No sidewalk, no bike, no MARTA but we love Atlanta!
As I wrote last night, Maria Saporta’s questions at Tuesday’s mayoral candidates forum shed much-needed light on who the candidates are.
Not what they say, what they DO.
And to recap, they pretty much live outside of the core of the city in subdivisions or suburban areas.
In fact, City councilwoman Mary Norwood said she lives on a three-quarter acre plot with a creek in Buckhead. She later said there’s not much suburban territory in the city.
I would say wherever you have three-quarter acre plots, you have suburbia.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that!
Atlanta is a city with incredibly varied topography.
But I would posit that the city is struggling to be a city, and that it’s made some great strides toward filling in the areas that have been staked out as urban strongholds.
And so I just wonder how committed one would be to that movement if one lived in a subdivision or a suburban neighborhood.
Because it means that none of these candidates did what I did — which was specifically stake out a neighborhood, a block and a house that would allow me to walk to coffee shops, retail stores, restaurants, transit and parks.
They also don’t appear to take MARTA regularly. Maria asked them when was the last time they took MARTA.
I sat there in the auditorium at the Atlanta Regional Commission and answered for myself: Yesterday.
But the candidates had much vaguer answers.
For example, Jesse Spikes takes MARTA to Falcons games (i.e., not recently). Mary Norwood didn’t say last week or last month but said when she goes to the airport. Again, not regularly.
Ok, on to other questions. Maria asked the candidates to name their favorite cities. Here’s what they said:
Lisa Borders: New York City, because it has good transit and cultural amenities. She also said she likes the city’s density.
Mary Norwood: London, because you don’t need a car to get around.
Kasim Reed: Washington, D.C., because he likes to surround himself with so much of the nation’s history and because the city has a good transit system.
Jesse Spikes: Cape Town, South Africa, citing some of the physical beauty, with the city’s proximity to Table Mountain.
(Candidate Glenn Thomas was unable to attend the forum).
Interesting: three out of four specifically cited cities with good transit systems, and yet they themselves don’t live in neighborhoods where it’s the norm to hop on a bus or a train.
In fact, Borders said the city needs a point-person for alternative transportation who could keep an eye on initiatives such as bike lanes.
Really? I guess that’s what I would say if I knew that I myself would not be keeping an eye on this.
(To be fair, I think Borders has a secondary residence near Centennial Olympic Park, which has opened her eyes to the wonders of urban living).
I spoke with Rebecca Serna yesterday who runs the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, one of three advocacy groups that sponsored the green transportation forum.
I asked, what can the mayor do about increasing green transportation options when so much decision-making in this sphere fell to the state legislature?
And Rebecca said that mayors can set priorities by being an example.
Specifically she cited the mayor of Houston who is an avid bike-rider, and said the Texas city has added more than 200 miles of bike lanes since 1995, compared with 30 miles built in Atlanta.
Just by riding regularly, Houston Mayor Bill White knows how wonderful bike-riding can be in a city and he has taken every opportunity to introduce biking events and facilitate biking in the city.
I’m guessing, he doesn’t have to think about it. He regularly bikes so it makes sense that he’s thinking about when he can bike, where he can bike, where he can’t bike — and how he can fix that.
To be sure, whether the mayor bikes is not the most important question in this election. And all of the candidates have something to offer, as I wrote two weeks ago when I attended another mayoral candidates forum.
But if I had my druthers, I would love to elect someone who lives in say, Midtown or Inman Park or Capitol View, and walks out of her house each morning and catches the bus or train to work, and who spends most of her leisure time in the city.
Because that’s how I live.
