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Originally Posted by Uptowngirl
Its a disgrace because the city government let it get to that point.
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Yes and no. The City government under then Mayor Andrew Young was responsible for the redevelopment of Underground by the Rouse Corp. in the late 80's. It was actually a huge success for a number of years. A lot of us used to proudly take visitors there, and I fondly remember dining at Lombardi's back then. It was quite a home run for a while.
The undoing of Underground started with the Rodney King riots, and Mayor Bill Campbell's refusal to even attempt to control the situation on that horrible day. I worked Downtown then, and remember it vividly. Now it's leased to someone that is obviously beyond clueless, and the City's priorities have changed. The nasty vendors that used to surround the MARTA station have been gone for quite some time.
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Its akin to the decline of downtown in general and Atlanta needs a mayor has the guts to go into the downtown area and clean it up (read: the Times Square transformation. Downtown may not be Times Square but the problems are similar to what NYC had in the late 80s and early 90s).
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Wrong, and not even close. To compare NYC in the late 80's/early 90's to present day Downtown Atlanta is ridiculous at best. Did you actually SEE NY then? Your past post history confirms that you are totally unqualified to speak to pretty much anything related to Downtown with any authority at all. You have zero credibility when it comes to this subject matter, in my opinion. The overall situation in Downtown is the best it has been in decades, and it continues to improve. I would be curious to know just exactly when you last visited Downtown.
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Do NOT tear down Underground Atlanta. Its the people that hang out down there, its the poor stores and the terrible 80s mall redo that was done to it 30 years ago. It can be fixed but it requires leadership.
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I can agree with you on this, it should not be torn down. And I would say that leadership is exactly what is happening now, with the City willing to buy out O'Leary's lease and resell it to the right developer.