Darin Givens

Cities with a higher violent crime rate than Chicago:

Houston
Dallas
Lubbock
Amarillo
San Antonio
Corpus Christi

Continuing to use this much land for surface parking -- next to MARTA's only significant expansion of high capacity transit (Summerhill BRT) in 25 years -- seems like a ridiculous waste.

We have to get serious about matching transit investments with growth in walkable density in Atlanta.

Bizarre story! And it highlights the problems with GA's laws about LLCs: we can never really know who owns property in the city because the state offers them so much protection.

Knowing who owns land is important for cities. Meaning: this is another way the state prevents cities from succeeding.

2002 campus with parking lots

Modern campus

The image from 2002 highlights the old parking lots at GA Tech. It almost looks like a suburban commuter school.

The second image is the same view of the modern campus, with parking lots turned into green spaces, pedestrian paths & new buildings. What a great transformation!

Light rail vehicle traveling in a suburban place

1999 video about light rail in ATL!

I hate to be a naysayer on rail-expansion, but making a huge investment in rail in these low-density areas feels wrong; especially from a modern view, when we have many needs for rail expansion in higher densities.

h/t ATL Joe

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bnmt...

Car crashed into utility pole

Bikes and pedestrians don't do this kinda damage. There's a reason cars need to be treated as dangerous devices by our laws and our urban design.

Spotted on North Avenue (and reported to ATL 311).

Skyscrapers lining the street

No skyscrapers. A parking lot and some small buildings.

Here's the view facing south on West Peachtree Street (from 13th Street) today, and 15 years ago. It's quite different today.

Pedestrians, cyclists, and a Stinger bus with buildings all around.

European cities don't hold a monopoly on pairing urban density with good options for transit/biking/walking -- we've got examples here in Atlanta! Here's Tech Square in Midtown today. What a beautiful sight. Let's see more of this!

The promise of the Beltline as a program for equitable, sustainable growth + rail expansion was intoxicating 20 years ago.

Sadly, too many leaders have allowed it to be exploited primarily as a wealth-building tool for privileged property owners, even at the expense of schools. Let's change that.

The ornate brick facade of an 8 story building completed in 1911.

One of my favorite things about walking on Peachtree Street at night: getting to see the lights on the beautiful facade of the Imperial Hotel building (1911). It currently serves as supportive housing for the formerly homeless and other persons with special needs.

Top: freeway Bottom: train tracks

On the bottom:
The transportation mode that established Atlanta as a city.

On the top:
The mode that was prioritized so heavily that it has choked Atlanta's ability to do what cities do best.

It doesn't have to stay this way.

(Viewed from a MARTA train)

East Berlin urbanism has its gems.

I get it now. I see why powerful property owners + Beltline CEO Clyde Higgs wouldn't want to follow through with building rail on the Eastside.

What a hideous nightmare this is!

Putting little pod cars on concrete would be sooooo much better.

😭😭😭

www.tumblr.com/communities/...

Wow, that's awesome! Well done.

map of parking decks and car rentals

If you're confused about the location of this Avis car rental in Downtown, it's across the street from the Budget car rental and near the giant 90 Ellis parking deck and the even more giant GA Pacific parking deck.

And two blocks east of the Peachtree Center MARTA Station.

2/2

Headline "GSP: Car slams into building in Downtown Atlanta during trooper pursuit"

This morning, GA State Patrol did a PIT maneuver that caused a car to crash into the Avis car rental on Courtland Ave in Downtown Atlanta, nearly hitting two unhoused people on the sidewalk.

This is awful in so many ways.

1/2

www.11alive.com/article/news...

Car-sewer streets

I-75/85 freeway in Downtown Atlanta

I truly despise the idea that we can't expect improvements to the north end of Downtown until The Stitch is built -- that we have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a freeway cap so investment can trickle down.

The gross car-sewer streets surrounding it should be redesigned now.

Empty street

I realize this isn't scientific data, but anecdotally, the fact that I'm able to stand in the middle of Peachtree Street and take a photo at 6:45pm without worrying about cars tells me that four lanes aren't needed for cars. Widen those bike lanes.

Sun bleached "the excitement is building" signs

What's more disappointing...

a.) That there's no development at the Civic Center yet, a year and a half after reports that it was coming soon?

b.) That no one seems to care?

c.) Walking past sun-bleached old signs as they taunt me?

I'm going with 'b'. The signs are depressing. But it all stinks.

Parking deck

The fire station at the bottom of this proposed Midtown tower is cool. The Death Star-sized parking deck is not.

No parking is required by the city on this property due to its proximity to a MARTA rail station. This is too much. Pls fix.

atlanta.urbanize.city/post/midtown...

Little bus with a MARTA logo on top

A squishy MARTA "stress ball" bus, for when my real bus is late and not tracking and I'm furious.

It's a small reminder that we can (and should) redesign the built environment to make transit work better!

The Atlanta Streetcar is closed for about four months due to unrelated infrastructure work & I'm looking forward to its return.

2/2

Cars blocking a streetcar

Planters replacing car parking

Something nice that happened a couple of years ago: problematic street-parking spaces on Auburn Ave were replaced with planters!

Cars used to block the streetcar & cause delays (I took that 'before' photo while waiting at a stop & the streetcar was delayed by a parked car)

1/2

Well said! And I dearly want this market to avoid the same fate as the previous tenant, Walgreens, which closed amid a string of crimes including shootings (when the closure was announced, there were bullet holes in a window). Safety/policing is a complex issue but we need these stores to survive.

Congrats to @cardenonwheels.bsky.social for being selected by Atlanta City Council as the interim Council member for District 2 (my district)! Good choice, y'all.

And thanks to @atlpresscollective.com for the great coverage.

Parking decks

Parking decks

Parking decks

West Peachtree Street, between Civic Center & North Avenue MARTA Stations, is mostly a row of parking decks for car commuters exiting the hwy.

I understand why this exists & that other cities have similar streets.

My question: can Atlanta be an outlier & create a great urban place here some day?

MARTA bus

I've discovered a cool trick for avoiding any parking fees in Virginia Highland.

Does Atlanta's Dickens Administration Really Deserve All of the Affordable Housing Kudos Its Getting?

I wrote something about all the kudos (from media & think tanks) that Atlanta's Dickens Administration has been receiving recently about its affordable housing activities.

(Good thing I am physically in Chicago.)

After Atlanta, Keane went on to have success in Boise and Calgary as planning chief in those cities, apparently with greater support from leaders. It stinks that Atlanta was the one place where locals were able to scuttle his mission for improving the urbanism of the city.

Best wishes for Tim Keane in Baltimore! This is the former planning chief for Atlanta who nobly tried to increase housing in our lower-density districts while also guiding an exciting Shared Peachtree project, but was undermined by local leaders on both.

Dickens was there shopping for the cameras with an enrourage yesterday when my wife and I were there (also shopping, no cameras or entourage).