Bloglanta

The City of Atlanta wants to hear from you!

They are conducting a survey about your transportation uses and You should participate!

The survey will take 10 to 15 minutes.  It will ask about how you get from place to place and what your priorities are as the city goes forward.  It also asks about finding versus building.

The survey is not perfect.  It’s not statistically valid stratified random sample.   However, among the people who are concerne, it will give expression to the zealous.

Hopefully, they will publish the results, but even if they don’t, you should participate.

All around North Georgia on March 08, young people were having snowball fights, but not in Atlanta.  If you looked at the weather channel radar loop, you saw that the snow moved toward Atlanta, but the hotter air let the moisture remain in the air and so though it snowed north of Atlanta, East of Atlanta, West of Atlanta, and South of Atlanta, the snow could not make it through our heat bubble.

This is not, per se, evidence of global warming, but it does show the kind of heat generated from the city.  What that means is less weather.  Weather is good.  We like weather.  If you think “Dude!  It’s Cold!  You’re Crazy!”  Let’s remember a few things:

1) It’s winter.  It’s supposed to be cold, and you’re supposed to be able to have a good snowball fight.

2) July is coming and then you’ll be complaining about the heat and your electricity bill.  I’ll happily accept the cold now for less heat later.

Most important though is that the inability of weather to get through Atlanta does show we are having an environmental impact.  When it’s that visible, one has to wonder what less visible effects there are, and how we can fight them.

Did you like 99x?  WNNX has changed formats again.   Cumulus, the company that now owns the station, saw the writing on the wall and decided that though Gen Y was not yet as wealthy as Gen X, their superior numbers and younger minds would be more attractive to advertisers.

So your old friends are almost gone.  99x, in it’s current version, is still on the web and is the HD2 channel of 99.7 FM.  Of Course, the classic 99x staff left long ago.  Sean Demery is long gone.  Leslie Fram is long gone.  Steve Craig is left with only the Thrashers and didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.

There really is no place for the audience that listened to 99x.  Some of the most hip will go to WRAS.  Others will find their way Project 96.1 ( another casualty..  96 Rock too died)  the remainder will likely end up at Dave FM.

There are two questions remaining;  one small, one large.  The small question is what will Cumulus do with the 100.5 FM frequency?  The answer of course is what ever makes the most money.

The bigger question is what is going to happen longer term?  Will radio continue to consolidate and will those pressures continue to push the broadcasters toward the lowest common denominator?  How will HD, Satellite, and wi fi radio effect the broadcasters?  Eventually, one would hope that the competition would force the broadcasters to create a smarter more progressive product, but don’t count on it.  Look forward to more basic boomer radio instead.

Want something odd? If you’re African American and you want to graduate from college in Georgia, you should go to Emory. According to recently published research, 83% of African Americans who enter Emory graduate. 66% of African Americans who enter UGA graduate. No information was available for Agnes Scott, Oglethorpe, or Georgia State.

Contrast this with the Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Morehouse graduates 55% percent of it’s students while Clark Atlanta University sees a mere 32% of its students who enter finish. Only Spellman rises above. They graduate 77% of their entrants.

Of course, if you really want to graduate, you go to Harvard. 95% of their African American students graduate. In fact, the top seven schools in terms of African American graduation rates are all in the northeast and a majority of those are Ivy league universities.

Contrast this with the historically Black colleges and universities of which only 8 have a graduation rate of more than 50% and this represents a significant improvement since 1998. This calls into question the need, purpose, and future of America’s historically Black Colleges and Universities. At the outset there are two contrasting points of view:

1) Their time has passed. The strong ones will evolve toward a more multi-cultural future and start admitting a variety of students based on the strength of their own programs.

2) The other argument is that they need to be strengthened and fortified. In this view, one sees the need for more governmental and private support as an effort to keep African American college enrollment local and strong. A special emphasis would need to placed to induce young African American men to enroll. Right now, far more Black women are going to college and of those who go, half graduate. Fewer men attend college and roughly a third of them graduate. One possible role for these schools is to address that gap.

Still for those whose goal is graduation & with the grades and the intellectual drive to apply, traditional colleges are the way to go. Even with a 77% graduation rate, Spellman cannot touch the Seven Sisters or even Emory.

Here’s what everyone is failing to mention in the battle between Senators Obama and Clinton.

“IT’S THE DOWN BALLOT RACES STUPID!”

Think about it. If Senator Clinton wins, people will zealously come out of the woodwork to vote against her and they’ll vote a straight Republican ticket down the ballot. Many people, even Democrats, seems to have a pathological disdain for her. So, if you believe in Darwinism, trains, keep local property taxes in the hands of local school boards, and having at least a chance of sensible sex education, Vote Obama!

Why? People generally do not hate him with the same vitriol which exists almost exclusively for Senator Clinton. Highly educated voters, African Americans, and other likely Democrats vote For Obama With Passion. The result with be that reasonably progressive candidates (mostly Democrats, but not exclusively) will do much much better.

If Senator Clinton wins, no self respecting Democratic will run against Senator Chambliss, and he needs to beaten… and kicked. While their chances of winning are still slim, they’re doubled if Obama is the candidate. It means that some Democrat of note will be less suicidal in running and if Republicans have to spend money here, so much the better. Progressive Congressional candidates also stand a much better chance of winning and the legislature might be less Republican.

Right now, it looks simple. Obama brings lots of Dems out, while Clinton brings out all the people who hate her. I’d rather Atlanta voting lines be filled with the former than the latter.

