Today’s Headlines

By Ashley Robbins | | No Comments
  • Packed Community Meeting in Tampa on “Biking While Black” (CL)
  • Cocoa Mayor Parrish Sees All Aboard Florida as Long-View Benefit (Florida Today)
  • NY Times Encourages Taking Kids on Walking Tour of Atlanta
  • Atlanta Leaders: “World Class” Toronto Spends Much More on Transit Than We Do (National Post)
  • Alabama Legislation Would Boost Jefferson County Transportation (WSFA)
  • Mobile Settles Lawsuit Over Cop Killing Pedestrian, Injuring Wife (Alabama Live)
  • Bo Jackson Bikes Across Alabama to Raise Money for Emergency Relief (Montgomery Advertiser)
  • Florida DOT to Hold Bike/Ped Workshop in Manatee County (Bradenton.com)
  • SC: Koch Brothers Tell Motorists People on Buses Are Taking What’s Theirs (WCSC)
  • And Yet … Voters Polled Overwhelmingly Support a Gas Tax Increase (The Hill)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

Today’s Headlines

By Ashley Robbins | | No Comments
  • MARTA COO Says System Can’t Handle Express Service, and Shouldn’t (AJC)
  • Atlanta Underground Looks to Find Its Next Life (NY Times)
  • Restoring Trolleys Not a Priority for Memphis Officials (Local Memphis)
  • Orlando Developers Want to Reduce Congestion by Removing Pedestrians (My News 13)
  • Volusia County Joins Pedestrian and Cyclist Crackdown Campaign (WKMG)
  • Alabama Legislators Say Bill Favors Uber Over Municipalities (Alabama Live)

More headlines at Streetblog USA

via MARTA Rocks!

It’s Time We All Became Mode Positive

By CCTgirl | | No Comments
This is a blog post that I’ve been meaning to write for some time now, but the spark was re-ignited in me when earlier this week a transit advocacy group (I won’t call anyone out here, but know I was terribly disappointed) posted an anti-streetcar article on their Facebook page. For a while now, transit […]

Today’s Headlines

By Ashley Robbins | | No Comments
  • Driver Arrested After Attacking Georgia Cyclist on Camera (WGCL)
  • Curbed: What the MARTA Rail Expansion Could Look Like
  • Atlanta Streetcar Crashes After Illegally-Parked Driver Leaves Car Next to Tracks (AJC)
  • Organizations Team Up to TransForm Atlanta with TOD (Saporta)
  • Macon-Bibb County Declares Pedestrian Deaths a Public Health Issue (WMGT)
  • Wealthy Homeowners Join the Lawsuit Against All Aboard Florida (Palm Beach Post)
  • People and Vehicles on Tracks, Dispatching Problems Interrupt Tri-Rail Service (Sun Sentential)
  • New Orleans Storm Blows Train Cars Off Bridge (Gulf Live)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

