DRIFT THE MAP at South-View Cemetery this Sunday March 16, 1 pm - 4 pm

Join ThreadATL's Drift the Map & Museum of Design Atlanta this Sunday!

Meet inside the entrance gate of South-View Cemetery, 1990 Jonesboro Rd, S.E.

We'll explore Atlanta’s oldest and largest African-American cemetery, the final resting place of Atlanta legends like baseball home run king Hank Aaron and civil rights leaders including Rep. John Lewis, Ruby Doris Smith Robinson, and Julian Bond.

For the first time, Drift the Map will feature a ramble down the railroad tracks which are the defining feature of old Atlanta neighborhoods. We will also visit the little-known Atlanta Federal Penitentiary Cemetery, only accessible from the tracks.

After the walk, there will be an opportunity to eat at El Progreso 14, the much-loved taqueria destination in the back of a grocery store known by aficionados as “Prison Tacos” for its proximity to the penitentiary.

We are excited to be joined by three special guest experts: Winifred Watts Hemphill (President of South-View Cemetery, founded in 1886 by six men who were born enslaved, one of whom was her great-grandfather), Ann Hill Bond (historian, journalist, and chair of the Fulton County Remembrance Coalition), and Atlanta cemetery historian Cynthia Jennings.

Atlanta mayor says transit on the Eastside Beltline is no longer a priority

March 13, 2025

[Note: corrected with new info 3/15/25]

Mayor Dickens announced to the MARTA board of directors today that he wants rail to be built on the Southside of the Beltline first, and that he wants the Eastside Beltline rail line to be delayed for a second phase at some point in the future.

That's according to an AJC article.

"We are committed to building rail on the Beltline, however, not in the form that has been previously discussed," said Courtney English, the mayor's chief adviser.

You can view the mayor's entire plan in PDF format here: threadatl.org/dickens-streetcar

It shows a Phase 1 that contains only an extension of the current Downtown streetcar to the Beltline (at Lake Avenue), but not actually continuing on the Beltline.

Only in a proposed second phase would transit be added to the Southside of the Beltline path, and to the Eastside path.

One thing that's hopeful about the text of the mayor's plan: it specifically calls for light-rail on the Beltline versus some lesser format of transit.

Big questions about funding and timelines

There is no mention in the mayor's plan of a timeline for this second phase, and no mention of how the work would be funded.

The Atlanta Beltline website says this about the Eastside Streetcar Extension:

Is it possible that the 2028 date now becomes the target for Dickens' idea of only extending the existing streetcar to the Eastside Beltline and not on it? We don't know.

Regarding the implementation of rail on the Southeast Beltline, planners have done some preliminary work on an alignment for transit, but there doesn't appear to be any mention of an exact timeline, which means construction is far expected to be far in the future: https://beltline.org/blog/citywide-conversation:-beltline-transit-study-update/

The question of how rail will be funded on the south portion is a huge one. The Tier 1 funding plan for the More MARTA tax only includes Beltline transit on the Eastside Beltline and nowhere else. Does this mean that Dickens wants the plan for More MARTA funding to be altered? Again, we don't know.

All we can say for sure is that this disruption will extend the timeline for putting rail on any part of the Beltline by many years, and that there's no guarantee of any funding available for the mayor's plan.

Is this new plan an election year tactic?

Given these unknowns, and the inevitable delay it's easy to view this as an election year tactic. With this new plan, Dickens appears to be throwing a bone to the Eastside NIMBYs who oppose Beltline rail, while making Southside residents feel like he cares about them by announcing them as a priority.

Meanwhile, he won't have to worry about implementation of Beltline rail while he's in office, since this change will upend the timeline for Beltline rail by many years, far after he's gone from office.

For those of us who've been following Beltline planning since the beginning, and who believed that early promise of rail, this Dickens administration has been particularly frustrating. He campaigned on a promise of supporting Beltline rail. Many believed he would be the transit mayor. What he's done now has left us with unanswered questions and more delays.

