Atlanta jaunt (and bonus Toronto-by-air shots)

[JasonParis]

Maybe "on steroids" wasn't the best reference, but what I was trying to say is that it looks and feels much like Mississauga, but is also the region's primary area for eating, shopping and clubbing. So it's sort of a Mississauga, but on a whole other level.

And for the record, I much prefer Mississauga.

BTW, I've also made a post on the Spacing Wire about Atlanta that can be found here: Atlanta On My Mind

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

allabootmatt:

Weren't those games widely seen as a disaster too?

Yup, it's called the "Glitch Games". I think Samaranch called the games merely "good" (when tradition always had him calling it "best" everytime").

AoD

 

[allabootmatt]

Let's cross our fingers, then, that the bad memories of '96 push out Chicago for 2016 in favour of, er, somewhere, and instead Toronto can swoop in for 2020.

 

[Ummagumma66]

I must say Atlanta looks alot like Calgary on the weekend (and many other ways), the only busy street in Calgary would be Stephen (8) Ave in Calgary, other than than, it looks like the sidewalks roll up the same way Calgary's Sidewalks do. The city looks quite nice, it just has no pulse.

 

[BuildTO]

Thanks for sharing! Nice photos. My favourite is the fire hydrant in the middle of the sidewalk behind the aquarium. And in the photo taken from behind the statue, why is the "do not enter" sign upside down?

Nice Spacing article too!

 

[simply Dan]

Not only is the BofA Plaza Atlanta's tallest, but it is indeed the tallest building in the southern United States, and the tallest in any state capital. It has always reminded me of the Messeturm in Frankfurt, Germany - and for the longest time I thought Helmut Jahn designed both towers... but alas, he did not.

This image is so depressing - considering its proximity to the downtown core.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Atlanta to study trolley for its downtown.

Study? I didn't know there was going to be an exam!

Trolley study is mostly praised

The Downtown Development Authority's plan to spend $37,000 in special-purpose sales-tax money for a trolley study received mostly positive reviews from Augusta commissioners Monday.

"I think if we do something like this it will put us on the cutting edge," said Mayor Pro Tem Betty Beard. "This would be a tremendous beginning."

Commissioner Calvin Holland said it is what he calls "thinking outside the box."

But Commissioner Jerry Brigham had questions about long-term costs.

"We know the city of Atlanta has the MARTA tax to underwrite public transit," he said. "Augusta doesn't have a MARTA tax. How are we going to fund the long-term costs of operations? That's the real question."

The Augusta transit system already loses about $4 million a year, and that loss is covered by transfers from the general fund that come mainly from property taxes.

The authority's executive director, Margaret Woodard, said a trolley could help revitalize downtown Augusta by promoting economic development on its route.

"Twenty to 30 times what you invest in a trolley is going to come back in re-development," she said. "Little Rock's return on investment was 920 percent. Developers want to develop along the line for two reasons. No. 1, it shows a real commitment by the city to invest in some type of transportation that's energy-efficient, and No. 2, they don't have to build parking as much as they would."

The 4.5-mile light rail track would run on Broad Street, along part of the Augusta Canal and up 15th Street to the Medical College of Georgia complex, with the expectation that people would ride it downtown for lunch.

Commissioner Don Grantham proposed a 60- to 90-day trial of that concept using a bus, but transit planner Uriah Lewis said that had been tried before and didn't work due to traffic in the area around Harper Street.

Fifty percent of the money to build the track, estimated to cost between $50 million and $175 million, could be paid for with money from the federal Small Starts programs and the private sector, Ms. Woodard said.

In addition, it could possibly be powered by the Augusta Canal, making it the first such trolley system in the country, she said.

At 4.5 miles (7.24km), finally they might, could be, in the future, probably, wish for, maybe get a streetcar in the Atlanta downtown.

 

[detroitbootybass]

Detroit is far more worthy of such a description.

We wear it like a badge of honor (or 'honour' for my Canadian friends!).

 

[interchange42]

At 4.5 miles (7.24km), finally they might, could be, in the future, probably, wish for, maybe get a streetcar in the Atlanta downtown.

Uh, that article was about Augusta, not Atlanta.

42

 

[adma]

Didn't an evil desire overcome you to keep referring to it as the CN Centre?

I'd rather call it The World of Sid and Marty Krofft

 

[swaugh3]

The downtown Marriott also suffered a great deal of damage (as you can see in this shot).

