Vending Carts Coming to MARTA Plaza
Decatur Metro | May 17, 2008…on a trial basis.
The latest agenda for Monday’s commission meeting states, and I quote…
“Recommend approval of a trial program to allow vending carts on the MARTA plaza.”
Yep. That’s it. Do I have an opinion on this? Um…I wish the area around the MARTA plaza was less sketchy. Does that contribute to the dialog? No not really. Maybe this is our attempt to utilize MARTA space for food consumption like the massive developments at Lindbergh station. 
Alright. No time to write. I’ve gotta get some sleep before my very long day of travel back to the states tomorrow. Can’t wait to see old West Ponce again!
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Sketchy? Can you please elaborate? Are you talking about the Decatur MARTA? This COULD be a great development – not sure why of the intended function though and lets hope it doesn’t promote sketchiness.
Oh heck… now we are going to become one of those cheesy commercial areas that you see in so many towns going down hill… Maybe we can open a Ripley’s Believe It Or Not museum too… and a little airbrush T-shirt stand would be great too. Sometimes I think the commissioners are actually TRYING to destroy this city.
They’re not trying anymore they are destroying it. The best thing that’s happened lately is the collapse of the real estate market. It’s meant developers don’t have as much cash to dish out. Decatur is great because it doesn’t have all the suburban crap. But not for long I’m afraid. Take a good look at the Marta plaza sometime. This is what they think is good design. Sheesh! In my humble opinion the last thing Decatur needed was an updated Marta station for crying out loud which I might add almost sucked the life out of the square while waiting for granite from China! Who are these people? We’ve really got to stop these folks from taking the ternative part out of Decatur so thats all thats left is the mall. To the barricades! Out with the philistines! How does Ruby Tuesday stay in business anyway. Wonder of the age.
Never noticed the MARTA area being “sketchy.”
Not sure about the vending carts, but I think having a MARTA station right in the middle of our town is an underutilized resource that we have that we don’t take advantage of.
I think the Church St. facing side of the MARTA station looks great.
Whoa. I sure caused a stir by using the word “sketchy” in my sleep-deprived state a couple days back. All I meant was that some of the SHOPS and clientèle immediately around the MARTA station are kinda sketch. That’s the general area where that mugging of two Emory students occurred a few months back.
Personally, I think the Church St. MARTA plaza looks great. I realize that the businesses around there took a considerable hit…but we couldn’t put it off forever. The execution of the plan is up for debate between those that are more knowledgeable about it than I. As for the bus exit of MARTA onto Commerce (which I more often frequent because its a more direct route from my house) I have considerable issues. For one thing, last night I had the pleasure of smelling and walking through the liquid that leaked from the dumpster behind the 1 West Courthouse Sq. parking deck. Unacceptable.
I don’t think anyone knows enough to judge the vending carts idea yet. We don’t even know what they are going to sell or how many there will be. It could be a cool addition to the plaza…we’ll just have to wait and see.
I, like some in Decatur, was born and raised here. I’ve seen the downtown area go from being a place you didn’t want to be caught at night to being a place you want to be a night, like it is now. Here’s the deal. You can’t stop progress. But what we can do is be vocal as to what you want and what you don’t want in Decatur. The condos are too many at this point, I think we need those like we need a deeper and longer recession (not at all). You want make Decatur better, stop the massive multifamily building.
Putting vending carts on the square could be cool. It would be nice for the folks at the court house to have something right there that offers something different and quick. Also they may bring more folks out to the square and spur patronage to the established eateries. I say run with it and see how it does. That’s my two cents.
vending carts – brilliant! now decatur can finally achieve the warmth and class of five points. who says our aspirations are unachievable?
Vending carts on the square? Nooooo.
The city seems to be struggling to support the businesses that are already there. Why add in even more options for people to spend their disposable income?
On the plus side, at least all the ‘sketchy’ loiterers will have something to do while they loiter.
I love it when people say we need to stop building residential downtown (which would be put in the place of an underused surface parking lot) and then the same people say we need this store or that store, etc. to come to Decatur.
Hey, guys, If we don’t have a high density of residential then you don’t have the population to support such stores. You can’t have it both ways.
thanks bill. i would like to follow-up a comment to the same “leave the parking lot” constituency with a a”duh”.
Hey, now. Like many things, this is more a management issue than a cart or no cart debate. The state of the carts in Five Points reflects the general anarchy — and lack of enforcement — of downtown ATL.
It’s possible for vending carts to add value to destination environments, but only if they’re managed from a merchandising standpoint (so they don’t work against existing downtown retailers) and held to certain cart standards. Countless cities around the globe have active street retail. Not only do people not malign it, many travel internationally for the experience.
It’s all in the execution. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. If it’s just a trial program, what’s the harm?
I hope the vending carts have beer
I agree that “vending carts” don’t always class up a joint, but at least this gesture shows that the city is thinking of ways to get people out and about around the square. I don’t know if any of you have been on top of the square on a nice afternoon this spring, but unless there is a concert, it’s completely dead. Folks will sit outside the restaurants, but the square itself is almost always empty. And there’s no question why, either – it’s a stretch of empty space only punctuated by a few benches pushed up against the walls. Compare our square to any plaza in any European city and the difference is poignant – the emptiness here is palpable, whereas in a typical European plaza, there is plenty of outdoor restaurant seating, regular market times, folks selling drinks and crepes/waffles/pretzels/beer out of small carts, performance artists gathering crowds, young folks sitting around sharing picnics, and in general a liveliness that we would do well to emulate. Public transit is only so much of the equation – we also have to have inviting, beautiful, exciting, and hospitable (think chairs and umbrellas) public spaces for people to visit when they use transit. Part of me thinks that Decatur is so worried about folks gathering in the square (including the always-feared “undesirables”) that they don’t want to make it comfortable.