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The opening of the new Hudson Grille at Brookhaven Station provides an opportunity to reflect on tavern culture here in Atlanta. We have an advantage over many cities in that we have mid price range up scale taverns that are based here. Just as Charlotte has a great diner culture, we have a great tavern culture. Most cities have great dive taverns and really high end bars, but few have great quality in the middle. Hudson Grille joins a great group that includes The 5 Seasons Brewery, Village Bakery and Restaurant, P’cheen, Atkins Park and others. All of these places serve quality beer and food that is a step above the dreaded Sysco and Monarch Bars.

The Hudson Grille takes the place of Jocks and Jills and GM Tony Shaw wants to recapture the J&J crowd “Plus”. That plus is a little bit better atmosphere and a real focus on the food. Like Garrison’s (the best value in steak in Atlanta, especially the Vinings location), the menu has some serious dishes on it. It also has bar food. To make his restaurant distinctive, Shaw knows that not only must serious dishes have to meet muster, but the basic bar food has to be better than expected. The burgers have to be worth it and wings have to be as good as Atkin’s Park.

Shaw is also taking another pretty big risk. He’s broadening the menu to add pizza. A broader menu will let him expand the crowd that comes in, however, serving pizza when you’re 50 feet from Mellow Mushroom is risky. Still, if he wants to capture both the Brookhaven parental crowd and the Oglethorpe University students, pizza is a risk that can pay. The trick will be to keep an eye on the quality. If some parts of the menu are not consistently prepared well, the reputation of the restaurant could suffer. With a diverse menu, that’s harder to do.

In doing a broader menu, he’s going the opposite way from institutions such as 5 Seasons and the Village Bakery and Restaurant. Both of those watering holes have made their mark by limiting their menu to a particular zeitgeist of food. The Village does delicious authentic German food. The 5 Seasons Brewery has done it by embracing a slow food philosophy and using only organic ingredients (and it’s Kobe beef you can afford!). They’ve also created an atmosphere that’s very community oriented. As a result both restaurants are beloved.

Shaw’s path to stalwartship in the community is riskier, however he also has the power of the Metrotainment group behind him. That gives him some marketing muscle, management help, access to first class desserts, and branding. It helps to be able to say “We’re the sports entertainment version of Cowtippers or Garrisons”; the message being “hey we’re just like these other places you love, but you can keep an eye on the game too!”

Visiting the Hudson Grille on opening night was a good experience and worth repeating. The interior is a bit upscale from Jocks and Jills but higher energy than Garrison’s. The service was on point and the food was good. The desserts were delicious. Key lime pie with a raspberry drizzle is always a good idea. The biggest complaint is that it’s a tad noisy, but they’ll learn to zone things. The check was $26 including one main course (shrimp), two desserts, and drinks.

Tests for the Hudson Grille and Shaw’s team will come pretty quickly. The community test will first come this weekend when the surrounding professional community comes to relax. He’ll be ready for them. Then two weeks from now, ‘the excellence in a broad situation’ test will continue when Oglethorpe students return.

Hopefully this place will succeed for a number of reasons. First, with Jocks and Jills on the defensive, Atlanta can use a good upscale sports bar. Second, Hudson Grille stays open late (until 2 AM) and is walking distance from a MARTA station so you can zip over after the game or concert is done). In an era where places have cut back their hours, it’s good to have a transit accessible watering hole where you can stay until the last train!

What were they thinking? WABE, which had some momentum has just lost some with the release of their new schedule. Yes adding “The World” was a great thing, but lessening the number of days that ‘Fresh Air’ was carried is not the way. Moving ‘The Infinite Mind” and “Speaking of Faith” to 7 AM on the weekends when the number of people who are awake to hear it is significantly lessened is not the way.

Further, ‘My Word‘ is gone. Bundling it with ‘Says You‘ or ‘My Music’ would have made a lot more sense. It could have been coupled with ‘Studio 360′ and replaced the repeat of a ‘Prarie Home Companion’.

The Best Solution would simply have been to run Fresh Air at 2 P.M. and leave everything else in place. That would have meant losing an hour of music and that well may be the cause of the reluctance. However, the public seems to want the news programming. Moreover, there does not seem to be a well organized program to the classical music played in the afternoons. One solution to this would be to have an hour set aside each day to recordings of Atlanta Classical Music. Another would be to have an hour dedicated each day to serious music of the past 20 years.

In the mean time the new line up will make one element of the station more popular… the HD news Channel.

That Grady Hospital is in trouble is nothing new, but after talking to physicians that work there, there is new information to add to the mix.

