Quote:
Originally posted by Shani26
Wow that's surprising...wasn't it just a few years ago when Atlanta was considered the best city for blacks? What happend???
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Don't get me wrong I love the ATL shawty; however, it isn' that Atlanta is not a good city for blacks in terms of culture. I am studying City and Regional Planning now in grad school which has opened my eyes to a lot of cities in the U.S. Atlanta is the number one city in the nation for sprawl (uncontrolled growth). Atlanta now sprawls over 20 counties in Georgia. A book was just published by Robert Bullard at Clark Atlanta Univ called "Sprawl City: Race, Politics and Planning in Atlanta".
Most of the people who live in Atlanta may not be aware of the consequences of sprawl such as air pollution, health risks (stress), decline of central businesses, suburbanization, educational decline and other social and economic factors. The businesses follow the rush to the suburbs taking with it the jobs and the better schools. It polarizes races to different sides of town while the more affluent neighborhoods (usually suburbs) get the better end of the stick.
Most of the new businesses are going to Roswell, Alpharetta and other sides of town leaving areas like East Point in devastation as far as economic stability is concerned. The inner city is facing sever blight. Children in Atlanta have higher rates of asthma, nose bleeding while adults face more stress because of their long commutes to work. People in Atlanta spend more time on their commute to work yearly than any other city. Adults also have a higher risk of heart attack from stress related issues. The travel to work cuts down on family time which has quality of life issues in itself. The majority of these issues affect minorities the most. Atlanta will soon lose Federal funding because they exceed the regulated amount for air quality according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
There are other cities like this such as Detroit, Boston and Charlotte.
Let me stop trying to give a snap shot lesson in City Planning. Although, I hope that now you understand why the ATL is not at the top of that list; however, I have no idea what BET based there criteria on.
I hope this helps.