Bloglanta

Atlanta is still not a 24 hour city.  Compared to other cities, there are some amenities we need and some changes that should occur.

Atlanta is still a place where Dunkin Donuts closes.  The Brookhaven Dunkin’ Donuts is a mile from Oglethorpe University, yet by 10:30, it’s closed.  Don’t they know if they throw a wifi router in the place and advertise they have access, the place will be packed 24/7?  Worse than that, we don’t have Tims!

The same goes for Starbucks.  Some are closed by 7.  Others by 10.  What’s with that?  There is not a single 24 hour Starbucks in Fulton or Dekalb County.

More Trader Joes are great, but as the NFT Atlanta points out, we like chain stores a little too much.  Other cities have gourmet stores that largely stock local product.  The closest we have is Alon’s.

We lack late night gourmet food.  Only Atkins Park is still serving ‘better than bar food’ on a Tuesday at 1 AM.  Yes, there are more diners, and some pubs still serving, but when you need a 1 AM business dinner, you’re left with Atkins Park or Chinese.

There are too few independent book stores in town, and none of them have a full service restaurant or bar in them.  Someone is missing the opportunity to make some serious cash.

We have too many governments and that is going to quash our regional effectiveness.  While other cities are in uni-gov mode, we’re splintering even more.

At least 3 of our major sports venues are inaccessible directly by subway.  Further, none of them have won a Championship this century!

MacDonald’s here do not serve Newman’s Own Organic Coffees.

One of the better midrange chocolate companies does its manufacturing here and most Atlantans don’t know because local stores don’t carry Flyer Bars!

The Museums around here have no free day, and rather than showing off the great art they own and acquiring more, they rent art from other museums!

Okay… enough snarking, but after visiting other cities, it’s clear we’re slipping.  Still, there is hope.  Housing is surely plentiful.  The city of Atlanta was truly strengthened by the Olympics.  People here are ambitious and want to get things done.  We have Atlantix.

One wonders, however, how long Metro Atlanta can survive until the lack of affordable starter homes, public transportation, and bickering between the various counties cripples the place.

If there is one station that is really doing good things in Atlanta it’s WRAS, AKA album 88.  Georgia State’s station is the vanguard of college radio and for good reason.  For several years it’s been playing music you don’t hear on other stations but the ability to be better than average despite graduations speaks well of it.

In particular, it has be most diverse line up of shows dedicated to different genres of music.  This is especially true on the weekends.  On Saturdays, if Morning Edition is just too heavy or if you’re just sick of car talk, It’s the only reasonable alternative.  They have a kids music show, followed by the local equivelent to Dr. Demento, and then soundtracks!  Great stuff!  They have fans all over Atlanta, but especially in the offices of a certain music store!

Sundays are good too!  ‘On With the Show‘ a show dedicated to musicals!  WABE has ‘On the Town’ and it’s okay, but it’s only an hour and the host is trying to sell you tours.  Here, you’ve locals working on the programming.  They also have the only Japanese music show in town.

All this raises some questions…  Who is really the voice of the Arts?  1690 AM doesn’t have programming that can touch this!  WCLK is an essential station to cover the Jazz scene, and then there is WABE.  They have a very narrow scope.  First, they are trying to keep classical music programming on the air.  They are also the primary NPR affiliate.  They do a great job, but they don’t have the diversity that WRAS has.

Best of all, WRAS does not conduct pledge breaks that will make you want to kill any nubmer of radio hosts or start admiring the better qualities of the evil ‘Steve and Vicky’

What would I like to see them add?  As long as their going to do a local show on musicals, it would be great for them to invite guests from local theatres to talk about their productions and let people have some professional insites into what it takes to really put on a show!   Feature one or two shows a week and it will both add to the show and help strengthen the theater community!

When Sam Williams spoke to the Atlanta Press Club on April 11th, what he did not say was as telling as what he said. Williams is the head of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, emphasis on the Metro. Here’s a run down on some of the points he made and some of the ones which were omitted.

First, Williams went to great lengths to emphasize the ‘Metro’ nature of it all. He pointed out that the Atlanta SMSA is now the fastest growing in the country and that the 27 county metro area has over 5 million residents. 142,000 people are moving to the Metro Area every year. And whom does he credit with Atlanta’s growth? Delta Airlines and the Atlanta Airport. He mentioned Gerald Grinstein, and Ben DeCosta by name. So who’s missing here? AirTran. Not one word about the discount carrier. Yes. Delta is vital and we want the company to succeed, but without AirTran, Delta would not have had to make improvements and the airport would be far weaker.

