I agree with all of your points. The first thing I thought when I read that article was of some board journalist with the maturity level of an eight year old who holds his finger an inch away from your face while repeating, "I'm not touching you, I'm not touching you." In other words, highly annoying. Like you said, it's pure filler with little information. While competition is a good thing, originality is key among southern cities and Atlanta and Nashville have their own wonderfully unique styles.

In my twenties I considered moving to Atlanta. It was the exciting place to be and there wasn't much going on in Nashville. However, I decided to stay and finish school and I'm very glad I did. I still love visiting Atlanta but as I grew older both Nashville and I changed. As Nashville and I matured, I grew to love my home town for all its positives and negatives. It is my own personal number one city in the south because it fits who I am. I know the people of Atlanta feel the same way about their home town and neither of us need some lazy "journalist" to explain it to us. Nashville is in no danger of passing Atlanta in size of population or economy and I hope it never does. I do hope both cities become the absolute best they can possibly be. Nashville is finally beginning to realize it's greater potential but I hope that as it becomes more and more cosmopolitan it will continue to maintain its small town charm. So, we'll leave the big, big city stuff to you guys in Hotlanta...well except for the title of tallest building. :D

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Well-put, LC. I dare say there are only a couple dozen Atlantans who even care about a building in Nashville or any other city for that matter.

As a fellow Atlantan, I've lamented the "discovery" of my beautiful hometown since September 1990 (does anybody know the significance of that date?). But it's inevitable for the residents of any city on the rise. "It" is some point when growth for growth's sake is no longer seen as exciting and completely beneficial. It's recognized in a diminished quality of life, and it can take many forms. Ask anybody from Detroit in the 1920s or LA in the 1940s for examples.

As you noted, LC, Atlanta is far from the point of other cities in being anything near a decline. It's truly a new phase, and one in which growth in itself should not be our city leaders' highest priority. Fortunately, in Atlanta growth still seems to be doing quite well.

Finally... An observation of writers for both the AJC and the Tennessean... they're not unique in this respect either... just two papers I'm quite familiar with.

These types of articles are often done by low level staffers as filler for a "big city" paper. I assume they're assigned the piece by a like minded, seasoned staffer for what was mentioned above; tabloid fodder. As young writers, they haven't yet outgrown their Marlo Thomas hat throwing exuberance for having "made it". Keep in mind that making it for them is usually anything that extracts them from the den of rubes in the stagnant backwater from whence they came. So like it's been said above, when a paper puts these self-sophisticates on some topic like this, all their simplistic stereotypical ideas come through in the subtext.

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I'd agree with Metro.M. I don't think that many people in either city are too concerned with the other.

I agree 100%. Most Nashvillians don't care what's going on in ATL [or any other city], and vice versa. If anyone in ATL is "upset" over growth in Nashville, they must live a sad existence considering how great their city is.

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I don't think Nashville wants to be Atlanta, Although I am envious of their being on Eastern time with the reset of civilization. Nashville is known for being a big city with a small feel; why lose that? Just because we are growing and adding a HUGE TOWER THAT WILL MAKE THE BANK OF AMERICA TOWER IN ATLANTA LOOK LIKE A TOOTHPICK doesn't mean we want to replace them.

BTW, just kidding about the toothpick comment :)

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As an Atlantan, I have never really thought much about the BOA tower being the tallest outside of NYC and Chicago since it really is in the same general height range as a lot of other buildings. It is not really that much taller than other buildings in Atlanta. Plus the height is due to the large crown on top the building. The building is only 50-something stories. There are buildings in LA and Houston I think that are really taller in terms of the actual height of the usable part of the building (i.e., floors). Plus, I agree that Miami will ultimately end up with the tallest in the Southeast unless the condo market crashes there. There are a number of "monster" towers proposed there.

I must say I am far more excited about the urban redevelopment occurring throughtout intown Atlanta right than I would be about a new large tower. The problem with Atlanta before the mid-1990s was not the lack of tall buildings, but the lack of good urban fabric around them.

Having said all of that, congrats to Nashville on the Signature Tower. It will look odd in terms of its relative scale to the rest of downtown, but that is always a given with a city's first tall tower. Downtown Nashville has a nice core of mid-rise buildings now and it is time to take it to the next level. Charlotte's BOA tower looked weird initially (being so much taller than the other buildings and at one end the downtown skyline), but other tall buildings are now filling out the skyline some.

I do find it odd that most of the tall buildings being built now in most cities seem to be residential or hotel. That is certainly the case currently in Atlanta where the new office construction tends to be shorter or part of larger mixed-use developments. What happened to building tall office buildings?

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I agree UrbanSoutherner. Tall buildings don't make a city. :shok: The people and culture do. That's what is so great about the differences between southern cities. Our skylines may become more similar but the flavor of each and every city will hopefully remain distinct as development continues. Otherwise, why bother traveling? Love your city btw.

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  • 7 months later...

The Tennessean article is no longer available but I do remember that bizzarre and pointless article in the AJC. The whole premise that a city's status is changed by the height of a building seems a bit silly.

At any rate a little background on the "decline" mentioned in the USA today article....

the dot-com bust and 9-11 combination really rocked the local economy and it took longer for Atlanta to recover than most areas of the country. It did recover by adding 65,000 jobs in 2005. The auto plant closings and mergers will be a hiccup in comparison to those years now that the economy is growing again.

Bottom line... I fail to see how growth in Nashville is bad for Atlanta any more than growth in Atlanta is bad for Nashville. If anything it helps both by creating more opportunities for business.

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