The first attempt at walking Atlanta wasn’t so successful, as our tour guide has had an emergency situation come up. This is a last minute cancellation, I know, so I hope any of you who may have planned to join us see this in time.
For our second attempt, we’re already planning to do a West End to Midtown walk next Saturday, February 4. Again, we’ll start at 9:00.
Update: You can find my photos from the walk here!
General Motors announced in November that it would cut thousands of jobs and close several manufacturing plants across America, including the 157-acre plant in Doraville, located just inside I-285, near the intersection of I-85. On Monday, Ford announced it too would cut several thousand jobs and close 13 plants nationwide, including the 2.8 million square foot plant in Hapeville. The state was prepared to offer $88 million in incentives to Ford to expand the facility before the announcement.
This one-two punch comes on the heels of a crippling combination of bad economic news for Atlanta and Georgia, including the sale of Georgia-Pacific and Scientific-Atlanta; the cuts at Bellsouth; and, the bankruptcy announcement by longtime Atlanta titan Delta Air Lines. Listed below are some numbers the reader should consider:
-The GM Doraville plant now employees over 3,000 workers.
-The GM plant accounts for 10 percent of the city’s (I assume city here means Doraville) tax revenue and is responsible for between $800,000 and $1 million in property taxes and fees.
-Just three years ago, GM spent $150 million to retrofit the Doraville plant for van production.
-The Ford Hapeville plant employees 2,100 workers, paying them $100 million per year as a group.
-In 1995, manufacturing jobs numbered 587,604. Today that number is 441,300. That number will obviously continue to decline.
(Sources: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Atlanta Business Chronicle)
The AJC reports the Doraville plant will close no later than 2008 and also reports that the Ford plant will close as early as August, after the last of the once mighty Taurus line finishes production.
Looking toward the future, the Doraville City Council will meet at 3:30 p.m. on Friday to consider an annexation proposal. The Council will decide whether to extend the northern boundary of Doraville to the Gwinnett County Line, according to the AJC. DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones is working with GM officials in Detroit to keep the plant open. Jones said he envisions a development that is “bigger and better than Atlantic Station” on the property, referring to the commercial and residential development in Midtown Atlanta.
While the closure of these two plants is a serious concern, there could be a silver lining. For many years, the state of Georgia has failed to bring foreign automakers to the state. The AJC reports that Kia, the South Korean automaker, is testing soil samples at a site along I-85 in West Point. While state officials are mum on the issue, Kia could be close to announcing plans to build a $1 billion plant that would create 2,000 jobs. Kia is also examining sites in LaGrange and in Tennessee and Mississippi. Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Mississippi all have foreign automaker plants within their borders.
There will no doubt be moves to save the plants, as indicated by Vernon Jones’ trip to Detroit, but I doubt those jobs will be saved. It should be interesting what new developments sprout (or don’t’ sprout) on the Doraville and Hapeville sites. Here are some questions to consider: Could another mixed-use development like Atlantic Station be on the way in Doraville? Will Georgia finally land a Kia manufacturing plant? And if so, will more foreign automakers follow suit, thereby possibly offsetting the GM and Ford losses?
A few of us folks will be taking a walk this Saturday morning. All you who somehow enjoy exercising early in the morning are invited to join me, Ryan, and others at the West End MARTA Station at 9:00 a.m. From there, we will walk to the Arts Center station via Ralph David Abernathy/Georgia Avenue, Grant Park, Boulevard/Monroe Drive, Piedmont Park, and Peachtree Street.
You could say we’re crazy, but it’s only about eight miles. Any of you who don’t want to go the whole route can easily get back on MARTA at nearly any point in the walk.
The Short of It
What: Walking Atlanta
Where: Start @ MARTA West End Station | End @ MARTA Arts Center Station
When: Saturday, January 28, 2006
Why: For its own sake
We hope to see you there!
Update: See new entry above.
Nordstrom has moved into Phipps and the results are beginning to churn. First, traffic at Phipps is up. More people are spending more money. This has put pressure in other stores and Nieman Marcus is among those really feeling the pressure.
Though they have wanted to expand their Lenox location for a couple of years, the pressure has really mounted recently. They will be moving about 100 or so feet into the corridor where shops such as the Sharper Image once had their spaces. This is forcing those long time tenants to seek a new shingle.
Sharper Image and the Metropolitan Museum of Art store are, ironically, moving to Phipps as a result. Other stores are relocating in Lenox, but one important element is leaving Buckhead altogether.
Brasserie Le Cose has been part of the Lenox Square environment for over 10 years, but will now move to more urban space near the Aquarium.
This is just another indicator that downtown has some potential. The question is whether it will be met! Ruth’s Chris and Icon both are options for attraction visitors as is McCormick and Schmick. The Brasserie starts to widen the options even more. Now, other arts and culture attractions need to fill in the space as well as some more night life. Then downtown might really be swinging. All because Nordstrom went into Phipps.
