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Old Posted Apr 6, 2007, 4:56 AM
Master Shake Master Shake is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 250
Look, lets give credit where credit is due. Atlanta, Houston, Dallas are the Cities that are making things happen in America today. There is an intrinsic bias on this website against the Sunbelt up and comers,but the fact is they have alot to teach rest of the country. We should ask what these cities are doing right and what other cities like New York, yes even New York, and Detroit can do to compete.

Its not just about weather, although it certainly is a factor. I have to say though, Atlanta's success is not based on its beaches or skiiing. Lets just be honest here.

Atlanta is America's City of the moment because its a place of incredible opportunity. Low taxes, low government regulation and a can do attitude is what makes this possible. Jobs, and by that I mean high end jobs, in finance, law and engineering are what make Atlanta great. Young college graduates are flooding to these cities for a reason. The Southern conservative attitude towards limited govenment allows this to happen. Cheap housing is another factor. The cheaper housing is due in part to less government regulation of land use.

Yes sprawling equals growth and prosperity, and as long as metros like SF and NYC reject sprawl, they will be at the bottom of any growth list. I am not saying the Sprawl is the answer, just look at Detroit and Buffalo, but its part of the answer. Much of the population, especially the mobile educated portion, want a certain suburban lifestyle. Metros like New York and SF are not growing fast enough to provide the affluent suburban lifeestyle of the upper middle management crowd. These metros are great if you are a millionaire or if you are 22 years old, but otherwise not so much.

High density developments may help address some of the housing costs, but the vast majority of Americans want the suburban lifestyle.

Glad to see Chicago is still booming with a rate twice the growth rate of New York, although I believe most of the growth is in exurban sprawl.
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