Bloglanta

Dear Licensed Drivers of Georgia:

The law requires you to yield to emergency vehicles.  Really, I’m not kidding.  It says so in the official Code of Georgia, Annotated.

This means you, even if you decide that talking on your cell phone is too important or that you have to get your kids home from the sitter.  This means you especially when it’s not just one fire truck, but a fleet of them because there has been an explosion!

You, Dear Atlanta Driver, are just not that important.  You’re not.  If there is a police, ambulance, or fire truck blaring its siren at full blast repeatedly, they are not kidding.  Someone could be in danger, dying, or in a situation so terrible that you’d not want to imagine it.

When you don’t pull over to the side of the road, but rather stop dead in the middle so that you can still make your left turn, you could kill someone.  If someone were to die because you thought Jimmy just had to have a happy meal, you could be subject to a felony manslaughter charge and sent to jail for a long time.

Now some of you are thinking that this really doesn’t happen, however, it does.  People in Atlanta have forgotten that they’re supposed to get out of the way of emergency vehicles.  A parking lane or turn lane will be available for the mini-van driver to get out of the way and the driver, who is talking to her kids won’t; Nor the Lexus with the executive talking on his phone without a hands-free device.  They clogged the lanes.

It’s becoming all to common.  Yes, emergency vehicles are annoying…but only until you need one.

Is there anyone who is not tired of the homeless and others begging money downtown?  It’s impacting tourist visits, willingness to live downtown, and the ability to improve the quality of life.   Moreover, it’s illegal.

Perhaps, however, there is a solution.  We all know we should not give money directly to these folks.  Law enforcement heavily discourages it.  On the other hand, anyone with an ounce of compassion can feel for some of these folks, especially if they have holes in their shoes.

Perhaps, however, we can cure two birds with one stone.   Professional sociologists recommend that the best use of our money in helping the homeless is to give to support organizations such as The Atlanta Union Mission and the Gateway Center.  They get our support, we provide tools to help actually improve the lives of those having trouble, and we get a receipt.

Institutions such as AUM should then send a laminated receipt which we can flash whenever someone asks for money.

“Yo, can you spare any change?”   “Sorry, I gave at the office, you should visit.  Go to the Gateway Center.  The address is here… on my receipt!”

That will stop at least some of the beggars dead in their tracks.

Dear Congressman Lewis,

As Obama and Clinton move through the delegate process, it’s clear you are under tremendous pressure to switch your Super-delegate vote from Clinton to Obama.

Don’t do it. In fact, leave it completely open. Being an unaffiliated super-delegate has plenty of advantages for you, the district, and the country.

Let’s go backwards. Here is why not supporting either one is what you can do for your country: it lets the voters decide. It lets the people who participate in the process make the decision, and that is as it should be.

For the district, it lets you ask questions publicly and apply leverage. If you a not affiliated you can ask in an unbiased way about the Candidates’ positions on urban development, inner city education, transportation issues, and many more. Your district includes a potent Jewish community, large African American community, and is increasingly full of DINKS who are living in all the new Condo towers. Each have specific needs the solutions to which you can leverage from the candidates.

Finally, not deciding helps you. The voters may let you off the hook and since your vote on this will in no way affect your re-election, you would be free to vote your conscience. If, however, the super-delegates are going to decide it, then you have to look within yourself and see who you believe can actually get the most accomplished for the 5th Congressional district and for the nation as a whole. Again, if you wait, your undecided status lets you leverage support for Piedmont Park, the City, and our various transportation projects. Commit now, and no one will come courting.

Yes, people from all sides will be screaming at you, but most of your Constituents will be far more interested in how you arrived at your decision rather than what the content of the decision will be. Regardless of what you decide, making a good argument here is essential. Persuade the voters that your decision is smart and just and your voters will keep giving you the margins to which you’re accustom.

Sincerely Yours,

Bloglanta

You would think that Real Estate developers would be a positive force in improving Atlanta architecture, but it just isn’t so.

Now, Ben Carter Properties wants to tear down the Buckhead Library and put up another condo tower.  The problem is that the Buckhead library is internationally recognized as a great piece of post modern architecture.  In fact, students and architecture fans have build fan sites about it.  It’s a tourism generator!  It’s Atlanta architecture that people want to visit and about which they want to write good things!

