Atlanta Community Discussion Thread

[cybele]

Well it looks like Atlanta and Georgia are leading the pack in fighting this so-called "climate change" thing.

Six Republican congressmen from Georgia have signed onto an Atlanta-based organization’s legal challenge of a federal announcement that could lead to government regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

The petition argues that news of a conspiracy within the scientific community to hide evidence that calls into question manmade impacts on global warming has emerged since the closing of public comment on the EPA filing.

According to widespread media reports, e-mails stolen from the climate unit at the University of East Anglia in Great Britain appeared to show some of the world’s leading scientists discussing how to shield data from the public.

Atlanta group challenges EPA on greenhouse gases

[cabasse]

wouldn't mind seeing short buses myself

[cybele]

Well I hate to say it but just from reading the news it looks like crime is worse out here in the burbs than it is in the city limits.

[(four 0 four)]

Maria Saporta, in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, has an article about a return visit from G. Lars Gullstedt. He's the Swedish developer who assembled quite a chunk of land in Midtowm in the early 90's. She posted these pictures (that I've tried in vain to dig up in the past) of the now defunct proposed development:



The building in the foreground is the Biltmore...


The only building completed that is mentioned in the article is what is now the Four Seasons Hotel. I thought I remembered his name being connected with the building at Ten Peachtreee Place designed by Michael Graves where AGL Resources is located...anyone else remember this?

[trainiac]

Originally Posted by (four 0 four)

Maria Saporta, in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, has an article about a return visit from G. Lars Gullstedt. He's the Swedish developer who assembled quite a chunk of land in Midtowm in the early 90's. She posted these pictures (that I've tried in vain to dig up in the past) of the now defunct proposed development:



The building in the foreground is the Biltmore...


The only building completed that is mentioned in the article is what is now the Four Seasons Hotel. I thought I remembered his name being connected with the building at Ten Peachtreee Place designed by Michael Graves where AGL Resources is located...anyone else remember this?

Can't remember where I snagged this one, ohh those many years ago but it's funny cause my current office looks much different



I love that the "batman towers" are on top of Robert Spano's condo

[jurban8]

Oh the Postmodern horrors. No, but really glad this didn't pan out: mega-projects built at one time can be so bland.

[cybele]

Promo for ARC's "Crafting Quality Communities."


http://www.vimeo.com/8077799

[atlantaguy]

Originally Posted by (four 0 four)

Maria Saporta, in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, has an article about a return visit from G. Lars Gullstedt. He's the Swedish developer who assembled quite a chunk of land in Midtowm in the early 90's. She posted these pictures (that I've tried in vain to dig up in the past) of the now defunct proposed development:



The building in the foreground is the Biltmore...


The only building completed that is mentioned in the article is what is now the Four Seasons Hotel. I thought I remembered his name being connected with the building at Ten Peachtreee Place designed by Michael Graves where AGL Resources is located...anyone else remember this?

Yes, and you are absolutely correct, four 0 four.

The next phase after Ten Peachtree Place was supposed to be that urban mall where the Federal Reserve is now. The anchor stores that were signed (B. Altman and Bonwit Teller) don't even exist anymore.

I have a rendering of the mall in a drawer somewhere.

I also remember that the Four Seasons was originally called the GLG Tower.

[cybele]

Well it would be interesting to hear what this fellow says about Atlanta.

The Ruse of the Creative Class

[trainiac]

Originally Posted by atlantaguy

The next phase after Ten Peachtree Place was supposed to be that urban mall where the Federal Reserve is now. The anchor stores that were signed (B. Altman and Bonwit Teller) don't even exist anymore.

I have a rendering of the mall in a drawer somewhere.

Sweet that must have been during the early Music Midtown days. I'd love to see the picture.

On another note: I was in Brookwood recently... anybody know who developed the Kroger/Borders place? Hadn't been there for a while and forgot how good a job they did. It's been a long time since that was IHOP and the Beer Mug with the ball fields in the back. Still kind of miss the Mug

[atl2phx]

Originally Posted by trainiac

On another note: I was in Brookwood recently... anybody know who developed the Kroger/Borders place? Hadn't been there for a while and forgot how good a job they did. It's been a long time since that was IHOP and the Beer Mug with the ball fields in the back. Still kind of miss the Mug

the beer mug was pretty sweet.

every kindof bar game was crammed into that spot; pool, darts, foosball and shuffleboard. i wonder what ever became of their neon sign....somebody probably has it featured prominently in a downtown loft.

