ATLANTA | Development Thread V

[cybele]

I sure hope the trains will come back some day, too.

In the heyday of the trains Downtown was the center of business activity and much of the population was clustered around there as well. The airport wasn't such a big deal either. However in the last 50 years it seems like a lot of the population and the business shifted up to the north. I guess if you can somehow bring the trains back and make them stop in downtown that will cause people to move back in.

[micropundit]

Originally Posted by cybele

I sure hope the trains will come back some day, too.

In the heyday of the trains Downtown was the center of business activity and much of the population was clustered around there as well. The airport wasn't such a big deal either. However in the last 50 years it seems like a lot of the population and the business shifted up to the north. I guess if you can somehow bring the trains back and make them stop in downtown that will cause people to move back in.

I believe that the focus is more on establishing an intergrated ground transportation system that provides an effective and effcient means of moving people, goods and material around ,through and to the Metro Atalnta region.
The sysem will allow Atlanta as the hub to remain competitive in the global economy as well as provide a measure of relief from the regions traffic congestion. The projected increase in urban density is an added benefit at best.

[ClaySkyHigh]

Buckhead skyline taken by me with a disposable camera way back in 2005? when I first started this.
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Taken the other day.
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12th and Midtown Office tower crane removed.
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A few bonuses.
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[atl2phx]

great shots clayskyhigh.

i'm a huge fan of the transition that's taken place on west peachtree over the past few years.

i would also think the peachtree streetcar would be much better suited for west peachtree instead of peachtree in this stretch of midtown (have it veer off of peachtree and take w.peachtree @ baker downtown until picking up on peachtree again @ 19th street)

[skapunkskatedude]

Those pictures are incredible

[briantech]

Took this pic friday night from my balcony. Dang palomar!

[Snakebit]

Peachtree-Pine shelter to stay open ... ugh:

http://saportareport.com/blog/?p=2625

[cybele]

Originally Posted by ClaySkyHigh

Well now that one looks like a whole new city popped up.

[sevensixtwo]

Originally Posted by Snakebit

Peachtree-Pine shelter to stay open ... ugh:

[skapunkskatedude]

Originally Posted by Snakebit

Peachtree-Pine shelter to stay open ... ugh:

http://saportareport.com/blog/?p=2625

Somethings gotta give with this shelter. As much as i understand the need for the shelter, Peachtree Street isn't the place for it. Eventually somethings gotta give.

[briantech]

Originally Posted by skapunkskatedude

Somethings gotta give with this shelter. As much as i understand the need for the shelter, Peachtree Street isn't the place for it. Eventually somethings gotta give.

I think somewhere in Gwinnett would work great

[gttx]

Originally Posted by briantech

I think somewhere in Gwinnett would work great

There's plenty of room in the Atlantic....

[Fiorenza]

I think somewhere in Gwinnett would work great

We have an ordinance against homelessness...they get a free ride on Gwinnett Transit to downtown Atlanta!

[cybele]

Well everybody should have to carry their share of the load for the less fortunate. You don't even have to bring religion into it, although that would be the Christian thing to do. It's just plain common decency.

[briantech]

Originally Posted by cybele

Well everybody should have to carry their share of the load for the less fortunate. You don't even have to bring religion into it, although that would be the Christian thing to do. It's just plain common decency.

What makes more fiscal sense -- to house self destructive homeless people in the Fulton County Main Library ... or in a special purpose public housing area outside the CBDs?

[shivtim]

Originally Posted by briantech

What makes more fiscal sense -- to house self destructive homeless people in the Fulton County Main Library ... or in a special purpose public housing area outside the CBDs?

Yeah, because we've seen how well special purpose public housing has worked in Atlanta. It doesn't breed unemployment and crime at all, and wasn't considered a massive failure or anything.

What would work best would be to decentralize homeless shelters. Split it up into several smaller shelters, and institute programs to help pull people out of homelessness.

[STrek777]

Originally Posted by shivtim

Yeah, because we've seen how well special purpose public housing has worked in Atlanta. It doesn't breed unemployment and crime at all, and wasn't considered a massive failure or anything.

