The future of transit fare collections in metro Atlanta is on display now on the Atlanta Streetcar. Mobile payments are accepted. This digital system is to be deployed across MARTA in coming months, and it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Category: David Pendered
Articles by David Pendered
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One neighborhood’s question: How to respond to first huge proposed development
Residents of a quiet neighborhood in Southwest Atlanta have to decide if they support or oppose a proposed multi-story housing development for senior citizens, one with a density that could bring the type of life-altering effects familiar in faster-growing parts of the city.
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Atlanta tweaks tree protection, floats idea of forming urban forestry division
Atlanta continues to tinker with its ordinances to protect trees and the vaunted tree canopy. The city this month has partially protected the Tree Trust Fund and started discussing the formation of a forestry division to manage wooded land.
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UGA law grad: Prosecuted mob, led in 9/11 inquiries, protected birds from Trump
The pedigree of the federal judge who cited ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ when she rejected President Trump’s effort to reduce protections of migratory birds includes a UGA law degree, prosecution of mobsters in New York, and leadership at the FBI after 9/11.
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Toxic masculinity: New programs calm tensions, promote healing in era of upheaval
As men struggle to manage their emotions in this era of COVID-19 upheaval and social justice demonstrations, an organization whose first chairman was John Lewis is offering new programs to help.
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A cleaner Chattahoochee River to result from expanded sewer plant
The era of raw sewage rolling down the Chattahoochee River from spills in North Fulton County is to be coming to an end. The Chattahoochee Riverkeeper campaigned for, and supports, the expanded sewage treatment plant being built in Roswell.
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An artist in a pandemic: Yehimi Cambrón’s murals aim to ‘redeem the soul of America’
Yehimi Cambrón is a visual artist making her way through these rocky times, painting murals intended to convey the immigrant narrative and help “redeem the soul of America.”
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Beaver dams a low-tech solution to stormwater management in Atlanta park
Manmade beaver dams have just been installed along a creek in Atlanta’s Blue Heron Nature Preserve and could offer a time-tested, natural method to manage stormwater runoff.
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Florida to close Apalachicola Bay to oystering; Supreme Court defers ruling on water war
Florida is poised to close Apalachicola Bay to oyster harvesting in a board vote slated for July 22. The move comes as the Supreme Court finished its year without ruling on the water war between Florida and Georgia.
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Georgia continues to borrow to build projects, create jobs as state debt remains low
The $1.2 billion Georgia intends to inject into the state’s economy through its long-term investment program is expected to help offset the pandemic-related recession that has cut jobs and hampered company earnings across the state.
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Mental health, isolation: Explorations with an academic, choreographer, student leader
Mental health – a survey new in June shows 50 percent of American adults say they feel isolated, and happiness is at a 50-year low. Three leaders met in a virtual town hall to share thoughts on these issues and more – Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera, renowned choreographer Bill T. Jones, and Tech student leader – and artist – Mykala Sinclair.
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Atlanta won’t be Wakanda, but a new version of Atlanta Way may be emerging
The 2.0 version of the Atlanta Way won’t retool the city into Wakanda. The efforts emerging from Atlanta City Hall do represent the start of a response to calls for justice issued by protestors following the death of George Floyd. The operative words in that last sentence are: Start of a response.
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Confederate monuments: A chance to reassess the past with perspective of today
Calls to remove Confederate memorials in Atlanta coincide with a June 12 court order for the removal of the Confederate obelisk in Decatur. A similar debate – in 1870 – kept such a monument out of Five Points and in placed, instead, in Oakland Cemetery.
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Atlanta to review police use-of-force policy, other cities face calls to defund police
“I refuse to be another hashtag.” The spirit of this message on a placard is driving efforts across the country to defund police departments or to reform police practices. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has set a June 18 deadline for recommendations to reform the city’s use-of-force policy, adopted in 2018.
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Southern Co. governance, shifting sands of Democrats’ environmental agenda
Atlanta-based Southern Co. may be an early example of a power producer criticized by environmentalists for its pledge to comply with a provision of the Paris climate accord. Meanwhile, Joe Biden and the Democrats are trying to devise a climate platform to take on President Trump – one that satisfies the party’s centrist and progressive views on fossil fuels.
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Rural Georgia at risk of falling behind amid philanthropic pandemic relief efforts
Rural Georgia is at risk of getting left even further behind the state’s populated regions amid the pandemic. One key factor is that many philanthropies won’t donate to local groups that can’t produce audited statements and IRS designations. Bambi Hayes-Brown is seeing it first hand in Southwest Georgia.
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Reopening metro Atlanta’s economy safely: Google offers data to inform decisions
Google has made public a treasure trove of never-before-seen proprietary data that could help decision makers reopen the economy safely in metro Atlanta. Google’s report shows changes in categories of places people visit – whether they’re going to work, buy groceries or walk the dog, and so forth.
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Looking to the future of experiencing nature, as seen at Blue Heron Nature Preserve
Atlanta’s Blue Heron Nature Preserve has started “Spread Your Wings,” a social distancing program with a broader purpose of expanding the preserve’s role as an urban ecology center oriented around a new three-mile trail system that traverses ridgelines across 30 acres in Buckhead.
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Post pandemic: Views on sustainability, racial equity, just development practices
As the pandemic crisis passes, the new orders of life provide opportunities to improve conditions in terms of sustainability, racial equity in placemaking, and more just development practices. These are among the views expressed by the head of the U.N., a national author who examines Atlanta in an upcoming book, and a longtime urban planner now teaching at Georgia Tech.
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Atlanta’s housing costs reflect supply, demand – plus a growing tilt toward luxury
The law of supply and demand that’s affecting affordable housing in Atlanta has an added complexity that’s arrived at the forefront: A somewhat limited supply is increasingly tilting toward higher income residents.
