The thing about Atlanta is that it has a lot of different areas with a lot of different "feels". The biggest thing that sets Atlanta apart, to me, is the middle class Black population all over the city. Northeast/midwest cities are bad in terms of segregation. I would go so far as to call it a new type of city altogether.
The issues I have with the city right now:
-Infrastructure. Outside of the Midtown/O4W area, it's pretty bad. I live in neighboring East Point, and the second you drive into EP from Atlanta, you get better paved roads, sidewalks, etc. They have "abandoned" much of the city on the south and west sides. That needs to change.
-Income inequality. A study a few years back put ours as being almost as bad as South Africa. You can't call yourself a world class city when you've got people with full time jobs that have to live with parents, multiple roommates, or even in cars and tents.
-Transit. MARTA is doing very poorly right now, especially after the pandemic. Part of it is due to lack of funds, but part is simply mismanagement. Downgrading all new transit lines to bus routes, and then failing to deliver *those* on time, if at all, is not a good sign. Escalators falling apart with people on them, because belts were "missing" from the escalator, is not a good sign.
I no longer think that the issue is that they don't have all 5 core counties on board, because they can't even provide comprehensive and reliable service to the three counties that *have* joined.
I think we need to face the fact that they simply don't have the capability to build new rail lines or maintain the ones they already have. They need better management and better talent. I don't know if the answer is rolling them under GDOT or some type of new agency. But something needs to happen sooner, rather than later.
We need a line covering Fairlie-Poplar, GA Tech, West Midtown, and for that line to split, with one going northeast to Atlantic Station, Brookwood, Cheshire Bridge, CDC/Emory, North Decatur, Northlake, and Tucker; and the other going northwest to Chattahoochee Avenue, Moore's Mill, and Riverside.
We need an extension of the line going from the south railyard to Union City & Fairburn.
We need a line going from the Avondale yard to Scottdale, Clarkston, Stone Mountain, Redan & Stonecrest.
We need a line to Hapeville, the International Terminal, Forest Park, Lake City, Morrow & Jonesboro.
We need a blue line extension west to Adamsville, Fairburn-Mays, Cascade, Ben Hill, Greenbriar, Camp Creek, and South Fulton Parkway.
We need infill stations at Castleberry Hill/Mechanicsville, Boone (Simpson) and Krog Street. The beltline is working on connecting trails to Lindbergh and Oakland City station, so we may be able to dodge new stations at Armour & Murphy Crossing.
And those are just the *easy ones* that you could put at or above grade, on existing MARTA lines and freight rail lines.
We've got places to connect that are going to be a lot more difficult than that. Buckhead Village, East Atlanta Village, Grant Park, Riverdale, Cascade Heights, Downtown Sandy Springs, — those are going to be massive tunnelling projects.
All of these are within the 3 county service area, and I didn't even bother with North Fulton. If we can't deliver on the existing service area, what point would there be in any more counties joining? They see what's happening; or rather, what's not— and they have good reason not to want to join.
Anyway, rant over lol
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