[cybele]

Well the new mayor is turning up the heat:

Mayor Reed plans to get tougher with panhandlers

Reed is quick to defend his approach as compassionate — not to professional beggars, but to actual homeless people and low-income workers. If rampant panhandling causes downtown hotels and restaurants to lose business, it’ll be the line cooks and hotel maids and maintenance men who suffer when their jobs are cut, he said Tuesday.

“I separate homelessness and panhandling,” he explained, pointing out that Atlanta offers homeless treatment services through its Gateway Center.

Then he delivered a tough sound bite: “Walking up and asking people for money in the city of Atlanta is not OK.”

We’ll see how this plays out.

In related news, the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless has apparently gotten a foreclosure reprieve on its mammoth shelter at the corner of Peachtree and Pine streets in Midtown. I’d reported back in November that the building was about to be sold on the courthouse steps to satisfy delinquent debts to two charitable lenders.

[Fiorenza]

If KR can deal with the 'handlers he'll be on my A list.

[cybele]

Well there sure are a lot of foreclosures. According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Midtown's Campanile 440,000 sf Campanile tower is scheduled for foreclosure on February 2. It is 14% leased.

[cybele]

Originally Posted by Fiorenza

If KR can deal with the 'handlers he'll be on my A list.

Well one thing I have never understood is why if you're going to all the trouble of being a panhandler you don't just get a regular job? Panhandling has got to be harder than many jobs plus you have to stand outside in cold weather and you can get locked up. I seriously doubt that you get much customer loyalty either.

[sunking1056]

Originally Posted by cybele

Well one thing I have never understood is why if you're going to all the trouble of being a panhandler you don't just get a regular job? Panhandling has got to be harder than many jobs plus you have to stand outside in cold weather and you can get locked up. I seriously doubt that you get much customer loyalty either.

Um... I hope that's satirical. If so, well done.

[atl2phx]

man i miss andrea.

[cybele]

Well here's a look at the movie rental demographics in Atlanta. Fascinating.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...ix-map.html?hp

[cybele]

Well it looks like poverty is going up faster in the suburbs than it is in the central cities.

Two recessions over the last decade have taken their toll on the number of people living in poverty, with nearly half of the increase occurring in the suburbs of the nation's largest metropolitan areas, according to a report Wednesday from liberal think tank the Brookings Institution.

The number of poor grew by 25 percent in suburbs from 2000 to 2008 -- almost five times the growth rate in primary cities, the report found.

Those areas where the housing bust was particularly bad, such as in Atlanta, were hit particularly hard, said Elizabeth Kneebone, a senior research analyst with Brookings and co-author of the report.

In 2008, Atlanta’s suburbs had a poverty rate of 10.7 percent, compared with 22.4 percent in the city of Atlanta. Some 95,484 people in Atlanta lived below poverty level ($21,834 for a family of four), compared with 519,521 in Atlanta’s suburbs. And 15.5 percent of poor people in the metro area lived in the city of Atlanta, compared with 84.5 percent in the suburbs.

Brookings Institution predicted metro Atlanta will see an 2.5 percent jump in its poverty rate based on 2009 unemployment figure.

Poverty rising faster in Atlanta's suburbs

[Fiorenza]

Here in the Atlanta area there's built up a cottage industry to help folks who have bailed out of their first or second $300,000 house. Even with FHA financing such houses for 3% down and a 500 beacon score, many can't make the payments and get foreclosed, but yet they've become accustomed to the lifestyle of living in such a house. The game then is for certain investors to buy for $120,000 or less a HUD or REO house that had previously sold for $350,000, and get a buyer into it on a lease-purchase deal with $10,000 down, borrowed on credit cards - together with a monthly rent going forward of $1,000, which pays the mortgage. After a couple years the tenant has repaired credit enough for an upstanding mortgage company to get him an FHA mortgage and take out the investor with a 150% profit. Then the cycle repeats. It seems that future generations are being stuck with multiple defaults by the same deadbeats.