urban gardener
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Y'all seem to forget that Reed was a huge, staunch, resolute supporter of dear Dr Bev Hall as the crap got higher and deeper. Everyone else was finally realizing that there really was a stench wafting up from Denmark, and he and his political and business community cronies were digging in.
Didn't trust him then and don't trust him now.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and he just cannot get enough of it.
Oh fiddle dee dee. Young is correct they didn't do their homework, never mind the $8M they spent. Most of the voting long-time inner city Atlanta residents I spoke with were either voting "against" (because: City incompetent, GaDOT incompetent, too much for OTP projects for lions share of $$ coming from ITP, too little ITP say at the governing table, heartburn at 9cent tax for 10 yrs, concern 9c tax makes Atl less competitive against other cities except Birmingham with 10c, concern about the unearmarked slushfund) or voted "for" but holding their collective nose that the deal stunk but they wanted projects to move forward. My suspicion is they listed to the intowner political crowd who feeds at the city trough or the intown hipster crowd which notoriously does not show up to vote - and did not listen to the intown crowd who actually does vote but has no political reason to care what City Hall / Mayor wants. And Delta getting exempt from the fuel tax and then exhorting their employees to shoulder a tax increase personally for the good of the region, and gas being exempt from tax (so much for paying for what you use), didn't help matters either.
This great divide between ITP or onTP vs way out OTP is very deep and very fundamental and really very simple. Sitting with parents from Gwinnett or Forsyth or Newton high schools, they have absolutely no earthly idea what life is like within the actual city limit. No idea where Piedmont Park is, no concept of walking to amenities (as opposed to closest thing is a Chick Fil A a mile down a road w/o a sidewalk), no idea there's a symphony or art center in town, no earthly idea what living in a condo tower is like, etc. Their world has absolutely nothing, nothing to do with some place 15 to 30 miles away. Doesn't matter what party they vote for, how much $$ they make, what color they are, nothing. Their worlds are literally worlds away. Just no one's made a point of pointing it out before via everyone's pocket book. There is no overriding sense of regionalism.
How in the world has anyone been on staff of ABI long enough to warrant pulling a pension to begin with? Shades of the Franklin administration~ I've always had the suspicion that the ABI was a juggernaut funding itself for itself more than anything else (someone derisively talking about his concerns donating to a 'charity' called it 'funding a lifestyle'), that and promoting/padding urban planning consultants, rather than actually accomplishing something... that much of the park work that's been implemented has come from continued large donations rather than their own coffers has always made me wonder where their own $$ really goes... how many sets of fancy renderings are really necessary on a tight budget in lean times? Never mind the howlings of the affordable housing advocates.
High brow art for high price tags and the theatre scene may be in tight spots, but street art and dance in Atlanta is flourishing the likes of which i've not seen since before the Olympics. New galleries stocked by SCAD students and local alternative types continue to pop up and draw capacity crowds; dance troupes are getting visibility from the Goat Farm to the corner of 10th and P'tree; the Beltline's one true success as far as i'm concerned is making public art an expectation as well as a public event to be anticipated; multiple areas have art walks; which just leaves Eyedrum to get their collective act together. The DYI art crowd is a busy crew, with artists clamoring for exhibit space to showcase visual and wear-able art.There were so many gallery openings over the weekend there was no way to see them all, from the Atlanta Printmakers to Whitespace to a SCAD MFA show to early openings associated with the Westside art walk, Mason Muer (sp) had a huge do, the Goat Farm had its event, plus galleries up in Buckhead.
Oh, to Stephen Fleming - any idea what the visitorship is on Free Saturdays at the High, and how many school students visit annually?
The New York Times ran a large spread on this issue some time back; my apologies that I don't have time to go dig it out... It really flew in the face of the anti-immigrant posturings~ I (hazily) remember it also included interviews with teens and 20-somethings who were staying in Mexico to get an advanced education and a good job...
NCDOT has always been considered a leader amongst state DOTs in the SE, and that was 15+ yrs ago. NCDOT adopted long ago steel cable interstate median divides, and it took GaDOT about 10 yrs to follow suit. They led in interstate on/off ramp flower plantings - making the drive into Asheville quite lovely when the cannas or wildflowers or whatever else was in bloom. And they didn't consider rail the death knell of their shooting pavement gravy train (such as the Lovejoy train debacle - unless someone's sticking a water line under the tracks to siphon off some other state's river). [I will not address the posting regarding caliber of staff hirings.]
GaDOT staff would privately whine about why the quantity of Marta stops so close to each other downtown, voiced unhappy thoughts regarding bike lane mandates, etc. It was discussed amongst staff that the reason the hike in the interstate speed limit was accepted by GaDOT, even tho' it was known to directly result in higher gas consumption and higher fatality rates, was that those far-flung employees would be able to get to work faster. No joke - although it was a joke amongst the staff. And those small-town bypasses were put in for the financial benefit of locals who owned the land - and at the expense of the downtowns lifeblood, folks passing thru who might stop for lunch and a quick windowshop, even tho' there were supposedly studies from planners who said they'd be bad for the towns (so much for an Economic Development System).
The next time you're driving around the state and see a 'bypass' sign, help out a fellow Georgian and actually spend another 10 min of your life and drive thru downtown. Stop and have lunch at a locally owned cafe. Meet a neighbor. Keep Georgia Green.
Irrespective of the issue of using only one park of many for the majority of major events in the City (I personally believe that utilizing other parks in the city would bring much-needed attention to them and thus financial and phyical support), I have had great qualms about the high number of high-impact events at Piedmont Park this year.
The Atlanta region is only barely out of the drought zone (Georgia just made the NY Times for its drought), and Midtown suffers from the heat island effect greatly - so the rain blows over Midtown and reforms in points west or south.
The park's trees are in bad shape, diseases are continuing to sweep thru many species, the soil is compacted, and pouring multi-thousand event weekends upon the park only increases the toll.
Aeriating (sp) the soil by plugging I don't think begins to off-set the soil compaction from the stages, the heavy vehicles to set them up, etc.
Last year we had rain, this year not so much - I was thrilled to look on the radar and see real rain over Midtown for the first time in a long while...
As an aside, why not hold an event in the City's newest park spaces along Memorial -? I was so excited to see that come to reality, to have now nothing come of it all...