However, the perfect urban neighborhood can’t be affordably built in Atlanta. It can only evolve as the population and infrastructure do. Rents must help pay the debt on almost $1 billion, including the $40 million it cost to clean the site up. Reality — Mom and pop shops and artsy theaters don’t get this done.

As a proud, SUV driving suburbanite, I had to laugh when I saw that the development would accomodate parking for 30,000 cars. LIkely, most of those cars will have Cobb and Gwinnett plates on them.

Dream what you will, Jacoby did as pretty good job of converting 100+ acres of blight into something that might work economically — in the reality of inadequate public tranportation, poor schools and a dearth of local middle class families that really make an economy run.

All in all, Atlantic Station beats the hell out of what was there. It had to be a compromise to work. That’s reality. I wish it well, but I’ll take the Forum — it doesn’t charge to park and the stores are nicer.

I think the message regarding ‘free’ parking should be forced more in Atlanta. Parking is never ‘free’.

The reason that chain stores “rule the roost” is that smaller businesses can’t afford brand new retail space. This will probably change over the years.

Personally, I think that a modern movie theater run by a big company is exactly what midtown needs. The Landmark cinema on Monroe is more of an art theater, and really not a great place to watch new releases from mainstream studios. A lot of people drive all the way to Chamblee from Midtown right now to go to the movies because all of the in-town theaters are so pathetic. This new theater is a great thing for them!

Crosswalks do not alert drivers that they Must Yield to pedestrians, and it’s not easy to find your way into the garages.

My wife and I have spent some time over there, since we live in the development’s Art Foundry condos, and this weekend, I just stared in amazement at the surface parking spaces. They vaunt an impressive 3,000-5,000-space deck just below the retail district, and then put ~50 public parking spaces right on street level??!?

What’s the purpose of those anyway! To invent itself as a pedestrian destination, and then create an SUV logjam on the surface streets from day one where 800 cars will compete for 50 always-full spaces is idiotic. They should have designated those spaces for store owners and/or handicapped parking only, instead directing all traffic into the district immediately down into the cavernous deck below. Even with the limited traffic this weekend, there were already dozens of cars cruisin’ to try to find that elusive parking space! The surface streets going through the district should be for dropping off passengers at the shops, period. It reminds me of The Forum up in Norcross, with cars ambling around in circles trying to find parking spaces amidst the outdoor shops, all the while making it a very pedestrian-unfriendly environment. I hope Atlantic Station figures this out quickly.

Civic designated property is the foundation of a downtown, but in a civicless society, where corporate identity has replaced alliegence, it is becoming irrevelant.

Nonetheless - I did have a good time last Sunday, walking OUTSIDE by the stores & watching a film & even surprisingly having a good time at the sports bar. It will become a nice weekend MARTA / bike trip for my wife & I, just as nearby Edgewood is already.

But still, I would request two things from my fellow asslantans - 1) let’s not forget Little Five Points or Virginia Highlands, these places that have been fun weekend getaways for decades. But I think it’s understandable that if you want to buy jeans or shirts that don’t have the word ‘fuck’ on them, or you want to see a film with no more than 10 ‘fuck’ spoken - then AS & Edgewood are the place to go. Which I am eternally grateful for not having to go up to Buckhead anymore.

The number 2) would be - try MARTA. Seriously, I know it’s easy to drive there, but you would be surprised how much it makes you appreciate / criticize your built environment. Take a bus, ride a bike, walk to your nearby MARTA station, spend the money on tokens that would likely pay for gas to get to AS & it’s a short distance from Arts Center or take the shuttle there. I assure you, there are other intown residents that take MARTA on the weekend. It won’t be just you & poor people & suburbanites going to the Airport.