Williams next points were very interesting. Atlanta is the number one destination for Americans between the ages of 25 to 34 with college degrees. Clearly Turner has a lot to do with that. Also of importance is the business climate here. Atlanta ranks first on INC. Magazine’s list of cities in which you can start a business. When K-Mart was planning to move to Atlanta, their primary reason for coming here, according to Williams, was the can do attitude of the people. K-Mart officials apparently told Williams that the Michigan staff did not think K-Mart was salvageable. Here, top executives thought they’d find people who were more interested in throwing everything into rebuilding the company than letting it sink.

Williams pointed out that a big part of the Chamber’s mission is to recruit new companies to come to Atlanta. However, Williams says the chamber is getting choosier. It used to be that they’d recruit anyone they could. However, now, they want companies that will relocate their high paid executive corps to Atlanta. They want white collar jobs that pay at least $50,000 per year. He said nothing about getting high paying blue or gray collar jobs in Atlanta. Specifically, they’re trying to entice technology. medical, and logistics companies to relocate here and use the regions resources to create jobs.

Williams says that Atlanta is now a truly big league metro area and that the competition is no longer Charlotte, Birmingham, or even Denver. He thinks Atlanta is competing against Shanghai, Bangalor, Boston, and Frankfurt. Atlanta’s advantages are a growing work force of young people, a relatively low cost of living compared to other major cities, and decent quality of life.

Explosive population growth, however, is at the center of all the challenges facing the metro area as a region. Williams pointed to 4 main areas that need to be addressed in light of the coming population explosion: congestion, water, Grady, and public education.

To Williams credit, he takes a broader view of congestion than one might have expected. Clearly road congestion is already having an impact. Williams believes that $10 billion will be required to address metro Atlanta’s problems between now and 2030. However, road construction is just the beginning. Through out his talk, Williams referred to Savannah and it was not apparent why until he mentioned that 65% of all traffic that flows through the port of Savannah also flows through Metro Atlanta.

Since Hurricane Katrina, Savannah’s port traffic has grown significantly, and we’re also feeling that increase in traffic. With the port expanding, so too will Atlanta’s opportunities and problems. Not only is this true on the roads, but on the rails as well and that is an issue that will enter into Atlanta’s ability to fund regional passenger rail.

Airport gridlock is also expected to be a problem. Williams believes the 5th runway is an essential tool that will keep Atlanta humming until 2020, but then there may be more demand than capacity. Williams pointed out that no one is building new airports and that the last major airport top be built, in Denver, has been such a disaster that there is a $27 tax on all tickets and cars rented at the airport just to keep up with the bond service. He did not say that the Chamber wants a second airport…. One can assume from this that they’re sticking with a one airport solution.

Water was the issue with no solution. Conservation is needed, better processing and treatment are needed, but even if those processes were perfected now, we’d still be in a real bind in 15 years. Williams says that No other major city has such a small basin of water on which to draw, and that water use is already a real quality of life problem. According to Williams, the Legislature is going to try to formulate a state wide water policy next year and the Chamber plans to be heavily involved. That should be a warning to the Upper Chattahoochee River Keepers and the Sierra Club to gear up and get ready for a huge fight.

Grady Hospital represents the health care crisis facing both the region and the nation as a whole. It’s the best trauma center in the country. If you get shot, burned, stabbed, or crushed, you want Grady. However, Grady has a $200 million annual need and only $100 million in revenue. By June 30, Grady will have spent its entire budget for the year. A large part of this is because it is the indigent hospital of choice for two of the most populace counties in the state. This is one issue in which the Chamber has jumped in. They have created a task force which is trying to help Grady Management get their costs under control. However, Williams and other Chamber members insist that this is a problem that requires regionalization. Each municipality and each county will need to help cover the costs of indigent care and not just dump all their tough trama cases into the Grady Health system. Otherwise the system will collapse and sooner than one might think.

Of the four challenges, the one that Williams skipped completely was public education. While Williams spoke highly of the ARCH program and of UGA, GSU, and Tech he did mention and chamber interest in a regional approach to fixing public primary and secondary education, only that it was an issue. One has to wonder why, if business recruitment rests on quality public education, the business community is not pressuring the legislature for a better funding mechanism that gets resources into the schools that really need them.  One also wonders why the chamber is not coordinating an independent grass roots funding push to make sure the neediest schools receive direct business support.
Again, what Williams didn’t say is telling, and in regard to state government, that was a lot. He did not mention Sonny Perdue at all. He has nothing nice to say about him. Nor was he very complimentary of the legislature except to say that passage of an act to let voters choose transportation projects in the region was likely to pass. In fact, one his aids mentioned that “The Legislative environment” made regional approaches difficult and that the Chamber was by-passing the government and was trying to use more grass roots approaches. Williams did point out that metro Atlanta provides 2/3rds of all state revenue and he implied we were not seeing our money’s worth return to the region. He also through that the Chamber needed to educated those beyond the five counties about their dependence on the success of the region. He believes that if growth plateaus due to congestion and other problems, it’s the outer metro counties which will suffer more than the big 5.

