Trees, glorious trees
I meant to post this piece I produced on trees for WABE (90.1) last week, but got busy.
As you’ll soon hear, Atlanta is losing its stable of tall, historic, shade trees at a rapid clip. As Greg Levine of Trees Atlanta says, the culprits are many: drought, heavy rains, new infrastructure including new sewers, etc.
Sure, lots of us are planting trees in our yards and along the medians. But often residents are planting small, flowering varieties that won’t give us the same shade canopy that has made so many Atlanta neighborhoods such lovely spots.
Please take a listen when you have a chance.
Let’s walk over to the Plaza and catch a flick
Photo credit: Karla Jean Davis via Flickr
I recently interviewed Jonathan Rej, the co-owner of the Plaza Theater, for the AJC and our conversation touched on so many different topics.
My main interest for the AJC piece was finding out about the theater’s transition last year from a for-profit enterprise to a nonprofit (the story was originally meant to run in the business section).
You can see his compelling answers in the Q&A that the AJC ran yesterday here. Unfortunately, much of the Q&A focuses on the challenges Rej and his wife face as they try to keep the historic 1939 art deco theater afloat.
But not all of the cool stuff we talked about could make it into the Q&A.
And me being me, I couldn’t help but bring the conversation around to walkable neighborhoods.
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Last downtown pedestrian bridge
I read this story about downtown Atlanta’s last pedestrian bridge in the AJC, and I just thought, why even build the last one?
(The story is meant to alert readers of a street closure because of the construction, and I have no quarrel with the story).
The bridge will connect several downtown hotels, and a Hyatt spokeswoman notes it will likely be the last pedestrian bridge built downtown because an ordinance is now in effect that bans construction of such streetscape-killing pieces of infrastructure.
The spokeswoman says connecting the hotels will boost economic development. Perhaps it’s intended for when there’s a conference in one hotel but some attendees are staying in another spot.
But this ain’t Minneapolis! Despite the weird Global Cooling Atlanta is seeing, surely hotel guests can descend to the street and walk across to reach the other hotel — n’est-ce pas?
The upside of commercial vacancies (not)
I suppose if you had a whole bunch of empty storefronts under your control and New Line Cinema came along and said, “Hey we’d like to film a Farrelly Brothers movie called ‘Hall Pass’ that stars Owen Wilson in your empty shops,” you’d say yes.
But isn’t it a bit sad that that’s how you’re using these empty shops, recession or no?
Isn’t a bit sad, and potentially a sign that your strategy isn’t working, if the only use one particular corner shop has seen is as a fake Borders and now a fake real estate office?
That’s what’s happening at Glenwood Park (above), the planned, new urbanist community between Grant Park and East Atlanta.
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“Streetcar Envy” in CL
Please check out a story I wrote this week for Creative Loafing on Savannah’s streetcar. You can find it here, along with some cool photos of the streetcar (just look at this beautiful 1925 re-conditioned Melbourne streetcar!)
Obviously in light of the U.S. DOT’s decision not to grant Atlanta federal funds for the Peachtree Streetcar, it’s a bit depressing to contemplate other cities having trolley service.
But this is a topic that I just find fascinating. Consider the position of the parking industry.
They are decidedly FOR streetcars. Here in Atlanta, Lanier Parking, played a key role in studying the feasibility of the Peachtree Streetcar.
When I interviewed Glenn Kurtz, an official with Lanier, he said we Atlanta residents have “put all of our eggs in one basket in terms of our transportation system.”
“It used to be location, location, location. Now it’s become access,” he said.
“When everyone is driving downtown and going into these parking decks and then leaving at 5 p.m., it doesn’t work. It can be a challenge getting in and out,” he said.
(He thinks if the streetcar came to Peachtree Street, people would ditch their cars at various points and hop on the streetcar for the final leg of their journey).
In Savannah, the streetcar comes under the parking department. Sean Brandon, who’s head of the parking division, said the streetcar is not a silver bullet, but rather a tool to use in concert with other tools to reduce congestion.
“Streetcars are not going to stop someone from Gwinnett County driving into downtown Atlanta,” he said. “But what they do is give infill urban areas a chance to increase density, and it gives your public transit system new ridership. That’s because someone using a streetcar will have no problem [transferring to] commuter rail or buses.”
Medical Arts Building signage hearing April 1
Here’s the hearing notice on Google Docs of the hearing before the Board of Zoning Adjustments: 100210 BZA due 4-1-2010 Medical Arts Building.pdf – Google Docs.
h/t Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association
No go on the Peachtree Streetcar
Ariel Hart of the AJC reports that Atlanta will not receive federal funds to build a streetcar line here.
As Ariel puts it, “The loss for the streetcar is one more drop in the bucket of metro Atlanta’s mass transit misery.”
She has all the details here.
It’s times like this that I like being a blogger. Because it would have been hard to write the story Ariel had to write.
Streetcar announcement today — I hope!
Photo credit: kevinseanw via Flickr
Good morning!
As you probably know, Atlanta expects to hear word today whether it has been awarded up to $300 million in federal funds to build a streetcar system downtown.
MARTA and several other organizations put together an application for funds, which, if awarded, would help bankroll a six-mile line on Peachtree Street and/or a three-mile, east-west line on Auburn Avenue that would connect the King Center with Centennial Olympic Park.
Officials have said they think Atlanta has a good chance. We’ll see.
Federal regulations recently changed to favor the construction of streetcar systems, and many cities already have a head start (the photo above shows a streetcar in Toronto).
In fact, Charlotte, which already has a light rail line, has begun to explore the possibility of applying for federal funds for a streetcar line.
I think many of you are up to date on the prospects of streetcars in Atlanta but if not, check out this post on SaportaReport and this post from Thomas Wheatley at Creative Loafing.
Not flower power — flower *symbol* power
I take lots of photos for this blog and then get wrapped up in work and forget to post them.
The above photo is a perfect example. I took it over the summer at the end of a long walk along the Beltline with Angel.
We were waiting at a busstop on Peachtree Road near Piedmont Hospital and I looked over my shoulder and saw the above monument to surface parking.
What caught my eye, actually, was what you see in the photo below:
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The perfect city building? I think so.
I love this building at Peachtree and Fifth.
It adheres to the classic city architecture form that includes retail on the ground floor and residential on the upper floors.
It’s stately, and given the controversy over building plans at 10th and Monroe, it’s really not too tall. I mean, does this building offend or worry anyone?
I think it would be pretty cool to walk downstairs and slip into a chic bistro (Eno) for dinner or just a drink.
Look at the afternoon sunlight streaming in the windows!
And when you’re returning home from errands, you can pat yourself on the back that you live in a building that adds to the richness of the neighborhood, instead of detracting.
So what am I getting at?
Well if you have something that works — and I don’t think this building has gone into foreclosure and I looked at property records for residents and I don’t see a lot of foreclosure notices — why not replicate it?
To be sure, there are other buildings of a similar size in the city. This one, for example, which houses Utrecht art supply on the ground floor:
But, well, how about some more?
Gosh I see empty lots all over Atlanta and I wonder if people are thinking a little too big. On the other hand, I like that the folks who built this building understood this is a city; one and two-story buildings need not apply. At the same time, it’s not so large that neighborhood groups begin to agitate when the developers make the proposal.
The perfect city building, no?
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