A lot of naysayers out there will oppose bold changes to Atlanta's street designs by saying "This isn't Europe! Atlanta isn't Amsterdam! Stop expecting us to be what we aren't."

But Amsterdam wasn't always *Amsterdam* -- they had a period when streets were oriented way too heavily toward driving.

Can Atlanta ever make exactly as much progress as they made? Given the enormous scale of sprawl damage to our region, and the extent of our low-density growth, it's sensible to adjust expectations on the timeline of our transformation.

But there's no reason to think we can't eventually experience a similar level of success with breaking away from the dominance of automobiles and becoming a more pedestrian oriented place, and spreading the kind of safe walking/biking infrastructure that's on the Beltline throughout our streets, alongside roadways that are safer for all users.

We need a bold vision for our urbanism, and we need to keep working toward it with the kind of big steps that are appropriate for a major city.

Image source:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1A4fHUHmHa/

The legacy of the abandoned Peachtree Shared Space program: a pedestrian's death

by Darin Givens, March 4, 2025

A pedestrian was recently killed on Peachtree Street when he tried to use the faded remains of a crosswalk built for the abandoned Peachtree Shared Street project in Downtown. This image is from prior to the gutting of the program in 2022.

Here's some background on how maddeningly preventable this death was:

Mayor Dickens wrongly pulled the plug on this good Shared Street program three years ago this month after being pressured to do so by a moneyed Downtown property owner, named Richard Bowers, who wanted the lanes of car traffic to remain unchanged.

Pictured here (this is from late 2021) is the first phase of the program, with two vehicular lanes removed and a bold crosswalk in the street. Various traffic calming devices are out of view, and more pedestrian-friendly goodness was on the way in subsequent phases.

But all of it was removed at Dickens' command, though the crosswalk was left to dangerously fade away.

And as if Dickens' office didn't handle this situation badly enough...after the pedestrian death their only action was to finally erase the crosswalk. This was an infuriating response.

That crosswalk at Peachtree Center was born from its common use as a sort of "desire path" with people running across Peachtree at that spot for many years. Getting rid of a desire path instead of embracing it with safe infrastructure isn't going to end the desire itself.

The correct response would have been to establish a safe crossing for pedestrian here.

Thanks to Councilmembers Amir Farokhi, Jason Dozier, and Matt Westmoreland for doing the right thing this week and formally requesting that the mayor install a pedestrian crosswalk at 225 Peachtree St., NE "by no later than May 31, 2025."

That needs to happen. Actually, it needed to happen three years ago. We'd say "better late than never" but even that seems inappropriate in the wake of a preventable death.

Thousands of CDC staff ordered back to the office, but transit hasn't expanded

by Darin Givens, Feb 18, 2025

The AJC reports that thousands of CDC staff who now telework are being ordered back to the office full-time at the Emory campus. Office space is reportedly scarce. But also, transit to the campus hasn't expanded as hoped:

What the status of MARTA's Clifton Corridor project? Let's review.

Clifton Corridor Transit Timeline

MARTA's bus from Lindbergh to the CDC at Emory (the 6) runs every 20 minutes on weekdays at peak commute times for a 24 minute trip. That's not bad by MARTA bus standards, but it's also not the rapid transit many need.

MARTA maybe at least update that website?

EDIT: At a January City Council committee meeting, MARTA representative Carrie Rocha (Chief Capital Officer) implied that the Clifton project was on hold while they studied the potential for using Armour Yards as an endpoint. See...that would be some good info for MARTA to put on that Clifton Corridor web site.

Study: transportation struggles are a big barrier for Atlanta nightlife

by Darin Givens | Feb 13, 2025

The City of Atlanta has partnered with a consultant to study issues with the city's nightlife and the report is now online.

Unsurprisingly, it's filled with complaints about transportation. One of the biggest issues people raised in the study is the difficulty of getting to and from nightlife businesses.

One smart comment in the report: "Public transportation needs to improve. Parking is going to keep disappearing."