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Comments
16 Comments on No sidewalk, no bike, no MARTA but we love Atlanta!
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Jack Stenger on
Wed, 2nd Sep 2009 9:33 am
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Ken Edelstein on
Wed, 2nd Sep 2009 10:23 am
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Joeventures on
Wed, 2nd Sep 2009 11:13 am
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Darin on
Wed, 2nd Sep 2009 12:02 pm
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Emily on
Wed, 2nd Sep 2009 5:07 pm
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Sally Flocks on
Wed, 2nd Sep 2009 7:39 pm
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Jasher on
Wed, 2nd Sep 2009 11:33 pm
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Silvia Medrano on
Thu, 3rd Sep 2009 1:31 am
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R Walker on
Thu, 3rd Sep 2009 3:14 pm
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Darin on
Thu, 3rd Sep 2009 4:16 pm
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R Walker on
Thu, 3rd Sep 2009 5:49 pm
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Mayoral candidates talk transit, bicycles and walkability | Fresh Loaf on
Fri, 4th Sep 2009 10:44 pm
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BPJ on
Wed, 9th Sep 2009 3:33 pm
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Cinque Hicks on
Sun, 13th Sep 2009 6:26 pm
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Jeanne Bonner on
Mon, 14th Sep 2009 7:58 am
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No sidewalk, no bike, no MARTA but we love Atlanta! | My Green ATL on
Mon, 5th Oct 2009 12:05 pm
Ken: I was there last night. (Surprised I didn’t see you … ) I was impressed with what all of the candidates said. I don’t doubt their sincerity as it relates to their respective support for seeing Atlanta become more livable, walkable, bikeable. I’m not particularly bothered by the seeming disconnect with their living in sidewalk-less neighborhoods and their simultaneous given verbal support (or liking) for a city that’s walkable. The condition of these candidates — where living arrangement is concerned — is the normtive American condition, after all. Americans drive to work, to socialize, to get a gallon of milk. It’s who we are; it’s what we do. Most Americans do not see the disconnect between what they like as tourists (in New York, London, etc.) and the way of life they prefer — a way of life that militates against such built-up landscapes. I will forgive the candidates for this because they — like us — have been inculcated to see the world as we see it. I am also sympathetic to the notion that there simply is not enough money sloshing around to see Atlanta changed in any root and branch sense. What to do? We have to continue being the in-town java-joint loitering hipsters that we are. Eventually, everyone will want to be us and the world we know will be changed. (Right?) JS
Hey, Jack: You flatter me by thinking it was I who wrote the above post. You didn’t see me at the forum because the article was written by Jeanne Bonner (see byline!).
Jeanne: I agree with you that the ideal mayoral candidate would be someone who lived in the city part of the city (all other things being equal). For all his faults, Bill Campbell, with the help of the Olympics and then Mike Dobbins, pushed densification forward; his overall understanding of what Atlanta was and what it needed had to be influenced by the fact that he lived in Inman Park, about three blocks from the MARTA station — even if he didn’t use MARTA
Still, them’s the candidates we got. So far, I seem to have stumbled upon Borders talking more about the Beltline, transit and the physical environment bu I haven’t done an exhaustive study. I wonder what others think.
Jeanne pointed out, very well, what I didn’t in my own post about the forum. I know for sure now that for me, this is a race between Lisa Borders and Kasim Reed.
At first, last night, I didn’t feel I couldn’t narrow down at all. But thinking about it after the fact, I’ve pretty solidly eliminated Mary Norwood and Jesse Spikes.
RE: “Mary Norwood said she lives on a three-quarter acre plot with a creek in Buckhead. She later said there’s not much suburban territory in the city.”
Oh lord — so angry — head exploding — must…calm…down…
There, I’m good.
Atlanta is one of the most suburban cities in the US. There is so much auto-centric, suburban-style development in the city (residential, retail and office) I can’t imagine what could possess a reasonable, well-traveled person to proclaim that “there’s not much suburban territory in the city.” So bizarre.
Excellent report on the meeting, Jeanne. I feel I’ve got a better grasp of which candidates might potentially favor the support of alternative transportation and density in Atlanta’s urban core. It looks like none of them are in a good position to know what it’s like to enjoy a walkable urban experience in Atlanta, though, and that’s sad.
agree it would be good to have a candidate that lives in the heart of the city . the question about when the last time you took Marta was pretty sharp . All the them talked about the Train but none have ridden the Bus…what a shame !!! Kasim was pretty direct he said Thursday was the last time from Art Center to Midtown
Most streets in Atlanta are owned by the city, not the state. As a result, decisions made by Atlanta’s mayor and City Council have a tremendous affect on pedestrians and cyclists. The issues I asked about at yesterday’s forum — funding sidewalk maintenance, establishing maximum block lengths, and incentivizing land use that is in the best interest of the City — all depend on local policy change.
For cyclists, the decision to convert four lane roads owned by the city to three lanes with bike lanes, needs no input from the state. A mayor that favors alternative transportation modes can easily direct engineers to restripe lane markings in ways that make room for cyclists.
Great writeup! I didn’t attend the debate last night, but Norwood’s answers sound redonkulous. A 3/4 acre plot with a creek? Sheesh..
BTW, Borders does have a house near Georgia Tech — it’s the one that she had a home invasion at back in May or so.
Out of all the candidates, which do you think has the best grasp of what’s needed for transportation in the city? It sounds like it’s Borders, but maybe Spikes has good ideas also.
Great article, Jeanne! I too, got more of a sense of the candidates, after your article. That was an insightful question Maria asked about taking Marta. I guess you could just go down the list and ask a whole assortment of “When was the last time you…?” questions. Like, when was the last time you sat in a city emergency room waiting for service? (Bring a pillow…I waited three hours at Emory Crawford Long.) When was the last time you tried to use the City of Atlanta website to find information about what to bring to City Hall to get a permit? (Forget about it, you’ll show up only to find out you needed to bring a crucial document, after you’ve waited hours in line.) I could tell them my personal tragic stories…but until they’ve walked in my shoes, they won’t have the same sense of urgency about these issues.
