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Economic and Civic Profile of
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta
is the capital and largest city of
Georgia,
a
state of the
United States
of America. It is the
county seat of
Fulton County,
although a portion of the city (the
1909
annex) is located in
DeKalb County,
and most of the airport, which is within the city limits, is
in
Clayton County.
According to the latest
census
estimates (as of December,
2004), the city had a
population of 425,000
and the fast-growing
Atlanta metropolitan area
totaled 4,708,297, making it the ninth-largest metropolitan
area in the
United States and the
41st-largest city proper. Atlanta is arguably a poster-child
for cities worldwide experiencing rapid urban
sprawl, population
growth, and commercial development. As a result, Atlanta is
a common case study for college students who study Urban
Geography around the globe.
Atlanta's development began in
the early
19th century as a
railroad hub. It was largely destroyed by Union forces
during the
Civil War,
but recovered in time to be chosen the state capital shortly
thereafter. In the
20th century, Atlanta
was a center for the
American Civil Rights Movement
and served as the host city for the Centennial
1996 Summer Olympics.
One of the city's nicknames,
"The Phoenix City", relates to its rise after the Civil War.
The
phoenix appears in many
of Atlanta's symbols, including its seal and flag. In the
1940s and
1950s, former Atlanta
mayor
William B. Hartsfield
called Atlanta "The City Too Busy to Hate". In addition, it
has also been called the "New York of the South" in response
to one of Georgia's own nicknames, "The Empire State of the
South." Atlanta may also be known as ATL, a
colloquialism for the
city (also the
code for the airport).
Atlanta is circled by
Interstate 285, which
has come to delineate the interior of the city from the
surrounding suburbs. This has given rise to calling
residents inside the "Perimeter" (local parlance for I-285)
as ITP (Inside the Perimeter) and those in the suburbs OTP
(Outside the Perimeter). The Perimeter is Atlanta's
equivalent to the
Capital Beltway around
Washington, DC.
Atlanta has such a great
economic impact on the state and the surrounding region that
cities and towns up to 60 miles away are considered
'exurbs', defined by the fact that people depend on their
livelihoods by commuting to work in the city, rapidly
growing what is called
Metro Atlanta.
Despite
romantic associations, Atlanta has always been more a commercial city than
an
ante-bellum
monument. It is the major center of regional commerce, and boasts an
especially strong convention and trade show business. According to the
ranking of world cities
undertaken by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network (GaWC)
and based on the level of presence of global corporate service
organizations, Atlanta is considered a gamma or minor world city.
Several major national and international companies are headquartered in
Atlanta or its nearby suburbs, including five Fortune 100 companies:
The Coca-Cola Company
(started in Atlanta),
BellSouth,
United Parcel Service
in
Sandy Springs,
Home Depot
(started in Atlanta), and
Georgia-Pacific.
Home Depot founder
Bernie Marcus
has donated more than 200 million dollars to build the new
Georgia Aquarium.
Newell Rubbermaid
recently moved to Sandy Springs as well. Atlanta also has its own
Flatiron Building,
built before (1897)
the
better-known one
in
New
York City (1902).
On
the north side of the city near Midtown, the former Atlantic Steel plant is
being redeveloped as
Atlantic Station,
a mixed-use urban renewal project combining housing, retail, and office
space, and promoted as one solution to Atlanta's ever more serious traffic
and summer smog problems. The metro area has one of America's longest daily
commutes, and is one of the most car-dependent cities on the planet, both
due to suburban sprawl, and lack of large nearby lakes or mountains to
compress growth. It also has a notorious reputation as being one of the most
dangerous for pedestrians, as far back as
1949,
when Gone With the Wind author
Margaret Mitchell
was struck by a speeding car and killed.
The city is a major cable television programming source;
CNN Center,
headquarters of the
Cable News Network,
is in Atlanta where the network was founded, and
The Weather Channel
broadcasts from just outside of town. In addition to CNN,
Ted Turner's
(and now
Time Warner's)
other networks from Atlanta include
Cartoon Network/Adult
Swim and companion channel
Boomerang,
TNT,
Turner
South,
CNN
International,
CNN en
Español,
CNN Headline News,
CNN
Airport Network, and
TBS.
Atlanta's
WTBS
channel 17 (originally WTCG) was Turner's start in television in the
1970s,
after he bought the struggling UHF TV station, turning it into a profitable
venture which still broadcasts "Superstation" TBS locally and nationally.
Atlanta's
WSB
was
the first
AM
radio station in the South. There are
also many
Atlanta FM radio stations that play
music of different kinds.
WikiMedia has several
photographs of Atlanta life taken by TheCustomOfLife.
Learn more about the City of Atlanta by visiting the official Web site of
the
City of Atlanta.
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