Actually, that's the Westin.

CNN from Five Points. This rail line is used by freight trains quite regularly. I saw an Amtrack train too from the I-75, but I'm not sure if it was on the same rail line.

It isn't, and hopefully that gulch will be gone whenever they build their multimodal passenger terminal

I suspect this clock hasn't worked since the 1996 Olympic Games...

Maybe even before then, who knows.

And that's Hotlanta! I really am struggling to find something nice to say about the place, but I do have to give a bit of credit to the people of Atlanta -- wonderful and extremely friendly. Despite being "the capital of the south," it's also fairly tolerant and Midtown -- in particular -- is quite gay. Nothing is really walkable and I found myself taking cabs everywhere. It's also one of the few American cities where there's an obvious black middle and upper class which is quite refreshing. Still, it's not by any means an urbanists paradise and can be quite assaulting on one's Toronto senses. The downtown is quite empty after 5:00pm, is criss-crossed by highways and isn't exactly safe. Many still drive large SUV's and there's a constant chatter about the price of gas and what has to be done about it. Still, I think that it's fair to say that the fact that it really is so different than Toronto is also what makes it sort of interesting too.

i. Their freeways are downtown-oriented

ii. Their street system is a complete mess. Sure the downtown and midtown streets are straight, but out of the city core, they go in a million different directions, and they make another billion curves. Whatever reason they don't like straight and simple like Toronto I will never understand. All I know is that if you want to find one way NOT to build streets, look no further.

iii. For a large city and an even larger metropolitan area, they DO NOT have a complete transit system that connects their cities and suburbs with each other like GTA transit agencies do. Everyone seems to stay in their corner and send one or two bus routes downtown. I will admit that their commuter bus service has made a lot of progress since it began in 2004, but it's still nowhere near the level that GO Transit is on; Plus their proposal for commuter rail still has yet to get off the old drawing board.

 

[Ronald]

Welcome to the Forum swaugh!

Regarding your 3rd point of attention, yes they do not have a complete transit system today, but it's not like they aren't working on it. They seem to have a better integration of the metro area with the surrounding region planned, transportation wise.

Though one could wonder how a transit system that is focussed only on getting people to and from downtown is going to have an impact on transportation in the whole metro area. It seems these days more and more people are commuting from one suburb to another, as most new offices are popping up along the freeways surrouding the city, rather than downtown.

There's also talk of a new streetcar line which would connect downtown and midtown. It would be financed by creating a new tax district around the line, so that nearby home owners and bussinesses would pay for the new line. And the city chips in about a quarter of the total costs of 190 million.

Heck, these are all plans, but funding is a big issue in Atlanta... and it doesn't help that the metro area is spread out over several counties, making comprehensive transportation planning a difficult task.. And the state of Georgia isn't too cooperative either.

Besides that, there is a shift towards more sustainable modes of transportation visible in recent statistics:

MARTA
Up 15 percent: train ridership April/May 2008 over April/May 2007 (This is on top of double digit growth in the previous two years. The work-day average was up to 267,000 trips in '07)

GRTA EXPRESS BUS
Up 67 percent: ridership for May 2008 over May 2007

CAR POOLING
Up 221 percent: applications received by the ARC ride-share database in May 2007 vs. May 2008

Douglas County Van Pool Program
Up 160 percent: revenues from May 2008 over May 2007

source

 

[syn]

This image is so depressing - considering its proximity to the downtown core.

How close is it to the core? There are some pretty depressing photos you could take like that of Toronto near the core.

 

[Brandon716]

Quite an accurate depiction of Craplanta. Its the south's most tolerant and gay friendly city (as long as you're not outside Fulton and DeKalb counties, then it rapidly turns into jesus freaks by the millions), so there's certainly a nice side particularly in Buckhead, Midtown, and the Lenox Mall areas (among others, like Decatur over in eastern metro Atlanta).

Otherwise nothing to talk about, and almost nothing urban about the city.

Too bad you don't have a full view of Peachtree center, some 6-8 buildings look identical.

 

[ShonTron]

^ I'm sure Cobb County, home of Newt, cancels out the tolerance and open mindedness that exists in Fulton and DeKalb counties!

By the way, how are the urban centres of a state like North Carolina? I would hope to expect cities like Charlotte or Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill to be relatively progressive. Or do you consider that the South?