With the Legislature now in the second term of its session, now is the time to really get MARTA to act like a business. Businesses get to use their revenue as they see fit and are not mandated by law as to how they allocate their budgets.
Now is the time to push for the passage of Senate Bills 115 and 114. These bills will give MARTA more control over their budget. Right now, MARTA will only be able to use 50% of its revenue for operations. SB 114 gives them the option of using up to 55%. Really, they should be able to use any percentage their board deems fit. Give them that flexibility and a lot of the deficits MARTA anticipates will be greatly reduced. SB115 lets MARTA recapture some capital income as operating revenue again relieving some of the pressure on the system.
These bills have already passed the Senate and are now bottlenecked in the House. Here’s the problem. No one knows who’s on the Committee that will decide this fate. Speaker of the House Richardson could have simply created a Legislative Committee for MARTA made up of Legislators whose districts included MARTA service and Members of the MARTOC Oversite committee, however, he has not chosen to do that. He has not made it easy for anyone to find out who will vote on these bills on the House Side. Nothing is posted on the Committee List in the House.
So… how to get some actual movement on these bills? First, E-mail the Speaker and ask who is on the Special Committee for MARTA Legislation. Second, find out who represents you in the Georgia House and urge them to pass SB114 & 115 unamended.
We have 7 weeks to get this done. MARTOC Chairwoman Chambers was walked a tough line in getting lots of information out about MARTA and how it works. She has been dillegent in seeking out wasteful practices and tried to get information to the public about labor negotiations and budgets. Now is the time, however, for her to inform her collegues about the importance of a strong MARTA. It may not be the easiest sell, but it’s important to let them know that this 5% makes a difference and will result in better MARTA service for everyone in Metro Atlanta.
More than 350,000 people have been murdered in the Darfur region of Sudan. They’re being exterminated. This is a Genocide. Women and Children are being raped to force them into being social outcasts, and scores of villages have been burnt by a coalition of Arab Zealots and their Sudanese Government Allies. Now, there is an effort to stop food aid from reaching refugee camps and to simply starve the non-Arab people of Darfur to death. Why? Because the Darfur Sundanese are Black African Muslims and not Arab Muslims. This is just wrong.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: A) We’ve known this for a long time! Why are you bothering me with it? and B) This is a Blog about ATLANTA!! What does this have to do with Atlanta?
I tell you all this because you can do something about it. Representative Tyrone
Brooks has introduced House Bill 964. This bill would prohibit the State from investing in or doing business with Firms with capitalization of over $100,000 who do business with Sudan. This Bill is in the Banks and Banking Committee of the Georgia House. You can write your representatives and the members of the committee and urge that the Bill be “recommended Do Pass” and moved on the Rules Committee and then sent to the floor of the House for a Vote.
Now, this does bring up tricky issues. First, linking fiscal policy to social strategies on a government wide range isn’t a great idea. The primary goal of pension and investment funds is to maximize the economic use of the States Recources to improve the life of citizens. That means investing pension funds in a way that maximizes returns. Second, linking policy to spending means that untimately, the budget is the only policy device that matters. This creates a whole can of worms. If the policy side of things get settled pre-budget, both the policy and fiscal debates will be more transparent and cleaner.
However, sometimes there is an overriding moral imperative and this is one of those times. 15 years ago, several states and groups divested themselves of dealings with South Africa and this pressure lead directly to the end of apartheid. If apartheid was cruel and wrong, clearly the organized rape and murder of people is even more insidious. Stop the murder and rape first, then clean up the fiscal mess.
Please support HB 964. 5 minutes of your time now will stop a child from being raped and killed.
With the Annual Celebration of the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King completed, it’s time to breath life back into the King Center. It would be a horrible shame to let the resource decay any further.
First, let’s recognize where we are. The King Center itself need $11.3 Million in repairs, but that’s the least of the problems. The true problem is that the King Center is not effective. The board and family are split over how to proceed. One group, including two of Dr. King’s Children and Andrew Young want to sell the King Center to the United States Government while another group including Dr. King’s two other children wish to hold on to the Center.
Which direction they go should be determined by what they really want to accomplish.
If the goal is to keep the historical record in tact, to educate people about the life and accomplishments of Dr. King, and to provide an archive for scholars, then the National Park Service and the National Archives should take over the center. They will keep the building up, provide a historical record, help people from all over continue to build a body of scholarship about Dr. King, and encourage visitors to the site. They will absolutely preserve the legacy of non-violent social change.
What they will NOT do is actively ferment non-violent social change. If actually creating change is the goal, then the center should remain independent of the government and get new leadership in. Right now, Adbusters (whether you agree with them or not) is a more effective vehicle for social change.