Exactly. While the study's recommendation of discounted parking options for employees of nightlife business is likely doable, it's not realistic to expect that free or cheap parking will significantly expand for customers in the city's hot entertainment districts.

If there's anything we've learned from the great urban planner Donald Shoup who passed away last week, it's that parking has a high cost that can't be ignored -- especially in growing cities.

Over time we need to build the city (and the larger metro area) in a format that better supports options like transit, walking, and biking. Which, at least in part, means employing the dreaded "d" word: density. Because when we build most of our places at a lower-density scale for cars, we get car traffic, along with scarce alternatives.

But while that change happens, we also need to do everything we can to provide better options for getting around without cars late at night. That could include expanding service hours for transit, and turning some car lanes into safe lanes for bikes/e-scooters.

Obviously, these improvements could help many people beyond just nightlife employees and customers.

We need to talk about the hundreds of MARTA bus cancellations in a day

By Matt Garbett & Darin Givens | Feb 4, 2025

470 cancelled MARTA bus trips in a single day. And the day isn't over yet. This is insane. Also, why isn't this headline news?

How many people were late to work? Late to get home? Late to pick up their kids? Late to a doctor's appointment? Late to a movie?

These aren't abstract numbers. 470 cancelled MARTA bus trips impacted thousands of people's lives. I

Not MARTA board members or executives or Atlanta elected officials who don't rely on MARTA for anything besides an event. Not them.

But thousands of other people's lives were impacted.

If we can't find a way to lower these cancellations, the improvements from the new bus system redesign are going to be severely limited.

But to find that way, the people that actually make the final decisions have to care. See the people waiting at the bus stop as human beings to be seen, not just people to be driven past. If they're even seen at all.

There are a great deal of fixes that need to be made. Some easy. Some difficult. But the first and most important one is giving a damn about the people whose lives are impacted on a daily basis.

Thanks to Syd Haltom for sharing this ad for transit from 1947! "The easiest way of getting about Atlanta is to ride the trolleys and buses" ❤️

Which is a good reminder: what's up with the streetcar extension to the Beltline?

Several weeks ago, Saporta Report quoted Mayor Dickens as saying that the city is currently analyzing various transit options for the Beltline & costs (haven't we already done that?) and that a report will be finished some time this year.

Which probably explains why there appears to have been no mention of Beltline rail or the streetcar extension at the State of MARTA event today.

You can read about the projects MARTA is currently excited about here: https://www.itsmarta.com/marta-unveils-bold-vision.aspx

And while there are some good things on MARTA's list, to be sure, you won't find any mention of expanding rail. That's a shame. We approved it in 2016 with the More MARTA referendum for a sales tax.

We need to get to a place again where Atlantans can brag about transit being the best way to get about the city. Not simply in a nostalgic way that repeats the past -- but in a way that merges a new, walkable growth plus new transit lines for a better future.

In a presentation to Atlanta City Council's transportation committee this week, MARTA representative Carrie Rocha (Chief Capital Officer) gave a report on several projects...

Summerhill Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) construction has been hampered by various unforeseen difficulties including the presence of a previously-unknown underground parking deck(!). It's possible the opening of that service may be pushed into 2026.

The projected cost of Campbellton Road BRT is now $319 million, with a completion date of 2030. They've already spent $8 million on it. Apparently there are some difficulties with the bike lanes included in the plan and adjustments may need to be made.

Relatedly, Councilmember Jason Dozier asked Rocha about the potential for a transit oriented development (TOD) at Oakland City Station and Rocha replied that they are working with the mayor's office to prioritize a TOD at that station, to connect with the Campbellton Road BRT line.

Rocha also implied that planning for the Clifton Corridor BRT is on hold while MARTA studies the feasibility of a heavy-rail infill station at Armour Yards, since that (potential) station could be a more logical connection point than Lindbergh Station.