via ATL Urbanist

A Creative Resurgence in Atlanta’s Historic Center

By ATL Urbanist | | No Comments
SOUTH DOWNTOWN: a creative resurgence in Atlanta’s historic centerThe area of Downtown Atlanta south of Marietta Street, seen in the above photos, is notorious for being home to an oversupply of parking lots where city blocks once stood and monolithic government buildings that are empty on nights and weekends. But it’s also home to a some residential buildings, a walkable street grid, empty old structures full of potential and, more recently, a group of newcomers hoping to change the neighborhood for the better.There’s a good article this week in the National Journal about Atlanta’s long-troubled South Downtown district and the way that some local organizations have successfully made a home there in recent years – while also becoming invested in its revival. Read it here:Historic Atlanta Is Dead. Can These Young Creatives Revive It? : They’re bringing performance art and lofty urban planning to a forgotten part of the city—and it might revitalize the old downtown.One of the neighborhood organizations mentioned in the piece is Center for Civic Innovation housed in the M Rich Building. Here’s a quote:“CCI tries to make the public sector more efficient and increase civic engagement by partnering with nonprofits, social entrepreneurs, and government agencies that are working on similar issues. Organizing a plan to revitalize the very neighborhood where the organization is headquartered only makes sense.”I was part of a Code for Atlanta event earlier this year at CCI where I contributed to the new SouthDowntown.org website. It’s very exciting to take part in an effort to rethink and rebuild a place in the core of the city that’s been neglected for years. South Downtown was, in the 1990s, where I first became truly connected to the city by way of cool performance & art venues that opened up inside old buildings that sit within the blight and desolation of parking lots (for a view of what used to exist here and what became of it, see this post). I’m constantly impressed by the creative things Atlantans can do with difficult settings. One arts org that’s still around, and has returned to the neighborhood after several years in other locations, is Eyedrum, which is currently renovating a 1920s building as a multi-faceted arts space. The photo above at bottom right is of a recent Condesa Coffee pop-up event inside Eyedrum. On bottom left is a photo of a Sever mural on Broad Street being repainted. Top left shows a HENSE mural also on Broad Street (both murals sit on mostly or completely empty buildings – though this block also contains the wonderful Mammal Gallery and Miller’s Rexall). The top right one is a view of Peachtree Street facing north from MLK. 

Today’s Headlines

By Ashley Robbins | | No Comments
  • Nashville Leaders Visit Salt Lake City to Learn How They Dealt With Regional Growth (Tennessean)
  • Despite Greenways, Bike Trails, and Proximity to Appalachian Trail, Bristol Isn’t Bike Friendly (TriCities)
  • MARTA Recommends 400 North Expansion Along East Side, Upsetting Neighborhood (WSB)
  • MARTA Moves Free Braves Shuttle Two Stops (AJC)
  • Atlanta HOT Lane Toll Increase Explained (AJC)
  • Cities Join Federal Program Linking Development With Transpo Projects (U.S. DOT)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

via ATL Urbanist

Yet More MARTA Transit-Oriented Development News

By ATL Urbanist | | No Comments
Yet more MARTA transit-oriented development news: yay! Nothing has broken ground yet: boo!The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that MARTA will soon request proposals for residential & retail construction on 6 acres (!) around the Arts Center Station in Midtown; the rendering above shows what a proposal might look like. News about another transit-oriented development for Oakland City Station will come later this summer, according to the Chronicle.While I’m very happy about these transit-oriented development plans for Atlanta, I’m growing impatient about seeing one of them actually break ground. Over two years ago there was a report that the King Memorial Station TOD was expected to break ground in 2013. Nothing has happened. In fact, several MARTA stations have been slated for TOD remakes in the past few years, though none have broken ground yet. I’m going to be as patient as possible, though, because I firmly believe that these plans to grow new density near transit stations – instead of near highway exits and arterial roads that have no station nearby – are the most important urban development in Atlanta’s future. When they do finally come to fruition, the projects will be part of a sea change that takes rail transit stations in Atlanta out of the realm of largely park-and-ride usage and into a world of good urbanism (caveat: as long as they are designed well). In addition to the TOD plans, there are also MARTA stations experiencing adjacent development that’s simply market driven, which is equally exciting. The most prominent is the redevelopment of the GM plant site at Doraville Station, though Midtown Station is also getting a lot of new construction nearby – and that’s already happening! No wait necessary. 

Today’s Headlines

By Ashley Robbins | | No Comments
  • Deal to Bring Tri-Rail Into Downtown Miami is “Close” (Miami Herald)
  • Development Deal Reached Between All Aboard Florida and West Palm Beach (WPTV)
  • ACLU Calls for Tampa’s Bike Stop Program to Cease While Under Investigation (Tampa Bay Times)
  • Baton Rouge Streetcar Line Selected for FTA Technical Assistance Program (The Advocate)
  • Conservative Blogger Proposes Transit Community Improvement District for MARTA (Peach Pundit)
  • Memphis Area Transit Authority to Purchase New Streetcars for Plagued Heritage Line (Drake & Zeke)
  • Knoxville Area Transit Spruces Up Buses With Student Artwork (Tennessee Today)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

