Less than serious blogging resumes

I'll admit that I was one of the guys in high school who gave unmitigated crap to all my soccer-playing friends.  Lots of yapping about it not being an American sport, and thus not a "real" sport, etc., the kind of stuff you say as a teenager to try and get under their skin.  I, of course, played baseball, the most American sport of all.

Fast forward fifteen years. 

Excellent choice of words, Decatur Metro

Decatur Metro, while discussing potential plans to build the multi-modal station Downtown, has a link to a DC blog Track Twenty Nine.  Track Twenty Nine has some schematics for how various rail lines could fill the Gulch area, which DM termed "rail porn".  Excellent choice of words - we salute you!

As far as the multi-modal station goes, GDOT is considering building it with the $87M in federal funds slated for the Lovejoy line.  Also mentioned in the AJC article is one of the ideas floating around for how to pay for commuter rail lines:

The project could address the fundamental problem that has dogged the commuter rail line proposal: Mass transit ticket sales rarely pay the full cost of operating the system on an ongoing basis. One idea is to gain a revenue stream for the rail lines by building and renting out office space above the terminal.  DOT, MARTA and other agencies could move into that space, and form a reliable renter base even in a shaky real estate market.

Sounds good, but I think it is much harder in practice to execute.  If you could fill all (or a lot) of the office space with MARTA, GDOT and other government agencies, you could probably get decent cash flow out of the deal, but I'm not sure what it means for the rest of Downtown.  It isn't like government workers are a revitalizing force for urban renewal - they basically go to work, eat lunch, and go home.  So Downtown will get some more sandwich shops.  To be really successful, I'd love to find a way for the multi-modal station to be more of a draw for different businesses.

Also, moving all those government agencies into the buildings would mean they are no longer renting space elsewhere - such as GDOT at One Georgia Center.  Unless you can  actually generate demand for office space, you are just playing shell games.  Maybe the multi-modal CAN generate demand, but I think we should spend some time laying out specifics on how that is going to happen.  New development doesn't magically generate people who want to move into your space (look at all the empty office space in Buckhead).

h/t: obvs. to Decatur Metro

Poncey-Highland Master Plan; I rant about "road diets"

The Poncey-Highland master plan was released last night.  You can find the details here. 

The first thing that jumped out at me was the North Avenue "road diet".  (Click the link or the picture at right to see the full-size jpeg.)

Can I just say that I find "road diets" annoying?  I know that there is a lot of traffic on North Avenue - I use it every day to go to and fro at Georgia State.  The reason for the traffic is not because North Avenue is poorly designed north of the BeltLine, it is because North Avenue is a million feet wide SOUTH of the BeltLinePonce and because de Leon is a mess during rush hour.  The real problem there is because there aren't enough east-west corridors other than Ponce de Leon.  All the traffic bulbs, medians, and swervy lanes aren't going to change that - these are band aids.  Hideous, Disney-character-covered, fall-off-in-the-shower band-aids to appease a neighborhood group.

NPU F decision on BeltLine a disappointment

I actually hesitated before writing about NPU F's rejection of the NE Beltline plan.  I have not been involved with all the discussion and meetings, and I think the NPU process is a net positive for the city as a whole.

I have previously commented on the plan, so I won't belabor the point.  Suffice it to say that I find the neighborhood's reaction extremely disappointing and short-sighted.  I think it is an excellent example of why NPUs only have advisory power - the city council (either this one or the newly elected one) should realize that it is in the City's best interest to direct responsible growth at this intersection and elsewhere. 

Shameless self promotion

Jon over at A Is For Atlanta asked me to participate in his "Five Questions With..." segment.  He has some very nice things to say about this here blog, and he's spruced up my answers with lots of relevant links and pictures.  Don't miss the old school Al Sharpton pic!

And thanks for asking me to do it, Jon!

Reason from beyond the Perimeter?!

From perhaps the most unexpected place, Peach Pundit enunciates one reason why Kasim Reed is at this point Atlanta's best hope:

Meanwhile, Kasim Reed has the backing of all groups within the City Of Atlanta who must buy into fundamental change. He also commands respect and has good working relationships with the other group that must be brought into discussions to provide the carrot and stick to force the City Hall constituencies to change their ways: The State Legislature.

Kasim Reed holds a unique position in this pivotal point in time. He has the respect of two distinct and distant constituencies who are both integral to the future growth and success of the City. Worst case scenario, it is four more years of status quo while the forces for change are able to recruit a better candidate. But if Kasim is to live up to his challenge, he is the person best suited to bring all parties to the table, and set a course for Atlanta to work with the surrounding region and not against it.

I remain unconvinced about Kasim's ability to affect fundamental change in the city's policies or operational systems.  However, anyone attempting to change things needs to have the buy-in from the stakeholders involved.  I'd say that the most likely outcome of a Mary Norwood administration would be as described by the Peach Pundit post:

Sure she represents change, but is there any evidence it will be change for the better? Or would her inability to communicate or get along with fellow council members or city staff make her a figurehead who goes largely ignored while the city continues to spiral out of control under the weight of its own entropy?

Mary Norwood can complain that the rest of the City Council hasn't been willing to work with her, but that doesn't change the fact that she would have to work with them as Mayor.

Note: beware the entire post liked to above - while largely reasonable, it drips with a certain OTP smugness and condescension that required a large degree of restraint on my part not to engage.

h/t: el hermano

Sports and adaptive re-use: Highbury Square

Previously I highlighted an interesting aspect of San Diego's baseball stadium, where they integrated a historic building into a new stadium.  How about going at adaptive re-use from the other direction - adapting an old stadium into luxury housing? 

That's what English football club Arsenal did when they moved to a new stadium.  Historic Highbury Stadium became Highbury Square apartments.  The stands were hollowed out to became units, and the pitch (the playing surface) became a garden. 

Unfortunately, the deal has not been as successful financially:

Though sales have been steady, occupancy rates remain only around the 70% mark, according to the club. In September, Arsenal sold a tranche of nearly 150 apartments to real-estate group London and Stamford Property at a discount to market value of 20%, with cashflow problems blamed. A spokesman for Arsenal declined to comment on the specifics of the deal. Financially, at least, the stadium move may not have been entirely successful for the club.