Also, Cleveland/Metropolitan Arterial Rapid Transit (ART, an enhanced bus service though not quite BRT) is not expected to be complete until 2028. Meanwhile on MARTA's web page for Cleveland Avenue and Metropolitan Parkway ART, it still says: "Current Status: Final design near completion. Construction expected to begin in Fall 2023 with service beginning in early 2025." Oops. Might want to update that.

You can watch the full meeting here:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=8v-zT5BszGs

It seems like adding all those lanes to the I-75/85 Connector in Atlanta didn't help anything, and may have just induced more traffic. Maybe an investment in more transit, plus more compact growth (versus our intense sprawl) would have been better.

Yes, it's a utopian, urbanist dream. But dreams are good; they can grow up to become visions and plans.

Speaking of...

Department of City Planning is hosting a Transportation panel with Atlanta Department of Transportation on Monday, December 16, 2024

5:30 PM – 8:00 PM at Plywood Place, 933 Lee St., SW B, Atlanta, GA 30310

More info at:

https://www.atlantaforall.com/about

The Makeshift City records images of Covid-era Atlanta

by Darin Givens | Nov 25, 2024

Above: Auburn Avenue (Civil War), Atlanta, Georgia, 2022 © Joshua Dudley Greer

There’s a thought-provoking collection of images of Atlanta in a new book called The Makeshift City by Joshua Dudley Greer, a photographer based in Atlanta who teaches at Georgia State University. It explores a significant few years for the city, 2020-2024.

This was a period when U.S. cities experienced a series of upheavals such as the COVID-19 pandemic and a housing crisis, along with major cultural events like the Black Lives Matter movement. In Atlanta we also saw the Stop Copy City movement, plus the continuation of our intense level of economic disparity with the city once again ranking among those with the worst income inequality in the nation.

These years served as a rich backdrop for Greer’s camera, which examines the urban landscape and its community as it responds to economic, political, and cultural disruptions.

Looking through the photos, I got a feel for the prominent changes happening in the built environment changing. In fact, some of the images are already out-of-date, so to speak, in that the vistas are already changed as of today. I appreciated the value of having this kind of visual document of the era.

>> READ THE FULL POST

Affordable housing should be part of the Gulch development

Darin Givens | Nov. 5 2024

Thanks to Fox 5 for covering this issue, writing... "City Council member Jason Dozier and advocacy group ThreadATL have both expressed disappointment over the lack of affordable housing at The Mitchell and the missed opportunity for city leaders to hold developers more accountable."

Disappointed indeed. Centennial Yards needs to include affordable housing. Period.

Instead, the Gulch developers paid the City of Atlanta $8.5 million after declining to build 60 affordably priced units in their first apartment building, which will now feature 304 exclusively market-rate units. How can they do this? In exchange for $2 billion in tax breaks and incentives, CIM Group is allowed by the city to either set aside 20% of its residential units for affordable housing or pay an in-lieu fee for each affordable unit they decline to provide. The penalty money will be used to provide affordable units in Westside neighborhoods instead. This is a concerning precedent. Being near multiple train stations and bus lines, plus good sidewalks, the Gulch is a place where affordability and transit would be well matched. So if the residential component isn't serving a mix of incomes, that's a sorely missed opportunity. At the very least, this in-lieu payment should be used to fund affordable units that are equally located in walkable, transit-rich places. But primarily there should be a significant affordability component within in this heavily-incentivized Gulch project.

City of Atlanta takes over West End Mall with promise of redevelopment

by Darin Givens | Oct. 1, 2024

The City of Atlanta has 'acquired' the 12-acre West End Mall property for a mixed-used redevelopment with a focus on affordability. We don't know exactly what entity owns it yet (maybe Invest Atlanta? Atlanta Urban Development?), but hopefully that info comes soon.

According to a press release:

"This acquisition is the first step in the approximate $450 million redevelopment of the historic property into a mixed-income, mixed-use affordable housing development featuring an inclusive commercial space for a diverse business community—most importantly including legacy small businesses."

That's a bit of a buzz-word salad, but it generally promises good things. Hopefully this is a more successful effort than the string of failed, private proposals to develop the property in the last few years.

