Atlanta

Atlanta suburb elects white Republican to city council! Trust me, it’s newsworthy.

In Atlanta, Local Government, Politics, Social Progress on 28 November 2007 with no comments

Doraville [map, official, wiki], a suburb of Atlanta, has elected Brian Bates to city council. He meets three of the criteria for being a suburban politician in our state: he’s 1) white, 2) male, and 3) a Republican.
He’s also gay.
I’ve suspected real social progress would occur in Atlanta’s suburbs over the next decade, I just [...]

The most affordable places to live well.

In Atlanta, Liveability on 9 November 2007 with no comments

The most affordable places to live well, according to Forbes Magazine. Atlanta is ranked tenth.

The greening of Toronto’s parking lots

In Atlanta, Design, Environment, Infrastructure, Sustainability, Toronto on 6 November 2007 with no comments

Atlanta could learn something from a pilot project for creating more efficient and appealing parking lots within Toronto. Spacing Toronto writes:
the City of Toronto is piloting new design guidelines for “greening” surface parking lots. The proposals include measures to address many of the major environmental problems, and in the process, they address some of the [...]

The Anglophilic American suburb

In Atlanta, Branding, Britain, Development on 6 November 2007 with no comments

For over a century, American developers and suburban-boosters have branded their communities with an easily-pronounced, “safe”, Anglophilic vocabulary:
Anglophilia runs deep in American culture, but it’s been particularly useful in helping Americans lay out a fantasy for how they want to live, a measure of wealth and success that’s guided urban planners for a century…
We anoint [...]

Tensions between mass transit and mixed-use

In Atlanta, Development, Environment, Planning, Transportation on 5 November 2007 with no comments

Carbon Copy, on a tension within some municipalities between public transportation and mixed-use development:
…there is a contradiction in the planning approaches of many jurisdictions that are developing mass transit, in that promotion of mixed-use urban areas actually weakens the strong nodes that are the lifeblood of mass transit.
To be fair, the concept of mixed-use areas [...]

The democracy of traffic

In Atlanta, Infrastructure, Sao Paulo, Traffic, Transportation on 30 October 2007 with 1 comment

Traffic democratizes; commuting equalizes. Hell, the very word commute comes from the Latin for to change.
It’s rush hour in Atlanta; if you’re on the road in a car, you’ll have to wait. The commute doesn’t care about your income level or what kind of car you drive. Twice daily, Interstates 75 and 85 are [...]

Atlanta: ready to secede?

In Atlanta, Local Government on 26 October 2007 with no comments

We’ve tried and we’ve tried to be a loyal part of Georgia. Maybe the solution, though, is to set ourselves apart. To secede – at least in spirit, if not in body. Raise the bold banner of rebellion. Creative Loafing asks local leaders if and how Atlanta should secede.
Otis White suggests metro-Atlantans build a better [...]