When they drew the boundaries of Georgia’s 159 counties decades ago, the state’s leaders didn’t do metro Atlanta’s regional planners any favors.
They created some big counties — Cherokee, Henry, Gwinnett, for instance — but they didn’t create those Texas-style, rectangular counties to make it easier for us all. Instead we got jagged lines, weird shapes (Rockdale) and one county (Fulton) that borders 11 other counties.
But then they probably had no idea that by the turn of the century we would be growing as fast as we are and connecting with each other in ways that often make county lines meaningless.
Pulling this disparate geographic/political region together is a tough assignment for planners. Witness the fits and starts at public transportation and water-resource management.
It’s no walk in the park for the largest daily newspaper that serves the area either.
The Journal-Constitution has more than 100 reporters and editors whose job it is to report “local news” seven days a week, and with the advent of ajc.com, on a nearly 24-hour-a-day basis.
As metro Atlanta grows and changes, the newspaper is constantly evaluating how best to provide news that is “close to home.”
We know, from research we have done and from the feedback we get from you that our readers want to know about and understand the forces that affect all of the metropolitan area. That’s the driving mission of our daily Metro section. It’s also a reason why we have concentrated coverage in recent years on key growth and development issues — roads, green space, mass transit, light rail, impact fees, land use — where local decisions in one county are being closely watched in all the neighboring counties.
But we also know that many of our readers want a place in the paper for news about their school issues; the government spending and the taxes that they pay as well as information about the new pastor at the church and the new retail outlet within a few miles of their home.
For more than a dozen years we have been doing that daily in Gwinnett County — producing a highly specialized local news section that is delivered in addition to the regular newspaper. And for more than 20 years we have printed localized weekly sections on Thursdays for readers in many of the other counties in our circulation area.
Often, those very localized, “close to home” issues correspond with county or school district lines. For the most part, that is how we have defined the community editions we print. But increasingly — especially in the areas of shopping, outdoor activities and communities of faith — they blur the traditional county lines, bringing our old formula into question.
Later this summer, if our current plans work out, we will be shifting the territories covered by some of our community weeklies to reflect this new reality. We’ll not be so tied down to those county lines and begin creating community editions that emphasize regions of the metro area that are connected to each other through working and commuting patterns, shopping patterns and simple proximity. Here’s some of what’s under consideration:
A new East Metro edition that will provide more coverage of the growing area of southeast DeKalb County, the new Stonecrest Mall area and Rockdale County.
A new South Metro edition that will combine the existing coverage of the south side of the city of Atlanta, south Fulton County and north Clayton County, including Hartsfield International Airport.
A new Intown section of the City Life edition that combines coverage of Midtown and recognizes the growth and changes of some of Atlanta’s long-standing, east-end neighborhoods.
A change in how advertising is displayed in the Cobb County weekly edition that reflects the new reality of east and west growth, rather than the split of the county along north and south lines that we have used for more than 20 years.
We’re not tossing out the old formula completely. We know that taxes, schools, public services and other everyday issues are often decided on the basis of county and municipal lines, no matter how arbitrarily they are drawn. So we’ll remain cognizant of that. But if we are smart about these changes, the new mix of news available to many of you will not stop at the county line a few miles from your house.