What would work best would be to decentralize homeless shelters. Split it up into several smaller shelters, and institute programs to help pull people out of homelessness.

OH GOD cry me a river!!! The dear sweet homeless who are only the victims of a vicious and corrupt world. It’s the cities fault for not cracking down on illegal drugs that have allowed for so many homeless to end up as addicts and dealers. It’s the cities fault for not lighting the streets well enough to discourage those helpless individuals from hustling. In fact it is the cities fault for attempting to provide one large centrally located shelter for all the homeless to easily access. However, knowing that with all the other faults of the city this area will devolve into a disturbed and feared area, a hub for the police to torture.

People are bad because they choose to be bad. I do NOT subscribe to the idea of victim of circumstance. Where there is a will there is a way and the homeless in this city have the will to live that way! It doesn’t matter if you centrally locate it or break it up into multiple homeless shelters around town. At least with having one large shelter you can cut down on administration and leasing costs, services can be uniformly provided and enforced.

Just stop whining as if they have no choice for their lot in life. This is not the mid-evil ages and if someone wants to advance in life… they can. Be a day laborer until you finish your GED… use your GED to get a job in fast food and a weekly rent at a motel… use the pale grant to go to a community college… etc, etc, etc. This is America and anything is possible!

[gttx]

Originally Posted by STrek777

Just stop whining as if they have no choice for their lot in life. This is not the mid-evil ages and if someone wants to advance in life… they can. Be a day laborer until you finish your GED… use your GED to get a job in fast food and a weekly rent at a motel… use the pale grant to go to a community college… etc, etc, etc. This is America and anything is possible!

I don't want to start an argument about homelessness in this construction thread, but your view is incredibly short-sited and ignores most of the real challenges associated with the problem of homelessness.

How do you get a job to begin with? Even at a fast food restaurant, you need to look presentable, which means you need to shower, have a change of clothes, etc. And how do you get to work? In Atlanta, you can't live anywhere cheap unless you have a car. House-car-job are all interrelated, and just pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, with none of these things, is nearly impossible for anyone, not to mention for the type of person who ends up on the street.

Of course, most homeless are either (1) mentally or physically handicapped, (2) a product of homeless parents, or (3) addicting to drugs. Breaking that cycle, given the myriad things holding them down, is a difficult proposition indeed, and not something that you can just explain away by challenging people to work harder. Sorry.

[Snakebit]

Originally Posted by gttx

I don't want to start an argument about homelessness in this construction thread, but your view is incredibly short-sited and ignores most of the real challenges associated with the problem of homelessness.

How do you get a job to begin with? Even at a fast food restaurant, you need to look presentable, which means you need to shower, have a change of clothes, etc. And how do you get to work? In Atlanta, you can't live anywhere cheap unless you have a car. House-car-job are all interrelated, and just pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, with none of these things, is nearly impossible for anyone, not to mention for the type of person who ends up on the street.

Of course, most homeless are either (1) mentally or physically handicapped, (2) a product of homeless parents, or (3) addicting to drugs. Breaking that cycle, given the myriad things holding them down, is a difficult proposition indeed, and not something that you can just explain away by challenging people to work harder. Sorry.

This is obviously true and we should attempt to help these people. There are all sorts of programs run out of these shelters that give these people access to programs developed to help them. I think seperating the shelter into several smaller shelters would do a lot of good. Instead of one area being completely off limits to the rest of the people of the city you would have several smaller areas with much smaller impact. They should definitely move it out of one of a visible and important part of the city. Homeless people radiate out from this shelter to Woodruff park and Downtown everyday. They terrorize tourists and business people, sell and use drugs, urinate in public, etc. They have to be moved out of the CBD for the good of the city and for their own good as well. If its easy to beg, they will of course beg. But if we were to move the shelter down by the Atlanta Prison and the courthouse, it would be better for all involved.

[sevensixtwo]

Homelessness is a sad social problem. Being homeless is your own f-cking fault. We should fix the machine so it doesn't grind people up. Still, there is no excuse for being the one that gets caught.