At roughly 9:15 P.M., January 1, 2008, it began to snow near Little Five Points. There wasn’t a lot of snow, and no accumulation, but it did snow. That in itself is a welcome site. The swirling snow against the neon lights of the shops were very pretty indeed.

What is even more remarkable is that upon reaching Sage Hill, where it was still snowing, there were not lines of nutballs trying to buy out all the milk and bread that Kroger had. People calmly stayed home, knowing that they’ll still be able to get to work tomorrow.

If the Legislature can show that much maturity, it might not be such a bad year after all. If the citizens get their voter registrations in before Saturday and then vote in the primaries, it might be even better.

Happy New Year all.

Remember Mayor Franklin? Whatever happened to her? Is she hibernating? She’s Gone!

Sistah Mayah used to be everywhere! Openings, closings, luncheons, announcements, Beltlines, projects, schools, houses… heck if you asked nicely she’d meet you at a donut shop. Now she’s gone. She’s ‘Underground Shirley’, and like Underground she’s giving the impression that she is not doing very well.

Now, yes, I know her kids have been involved in some nasty
stuff, but it’s time for the Mayor to stop skiing and get back to being a leader for Atlanta. She can overcome any negative publicity her family may bring her by being the kind of Mayor she was in her first term!

Among the agenda items she should consider:

• Putting some muscle and the bully pulpit forward to keep the Beltline project moving forward
• Guarantee that by a date certain during her administration, all the city’s streets will be fully repaired and in excellent shape, at lease for one day
• Use the power of her office to get the Atlanta School Board to root out corruption while encouraging Atlanta students to study more math and science
• Push for a law requiring a public good requirement for all new construction. Can you imagine if every new building had a library, fire department or theater in it?
• Work with CAP/ADID to develop a plan to move AMTRAK back downtown and revitalize 5 Points in a meaningful way
• Develop a plan for affordable housing with adequate public safety for it.

Pick three. Accomplish three of these and Mayor Franklin’s second term will be well remembered, as opposed to now, where people are forgetting what she looks like.

Reports show that less than 10% of you voted.  In so doing, you let the zealots choose for you.  They had the decency to show up.

In the Lithonia mayor’s race , 1 vote seperates first and second.  In Mountain Park, the difference between getting in the run-off and being out in the cold is 13 votes.  Fewer people could show up for the run-off.

The elections will have major impacts.  For example, in Avondale Estates, the redevelopment plan will likely be shelved and change will be more hap-hazard.   Doraville faces continued racial stress and tension between the council and police department.   These are the people who decide who gets to build in your town, what kind of businesses there can be and how much you’ll pay in sales tax.

What those in government should take from this is that almost nobody cares.  In fact, so few people care that a small number of folks can come in and topple everything.  Even when elected, your base won’t be there when you need them.

Ironically, turnout in the February  primary will be more than 5 times Tuesday’s turnout for an office that ultimately the people do not elect.

Hopefully this will serve as a wake up call and more people will vote in the December 4th.  This means you!

Dear MARTA,

Quick notes for you!

1. Using police officers to shackle teen-agers taking photos of themselves in a MARTA station is overkill.  The same is true when applied to Taiwanese tourists. Anyone with a camera phone or a palm pilot can take a full scale movie of this.  You can’t stop the pictures so use some judgment. If they’re just taking silly pictures of each other, no problem. If they’re taking detailed telephotos of the venting mechanism at Peachtree Center, that’s a different thing. It’s great to see MARTA Police! It’s sad to see them used to silly purposes.
2. You need to replace the maps in the trains as they are missing some cultural landmarks (such as the Children’s Museum & Theatrical Outfit) and list landmarks that have not been downtown this decade (Onstage Atlanta).
3. Run 6 car trains after Braves Games. Patrons are told to spread out on the platform only to have to rush back toward the middle to get on the 4 car trains running that late at night.
4. Please add 802.11 to your radio feeds on the trains and buses. Want to increase use of the system and tourist dollars? If every MARTA station, train, and bus had free internet on it, you’d be in business. Heck, ACVB might help you!

These simple steps will make MARTA a more pleasant place to be, keep your customers, and your revenue stream.

Recently, Gilda’s Club held an event at 2 Peachtree Street.  The results tell a lot of about Atlantans.  It turns out that White native Atlantans had no idea where this was.

This building used to be known as the First Atlanta Tower and the Woodruff Foundation paid to refurbish the building then gave it to the state.  It now houses state departments and some offices of Georgia State University.  For nearly 10 years it was the tallest building in Atlanta and it was the second tallest for another 8 years.  Now, people have forgotten it completely.

Why?  Because for many years, Atlanta wasn’t a city, it was Los Angeles East, and White native Atlantans abandoned downtown as soon as Mayor Jackson was elected.  Part of the culture was the wholesale abandonment of downtown for the mall.  Hence, Rich’s and Davidsons are long gone.  Hence Underground continues to have trouble.  Hence Fairlie Poplar still has not become the nightclub/theatre section of town it is perfectly laid out to be.

The result is that the people who actually knew, or at least deduced, where the building was were all northerners or African Americans.  They were people who had thought about the actual street number and what it meant, something which the white natives apparently no longer do.  They were also the ones who actually knew their way around downtown a little bit.

What Atlanta needs is for the current generation of native Atlantans to actually discover the city part of their city.  They should know where 2 Peachtree is.  They should know where 206 Washington Street is and what is there.  The same goes for 84 Luckie Street.  If Atlanta is to thrive, people need to be able to take advantage of these resources, and to do that, they have to be able to find them without a GPS.