Just in case, you’re unaware, Grady Hospital is in big trouble.  It is again on the verge of closing.  One physician who asked to not be identified said she expects Grady to close before October.  It will simply run out of money and Emory will be financially forced to stop providing free services.

There are several causes here.  One is clearly mismanagement, but that’s not the whole ball of wax.  The Board is at fault, but so are Fulton and Dekalb County who have bickered over funding the hospital and providing alternate clinics for non emergency health care for the uninsured.  Uninsured and Indigent patients make up 60% of the workload of Grady.  Also, as discussed previously, the suburbs leach off of Grady for the most severe cases and don’t provide any funding on their own. Some working at Grady even allege that indigent patients from Cobb, Gwinnett, Henry, and Clayton Counties are brought to Grady and dumped so that hospitals in those communities don’t have to take the hit.  Lastly, as with MARTA, the state has provided nothing but regulation.  They have provided no funding.

Letting Grady close would be a tragedy of untold proportions.  Grady is the best level one trauma center in the country.  If you suffer severe trauma, you want to go to Grady.  Not only is it the best, it’s the only Level One Trauma Center for 100 miles in any direction.  No other hospital in Metro Atlanta can match it’s emergency resources.  If Grady closes, we’re a lot less prepared for a terrorist attack or major disaster.  Keeping Grady open is a matter of Homeland Security.

Doctors working a Grady are disheartened.  Many departments are working on Doctors who are not getting paid.  They are working pro-bono.  As well intentioned as they are, if the choice is going to put in hours a Grady or going to see their kid’s soccer game, Grady is going to lose some hours.  Moreover, Doctors complain of staff shortages, security concerns, and the notion that once an emergency is over, the goal is no longer to give good care, but passable care.  “It’s not what I signed up for” opined one Doctor, “But I have to do something.”   Is that they attitude we want from Doctors?

Asked about solutions, Doctors want a new board and new governing structure.  While there is some skepticism, the opinion seems to be that the Grady Task Force Plan is better than other alternatives out there.  They also want action from the Governor.  The Governor apparently appoints a substantial portion of the Grady Board but has not held those members accountable.  Doctors would like to see a sign that the Governor is aware of the problem and is ready to do something about it.

The irony is that Governor Perdue is perfectly situated to help right now.  He has a surplus of tax revenues which are unassigned.  Right now he can create a Grady Hospital Rainy Day Fund and pledge to help the hospital recover from its current financial crisis in return for reforms that will improve the quality of care and let the hospital reform its structure.  He doesn’t even necessarily have to spend the money.  Simply guaranteeing the Hospitals Debt would go a long way toward helping it come out of the woods.  Even if the bonds came due, he could invest the money and likely not even use half of it.  The problem is that he is unwilling to offer money even if changes are made!  This will not help his political legacy or future.

Allegedly, Perdue has Vice Presidential aspirations.  If he lets the best trauma center close, he won’t be chosen.  If, instead, he shows some leadership and creates a successful program that ensures that Grady Hospital thrives long term, that will get him some notice… and he’d actually do something as Governor!  How about that!

Clearly College Park’s community wants to keep growing.  With the lull in the development market, College Park is growing more slowly than 3 or 4 years ago and downtown has some vacant spaces.
The City, however, has made some smart choices.  They’re using the vacant store fronts as Art Galleries.  While this is not a new idea, it is something not seen inside the perimeter much, and having the art in the windows helps in three positive ways:

1. It keeps the street scape from looking vacant and keeps traffic interested in the life of the town rather than just passing through on the way to the car rental returns.
2. It brings attention to the fact that the space is available.  That helps the Realtors and hence the value of the taxes
3. It keeps local artists engaged in the community.

It’s a shame that shopping malls, town councils, and other retailers do not see the benefit of creating inducements to let vacant space be used for art.  If you have a run down area, nothing will bring traffic in like creating a theater and gallery space.  Just look at how vital ART Station is to keeping Stone Mountain afloat and see that East Atlanta has suffered after Echo Lounge closed.

Heck, look at Underground.  It’s never recovered from Dante moving out.  Further, with no Gallery Space or theatrical performance down there, the space continues o suffer.  Now, ACPA is working with with Underground to develop some theater space on Upper Alabama.  That’s guaranteed to bring traffic in and as long as the rent is affordable, performances by emerging groups can bring those with the spirit of the adventure and the finances to afford it back to Underground to help make it alive.

Theater is the next step for the south side as well.  East Point, Hapeville, and College Park are all missing theaters in their downtown.  When they get established those town will really kick it in to the next level.

Alabama Governor Bob Riley must be really thirsty, because he wants 18 billion gallons of water from us.  He has threatened to sue the Army Corps of Engineers to get them to essentially drain Lake Acworth, Lake Allatoona, and Carter’s Lake.

