Comments on: Ideas for Underground

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 03:07:06 +0000

You know, as someone who works in the Federal Center, if there were an affordable, safe place to rent that close to my office building? I’d be living in it. The only downside to living there would be lack of access to a good grocery store.

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 02:38:37 +0000

Midtown Alliance already suggested a merger with CAP, but CAP wasn’t interested. I suspect it is a power thing. The same folks have been doing pretty much that same thing in that organization since the 1960s and don’t want to change.

Just because Underground in the past has considered itself a party district doesn’t mean that it is the best use of the property. Personally, I think the management just keeps grasping at straws hopeing to eventually find something that works. The real problem is the surrounding area. Time will eventually fix that unless Underground itself perpetuates the low desirability of the area.

By: urban guru

urban guru — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 00:32:17 +0000

How about combining CAP and Midtown Alliance and focusing on combining the economic of the area inside the Beltline to create a solid city center.Take the best practices of both and include the adjacent neighborhoods in the governance and you could maximize the dollars currently being invested in the repective organizations.Of course the question of who would lead could be solved by hiring someone who is collaberator and “retiring” some of the staff deadwood.
Any thoughts on this approach?

By: Rhett

Rhett — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 17:50:11 +0000

Underground has always touted itself as a “party district”. Like it or not, the economic viability of the area is dependant on people coming from around the city to have a good time. It always has been. Sadly, in my opinion, for it to prosper it will need either a casino (gambling) which will bring even more drunks, or more McRestaurants/McClubs to bring in people who would not ordinarily go there.

I think everyone knows that the Nascar Museum wasn’t really a good fit for this city. That’s why the bid seemed half hearted. In addition, the money should be used for the neighborhoods.

Finally, why don’t we put a moratorium on renaming streets/buildings for a while. It makes us look stupid.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 05:48:55 +0000

If you want more residents in downtown, then entities like CAP and Underground need to treat the existing residents as something more than window dressing. The whole thing about turning Underground into the state’s largest source of drunk drivers wasn’t run past the neighborhood. They just announced it was going to happen and afterwards formed a token security committee with no power for a couple of residents to serve on… and it was disbanded after a couple of months. The residents were told to just suck it up and get use to having thousands of drunks driving home when the bars closed at 4am.

No one asked the neighborhood how they felt about having all of the Westside TAD money given to NASCAR. Luckily that fell through because that money is suppose to be used for streetscaping, sidewalks and other infrastucture upgrades to make the area more attractive to developers who will be required to meet the new pedestrian friendly building codes.

When the neighborhood association opposed the naming of Ivan Allen Blvd, they were ignored. The details of Allen Plaza wasn’t shared with the neighborhood when making the decision to oppose the renaming. The neighborhood wanted the whole thing named Ralph McGill so that the road wouldn’t change names. But CAP knew about Ivan Allen Plaza and didn’t share that information with the neighborhood. Instead they just took the condensending attitude of “we know what’s best for you”. They’ve also tried renaming other streets only to be rebuffed when the plans leaked out to the residents. They’ve made it clear that downtown is their turf and they’ll do whatever the hell they please.

CAP cares only about the tourism and hospitality industries. Compare them to Midtown Alliance. Midtown has a plan for turning it into a nice place to live and work and it shows. Downtown apparently is only good for hosting drunk conventioneers.

By: Todd Semrau

Todd Semrau — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 22:16:24 +0000

LEAVE UNDERGROUND ALONE
>
>
> Why do we continue to fix Underground Atlanta?
> I say leave it alone for a while and let underground take on its own
personality. If we continue to white wash this urban seed with utopian,
capitalistic makeovers it will never have a chance to blossom into a truely
unique destination.
>
>
> I have always believed that its better to let an existing community paint its
own canvass rather that ramming a foreign concept down its throat. Look at
East Atlanta, Cabbage Town, Krog Street, The Dekalb Farmer’s Market, West End’s
Busy Bee for exapmles of successful lassiez-faire development approaches.
>
>
> Even the retail district on Peachtree Street next underground is more
vibriant than Undergorund itself. That retail market was there long before
Underground’s numerous renovations and it thrives today because of the
surrounding diverse, home grown population.
>
>
> Invite that mix into Underground. Mesh that energy with the students from
GSU, the street preachers, the fake Rolex peddlers, the bums, the Marta traffic
and the Monday-Friday “white collars” and watch what type of masterpiece is
stroked.
>
>
> Underground needs to find it’s MOJO again which sadly left with Piano Red.
Once that happens the right-on mix of businesses, bars, restaurants, studios
and people will show up and hang out for a years to come.
>
>
> When you visit other cities do you hang out in the Hotel or Mall? No, you
walk around to experience the local flavor even if it means some unorthodox
encounters with a couple true grit inhabitants. That is what living in the
city is all about. This ain’t no Mall of Georgia people!
>
>
> Todd Semrau
> Urbaneats Restaurant Group
> 404-226-6526

By: BPJ

BPJ — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 20:54:59 +0000

Actually, there have been several Downtown parking lots turned into good building. For example look at 123 Luckie Street, which used to be a parking lot (it’s across Spring Street from Ted’s Montana Grill). And look at the creative renovation of the Glenn Building; less than a decade ago its owners proposed tearing it down because it had no economically viable use. Instead it is opening as a boutique hotel and restaurant. Things are changing, for the better.
Second, I don’t think Atlantic Station being built on top of a parking deck is a bad thing. The automobile isn’t going away; we need to put automobile storage in its proper place. Putting (most) cars below ground, making the area above more pedestrian friendly, is a good step. Atlantic Station is not what it could be (and it’s still 3-5 years away from being what it will be), but contrast it with what would have been built there had the project begun 15 years earlier. It would have been a single use (either a shopping mall, or an office park, or an apartment complex), with an enormous parking lot taking up half the land, and utter hostility to pedestrians. What we are getting is a pedestrian-friendly mixed-use. (I hear the tenant mix will, over time, be less heavy on the chains.)
For a first rate example of what a good developer can do, check out Glenwood Park. That’s Atlanta’s future.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 19:54:49 +0000

I’m not sure what you mean, but it sounds like you took what I said in a different way than I meant it. Should I define what I mean in more explicit terms, or would you prefer to take what I said even further out of context?

By: urban guru

urban guru — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 19:37:42 +0000

“The tunnel between the 5 Points station and Underground looks much bettter than it used to. But as long as those fans are there, I’ll still refer to it as the “ghetto tunnel”

Well that statement tells me more about the “problem” of Underground/downtown than most of the issues you have identified. You may want to look no further than your mirror for some of the solutions.