Williams was disappointing in that he did not seem to have any introspective points to make. He did not say anything about where he thought metro Atlanta’s business community was failing. He also said nothing about having a firm business commitment to the arts, to public schools, affordable housing, passenger rail transportation, public parks, land preservation, ecological issues, sunshine laws for governments, libraries, or quality design of spaces. On all of these issues, he did not call on the business community to do more.

In fact, when asked about MAACC, he praised county governments that contributed resources and did not indicate that he thought MAACC deserved any direct financing from the Chamber. While he praised Bill Nigut, one might wonder whether part of Nigut’s departure was due to the lack of corporate participation?

So what’s needed? Certainly the Chamber deserves some credit, but the business community needs to step up the plate and look beyond, universities and the Woodruff Arts Center to places where they can actually use their power to make improvements for the region as a whole. Want a place where grass roots pressure is important? That’s it.

Marta has a new planning map! This, in and of itself is a good thing. It means the staff and the MARTA board are not giving up and just waiting for an ARC take over. It also shows some of the directions MARTA is considering and it lets people influence the process now, rather than when it’s too late. One can also discern which battles MARTA thinks it cannot win.

The most telling item is that MARTA is conceding that more road building is inevitable and that concrete, rather than rail, will represent a considerable part of the future. The prominence of Bus Rapid Transit solutions (henceforth BRT) makes this obvious. For ages, South Dekalb residents wanted their own rail line. MARTA accepted that there was demand for a line, but now has acknowledged that the likelihood of building new rail there is not worth pursuing. Rather, Memorial Drive seems to be the corridor in which BRT will get its testing ground.

There will be measures taken to ensure that the BRT will have some ability to get around traffic and that there are actual stations to ensure passenger safety. This project also has a time table attached to it, and according to the site cooperation from the Georgia Department of Transportation. If that’s more than just P.R., it is a stunning turn around indeed.

The Decatur Square is on its way back. For two years, the city and MARTA cut the square in two in order to renovate and improve access across downtown Decatur. They’re not done yet, but the key half of the square is again accessible.

The space is improved; there are now about 10 torch columns which keep the space illuminated and tiles over the station have grooves which make illustrations. Still one would have hoped for more.

The reconstruction made a huge impact. Stores and shops on the south side of the square really suffered. Sage stopped serving lunch. Other restaurants cut their hours back and the ability to serve people al fresco was severely diminished. The process took over two years and went over budget. They used Chinese marble rather than Georgia stone. They sealed several sections before inspectors could check them out.  Given what the merchants suffered, these mistakes are horrid.
The changes, however, are more aesthetic than practical. While improving the beauty of public spaces is a very worthwhile goal, adding practical improvements would have made a bigger difference. One improvement is a wheelchair ramp, but other than the lighting, that’s about it. Adding another stage, or at least the pre-production electrics, DMX patches, and anchors would have been great.  Swings would have been fantastic.
Yet even with improvements they did make there was another cost. The Decatur station used to have sky lights. Now they are gone. Natural light helped make the station work. Lighting the station will cost more for lower quality light.

Hopefully, the results will pay off. It would be great if more people came on the train for a night in Decatur and if that traffic moved MARTA to keep the Bankhead line running to Decatur all night. A new restaurant, Pasta Please has opened and Sage will soon resume its lunch plans.

Whether the improvements will make a difference you’ll have to judge for yourself.  The city certainly needs to make sure they finish everything else on budget and on time for a while.

Witnessed at P’cheen was the end of the ‘Salsa’ era in local cuisine.  As the population of Hispanic Americans grew in the US, salsa or picante sauce became more popular than catsup.  Then kaboom!  Chips and salsa were on menus everywhere!  Soul food joints had them.  Irish Bars had them.  Even white table cloth restaurants had them.  Taquerias were everywhere.

Now the fad has turned to fade.  We’ve simply incorporated a better understanding of Latin American culture and cuisine into our own and are ready to move on the the next thing.

And what is the next thing?  Curry.  P’cheen made the move because they will selling 3 orders of nachos per week.  Their curry trio sells like hotcakes.  There are two more items on their menu that have curry in them and other items inspired by cultures where curry is prevalent.

Not that Atlanta diners are unfamiliar with curry; Thai & Indian restaurants are all over the place.  Now, however, we are seeing curry proliferate to be come the next staple item on menus.

When Americans think about the national architecture, they don’t think much of Atlanta.

