The neighborhoods in Midtown and VA Highlands are a great start. They're mostly small houses with little gardens on tree-lined streets, right in the middle of Atlanta. When I was biking, I felt like I was transported back in time. I saw things that you don't see much in most suburbs. Almost no cars on the streets, people walking around and biking, neighbors visiting each other, and even some little markets advertising their ice cold Cokes and old-fashioned coin laundries. All within walking/biking distance of the shops, restaurants, and office buildings of Midtown. Not to mention Piedmont park, where there's lots of space for people to take a break from the city.
A lot of condos and apartment buildings have been coming up along Peachtree street and Atlantic Station. People that live there can use MARTA, work nearby, and walk or bike almost everywhere they need to go. This is the way a city should be. There's high income housing, middle income, and lower income housing. If you live at Atlantic Station, you can go almost anywhere you want without the need for a car. There's a movie theater, grocery store, restaurants, office buildings, gym, and almost everything else within walking distance. And if it's not close by, the shuttle takes you to the nearby Arts Center MARTA station. It's the opposite of the suburban sprawl that's been eating up the entire metro area and a model of how a community should be designed.
I guess it's kind of ironic that I'm so against the idea of suburban sprawl since I grew up in a suburb of Pittsburgh. Being under the age of 16, there's no way to get around unless someone drives you around in his or her car. To me, the idea that I need a car to get anywhere is kind of ridiculous. That's simply not how cities should be designed. The suburbs were created as a way for people to escape the poverty and problems of the city. If there's a problem in the city, it doesn't mean that all the rich people should run away from it and have a nice house with a two-car garage while other people are suffering. They should come together and help the less fortunate people. It's too bad that this is just the way it works in America. I could go on about this, but it can wait until another post.
Back to Atlanta. Besides the new housing thats sprouting up all over the city, there are a lot of new initiatives to make it a more sustainable and people-friendly place. A couple weeks ago, the Freshman Council at Georgia Tech organized a "blackout party" in honor of Earth Hour. I was really surprised to hear that our city councilman Kwanza Hall was going to show up and talk to us. I didn't get a chance to meet and talk with him, but I really like that he showed us so much support by coming out to an event and talking to the students.
It really seems like Atlanta is committed to making itself a better and more progressive city. Every new building in both the city and on campus has to be LEED silver certified. There can't be a net loss of trees from this point on within the city limits. Downtown is aiming to be a 'zero waste' zone. The beltline initiative is gaining momentum and support from both citizens and congress. Suburban sprawl is slowing and more people are moving back to the city. Mayor Shirley Franklin is going to hire 200 new policemen. There will be an electric streetcar running up and down Peachtree Street. Georgia Tech will be reducing its energy usage by at least 15% by 2020. Trees Atlanta and other NPOs seem to be gaining more and more support by the day. Car sharing programs like ZipCar are making it possible to not own a car and still live in Atlanta, and bike lanes are popping up everywhere.
It's still no Portland or New York, but there's much more to Atlanta than meets the eye.
1 comment:
Good post. It has got me thinking about cities, cars, and people. Cars really are an example of the machine that was to give us so much freedom ending up taking away what is most important about freedom: the freedom to be human. About everything I don't like about cities comes from cars.
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