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With just days to go before we hit Atlanta, it's time to put on your thinking caps.
On our first day, we'll hear about the Atlanta Way - an alliance of black and white political and economic interests so unique that it became the subject of one of Tom Wolfe's most celebrated novels. At its best, the Atlanta Way promises race-blind access to the American Dream. As Spellman College professor William Cobb put it:
"A friend of mine who moved here, opened a successful business, bought a huge house and married a beautiful woman said that he came to the city because he ‘knew that as a black man, there was nothing that you couldn't achieve in Atlanta.' You can see why he believes that. In 2007, Georgia's capital had the second-largest black middle class in the country, teeming with college graduates."
But Cobb goes on to note that among other problems, Atlanta still has one of the nation's highest poverty rates, and he wonders if the fruits of Atlanta's racial consensus can be equally enjoyed by all. It's the Atlanta region's version of the classic gentrification debate, and it opens up delicate racial and political questions.
Right now, ground zero for debate over the "Atlanta Way" may be the singular case of Grady Memorial Hospital - a venerable but financially troubled civic landmark with deep roots in the city's African American community. Attempts to pull it out of its fiscal hole have stirred up powerful emotions. Here's how the New York Times put it:
"... there was no way to muffle accusations that white business leaders, who see the hospital as vital to the region's growth, were trying to take over one of the city's most prominent black-run institutions. Even after the reorganization was endorsed by Shirley Franklin, Atlanta's influential black Democratic mayor, black board members who supported it were accused by Grady patients and other local black politicians of being ‘sell-out Uncle Toms' and worse."
We'll hear about the Atlanta Way from three who know it intimately: Ed Baker of the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Milton Little of the region's United Way, and A.J. Robinson of Central Atlanta Progress. Among the questions worth considering: how well does the Atlanta Way help the city deal with tricky questions about schools, public housing and panhandlers?
Complicated stuff to be sure - and that's just the first panel. Later on Wednesday we'll hear from former state, local, and suburban public officials who'll talk about regional governance. Atlantans are trying to find regional solutions to everything from transportation to sprawl to water policy. And Day 2, of course, will be a smorgasbord of walks and talks on housing, education, and the city's Olympic legacy:
"Few people can fail to be impressed with the sight of hundreds of children who now come to play in the water fountains that spout from five Olympic rings. In my experience it is rare in American cities to see such an ethnically harmonious sight in a public place ... Mayor Franklin also came up with a fiscal arrangement which transfers 20% of the tax dollars generated by the regeneration of downtown into poorer districts like Vine City or English Avenue. These districts remain predominantly black but, according to Bob Jones who runs an economic development agency which serves these two communities, these tax dollars are real. In the past three years his development agency has funded a $30m low cost housing development from these tax dollars."
Like we said, get those thinking caps ready.
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