updated 5:54 AM EST, Thu January 30, 2014
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Atlanta doesn't have a well-established transit system
- The city mayor doesn't call all the shots
- It didn't pretreat roads
- The state says it was caught unawares
(CNN) -- The finger-pointing began almost immediately -- and with good reason.
A mere few inches of snow had shut down Atlanta, forcing school kids to spend the night at schools, stranding drivers on interstates and making the city a laughing stock to the country.
Why did this happen? Who's to blame?
And, more importantly, could this happen elsewhere?
Perhaps.
Unlike Boston and New York with well-established infrastructure like mass transit, Atlanta resembles the new American city.
It's a city that encompasses a region; a metro area that claims its outlying suburbs as its own -- like Orlando or Dallas or Charlotte. It spans 28 counties sprawled over an area the size of Massachusetts.
On Tuesday, a rare weather phenomenon conspired with poor planning and an over-dependence on cars to produce a perfect storm.
What can other cities learn from Atlanta's debacle?
Here we comb through the claims and realities.
CLAIM: This fiasco could have been avoided if Atlanta had a mass transit system like Boston's or Chicago's.
Both Mayor Kasim Reed and Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal put much of the blame on the fact that everyone -- from government, businesses and schools -- all tried to go home at the same time, gridlocking highways for hours.
"I said immediately yesterday that releasing all of these folks was not the right way to go," Reed said Wednesday. "If I had my druthers, we would have staggered the closures."
REALITY: Yes, it could have
But the problem highlights how Atlanta and cities like it depend so exclusively on cars. While Atlanta the city has a commuter train system, it doesn't serve Atlanta, the metro area.
Atlanta the city has a population of 1 million; the metro area, a population of 6 million.
And when offices and schools let out Tuesday, the masses got in their cars to head to the suburbs. An expansive public transportation system would have undoubtedly alleviated the ensuing traffic stress.
This week's debacle is also disturbing because if another catastrophe were to hit and roads were the only path out, Atlanta would be in the same situation again.
But there's little appetite for expanded mass transit in Atlanta. Time and time again, residents in the outlying areas of metro Atlanta have given it the thumbs down.
A transit tax proposal recently failed, as many residents just don't want to spend the money.
CLAIM: Atlanta needs a city government more like New York's
Former Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who coordinated relief efforts along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, said things would have gone smoother this week if Atlanta's city government was more like New York's.
"They need to have in Atlanta the same type of government you have in New York City, where the mayor controls the city and everything around that city, and the mayor can make decisions on road closures; he has emergency powers as when schools close," he said.
The schools and the government should have been closed Tuesday,
CLAIM: This was an "unexpected storm," and Atlanta didn't play it safe like New Orleans did
REALITY: The metro area has many leaders
Metro Atlanta is comprised of 140 cities and towns -- most of which have their own leaders making their own decisions. And even within the city of Atlanta, Reed doesn't call the shots, like New York's mayor.
Reed said the timing of the closures was not his call. For example, Atlanta Public Schools was responsible for deciding when to send students home. And the state bears the responsibility of clearing interstate freeways.
But the mayor also said he would have done some things differently.
"We made a mistake by not staggering when people should leave, so I will take responsibility for that -- in lessons learned," Reed said Wednesday.
"If we had to do it again, we would have said, 'Schools, you go first, private sector, you go second, and government goes last.' And so I think that would have helped."
