With no natural boundaries to hem in growth, forecasters say only a growing claustrophobia and a lack of resources, particularly water, are likely to slow the pace substantially. But even as people complain about metro Atlanta's notorious traffic, companies still relocate them here from across the country. The growth-related woes haven't been enough to knock Atlanta off the list of Fortune magazine's most desirable cities. It is the nation's sixth best place for business, according to an Andersen 2000 survey of 1,400 top executives from around the country, and the top city in the South, according to Fortune. But two familar factors are becoming a drag on Atlanta's reputation.
Local officials are well aware of how sprawl registers nationally and with their constituents.
As a result, politicians campaigning on slow-growth platforms are finding success in metro Atlanta's suburbs. State officials, too, are weighing in on the consequences of squeezing more than 4 million people into metro Atlanta. The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, created at the urging of Gov. Roy Barnes two years ago, is considering rules to penalize local governments that approve development deemed to be contrary to the region's interest. The Legislature recently approved a new board to determine who will pay to clean up the region's dirty streams. And the ARC is trying to identify a way to impose a regional tax to speed up projects to relieve traffic congestion, the No. 1 complaint of metro Atlantans.