Al points to this AJC article about a recent northside transit study, which suggests a Kennesaw-to-Dunwoody rail line and a northern extension of the MARTA red line, and states “Powerful forces are aligned to pull MARTA’s center of gravity to the north.”

Which raises an interesting question: While the current center of MARTA is obviously in downtown Atlanta, where is the true “center” of Atlanta in 2011?  As any good student of urbanism knows, the centers of cities often drift over time.  New York City’s core was once downtown around Wall Street.  Now it’s up in the Midtown.

Atlanta may rank poorly in travel magazines of late, but it is perhaps one of the best U.S. examples of a mobile city core.  Think about it . Originally, Atlanta’s center was “downtown”.  Then it began a slow trip up Peachtree, eventually stopping in Midtown to enjoy lush greenery of Piedmont Park.  Today, some might even argue it’s traveled further north to Buckhead evidenced by its glassy towers and high-end shops.

More interconnected rail on the northside of the city could potentially solidify the northside as Atlanta’s new core.  That may not be so great for Decaturites faced with an ever extended commute to the city’s job center, but is it in the best interest of the metro?

Decatur Square, Decatur GA (pic submitted by Caitie)

From the AJC…

The couple had just eaten at the Brick Store Pub and were walking to their vehicle about 12:30 a.m. when they were confronted by a man with a gun — depicted in the sketch — who demanded the woman’s keys, Channel 2 reported.

The man tried to defend his companion, but a second man tackled him, and the woman was shot once in the lower abdomen. The attackers then drove off in the couple’s pick-up truck, a red 2004 Toyota Tacoma with Georgia tag BJQ 6805.

Channel 2 reports the woman has been released from the hospital and is doing well at home, though she still has a bullet in her hip.

DeKalb County Commisser Jeff Rader’s afternoon announcement that the County will host three public hearings (Tuesday, July 5 at 10 a.m. & 6 p.m., and on Tuesday, July 12 at 10 a.m.) on the proposed 4.5 mill tax increase includes a nifty breakdown on what that will mean for the different DeKalb municipalities.  Here ’tis…

2011        Rollback Rate        % Increase

Atlanta                               10.39          8.938                      16.25%
Avondale Estates            15.41        13.464                      14.45%
Chamblee                         13.71        12.223                      12.17%
Clarkston                          15.06        13.242                      13.73%
Decatur                              10.82        10.087                        7.27%
Doraville                            13.60        12.607                        7.88%
Dunwoody                         13.35        11.357                       17.55%
Lithonia                             15.33        13.280                       15.44%
Pine Lake                          15.61        13.541                       15.28%
Stone Mountain                13.90        12.980                         7.09%
Unincorporated                19.62        18.017                          8.90%

Countywide Debt                  1.08          0.647                          66.92%
Unincorporated Debt            0.66         1.631                         -59.53%

Amanda alerted me to this new tenant in the North Decatur Road strip a week ago, but I felt like I sorta needed a pic.  My wife obliged one evening this week after a quick run to Publix.

Oh delicious blog-fodder – you are truly worth your weight in pixels!

I’ve never understood why Georgia’s license plates weren’t a bit more artsy compared to neighboring states.  I thought that perhaps there was some sort of convict-union agreement with the state that Georgia license plates remain pretty basic, with at most a little square picture of cats and dogs kissing or a Georgia Aquarium logo.  (What?  Convicts don’t hammer out license plates on rocks anymore?  Seriously, authenticity is truly dead.)

Anyway, it seems like Georgia is finally getting into the snazzy license plate race, with eight, very orange contenders looking to become the state’s official generic tag.   The state is asking for internet savvy residents to vote on their favorite plate with the winner announced July 15th.

I don’t know about you, but the top-right plate with the moldy peach and the Atlanta skyline juxtaposed against a giant chicken processing facility is really speaking to me!

h/t: Fresh Loaf

Lemme tell you something about roads: They involve a lot of specialists working at all levels of bureaucracy who don’t always communicate with each other. And when they don’t–which is often–common sense is usually the first casualty.

The biggest problem is that the DOT, along with all the private sector folks suckling at their financial teat, see three types of roads: locals, which dump into collectors, which dump into the arterials that handle the heavy, through traffic. Works well enough in the ‘burbs, I guess, but not so useful in a place like Decatur, where streets of many sizes and configurations weave and connect their way through a variety of historic contexts.

The degree to which this three-sizes-fits-all thinking can undermine the joyful complexity of an interconnected, traditional urban place is, for a geek like me who obsesses over such things, extensive. And it’s not just me. Over time, all kinds of communities have gotten sick and tired of poorly designed thoroughfares being rammed through the places they care about most, with little regard for what makes them work or what makes them special.

Outcries drove the DOT to begin rallying, at least in their press releases, around the flag of “Context Sensitive Design.” They’re still not very good at it (they’ve always been much better at responding to the needs of cars than to the needs of people or the demands of place), but it’s been a veer in the right direction nonetheless. And now you hear a lot of talk about Complete Streets, which will push them even further into the 21st century. So there’s hope.

But I digress. For now, I want to point out what looks like some good, old-fashioned, specialists-in-silos craziness. Please join me as we tour East Lake Drive, just south of the tracks, where I speculate — from a reading of the clues — about what’s going on.

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