The library not only garners visitors, but it’s a pretty effective library.   Staffers are able to administer it, find it’s recourses, and give people information.  For a long time, it also have a great view of the city, making it an excellent contemplative space. That view has been substantially altered by a condo tower.

Now the developer, of course, promises that they will replace the library in their tower, but you know it would be as large or as effective.   Moreover, it will simply be part of a larger complex.  It will look a lot like another Carter Property, the Mall of Georgia.

Whether the library survives will say a lot about Atlanta.  We have a history of destroying good architecture.  Atlanta has long been the city to busy to preserve.   In recent years, there has been a claim that we’ve become much more cosmopolitan.

Choosing to preserve the library will prove it.  Choosing to tear it down, just means the power blonds still think that they can become cosmopolitan by drinking them.

There is good news and bad news.  The good news is that the State clearly understands the importance of Grady hospital and is committed to moving it toward a new management structure. 

 The bad news is that they seem intent on forcing Fulton and Dekalb county to continue to pay for it, whether they like the new agreement or not. 

It’s likely that the new agreement is in Fulton and Dekalb’s long term interests, but the state should not have to power to force the local tax payers to accept an agreement without approval of their county commissions. 

Both the Fulton County Commission and Dekalb County Commission have given the agreements to their legal departments for study.  Both want to act on the proposals in a timely fashion.  The legislature is pre-mature in trying to force the issue. 

It’s not as though the counties want to hospital to shut down.  What they do want is to be able to assure it provides the services each of the counties needs, that Doctors and other staff who live and are trained in Fulton and Dekalb continue to have access to working at the hospital, and that as stake holders, residents of the counties can influence how the system is managed. 

Grady sees nearly a million patients a year through it’s system.  It’s budget is nearly $700 million and over $100 comes directly from Fulton and Dekalb tax payers.  When you pay $100 million, your commission should get the read the proposals before the state intervenes.

If you’re the Atlanta Falcons, your quarterbacks have not had a good season.  This week however, Joey Harrington won a game!

Not only did he win, but NPR carried it!  Harrington was this week’s celebrity contestant on ‘Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me‘.  In the game, he had to answer three questions about the Smurfs.  In Harrington-like fashion, he threw the first question away, but did successfully complete the last two.  Regretably, an Atlantan did not win the prize; that went to a woman in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Harrington did reveal a little bit about the end of the Falcon’s season.  According to the quarterback, after his last game, Bobby Petrino came into the locker room and asked everyone to “Go home and think about what you can do for this team!”  Apparently, the best thing the coach could do was leave the organization.

Still, the Falcons and Harrington both really needed the win.  Even if they are the Smurfiest team in the NFL.

So, the Dogwood Festival cannot be in Piedmont Park due to the drought.  You’d think they’d go to Centennial Park, right?  Nope.  They’re going to Lenox Square.

Is there anything more Atlantan than having a festival named for a tree in a shopping mall that was paved over them?  Somewhere Joe Winter’s bumper sticker grins through the tears.

Worse, Bryan Hill, head of the Dogwood festival literally said on WABE, “We’re so glad we could keep the festival in Midtown…” Oy.

Am I glad the festival will continue?  Yes.  Is having it at Lenox a wise idea?  No.  There is no shade.  Nowhere for the the animals to be.  If the weather is even remotely warm, there are no trees for shade and the blacktop will generate a ton of heat.  Further, people are going to try to drive that weekend, despite having two MARTA stations walking distance from the mall.

They are having a record number of artists, but in a much smaller space…  You have to wonder what they’re giving up… Music?  the Dog Show?

It could be a huge mess, we hope not, but wouldn’t bet on it.

We all need medical care sometimes. However, if you don’t have insurance, it can be expensive.

Well take heart, because there are affordable options out there. Here are some of them. At 1340 Boulevard is the Grant Park clinic. Office visits are $30. At 1350 Boulevard is the Family Health Enterprise. This clinic is $40 but they take appointments. Their phone number is 4O4 635 13OO.

Both clinics work with Publix to provide free prescriptions. Many of those not free at Publix are $4 at Target.

So, if you’re sick and you need help… Take I-20 to Boulevard and head south to health!

Ever wonder why downtown isn’t teaming with clubs despite the hotel presence?  Ever wonder why no club survives very long in town?

The lack of places to play have been a big discussion among Jazz musicians in the Atlanta Jazz Forum and now a theory has been proposed.

