Instead of moving farther out, just split off into a new municipality

Remember during the tail end of the Barry years, when there was talk of Ward 3 splitting off and being reabsorbed by Maryland? Idle talk, not worth the effort. In Greater Atlanta though, it could be a different story.

According to the AP story, "Suburban Atlanta breakaway may put 'blood on the walls'," predominately white areas of Fulton County would like to split off and form their own county, Milton County. (Hmm, the discussion of the creation of municipalities--areal expressions--to promote Growth Machine objectives is extensively discussed in Urban Fortunes.

From the article:

Legislation that would allow the suburbs to split away and form their own county was introduced by members of the Georgia Legislature's Republican majority this month on the first day of their annual session. 'The only way to fix Fulton County is to dismantle Fulton County,' said state Rep. Jan Jones, the Milton plan's chief sponsor. 'It's too large, and certainly too dysfunctional, to truly be considered local government.'

This is an illustration of the point I make that people move further and further away, rather than stay and work to stabilize and improve communities.

Although I do understand the sentiment of being fed up with the status quo and difficulties of making positive change occur. It's very very hard.

Also see "More changes on horizon for shape of Fulton," from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which discusses how many areas of Fulton County have incorporated into recognized cities over the past couple years, severing certain funding streams that had previously been managed and spent by the County Government.

Apparently Milton Couny was merged into Fulton County in 1932, because of financial problems arising from the Great Depression. This effort aims to revert this change.

Index Keywords: Growth-Machine; urban-revitalization