While Georgia On My Mind is a great song originally written in 1930 with countless covers that can barely touch the 1960 version Ray Charles, here is the true theme song for the Peach State’s capital city:

When Jermaine Dupri and Ludacris release this tribute to their city, it was about five years removed from hosting the Summer Olympics, hosted by Mayor Bill Campbell as the city’s black-majority population elected ‘one of its own’.

At the time, about 30 percent of the city was classified as white. That doesn’t speak to the suburbs and counties that surround the city and saw their children come into Buckhead for the cadre of clubs, bars and night spots.

Granted, they would find someplace else to be for FreakNik, the black spring break party that was way too good to ever last long.

 

The city quickly grew from 2 million to 4 million to the roughly 6 million people that make it the ninth largest metropolis in the county ahead of the Boston-Metro area that includes Worcester and Providence, Rhode Island.

It’s a city that will be fully on display this Monday night when the NCAA College Football National Championship game will be played at the brand-new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a $1.6 billion dollar project partially funded by the citizens and owned by the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC), the third largest convention center in the US.

But when Dana Jacobson and CBS did a puff piece about the new stadium, they didn’t interview GWCC Executive Director Frank Poe or Chief Operating Officer Kevin Duvall, they focused on Arthur Blank, the co-founder of The Home Depot and chairman of the AMB Group, parent company of the Atlanta Falcons.

They talked about his philanthropic works and while the construction of the new stadium seemed to be displacing some residents on the west side of the city, these homes were dilapidated and the area was destitute. How the Blank Foundation  was “catalyzing social change” and giving back to the community by “investing in the next generation”.

The next generation will likely only remember the Georgia Dome from this perfect photobomb:

But the Dome was the one of the signature piece of construction that brought the Olympics to Atlanta. Other sites included Olympic Stadium, which is prominently seen from the highway into the city from the airport and was converted to the home of the Atlanta Braves. It is now being retrofitted for Georgia State University athletics.

The lone staple still sporting rings is Centennial Olympic Park, a green-space that was front and center thanks to a pipe-bombing during the Games and will be front and center before Monday’s game thanks to free concerts to kick off the weekend.

The mix of artists is pure Atlanta with Jason Derulo and Charlie Puth performing Saturday, The Chainsmokers performing Sunday and Darius Rucker set to perform on Monday. Add in daily ESPN broadcasts, a fireworks show and a halftime performance by Kendrick Lamar that’s free for everyone in the park and didn’t pay $400 to get inside the stadium.

How people will get to the stadium is a different matter entirely. MARTA, the city’s public transportation system, was “once envisioned as a cure for Atlanta’s dependence upon automobile travel and the city’s non-pedestrian orientation, did not fulfill either of these goals. Suburban counties—particularly Cobb and Gwinnett —resisted the expansion of MARTA rail and bus lines into their jurisdictions”

The dependency on automobiles makes Atlanta into a metro-area of the have and have-nots; only the have in question is a car. If you have one, you can get wherever you need to go, complaining about the traffic and lack of parking. If you have not, you can attempt to get around using the bus and rail system or call a rideshare service like Uber or Lyft, the official rideshare partner of the Atlanta Falcons.

As a Lyft driver, I admit it’s great for a weekend like this with fervent and fair-weather fans alike tailgating and celebrating. The ability to be picked up at your front door and dropped back there without attempting to drive impaired shouldn’t be dismissed, even if those using this service are slightly different.

It’s not used by the residents being displaced from their apartments as city governments claim eminent domain to acquire land and build condos and townhouses starting at $300,000. It’s not used by the workers who have to catch a bus to get to the MARTA rail station to then catch another bus to get to their low-income job. It’s not used by teenagers who could benefit with a ride around the bad neighborhoods, only the ones whose parents have disposable income.

Nevertheless, my disposable income is dependent upon those same parents and others like them. In this imperfect city with its glaring and barely visible flaws, it’s still one of the best in the country with a true multicultural mix and I’m proud to call home. I hope the next time you call Lyft, I’m your driver and you enjoy something from my snack box. Consider my five-star rating as your compensation for the water bottle and that’s the truth.