Riley wants the water for Alabama and believes that the Army Corps has broken its promises.  For their part, the Army disagrees.  Riley has said that there are uses for the water kept in those lakes and that “It’s not for recreation”.  Riley complains that Alabama towns are in deep trouble and may lose access to water if they don’t get some of ours.

Here are two steps Riley could have taken, but didn’t.  He did not call the Governor of Georgia and ask for help.  If Alabama towns really, honestly, literally are going to be without water, Georgia can help a little, but the need really has to be there and there needs to be evidence of steps taken to economize the resources that are there.

That includes stopping to flow of water to Golf Courses.  That’s a step Georgia could take as well.  The Environmental Protection Agency already has safety concerns about golf courses and water use.  Limiting the amount of water they use could help all of use dramatically.  Two steps can immediately help here.  Water only the greens and water them only after sunset.  This reduce the amount of water a Golf Course uses by up to 80%.  Also use gray water for this.  The grass is less picky about the kind of water used.  That lets the most expensive, processed water go to the schools and homes that need it.

Until Governor Perdue hears from Governor Riley, he should urge the corps to maintain appropriate reservoir levels at Georgia’s Lakes.  Our citizens have needs as well and our growth rate is higher.  We’re all going to have to conserve and use water more economically, but over time, Georgia is going to keep more of its own water as our population is growing.

Sembler is talking a good game about their mammoth Briarcliff North Druid Hills Development, but talk is cheap… the question is whether the housing will be as well.  They’ve promised 1000 units of lower income housing (BTW, they’ve created a new vocabulary term for these… they’re now ‘workforce’ units).  The question is what does lower income mean in this case?  Who gets it?  Who gets to decide?

With real estate prices soaring, starter homes are in short supply.  In the area around the development 850 square foot houses are being replaced with 5000 square foot  McMansions.   There is little or no  rentable space left from $400 to $750 month left.  Perhaps a means test is in order here.  It would be great to create 300 new home owners all of whom have an income of under $30,000 per household.

The Dekalb County Commission to pass the Atlanta City Council for leadership here.  To make this project work, schools need to be relocated, a major stadium will fall and low income housing will be lost.  This is the time for the commission to require new development meet a public good.  Instead of simply requiring low income housing (which they ought to do), the commission ought also require that 20% of the land be usable greenspace and that 20% of the non housing property go to non-commercial uses such as police stations, libraries, or arts centers.

They also need a traffic mitigation plan that will off-set the added vehicular traffic to the area.  This project will be bigger than Atlantic Station and so perhaps an 18 hour shuttle running every 15 minutes to Lindbergh station might be an answer.

Development is inevitable.  Added tax revenue is great, but when a project of this scale comes along, there needs to be a public good that comes with it.

The next master plan meeting is  July 25 at Kittredge School, 2383 North Druid Hills Road, from 7 to 9 p.m. At the meeting, Alex Garvin & Associates will present their proposal for a master plan and zoning recommendations for the study area.

Places of quiet contemplation in the heart of a city are vital and Atlanta is losing them.  Yes, there are parks, coffee houses, stores, malls, sidewalks, but fewer and fewer non-commercial spaces to simply quietly contemplate.  The saddest example of this is that The Temple of All Faiths at the King Center has been locked for years.  Contemplations of Faith are no longer welcome there.

The same goes for many churches, which are now locked more often than not.  On a recent Sunday afternoon the First Presbyterian Church was locked up tight.  Even Catholic Churches are closing their doors to those who simply wish a quiet moment in a solemn setting.  Right now, only the Airport Chapel and those in Hospitals are available all the time, and even during the day few places are available.  Though, if they’re not in session, the Georgia House Chamber is a beautiful place.

Atlanta needs a space such as the Baha’i Temple in Chicago.  Anyone can go there and meditate on the world.  They will be left in peace to consider as they will.  There is no pressure to participate in their religion, though people are there if you have questions.

What prevents places like this from developing?  A few challenges seem to stand in the way.  The two worst villains are the twins of Security and Insurance Liability.  No one wants the headache.  Second, I fear that the vagrancy problem the city faces has a perceived impact.  Still, it’s sad that there is no respectful non-denomination place for all the city to gather to think, pay respects, or celebrate greatness.  Maybe that’s the next great thing on which Bernie Marcus can invest in the city…

Everyone should go see the current exhibit at MODA. The basic message is that Global Warming is coming for us because of the way we live. If we do nothing, we’re  doomed… or at least anyone with current ocean front property is doomed.

It’s also about design innovations that will let us easily transform the way we live. From Nike shoes that help your Ipod work as a pedometer to ways you can reduce the cleaning agents you use that damage water, the good of the future is in smart design.

