Down with NFT? Yeah You Know Me!
Atlanta is one step closer to certification as an important metropolitan area! We have our own NFT Guide! For those not in the know, Nor For Tourist guides don’t focus on the museums and such… They focus on the practical items. Each map lists coffee shops, gyms, libraries, gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, and community gardens. Their focus is very utilitarian.
They also don’t try to list everything. The guide barely goes outside the perimeter. It’s never heard of Gwinnett. Because it’s selective, you can tell a lot about the analysis of the city by what it includes.
First, It reaffirms the general proposition that Atlanta is a North-South City. Ever try to go east-west from Tucker to Vinings? You can’t do it. Moreover, the NFT guide realizes that most of us don’t ever want to. It also lets you know how important neighborhoods are. The density of amenities is clearly linked to the the success of a community.
Each map also highlights some of the cooler elements of the neighborhood. For example, in talking about Toco Hills, the highlight that there is terrific ethnic food all over the place. Thai, Indian, Japanese, and Mexican all in easy walking distance of the hardware stores! Cause when you’re drunk on Saki, you want power tools!
The NFT is a welcome addition. It will help folks who live in town, encourage those moving here to do so, and encourage business visitors to make the most of our city. All to the good!
December 26th, 2005 at 4:36 pm
You can actually get from Decatur to Vinings pretty easily, if you know what you’re doing.
December 27th, 2005 at 9:33 am
It’s a good start, fortunately it’s free. Until they actually spend a little more effort in obtaining accurate data rather than Census Tiger data for their street centerlines. But the effort is worthy, with the help of some community involvment, the map could actually become accurate.
December 27th, 2005 at 10:35 am
Being a former resident of Vinings, and having tried several routes to get to Decatur, I’m curious. I never found a really good route to get to Decatur from Vinings. On the one hand, I can take 285 all the way around the northside, but that’s 285 — yuk! I could also take I-75 to I-20, but Decatur is far enough removed from I-20 to be somewhat less than convenient. The best route I know of is I-75 to Freedom Pkwy to Ponce, and go past the Olmstead parks.
December 27th, 2005 at 6:56 pm
Well, I didn’t say it was _convenient_ (for convenience your I-75 to Freedom Pkwy to Ponce is probably the best bet), but there is actually one road that runs from Smyrna to Decatur - S. Atlanta Rd. becomes Marietta St, which becomes Decatur Street, which becomes DeKalb Avenue, which becomes West Howard, which dumps you right across the tracks from Agnes Scott. The nice benefit of it is that the downtown part generally doesn’t have a ton of traffic, so it’s a good way to cut through downtown from Decatur, particularly if you have to be somewhere like the Food Bank or Hands On Atlanta.
But then again, I’m a creature of habit, and my habits don’t always make sense.
January 7th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
Now all we need to do is win that NASCAR museum!
In the evening, one could do I-285 to Glenridge Connector to Peachtree-Dunwoody/Roxboro/North Druid Hills to Clairmont. NDH/LaVista is the only intersection with substantial delay on that route.