This country does need social change. We need courageous leaders who will non-violently engage the government about equality in education and other issues. The King Center has not lived up to it’s potential in these matters. It’s training programs have not lead to effective non-violent leadership either here or in other troubled parts of the world. They have not been effective in reducing racial tensions in cities such as Cincinnati. They have not incorporated new technologies to improve their techniques and to harness the power they provide to move masses of people.
They need to assemble a coalition of brilliant and imaginative people who are highly motivated to address the issues Dr. King cared about but we haven’t solved. They need help from the Carter Center, former State Department officials, gang intervention specialists, negotiators, and entrepreneurs.
Non-violent Social change can still be effective and the King Center should still be it’s home. Either that or a new center needs to be created and the King Center should effectively work along the lines of a Presidential Library .
As the legislature gavels back into action, one of the hot topics is eminent domain. In fact, two bills have already been introduced that address this subject.
As you may recall, the United States Supreme Court last term, in Kelo V. New London confirmed the power of state and local governments to provide for the general welfare by seizing, with appropriate compensation, the property of private citizens.
Property rights advocates have been pushing hard since the decision to urge governments to enact legislation defining and limiting the scope of those powers. The Georgia General Assembly has given them a sympathetic ear.
Advocates of public participation need to take a careful and reasoned look at proposed legislation and then act fast! Two areas important to urban dwellers could be at risk: housing redevelopment and rail. Both are at risk because writers of the legislation may so limit the power of local governments that transportation and blight may not qualify as pressing needs.
First, there is a general effort to limit governments from seizing land and then giving it to any corporate entity. Since projects such as the beltline, expand mass transit, and suburban rail will require independent authorities and corporations to run them, look for the road building lobby to use this to limit the expanded use of mass transit.
The second area in which urban advocates should take care is in housing redevelopment. Basically, the General Assembly is re-construing the law so that new development of a blighted area is easier to fight. There is, however, an upside here. Historic preservationists now have a new weapon in protecting the remaining historic treasures in Georgia. Houses, commercial buildings, and public art will now all be easier to protect and using the force of government to eliminate them will become harder.
Of course, no matter what happens it will all go back to court again..
Today’s editorial in the AJC suggests that Jill Chambers should be considered a serious candidate for the job of MARTA’s General Manager:
Chambers claims she’s an unabashed supporter of mass transit, which might help MARTA win converts within the ranks of the state GOP, especially lawmakers who represent traffic-choked suburbs. She has also endorsed the idea of the state government providing MARTA with funding for its operations; it’s the only major transit agency in the country which gets no such assistance.
Don’t faint, but I’ll endorse it.
I’ve given Chambers plenty of flack for being undeservedly harsh on MARTA. It’s even come to the point where I’ve heard from several independent sources that — for whatever reason — she reads what I write on the Internet as though it’s worth obsessing over.
Don’t get me wrong. If I lived in her district, I’d vote for Hannibal Lecter sooner than I’d vote for anyone who goes so overboard in criticizing MARTA the way she has. But if I were a MARTA board member, I’d much sooner vote Chambers in as GM than another Nathaniel Ford.
As a legislator and chair of MARTOC, there is only so much Chambers could do to put her money (and actions) where her mouth is. She supports more transit options for the metro area? Show me the money.
Jill Chambers would be the most likely candidate to introduce a string of needed reforms to the authority and be effective at it. She can’t do that as MARTOC chair. Similar to Fiorello LaGuardia, her move from legislator to executive would spark new and radical efficiency reforms unlike any previously seen. And she would have every reason to be more customer-centered than any of her predecessors.
There are many uncertainties, as there would be with any new General Manager. Would MARTA’s Transit Oriented Development program continue? How would MARTA’s relationship with Regional Transit Partners change? How would MARTA’s relationship with the union change? Would Chambers’ good senses catch up with the futility of the 50-50 sales tax split? Could Chambers turn around and convince her Republican colleagues that spending more money on roads would be a wasteful and ineffective way to reduce traffic congestion?
I look forward to seeing what happens. Jill Chambers is exactly the type of person MARTA needs at the top in these days and times.
How many wildly successful annual events have come and gone in Atlanta? I can only name a few. First Night and Freaknik both immediately come to mind, though there are plenty more to add.
It’s worth wondering whether Atlanta can handle the most successful events that descend upon her streets and parks every year. Will the Pride Festival be next, or is its success not wild enough?
These are the questions that immediately came to my mind when I heard that Music Midtown will be cancelled this year. Promoters gave three reasons for cancelling: money, weather, and the media.
Things will change. This is Atlanta, after all. Music Midtown promoters hinted that they may move the festival to the suburbs. Clearly, the weather is better there. And so is the traffic.