Dan Turner is a local developer, builder, and piano man.  When presented with the scene of a woman who came downtown to hear Jazz and had a terrible experience, he began to delve into what went wrong: (These are editted excerpts from his post, which, in it’s original form is a little bit spicier)

“My time playing Atlanta started in  the very early 60’s when I was 9….playing in a few of the nightclubs that my father owned. I got into the circuit and hit his clubs as well as some of the joints that were within walking distance of each other. Sure…they were strip clubs; however for the 3 years that I played each weekend …jazzers were passed around from the Zebra, Domino, Club Peachtree and a host of others within a block or two of  each other. Going from one club to another, I saw a lot of familiar faces that were simply walking back and forth.

“In my opinion…and it extends back to those years playing with  really good players (and GREAT LOOKING EXOTIC DANCERS!!); now coupled with my role as a land planner…there are a few folks to blame for the fiasco in Atlanta:  Sam Massell, John Portman, & Tom Cousins.

“Massell picked up from his predecessor to “clean up Atlanta” by  closing down clubs by raising the dispensing fees. The Chamber of  Commerce gathered together with the powers to be and decided on John  Portman to devise a way to circumvent the sidewalks with the tunnels and tubes that deliver you away from the clubs on the street and right into the propietary clubs of the hotels. Ditto with Tom Cousins who was just the most fortunate guy to have MARTA wind up at his major complexes, and everyone else that went into the same mode of “cleaning up Atlanta” took something away from the night clubs that kept them alive …making a buck selling liquor.

“There was a lot to be said for a bar with a great band that all of a sudden had to be able to cook food. That ordinance wiped out the little hole in the wall joints….the same set up that thrives in New Orleans. There were ordinances enacted against Neon lighting. The distance between the bar stools and the stage. The decibel rating. Smoking/non-smoking designated square footage. Restrooms that had to meet a minimum square footage and then the ADA (Americans with Disability Act) that although a great thing…was not allowed to be grandfathered in for established businesses.

“It got to be too expensive to be in a business that the City wanted to see leave in order to make the place hospitable to Conventions.  The city [departments] were shaking down club owners and the Bud Turners, Chic Hendrix’s and Sam Jensen’s just closed shoppe.

“It’s still not a hospitable city… with the panhandlling and the blocks of no-mans land at night. The clubs and bars are found inside the complexes or within a $30 taxi ride from the center of the action…it’s just spread out and too thin.

“What little bit of fire that was there went away with a purpose. The jazz clubs have no competition…and sometimes human nature takes over with regards to how they would treat a customer since they were the only show in town…or walking distance to another Atlanta attraction. Or they’re not making enough to pay the help, talent, and nightly nut…so you’re getting anyone barely breathing to wait your table for minimums. Without the competition, there’s not much reason to improve…or if they’re already into the failure mode (which happens much too often), they’ve just given up.

“Atlanta had a great little complex at one time….Underground Atlanta…before Rouse. There were a half dozen player joints within sound of each other….I can remember many a tawdry Saturday AFTERNOON at the Apothecary watching Paul Mitchell and Neal Starkey, et all wailing away to a pretty full house. Tired of that? Walk across the street to Dante’s and then on over to Reds and a few other joints that the names don’t come apparent right now…and then start that circuit over again.

“Underground wasn’t a threat to Atlanta during the 60s and 70s..but they (whoever THEY were) decided to “fix it” anyway.  It’s a brave step every time someone opens a club to sponsor jazz players…but, foremost in mind, in order to keep that door open, they have to sell enough liquor. The players are almost always way down the food chain as to priorities, but it’s a huge investment to open a joint to meet all the codes and ordinances; pay the fees; get the final permit and then try to market with the leftover cash. Some places are doomed on opening night and everything that you described doesn’t make it that appealing for a return visit.

“Until a chosen few decided to “Clean Up Atlanta” and when they got rid of the clubs….they got rid of the talent and the incentives for future clubs.”
—————-
It should be pointed out that to some degree, Massell did this same thing again a few years ago in Buckhead.  He wanted to chase the club owners out to make the area more attractive for the big condo towers that now dominate what was one of America’s best known party spots.  With the help of the City Council, he again succeeded in killing off lots of Atlanta nightlife.  Maybe, Massell likes money better than fun… Or at least he thinks if everyone has money they can afford to go have fun somewhere else.

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.