Many walkabouts will see Atlanta’s #22 “walkscore” ranking among the nation’s largest cities as evidence that much more needs to be done for our two-footed friends.  And as a BIG fan of walking, I obviously support these efforts.  However, at the same time I’m kind of surprised that Atlanta ranks even 22 among 40 (and that doesn’t include Decatur in case you’re wondering).

Among the cities that Atlanta walks all over: Houston, Detroit, Austin, Kansas City, Memphis and Nashville.  And for all the recent talk about Charlotte, they still have a way to go according to Walkscore.com, ranked down at #38.

Yes, San Fran, NYC, Chi-town and Boston top the list, but what really smarts for Atlanta is how much higher the cities that we so often find ourselves competing with for “worst traffic” are ranked above us in  “walkability”, notably D.C. and L.A.

P.S.  Downtown Decatur scores a “83″ on Walkscore, which ranks right up there with #2 NYC.

h/t: Atlanta Unsheltered

Make no mistake about it.  The AJC is stoked about movie and TV filming in Georgia.  While entire counties now go without local coverage, the amount of stuff written about Lifetime’s locally filmed “Drop Dead Diva is eye-popping.  Did you know that Paula Abdul and Liza Minnelli were guest-stars?  Of course you did!

So needless to say, it was in the AJC that I discovered that the Lifetime pilot will air this Sunday at 9pm.  Much of this episode was filmed in Decatur and Midtown, so make sure to set your Tivos/DVRs/VCRs/recordable laserdiscs, so you get all giddy about seeing all your favorite Decatur locations in HD.

Oh, and the other thing I learned from the AJC’s in-depth article: filming has now permanently moved away from Decatur/Midtown to Peachtree City because of “traffic”.  They’ve even built “a courtroom modeled after a vintage one in Decatur, save for the marble, which is not earthquake-code compliant” down in the golf-cart mecca.  ehm…Lame!…cough..cough…

Alex writes in…

Met up with some friends at Eddie’s last night. I left a little past 11, walked across the Square to go home and was stunned to find an encampent of homeless people who had made their beds for the night, right there on the Square, just beside the ‘steaming’ children’s statue.

There were seeral adults, two of whom were stretched out on the benches, covered in blankets, catching their z’s. As I glanced to the right, I saw a stroller. Oh lawd.

I called the police non-emergency number and the dispatcher seemed to be confused about what I told her. When I told her that the folks were camped out by the children’s statue on the square, she paused and then asked if I had an address for that. I got a bit flustered and said, “Well, it’s where Sycamore dead-ends…..you know, The Square!”

She kept trying to put it together and I kept wondering how much more clear I could be than “the square”. But, true to form, Decatur PD arrived in about 10 minutes, asked a lot of questions and moved them along.

I’m not even sure what to say about this.  Things must be getting pretty bad out there if people haven taken to sleeping in well-lit, well-patroled areas.