ATL Urbanist

"Cortland joins more developers that are no longer pursuing ground-up projects in suburban Atlanta,..."

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:24:47 -0400

“Cortland joins more developers that are no longer pursuing ground-up projects in suburban...

peachtreekeen: Jim Pickerell, Passengers board a MARTA bus...

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:15:00 -0400

Jim Pickerell, Passengers board a MARTA bus during rush hour, June 1974

(via Southern Spaces)

Love it! More retro 1970s MARTA photo goodness. I’ll imagine I’m a cool, downtown, 1970s bus rider during my (fairly drab) ride on the #19 from Clairmont Road today.

A Saturday visit to Piedmont Park Our trip started with lunch on...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 23:58:00 -0400

A Saturday visit to Piedmont Park

Our trip started with lunch on Broad Street at Reuben’s, where I took the photo above. Look at all the people at the patio tables — what a lovely sight.

We caught the #110 bus nearby at Five Points, where a toothless man on a bike wished me happy Fathers Day and gave my son a beach ball. City life.

The bus took us to Tenth Street and we walked from there to Piedmont Park. I stopped to take a photo of Midtown skyscrapers rising above the greenery.

After playing with the beach ball in the park and enjoying the awesome Noguchi Playscape, we walked down the Beltline to Inman Park (stopping briefly to visit Piper the Beltline Cat) for dinner at Victory Sandwich, then to the MARTA station for a ride back home. Shweet.

The view from our bedroom does not disappoint.

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 01:43:00 -0400

The view from our bedroom does not disappoint.

"[Ryan Gravel] hopes that the completed project will also put an end to Atlanta being so reliant on..."

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:00:45 -0400

“[Ryan Gravel] hopes that the completed project will also put an end to Atlanta being so...

The urban canyon on 12th Street in Midtown Atlanta is pretty...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:37:41 -0400

The urban canyon on 12th Street in Midtown Atlanta is pretty impressive.

I don’t want to get all old-timer-y and “I remember when” on you people, but *holy cow* — what a change from the way this street looked just 10 years ago. It’s like someone dropped Vancouver down out of the sky.

"At this point if the streetcar doesn’t explode and kill a dozen orphans, much of the city will..."

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:08:15 -0400

“At this point if the streetcar doesn’t explode and kill a dozen orphans, much of the...

I took this one last night while we were out for a walk. There...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:01:00 -0400

I took this one last night while we were out for a walk. There are spots downtown where you get amazing views that encompass very different types of architecture.

That diversity in building types parallels Atlanta’s rich history quite nicely.

"For years (decades), the city has contemplated an MMPT to connect modes of..."

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 10:42:47 -0400

“For years (decades), the city has contemplated an MMPT to connect modes of...

Blog recommendation: MARTA Chronicles

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 10:30:00 -0400

A Fresh Loaf post today pointed me to a Tumblr blog that I can’t believe I’ve never seen...

This is why we moved downtown

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 23:24:00 -0400

It was a Saturday filled with fairly mundane events, but what sets them apart is that we did them...

Friday Funny: “Meet Veronica Moss, A.U.T.O....

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:29:00 -0400

Friday Funny: “Meet Veronica Moss, A.U.T.O. Lobbyist”

This is a hilarious short video from StreetFilms. Saturday Night Live’s Kate McKinnon plays an SUV driver in NYC with a deliciously obnoxious sense of entitlement about cars.

This is what she has to say about cyclists: “bikers are a pimple of the butt of any city.”

Some NSFW language. Enjoy!

I took this photo of the FIve Points intersection while walking...

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:16:08 -0400

I took this photo of the FIve Points intersection while walking home from a cool show at eyedrum.

Atlanta gains rain with the Clean Air Act, but water damage persists

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 18:30:10 -0400

Atlantic Cities posts an interesting report: The Clean Air Act Actually Caused More Rain to Fall on...

Nice skyline pic, taken from Atlantic Station by margoakroyd! I...

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 14:54:00 -0400

Nice skyline pic, taken from Atlantic Station by margoakroyd!

I like these shots that contain a mix of low rise, mid-rise and high rise. That’s something that Atlanta is doing well, I think, in the core of the city. And it’s important to have that variation.

As Kaid Benfield writes: “it’s not enough anymore just to advocate density. We should be advocating density that appeals to more people, that we and future generations can be proud of.”

When you have these varied building heights, you get open spaces that appeal to more people than just hard-core urbanists, and the city as a whole ends up with an inviting human scale.

mothernaturenetwork: Grant Park: Take a tour of an urban...

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 09:11:48 -0400

mothernaturenetwork:

Grant Park: Take a tour of an urban oasis

With more than 131 acres, this giant greenspace in southeast Atlanta provides a natural foil to urban living.

Nice photos of Grant Park!

The importance of creating new parks in Atlanta

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:30:19 -0400

Increasing the density of compact urban places is essential for creating more sustainable cities,...

A report on PEDs and pedestrian safety in Atlanta There’s a...

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 11:39:27 -0400

A report on PEDs and pedestrian safety in Atlanta

There’s a nice report on the good work done by Atlanta’s PEDS (Pedestrians Educating Drivers on Safety) on the myfoxatlanta.com website, and the video from the story is embedded above (assuming I did it right). Here’s a quote:

As president and CEO of PEDS, Sally Flocks is on a mission.

“We have a lot of aggressive driving, especially when you’re near a freeway entrance and exit. A lot of people who live in the suburbs, who aren’t used to places where there’s a lot of walking,” she said.

…Pedestrians account for 14 percent of all traffic fatalities and about half of those are occurring in Metro Atlanta. The majority of deaths are because drivers are simply not paying attention, authorities say.

I’ve often wondered if the culprit of bad driving AND pedestrian habits is this — people coming into the city from suburbs where walking across traffic is relatively unusual. I see pedestrians crossing intersections cluelessly at the exact wrong time daily, as well as drivers who seem stunned to encounter pedestrians.

I remember what it was like to first walk around the city extensively and to also first drive around pedestrians (we didn’t have that many in East Cobb County where I grew up). It’s a learning experience, hopefully one with a smaller learning curve as pedestrian and cycling activity increases in the metro.

Check out the PEDS website for some great resources, including a place to report pedestrian road hazards.

My neighborhood

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 18:48:11 -0400

My neighborhood

"We are happy to work creatively with the state to help find alternate routes into the city and to..."

Sun, 02 Jun 2013 22:22:00 -0400

““We are happy to work creatively with the state to help find alternate routes into the city...