Atlanta on Tuesday advanced an amended long-range development plan that eliminates major objections raised by residents and instructs city planners to abide by state rules on community involvement in future planning.
Tag: Urban Planning
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Remaking Atlanta: Concerns arise to city’s long-range plan for growth
Atlanta’s proposal to change social dynamics and housing prices in neighborhoods with single-family houses faces a rising number of challenges in the final days of debate.
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‘Good’ Gentrification
By King Williams I often get asked if there’s a scenario where gentrification can be good. I fully understand why someone would ask this question, but the answer is a resounding no. After a lengthy and ongoing conversation on both my Instagram and Twitter accounts, I was notified about a particular clip making rounds on […]
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“Old” Atlanta
Every resident of Atlanta has had the frustration of being asked “oh wow, you’re really from Atlanta?” or being told some asinine version of “you’re the first person I’ve ever met that’s actually from here.”
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A conversation with Carter’s Adam Parker about Summerhill and ‘The MET’
Back in October of 2018, my second post for Saporta Report was published. In “Let’s build Atlanta as a city, not a suburb” I mentioned a few places I saw around the city and had concerns about.
That article mentioned the Turner Hill-Summerhill development, spearheaded by the developer Carter. After a conversation with Carter, I was invited to tour one of their current projects – The MET.
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Stone Mountain Village can be so much more than it is
By King Williams On a very warm Tuesday evening, two days before the Fourth of July, I decided to take a run near Stone Mountain Park. Instead of just simply running at the base of the park, I decided to go through Stone Mountain Village. What I saw next really perplexed me. Vacancies abound, no […]
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Gentrification eats Its own
I’m one of those rare people actually born and raised in Atlanta, and I spent a lot of my formative years at my godfather’s home off Flat Shoals Avenue.
During the 90’s- early 2000’s I watched the eastside change first-hand. I saw East Lake, Kirkwood and Downtown Decatur transform, but East Atlanta – more specifically the village – was particularly interesting.
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West Midtown isn’t a real place. It’s a sign of successful gentrification efforts.
By King Williams A few weeks back I had one of my usually spirited debates on Twitter, in this case it was about “West Midtown.” The debate had me then going to ask the question towards my other social media channels. Is “West Midtown” A) a real place and B) have you heard of it? […]
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I love Jay-Z but please don’t gentrify your neighborhood
Last week, multi-hyphenate rapper and entrepreneur, Jay-Z performed at the recent grand re-opening of the historic Webster Hall performance venue in New York City.During his set, he took time to address the murder of Los Angeles rapper Nipsey Hussle in a brief freestyle that took off on Twitter, and was widely discussed on daytime talk shows.
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Nipsey Hussle, new developers Ryan Gravel, Donray Von and transforming The Mall West End
By King Williams “When we speak of place-making, we assume that the place being made was devoid of life, culture and context. Place-making indicates that nothing exists. It is inherently colonialist. Place-keeping uplifts an area’s culture, provides resources and enriches.” – Miranda Kyle, Atlanta Beltline Arts and Culture Program Manager On the afternoon of Sunday, […]
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Sad song: ‘The Old Town Road’ ends at Margaritaville
By King Williams Any day now, the city of Atlanta will approve the demolition permits for 141 Walton Street and 152 Nassau Street, home of the first-recorded country music song. This demolition is for the construction of a Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville Bar and Hotel. The irony is that we are witnessing another large moment in […]
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Let’s start talking highway removals in Atlanta
By: King Williams What started as an initial tweet on my Twitter timeline concerning freeway removals has led to a great online conversation on what to do concerning our highways. So hear me out before you say “we don’t have money for X, Y, and Z.” The city and state are willing to spend money […]
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A Conversation with Atlanta City Councilman Andre Dickens
Andre Dickens is the Post-3 At-Large, Atlanta City Councilman, who has been in office since 2013. Andre Dickens has been one of the few councilmen to be outspoken on issues of gentrification and housing affordability.
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$100 Billion
On Jan. 11, MARTA CEO Jeff Parker stood before the audience of the 6th annual State of MARTA address announcing that within the next few decades the metro Atlanta area would need to invest $100 billion in new transit & developments to meet future needs by 2045.
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The suburbs are becoming more urban
By King Williams At the end of this post there will be a survey on what do you think about the suburbs, I hope you fill it out, let me know how you feel and share it. No one actually knows what a suburb is. No one. But neither does the federal government, which classifies […]
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‘The ATL’ board needs more visionaries and fewer political appointees
Atlanta is a city founded on transportation.
Railroads were the economic engines of Atlanta and the state. After the railroads, there were horsecars, streetcars, buses and pedestrian-filled streets that enabled the city’s growth.
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Let’s build Atlanta as a city, not a suburb
Note to readers: This post contains Instagram videos and images from social media. The article continues below these items within the post.
It’s 2018, and the massive amounts of large-scale developments in Atlanta astound both long-time residents as well as newcomers.
The current pace of development rivals any of the other construction booms that Atlanta has had at any time in the modern era.
The danger is that we are replicating the suburban aesthetic and cultural environment of decades past by focusing on parking, car-oriented retail and a suburban design ethos with little regard for how these design choices work within the city.
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Photo Pick: Peachtree Hills Park Destruction by Laura Dobson
Earlier this year Maria Saporta reported on plans for Peachtree Hills Park. Now the damage is beginning. Laura Dobson says “They have put a street through the park. No other way to say it. It is unbelievable. For scale, that’s s dump truck in the background of the first photo.” Read the column from earlier this […]
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Photo Pick: Reed and Georgia Avenues by Chad Carlson
Comment from Chad: “At Reed and Georgia Avenues. Next to Turner Field. Human scale, pedestrian oriented, historic buildings, providing a distinct look for the area. Hopefully, the new developer will understand the importance of these buildings to the built environment.”