The City says that construction will begin in 2025 on:

> 125,000 square feet of retail, including a grocery store, fitness center, food & beverage, and local boutiques

> 900 mixed-income rental units, with 70% workforce housing, 20% affordable at 50% AMI, and 10% at 80% AMI

> At least 10,00 square foot of affordable commercial space allocated for qualified small, local businesses

> Student-targeted housing

> A hotel

> 12,000 square feet of medical office space

Given that the mall is next to a MARTA rail station, this could be a big boost for affordable, transit-adjacent development in the city, which is absolutely the kind of urbanism improvement that Atlanta needs.

More info here:

https://www.atlantaga.gov/Home/Components/News/News/15238/672

Big ideas for a disused corner of Peachtree Street in Downtown ATL

by Darin Givens | 9-20-2024

One of Downtown Atlanta's most drab corners could get a big boost thanks to the owners of the Georgia Pacific tower, according to a big announcement made today. Urbanize Atlanta has the story: https://atlanta.urbanize.city/post/georgia-pacific-tower-apartment-conversion-iconic-offices-one-largest-redevelopments-us

The southeast entrance to the Peachtree Center MARTA Station has been a disused eyesore for many years. A new vision adds retail development and a public plaza in a spot that has often had cars parked in it. This is good news for the vibrancy of this section of Downtown -- getting rid of eyesores and dead spaces is at least as important as adding new developments when it comes to making pedestrians feel welcome.

The owners also want to convert the upper floors of the office tower into 400 apartments. This is an impressive goal. Residential development is one of Downtown's biggest needs and if they can pull this off, it could be a major tipping point for the overall effort to make better use of Downtown's empty office spaces.

But it's worth noting that conversions of office buildings from this era can be very expensive and challenging (for instance, the project to convert Downtown's 41 Marietta office tower to apartments went into foreclosure this year).

Regardless of how that component turns out though, the overall vision is exciting and the ground-level changes will be a very welcome change for the pedestrian experience here, and it will be a great consolation considering the failure of MARTA's bid to lure development to a similarly disused Peachtree Center Station entrance across the street a few years ago.

Multifamily tower with affordable units envisioned for Underground Atlanta

by Darin Givens | 9-18-2024

The owner of Underground Atlanta, Lalani Ventures, wants to build a multifamily tower with affordable units on the property -- this is according to Bisnow Atlanta.

Lalani & project partner Exact Capital submitted a request for $40 million in incentives to Invest Atlanta. If that gets approved, Lalani says they'll "seek construction financing" to build the tower which would include student housing, affordable units, and market rate units.

163 units in the tower would be restricted to renters earning up to 60% of the area median income, with rents from $971 for a studio to $1,225 for a two-bedroom unit.

If all the needed financing is found, this would be the first construction on the property since Shaneel Lalani purchased Underground four years ago, following a failed attempt by previous owner (WRS Inc.) to make anything happen after they purchased it in 2017 from the city.

A new residential tower next to Five Points MARTA Station, with no added parking (judging from the renderings), and with an affordability component -- it's an encouraging proposal. This part of Downtown has proven to be a tough sell for construction lending, but best wishes to Lalani for success.

This is a good article about Atlanta's I-MIX zoning designation, created in 2020 to allow for mixed-use development in formerly industrial spaces while leaving space for some industrial uses. Some of the biggest recent developments in the city have happened through this zoning.

Apparently the success of it is prompting other cities to explore similar zoning designations.

And while it's good to see new life on these properties, there's still some serious work to be done to improve the projects. Apart from the obvious need to fund affordability in theme, there's also the transportation component that needs to be addressed.

The article focuses on The Works on Chatthoochee Avenue. It's a street that lacks frequent transit, has no protected bike lanes, and has spotty sidewalks. We can do better than drive-to urbanism. Instead of just applauding individual developments in a vacuum, let's work at a more holistic level and ensure that these projects are part of equitable, sustainable urban neighborhoods.