via ATL Urbanist

Atlanta’s Street-Renaming Fever Rises Again

By ATL Urbanist | | No Comments
This is a photo of a map in a MARTA station. Look at those short, simple, classic street names in the center of Downtown: Spring, Cone, Fairlie, Walton, Forsyth. These names are easy to remember and have been a constant part of Atlanta street maps for well over a century.Now a city councilman is sponsoring a push by some prominent, powerful Atlantans to have Spring renamed as “Ted Turner Drive.” Get ready to reprint all those maps and wayfinding signage! Creative Loafing has a full report, which also explores Atlanta’s chronic problem with honorary street renaming. Word on the street (ha!) is that the business owners on Spring are on board with the renaming. Which is meaningless since there are so few businesses there – it’s mostly a desolate stretch of parking facilities and loading docks on the butt ends of towers. With the absence of thriving street-level businesses and offices and residents on Spring, Atlanta is able to once again erase a bit of its history, relatively unchallenged. Meanwhile, everyone has to change their maps and directions in a section of town that already confuses people. This business of powerful, moneyed people lobbying for renaming of streets on behalf of friends – it’s concerning. An honor like street renaming should be something that is embraced by the entire community. When it comes solely from the rich and powerful, while other members of the neighborhood are having their voices ignored (the Downtown neighborhood association opposes the move), that’s an uneven system.Atlanta leaders need to find a better way to honor people. Turner is certainly deserving of an honor, but not this way. If it turns out that the renaming is inevitable, can we at least work out a deal that improves the area around Ted Turner’s condo (it sits above the Ted’s Montanan Grill at the corner of Spring and Luckie)? I’d like to see Turner sell his massive surface parking lot for redevelopment, since it’s taking up space beside the streetcar route that could be put to much more appropriate use. Pretty please?

Today’s Headlines

By Ashley Robbins | | No Comments
  • U.S. Department of Justice Opens Investigation Into Tampa Bike Ticketing (Gulf Live)
  • Tampa Receives Florida DOT Grant to Study Streetcar Expansion (Creative Loafing)
  • Creative Loafing: Georgia’s Roads Package Has No Vision, and No Future
  • Atlanta Ranked as One of Worst-Designed Cities in the World (Thrillist)
  • MARTA Issues RFP to Outsource Paratransit Services, ATU Isn’t Happy (Saporta Report)
  • Macon-Bibb Form Pedestrian Study Committee After Third Fatality This Year (Georgia Newsday)
  • New Orleans Receives Bloomberg Grant to Better Use Open Data (CityLab)
  • Charlotte City Council to Adopt Smart Growth Plan Around Rail Expansion (Charlotte Observer)
  • Asheville Doesn’t Want to Be NC’s Most Dangerous City for Walking (Xpress)
  • Students Working to Earn Coastal Carolina University Bicycle Friendly Designation (WMBF)

More headlines at Streetsblog USA

via ATL Urbanist

Happy Earth Day!

By ATL Urbanist | | No Comments
Happy Earth Day!As I’ve stated before: there’s an eco-urbanist ideal that lies at the heart of what makes me a proponent of livable, compact cities: “if you love nature, live apart from it.” Compact urban growth leaves more room for unbuilt land (a.k.a. “nature”) to exist elsewhere – something that’s particularly important in a growing population that uses an increasing amount of resources. A post at Better Institutions says it well:We move from the city to the suburb or the rural town to be closer to nature, and to make it habitable (for us) we clear-cut it for new development, pave it over and turn woods and grasslands into manicured lawns, pollute it with our vehicles, etc. In our efforts to possess a small slice of “nature,” we change the meaning of the word, leaving us with something beautiful, perhaps, but far from natural.And yes, we should have trees and parks in our urban places. Just don’t confuse those small, disconnected bits of green as being significant natural environments. Because, though it’s important to be as “green” as possible within our built environments, good habitats for true biodiversity exist beyond the reach of constant asphalt and rooftops. Photo: Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area
Load more stories