The American Institute of Architects surveyed two thousand Americans at the end of 2006 to find out what buildings they valued.  They don’t value Atlanta much.  No Atlanta building ranks in the top 50 and there are only 2 out of 150 on the list.  The High Museum makes the list at #96 & The Hyatt Regency downtown makes the list at #103.

The poll was conducted by Harris and shows that Atlanta really isn’t on the national radar for great architecture.  There is a certain irony in this as some of the leading architecture firms have started here or put key offices in Atlanta.  The cities on the radar include New York City (25 Buildings), Washington DC (17), and Chicago (16).

We’re in the same category as St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Austin.  Further, the national perspective does not match our own.  In survey after survey, Atlantans choose the Fox Theater as their favorite building.  The High Museum would also likely be up there, but one would guess that the Hyatt would not be the first choice of Portman buildings for Atlantans or even their third favorite building.

Hopefully, Atlantans will wake up to the importance of good solid design.  Renzo Piano’s addition to the High Museum is successful not only for the attention he brought, but because the additions work well.  They made the space better.  They are good spaces in which one can see art.  That is what will keep the building important for a long time.

Once in a while, someone else puts it down stronger than we ever could.

As you may know, the Georgia General Assembly is considering a bill that would let local municipalities decide whether or not to allow bottle sales of wine and beer on Sunday.  Liquor stores and religious conservatives oppose it.  A majority of Georgians favor it.  In the AJC, the following letter to the editor appears framing the debate in an excellent light.  Excellent job, Mr. Zinsenheim.  Fantastic.
‘Pork Sales: Is a Similar Restriction Due?’

“After a hard workweek back at his old job as a veterinarian, Sonny was looking forward to his favorite Saturday morning breakfast of fried eggs, grits, biscuit with gravy, and smoked pork sausage. That was until Mary informed him that they were out of sausage. “No problem, I’ll just run down to the grocery store,” replied Sonny. However, when Sonny got to the meat section, he was greeted with a sign “By State Law: No Pork Sales on Fridays or Saturdays.” Sonny had forgotten about the law advocated by a coalition of Jews, Muslims and Seventh-day Adventists. Sonny called his local state representative, complaining “Why should the religious views of some infringe on the vast majority of Georgia residents?” The reply was:

“Think of it this way. It really helps you plan ahead for the rest of your life. Time management.”

STEVE ZINSENHEIM, Marietta

Dear Lois….

You hot sexy mama!!!!!!! You did it! You are the stuff. Will I give to WABE this year? You bet!

Why didn’t you tell us you were broadcasting in HD? Three different streams all the time! A feed for the news junkies? Yes! One for Classical Music to keep broadcast access to one of our greatest art forms? Yes. Plus the regular stream! These same streams are echoed on the Web.

All in HD Radio! Absolutely terrific! Thank you very much!

For those of you unfamiliar with HD radio, it’s a digital signal which new HD radio receivers can pick up and it sends out a digitally encoded signal. The standard allows for up to three formats in roughly each frequency range. WABE is using HD1 for it’s regular signal, HD2 for its classical music stream, and HD3 for the all news channel. Best of all, this is in the broadcast band! It’s free! All you need is a receiver.

Right now, for the most part, HD radios are a bit pricey, but more and more manufacturers are making them. However, Radio Shack has a model which if you purchase before Christmas 2006 is less than $150 with Rebate. It’s not the fanciest, but you’ll have 40 channels of radio in FM alone and no monthly fee to pay!

Now… if I could only get an HD radio card for my treo….

Few of us ever know the glories of being a professional athlete. What we do know is from the outside and it’s the life of the Superstars. Most paid athletes though are minor leaguers. For every major league baseball player, there are 4 four guys making about $20,000 a year in the minor leagues.

The same goes for the NBA and in hockey too. The lives of these athletes tell you what it’s like to work for little money but doing something that you love. It also tells what what it’s like to be on your way to being the best, but not there yet.

Scot Mifsud has been with the ECHL Gwinnett Gladiators for a couple of seasons and WDUN, The radio station which broadcasts their games, has given him a 2 minute weekly show. The Gladiators are podcasting the shows and you can listen.

What you learn is that these guys are grunting it out just as we are. They have car trouble, travel issues, lack of sleep, money problems, etc. They have to spend nights on a bus (rarely do they get to fly) and live their lives almost entirely as a unit. They’re also clearly a long way from home and young.

Their story is telling. Most of us could have pursued a sport, visual arts, or music but we were afraid of what we’d have to sacrifice to get there. These podcasts give you insight in to those willing and some of what they get in return.

Lot’s of people want to the fame and fortune that accompany being a top athlete. This is a window on what daily life is like before you get there.