The benefits of a robust local business climate may seem obvious to some, but apparently not everyone in Sandy Springs is getting behind the city's efforts to develop a core commercial center. Why else would the Chairman of the Development Authority of Fulton County feel the need to author this op-ed in the Reporter extolling the virtues of building a 'downtown' business district in the north side community as part of a cohesive economic development plan? Either way, the piece is quite informative as it explains how businesses' contributions to the tax base and job creation have positive effects on overall quality of life and property values, to name just two. If one doesn't find that convincing, the decline of the Rust Belt is also invoked in laying out the stakes of inaction by small municipalities to create business-friendly climates in the metro Atlanta area. Such is the state of post-T-SPLOST political discourse in Georgia in 2012. [Reporter Newspapers]
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