I do think from the discussion above that it’s a Borders/Reed race. I crossed Norwood off when I met her at a City Council meeting and it was obvious that she cannot count votes. On another matter on an Infill Ordinance issue, (supposedly her baby) all she did was push my email along to Buildings after I had already contacted them and got nowhere. She didn’t follow up. This matter of transportation and her comments further peeves me.
November is around the corner. Keep up the good reporting, Jeanne. Now I need to know more about Borders and Reed.
It scares me that Borders is considered a good candidate. She’ll just be more of the same. Protecting developers and business interest from any type of government oversight.
I’m not offended by the lack of Marta use. Marta trains exist to take people from outside the city in. Not around town. Reed said he took the train from Arts Center to Midtown?? That’s like 3 blocks. He walked farther going up and down the stairs in the station.
It just shocks me that no one is talking about bus rapid transit. Its the only solution that is cost effective and makes sense for Atlanta. I live just feet from Piedmont Rd. in midtown and there isn’t even a bus route that goes by anymore.
Density is not a solution to our problems. There are enough people in the city to support transit. The city doesn’t want you to believe that because they want to lure more unfettered development to the city in the guise of ’smart-growth’. They will increase the density first (???) and then build transit. What are all these people going to do while waiting on the transit?
Maybe Reed’s the guy. I’d like to know more. I know everyone is gung ho about the Beltline but control of that project is almost gone. We’re a generation away from any transit component. Its not a transit solution. We need a leader who has a solution to move us around town now.
RE: “It just shocks me that no one is talking about bus rapid transit.”
I agree. I think Bus Rapid Transit would be a much more cost-effective and safe model than light rail for the proposed Peachtree streetcar route, and there are plenty of good places for BRT elsewhere in the city. Memorial Drive and Piedmont Road are both great candidates for routes.
I don’t agree with your assertion that “Marta trains exist to take people from outside the city in,” though. I live in the center of Midtown and I’ve found MARTA trains to be a great way to get to places I want to go downtown and in Decatur.
And there’s plenty of room for density to be built up along the Peachtree corridor in Midtown to accommodate people who want to live in a walkable area near a train station or bus — the public transit that currently exists.
Darin, I agree with you and my assertion about Marta was too generalized. My point is that the current Marta rail would be considered more of a commuter line in other areas. Sandy Springs to downtown is literally running between cities.
You are right there are lots of people that utilize Marta rail to get around town but the numbers of people who live walking distance to a rail station is not high relative to the population. And the places you can take Marta rail are very limited relative to the places you might want to take it. this is because your access point and destination need to be within walking distance of the station most of the time. A localized bus service that served individual neighborhoods would fix that.
I also agree that there is an amazing amount of space to increase density, but increasing density isn’t by itself a solution. In fact, it just worsens the problem when there are no transit options in conjunction with it. This is where we need a strong leader in city hall. Someone who will say no to building condo towers in Piedmont Park instead of the dozens of vacant or deteriorating pieces of land nearby.
[...] take on Tuesday night’s discussion. Atlanta Unsheltered’s Jeanne Bonner has also posted her thoughts on the evening. All of the above have some good analysis and opinions on the [...]
Excellent posts and comments. I do have to quibble with the Atlanta/Houston comparison regarding bike lanes added since 1995. I suspect that if you looked at bike lanes added in metro Atlanta, the local numbers would look closer to Houston’s. Here’s why:
No other big US city represents as small a proportion of its metro region as Atlanta does. The city of Houston, in contrast, takes up an unusually high portion of tis metro area. The report on City Parks issued in 2000 by the Urban Land Inst. and the Trust for Public Land states that the city of Atlanta is 84,352 acres while the city of Houston is 345,536 acres.
For this reason, we always have to look carefully at comparisons between Atlanta and other cities (especially Atlanta/Houston comparisons), whether the issue is crime, poverty, or bike lanes. I strongly support the agenda expressed here that we have a great deal of work to do on transit, bikes, sidewalks, etc.; I’m only saying that we are better off, relative to other cities, than the numbers sometimes indicate.
So let me get this straight: the candidates for mayor of Atlanta were asked what their favorite city was and not one of them said Atlanta? Talk about a missed opportunity for a layup. That could have been an opening for any candidate to discuss pretty much whatever they wanted to about why on earth we should give any of them the privilege of serving us as mayor. I have to assume that the question has been abridged here and that the actual question was, “Besides Atlanta, what’s your favorite city?”
Hi Cinque!
Thanks for your message. Yes, the question was “abridged” so that the candidates could NOT say Atlanta. Sorry for the confusion!
[...] posted on Atlanta Unsheltered. Go here to see comment [...]
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