There are also architecture projects from Jova Daniels Busby and other firms, contributions from Citizens for Progressive Transit and a video by Joe Winter and Cathy Poley. Yes. That Joe Winter and That Cathy Poley.

The exhibition uses Atlanta as a basis and compares other cities.  It points out, for example, that Barcelona packs the same number ofpeople we do into four percent of the land we use. They also use Koolhaas-like maps to visually indicate the direction of change as well as the numbers representing it.

The exhibit can be a bit preachy (one panel exhorts us to stop want to own things for after all, where we put it all?) but much of it is good work and worth catching.

This is being cross-posted everywhere.

If there is one case that the Atlanta Police and Fulton County District Attorney’s Office has to handle it’s the case of the Cabbage Town Kidnappers.

If you’re not familiar with this, at 2:30 AM on July first, two attorneys from prominent legal organizations were kidnapped outside of a nightclub.  They were not freed until 15 hours later.  The names of suspects have not been released.

Nothing.  Absolutely nothing will shut off tourism and confirm white flight fears of downtown faster than kidnappings.  While it is horrible that this happened, and the kidnappers were just plain stupid to attack someone who worked with the Public Defenders Office, this is a chance at redemption for the police department.  Heaven knows they need it.

If the police get this case solved quickly and by the book, their reputation will be partially restored.  If they give the D.A. a case that is easy to prosecute that will help too.  The District Attorney then needs to make it very clear that kidnappers will swiftly receive the full impact of justice.

The Mayor, Convention and Visitors Bureau, and club owners then need to work together to make sure that this does not happen again.  That means more police at various clubs at all hours of the night.  It means that the police are going to have to work harder and smarter and may not be able to take as many side gigs.

So far, people have felt safe moving back into the city, but if another kidnapping happens, or if worse, one is successful, those condos will become very inexpensive very quickly and Real Estate Developers will egg on an already eager legislature to punish the city.

The Mayor specifically needs to get her hands dirty here.  She needs to find the money to hire more officers, pay them more, and make sure they’re not corrupt.  She then needs to publicly put pressure on Chief Pennington to make real changes and to cooperate with the Union.  She needs to get businesses to help with some support for officers and the families.  Then, we need the cop on every corner pledge.

Downtown, you need to always be able to see a police officer.  Chicago did this in the 1970s and it made a huge difference.  Literally, there was a cop on every block, all the time.  From Castleberry Hill to the Fox and from Centennial Park to the King Center, any should be able to simply say, “Excuse Me, Mr. Officer?” and get  immediate friendly help.

Do that and downtown booms.  Fail to do that, see one major crime happen, and the whole city will lose 20% of the its property tax value over night.

The Immortal Game lives in Atlanta!  Chess is among the longest lasting, most powerful contests humanity has created, and Atlanta has a chess culture.  It’s not talked about or covered in the paper, but people here talk about chess, think about chess, and support institutions that let it thrive.   It’s an underground movement.

Here then are three of the most important places on the chess circuit in Atlanta:

1. The Atlanta Chess Center is a great resources.  That there is a cultural center dedicated to chess here speaks highly of the city.  Annual memberships are only $100 and you can sit in and play a casual game for $2.  They sell chess clocks, sets, books, and videos as well as a variety of snacks!  It’s a great place to do play actual people rather than a computer or on line.  It’s also a chance to get some instruction if you want to move your game to the next level.
2. Woodruff Park.  The Southwest side of the park is Chess Hustler Central.   Again, no chess hustlers, no real city.   The chess here is often for money, is fast and furious, and transcends all.  This is where the well-healed and the homeless meet on equal turf.  Everyone’s King is equal and everyone’s a pawn.  Just be ready for the kibitz that will surely come your way.
3. The Village Bakery.  This is the chess players’ tavern in town.   There are four sets in the the building including one that is a meter square!  Located at Memorial Drive and Ponce in Stone Mountain, the German food is excellent, the beer is fresh, and the proprietor, Clause is a great guy.  He’s also not a bad player!  On a recent visit the bar was not crowded and friendly people stopped by to check out the boards in play.  Places such as the Village Bakery deserve community support as they are the real deal.  This might be the true thinking man’s tavern.

Hopefully, Atlanta will begin to acknowledge the broad based support for the game.  It would be great to see Creative Loafing or Sunday Paper carry a regular column on chess.  It would be even better if all the Starbucks and other coffee houses in town which had chess boards on their tables went to their local dollar stores and bought a couple of chess sets.  It would create community for the coffee houses and symbolize the city’s commitment to more than one kind of Queen.