Relentless list-generating machine Forbes.com now ranks Atlanta the most toxic city in the U.S. because our “combination of air pollution, contaminated land and atmospheric chemicals.”
Not good.
But not all bad.
It’s our best excuse yet to permanently discard our lousy, Brand Atlanta theme song “ATL” and replace it something catchier and more appropriate.
Forbes says Atlanta is the 31st best city in the U.S. for working moms.
I have no idea what the ranking means or what I or anyone else is supposed to do with the information.
Andisheh visited the government megacomplex of Candler-McAfee — aka fastest dying/best small city in America — and was able to get a copy of its official seal. He sends it along:
Does it even exist? Andisheh once again opens our eyes to the ridiculousness that exists right under our very noses. Yesterday, he pointed me to some monkey business.
On another one of Forbes’ entertaining-yet-useless list-icles (this one’s titled “America’s Fastest Dying Places”), a Georgia “city” in DeKalb County by the name of “Candler-McAfee” is listed. It’s ranked no. 2, actually. Go team!
Yet from looking at the map, as Andisheh points out, this isn’t a city — it’s a census designation. Or is it? Some website that appears to show you where you can rent white water rafts nearby calls it a city. And another list-icle, this one by CNNMoney, includes it on a list of the best small cities in the nation.
And as Andisheh points out in his e-mail:
Except, it’s not actually a town. It’s not even a neighborhood.
It’s a 7 sq. mile section of unincorporated Dekalb County south of the City of Decatur, north of I-20.
Here it is on a map. Gotta say it’s kind of unfair for Forbes to knock the place when all it’s doing is looking at census information. What is this place? Do people list their address as “Candler-McAfee?” Or does Forbes need to stop trolling census information for easy-to-write articles and start picking up the phone?
(Screenshot courtesy of Forbes)
And they’re not even considering the wind potential off Georgia’s coast. From the office of Gov. George Ervin “Sonny” Perdue:
According to a recent Forbes article entitled “America’s Best Places For Alternative Energy,” the abundance of biomass in Georgia’s Bioenergy Corridor ranks third in the nation as a potential source of renewable energy. The article referenced the amount of privately owned forest in Georgia, more than any other state in the country, as a reason for the state’s ranking. Forbes also cited that “roughly 50 million tons of the state’s own timber end up in the state’s wood-products manufacturing plants every year” and the industry “returns nearly half of it in the form of primary mill wood debris.” Only Iowa and North Dakota ranked higher. Rounding out the top five were Mississippi and North Carolina.
“Georgia’s wealth of natural resources combined with our research institutions and a strong business climate create an ideal environment for the development of renewable energy,” said Governor Perdue. “We appreciate Forbes’ recognition of our ability to develop alternative energy sources.”
…
Georgia is at the forefront of the nation’s development of cellulosic ethanol, a non-food feedstock for the production of ethanol from pine and other wood residuals. Range Fuels broke ground on the nation’s first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Soperton on November 6, 2007. The facility is expected to be operational in 2009. In addition, the state’s research institutions including the Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Georgia and the Herty Advanced Materials Development Center are providing R&D in support of cellulosic ethanol and other renewable energy alternatives.
Full press release follows after the jump.
Just about the time I happily smack Georgia’s economic development gurus for presiding over a plunge in Forbes magazine’s annual rating of states as places to do business, another survey comes along that’s much brighter for the state. CNBC, which bills itself as a business network, ranked Georgia at No. 4 in its survey. The network has taken somewhat of an “American Idol” approach, dragging out announcing the big winner until today — the safe bets are on Florida, however.
The categories used by Forbes and CNBC differ, and even when the categories have the same names, the criteria vary. However, CNBC rated Georgia at No. 2 for “workforce.” This includes evaluating state programs that train workers, where Georgia has achieved recognition. The category also calculates — negatively — unions. Indeed, the state’s relatively low wages stem from the plantation mentality of business and government leaders — we’re $6,400 less per capita than Virginia, for example, which topped the Forbes study.
Georgia also ranked high on transportation — based on such factors as the state’s rail lines, seaports and, of course, Hartsfield-Jackson. Just don’t try to drive to our transportation hubs during rush hour.
As with Forbes, the CNBC poll panned Georgia on such points as “quality of life.”
I’d have a little more faith on CNBC’s study if the network seemed to know a
little more about Georgia. But about all CNBC could say was that we raise
peanuts (in dollar volume, we grow more marijuana than nuts, which the network somehow overlooked) and as a summation discloses this amazing fact: “The cotton gin was invented in Georgia two centuries ago by Eli Whitney, who moved there from Massachusetts.” Wow.
The big news today among the state’s go-go economic boosters is that the University of Georgia may land the new “National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility,†a $500 million project of the Department of Fatherland … er, Homeland Security.
Nary a word of skepticism in Atlanta’s Daily of Depleted Circulation that there is more to this top-secret “bio-safety level 4†lab – think of The Andromeda Strain – than “defense.†Hint: We’re talking Pentagon and Bush administration, so you can bet they’ll be cooking up nasty new bugs at UGA. Maybe the folks in Athens want a big target painted on the town. For my money, I’d say, NIMBY.
But even if making the list of five finalists for the Homeland Security lab is a feather in Georgia’s cap, the real economic development news for the state is downright dismal.
Forbes magazine’s second annual ranking of “The Best States for Business†shows Georgia tumbling from a respectable No. 10 spot to a mediocre No. 15. Considering the extraordinary lengths state officials go to – and the amount of your money they’re willing to spend – in order to attract businesses, that’s an “F†on the report card.
Five regional rivals – Virginia (No. 1), North Carolina (No. 3), Texas (No. 4), Florida (No. 7) and Tennessee (No. 13) – topped Georgia on Forbes’ list.
