Atlanta - another concert, another awesome trip

[oliveurban]

Wonderful Atlanta. Never tire of seeing it.

Great pictures.

[Paintballer1708]

Great shots of a great city. Atlanta is quickly becoming one of my favorite American cities.

[Randy Sandford]

Great pics Steve! That pano is awesome!

[LSyd]

thanks y'all.

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[atlantaguy]

Here's another Georgian asshole that enjoyed these.

Re: Underground - eh, it's not doing too well......

[cactuspunk]

WOW!! Very cool!

[LSyd]

thanks for the comments.

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[Evergrey]

I hope you enjoyed the gentle sounds of Helltrash.

[atlantagh]

Originally Posted by atlantaguy

Here's another Georgian asshole that enjoyed these.

Re: Underground - eh, it's not doing too well......

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Well, as in his original post statement, it's not that there are lots of assholes here (or any more than any other big city), it's that there's lots of bums downtown. Last time I took my camera with me in broad daylight (night time? He's BRAVE), I walked from Peachtree Center to Underground (maybe what.. about 6 blocks or so?) and was asked for money ELEVEN TIMES, and on top of that had two very odd guys want to uh.. "hold my camera and look at it" (yeah, right). I've been here over 20 years and even I don't go downtown anymore unless I've got a group with me.

Regarding your Underground comment though: I know someone who works with one of the tourism agencies in Atlanta and they gave me a scoop on that. Ok, the Mayor doesn't like the bum situation any more than tourists or residents do. However, whenever they try to enforce the anti-panhandling laws, the activists get riled up, file lawsuits, have marches, etc. So at some point around the time the Aquarium opened, they decided to make the Centennial Olympic Park / Aquarium area the "new downtown". It's been razed and rebuilt from scratch around there, is still growing with higher end housing and attractions, and it's easier for them to keep secure from the get-go than the Five Points area is where Underground is at. In short, their attitude is to "sacrifcie Underground and let it die, and build on the new downtown area away from Five Points".

A lot of work just to avoid bums, but that's their plan. Expect to see much more development focused on the Aquarium area and much less attention in the Five Points area... it's kinda like "Thunderdome" over there - they're just going to let it have a life of its own. That's one reason they were so ticked off when they lost the bid to get the Nascar museum here as it was to be built one block from the Aquarium -they're trying to make the "new" downtown area very diverse and all new.

Just my two cents. And the pics in the top post were very good to add - and I applaud anyone who has the chichis to walk around downtown Atlanta after dark with a DSLR (which I assume you were using since the pics were so good).

[cabasse]

^are you a suburban dweller? (should i even ask?) lsyd was referring to those outside atlanta, i'm pretty sure, to be specific.

i'm very pleased the nascar museum went elsewhere. this up and coming area of museum superblocks will never become a new downtown. a tourist attraction in its own right, sure... but the real downtown you speak so negatively of is just now seeing a rennaisance. oh, and as a relatively small (white, if you're interested) guy i've never once felt threatened in downtown. sure the bums are an issue, but they're just beggars, nothing else.

[shanthemanatl]

Originally Posted by cabasse

^are you a suburban dweller? (should i even ask?) lsyd was referring to those outside atlanta, i'm pretty sure, to be specific.

i'm very pleased the nascar museum went elsewhere. this up and coming area of museum superblocks will never become a new downtown. a tourist attraction in its own right, sure... but the real downtown you speak so negatively of is just now seeing a rennaisance. oh, and as a relatively small (white, if you're interested) guy i've never once felt threatened in downtown. sure the bums are an issue, but they're just beggars, nothing else.

I agree, Cabasse. I spend alot of time downtown, both during the day and at night, and I've never felt threatened or unsafe.

Are the beggars sometimes a nuisance? Sure, and it's an issue that's going to have to be addressed more vigorously. I can see how a visiting housewife from Sioux Falls might find these encounters unsettling. Like it or not, we do have to be very conscious of how our visitors perceive Downtown. Much of Downtown Atlanta's vitality and well-being is tied to the tourist and convention trade.

[LSyd]

thanks for the comments everybody.

Originally Posted by Evergrey

I hope you enjoyed the gentle sounds of Helltrash.

this is the 3rd time i've seen them.

atlantagh, thanks for the compliment on the photos. i don't have a DSLR yet, i was using an older prosumer (Nikon Coolpix 5400.) i saw a guy out doing a model shoot and he had what looked like a very expensive, professional DSLR with a pricey lense.

i didn't feel threatened at night...i think only 2 or 3 people asked for money. the next day it was 5 or 6, which was slightly worse than a weekday when i was in Atlanta in September. both days were better than a couple years ago when the number was too high to count, so the panhandler situation is a lot better.

the asshole comment was, well, about assholes of all kinds. people excessively honking their horns and yelling at pedestrians and vice versa, rude bums, security/police that stalk you for 3 blocks but won't even ask you a simple question about the situation...i always seem to encounter a lot of rude people in Atlanta on weekends (but i also run into a lot of nice people, it's too bad the rude ones are such an anomaly that they stick out.)

that's too bad the plan is to turn the center of downtown into mega museums, especially when there's already nice areas like Farlie-Poplar.

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