Slate article on Atlanta (Decatur, Stone Mountain: home, neighborhood, subdivisions)

[arjay57]

I was insulted, too.

Some quotes from the article:

“Honey, we don’t walk in Atlanta,” Lucy told me. “We all drive here. I can’t say why. I guess we’re just lazy.”

Nobody walks in Atlanta.

Anybody who lives in the suburbs can tell you that people walk all the time and they are every bit as fit as Midtowners. If Midtown people are so all-fired set on walking everywhere, how come their apartment buildings have parking garages? If they can stay fit simply by walking around to pick up the proverbial gallon of milk, then why do they have fitness centers?

[atler8]

I understand some of that sense you 2 are conveying here in response. I can get prickly depending on the topic of criticism & especially over how it is relayed. Neither intown or OTP living is perfect; in fact both far from it.
I found the article right on though in that it focused on the street development style out where I live which happens to be a pet peeve of mine & is one of the big failures of my area in my opinion.
I hate to be contrary arjay but honestly speaking, I have never ever lived anywhere where on a per capita basis there were as many grossly large & out of shape people either. When I go shopping or eat out, I'm amazed by the number of people who cannot walk & are relying on a motorized cart to get them around. Unfortuunately their size often dwarfs the cart they are on!
It's not just suburban Atlanta where I find the size differential to be noticeable but also other places I visit, such as Montgomery, Columbus, knoxville. So it's not just a criticism of mine directed only toward suburban folks.

[residinghere2007]

Read the article a few days ago and I actually do agree with it to an extent as some suburbs here in Atlanta are pretty walkable, like Decatur (city of that is).

But on the whole, I think practically the entire of the metro area is pretty spread apart and that can cause a lot of people not to walk as often. A co-worker of mine is a recent transplant, been here under a year and they love it here but told me that they miss walking and have gained 10lbs. They live in Gwinnet County.

I actually do have lots of places to walk to if I like, except a grocery store, which would be nice. My mom's house in my hometown is a block away from a family owned (really good) grocery store and I wish I had something similar near me so I could drive less.

I actually did used to live in Mableton and it was okay, but it was too much driving and CCT is a horrible option for getting around out there. I also lived in Smyrna and liked it better than Mableton, but it also is poorly served by CCT and there weren't any stores near me in any place and sparse sidewalks. Atlanta proper doesn't have nice sidewalks in most areas IMO but at least there are some in most neighborhoods and one of the main reasons I like my neighborhood is because of the traditional street grid layout. I can imagine it was pretty vibrant back in the day as there are commercial buildings in the interior of the neighborhood, a good sidewalk system, and a street grid typical of northern cities. Luckily there is a corner store two blocks from me so if we need something quick, we can go over there and my kid does walk over there or to Family Dollar with friends in the neighborhood.

[ChefRamsey]

Slate = The Onion

[10 feet tall]

Originally Posted by ChefRamsey

Slate = The Onion

I agree - a lot of Slate's stuff is essentially troll articles and click bait written in an inflammatory voice. Definitely less reputable than The Atlantic or other online mags.

But this seems to be all anyone writes about Atlanta, and to me it is a misrepresentation. Not to mention, there is no reason that living in the suburbs makes you exercise less or gain more weight. I live in "the suburbs" and people are always outside and walking around my neighborhood. I don't really see that many obese people either. Granted, no one walks to the store to get groceries and hauls them back on foot, but I have a hard time believing that many people in Midtown do that either, at least not to any significant degree. How inconvenient! What are you going to do? Push a shopping cart with a weeks worth of groceries back to your home? Awkward.

Basically, all of America trends toward being fat. But the younger you are, the less likely you are to be fat. And the younger you are, the more likely you are to live in Midtown. There's your true correlation.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by 10 feet tall

I agree - a lot of Slate's stuff is essentially troll articles and click bait written in an inflammatory voice. Definitely less reputable than The Atlantic or other online mags.

But this seems to be all anyone writes about Atlanta, and to me it is a misrepresentation. Not to mention, there is no reason that living in the suburbs makes you exercise less or gain more weight. I live in "the suburbs" and people are always outside and walking around my neighborhood. I don't really see that many obese people either. Granted, no one walks to the store to get groceries and hauls them back on foot, but I have a hard time believing that many people in Midtown do that either, at least not to any significant degree. How inconvenient! What are you going to do? Push a shopping cart with a weeks worth of groceries back to your home? Awkward.

Basically, all of America trends toward being fat. But the younger you are, the less likely you are to be fat. And the younger you are, the more likely you are to live in Midtown. There's your true correlation.

Thank you. I wish I had your eloquence. Well said.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by ATLJR

u mad?

No, he's simply correct.

[tikigod311]

Not a fan of the tone of this article. Why is Atlanta made to be the sole example of bad planning. I think you could do this article in EVERY SINGLE METRO in the United States. Atlanta is not unique in this respect.

But, I think we should do better at making places where one lives more friendly to pedestrian travel. Oddly enough, Atlanta has quite possibly the best example of this in the US, Peachtree City.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by tikigod311

Not a fan of the tone of this article. Why is Atlanta made to be the sole example of bad planning[?] I think you could do this article in EVERY SINGLE METRO in the United States. Atlanta is not unique in this respect.

As one of the absolute least (if not THE least) dense major metropolitan regions on the entire planet, and as a major metro region that has held the derisive nickname of "The Poster Child for Sprawl", Atlanta is a huge target and most-favorite punching bag for foreign and domestic critics who hate the automobile-dominated American suburban lifestyle.

The fact that Atlanta is home to the world's busiest airport, hosted an Olympic games, is the cradle of the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's and '60's, and is home to a robust and internationally-recognized music scene only makes the city an even larger and more-visible target for both sharp critics and extreme haters of the automobile-dominated American suburban lifestyle.

[ElleKaye]

Originally Posted by 10 feet tall

Not sure if this has already been posted.

Anyone read the book? Seems like this is the general narrative about Atlanta.

Why cul-de-sacs are bad for your health: Happy City by Charles Montgomery.

I'm just reading the article but I had to stop for this part: When designers try to maximize the number of cul-de-sacs in an area, they create a dendritic—or treelike—system of roads that feeds all their traffic into a few main branches.

A-frigging-men