Uneven development, growth and opportunity
overly concentrated in "favored" areas of Georgia is bad for the whole state
and is one of the most basic problems facing Georgia today. Today we
have laws, policies and government action that reward some "favored"
areas of Georgia and penalizes the rest of the State.
There are natural barriers to growth and
development defined by the affected populations, the necessary
infrastructure and services, and the availability of land and water
resources to sustain growth. Exceeding these natural barriers not
only reduces quality of life but places ever increasing demands on
both the tax payers and the remainder of the State.
Areas that are bypassed or have low development, growth and
opportunity become economically depressed, generating hardship for
large numbers of Georgia's citizens. The result is
increased demands on tax payer funds and government policies which are in direct competition
with the demand for increased usage of these same funds and
policies by the
areas of excessive development and growth.
This has occurred in Georgia with the excessive growth of the
Atlanta area, funded in many ways by diverting the citizens' tax
funds and the enactment of policies that give preferential treatment
to "favored" areas of the State.
Favored to the extent that further growth in the metro Atlanta area
is exceeding all natural barriers to reasonable growth and is now
placing demands on the resources of the remainder of the State to
sustain its greed. The quality of life of citizens in the Atlanta
area suffer from increasing congestion, traffic and mushrooming
property taxes.
It’s time that Georgia ends this trend of
failure and begins a period of equalizing development, growth and
opportunity throughout the entire State. It is time that we end
policies of "favoritism"
- replacing them with policies of "fairness."
Some examples:
