Midtown (Atlanta: real estate, apartments, condos)

[ATLondoner]

Originally Posted by jsvh

As someone that lived in Midtown I loved many of the events even if they brought street closures (and even I did not go to an event, I know others did). It all goes back to if Midtown should focus on serving commuters or residents. Luckily they have chosen to focus on residents in recent years.

Great post.

[afdinatl]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Agreed. Was in Boston over the weekend. The little street festivals in the North End and Back Bay were really great. And, it was great to see how pristine the Boston Commons were.

If you know the only place in Midtown for a festival is Piedmont Park and you go there and do not see a festival you will think "Nothing big is going on in Midtown" but having those street festivals make you want to explore the area more to make sure you aren't missing anything. In real cities you can just start walking and find entertainment. When I go to real cities I just start walking with no plan and find multiple things going on. A large part of "just finding random entertainment" are street festivals. The other main portion is having very few parking lots. More high-rises = more restaurants, more people, more people walking, more festivals, more people from the suburbs visiting, more entertainment and it creates more exciting stories to tell. I'd rather tell a fun story about an event in Midtown instead of going to Waffle House in Lawrenceville

[atler8]

afdinatl & Ant131531
Choosing the right street for such an event is important though. I don't care how they do it in a "real city", for good grief!
Street closures should not be done without careful consideration to the nearby businesses & residents & as well as to commuting patterns when the road is a major one such as Spring St. Nor should they seemingly be done on a "willy nilly" basis as I described them earlier. I don't see why if an event needs to be held on a street setting, a couple of smaller side streets aren't utilized instead of a major artery.
I understand the positive appeal of urban flavor cultural events or festivals but there has to be some measure of adequate consideration and planning to be put into it otherwise the massive collapse of traffic movement caused by such repeated Spring St. closures will be the goose that kills the golden egg for more Tech Square development.
Specifically to you Ant & afd, I'll gladly purchase you both tickets to ride with me on my GRTA bus next October so that you can firsthand experience the nightmare & get a different take on the situation.

[afdinatl]

Originally Posted by atler8

afdinatl & Ant131531
Choosing the right street for such an event is important though. I don't care how they do it in a "real city", for good grief!
Street closures should not be done without careful consideration to the nearby businesses & residents & as well as to commuting patterns when the road is a major one such as Spring St. Nor should they seemingly be done on a "willy nilly" basis as I described them earlier. I don't see why if an event needs to be held on a street setting, a couple of smaller side streets aren't utilized instead of a major artery.
I understand the positive appeal of urban flavor cultural events or festivals but there has to be some measure of adequate consideration and planning to be put into it otherwise the massive collapse of traffic movement caused by such repeated Spring St. closures will be the goose that kills the golden egg for more Tech Square development.
Specifically to you Ant & afd, I'll gladly purchase you both tickets to ride with me on my GRTA bus next October so that you can firsthand experience the nightmare & get a different take on the situation.

Just stay in the suburbs and eat at Waffle House and Burger King.

[0nyxStation]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

Man. I hope the transportation folks are busy planning!

They only have 3 stations to plan around, Unless they bring that Streetcar thing in the area to run east and west of Midtown.

Midtown is definitely King of Hill for Atlanta. Very hot district.

[glovenyc]

Originally Posted by afdinatl

Just stay in the suburbs and eat at Waffle House and Burger King.

afdinatl, I totally agree with you about street fairs and just the energy of a (real) city. I've been here 5 years now, and Atlanta has improved considerably in this area. When I moved here, the streets downtown and midtown seemed eerie to me.

[atler8]

I don't appreciate the smart aleck & uncalled for putdown style of response directed at me, afd. I recall that you have been short with me on a previous occasion too.
Additionally, you don't know me from Adam nor know my tastes other than what I have expressed here as a concern for traffic gridlock caused by major event street closures in the Tech Square area. And I am doing my own part as a GRTA Xpress commuter to lessen the clogging of metro roads.
My last in city residence amongst my 30 years spent living IN the City of Atlanta was on Fortune St. in your very own OFW, by the way.

[0nyxStation]

Originally Posted by afdinatl

Real cities have them in the streets

I agree shut the streets down.

[afdinatl]

Originally Posted by atler8

I don't appreciate the smart aleck & uncalled for putdown style of response directed at me, afd. I recall that you have been short with me on a previous occasion too.
Additionally, you don't know me from Adam nor know my tastes other than what I have expressed here as a concern for traffic gridlock caused by major event street closures in the Tech Square area. And I am doing my own part as a GRTA Xpress commuter to lessen the clogging of metro roads.
My last in city residence amongst my 30 years spent living IN the City of Atlanta was on Fortune St. in your very own OFW, by the way.

If they want to close the darn street let them. You never hear people in the city telling people in the suburbs what to do (Outside of Marta).

[atler8]

You are missing my point in your apparent focus on the fact that I now live in Jonesboro & are categorizing me as a suburbanite. If you knew me personally, you would know how much of a true urbanite I have been and still am.
I have long defended The City of Atlanta for most of my 35 years in Georgia from all sorts of of the anti-Atlanta crap & sniping as seen in public forums, long heard on a.m. talk radio & elsewhere.
The fact that I now live in Jonesboro is not as you would judge it a simple case of a suburbanite telling Atlanta whether or not to close streets down for events. But rather, having worked at my job at 14th & Peachtree for 30 years, I am aware of how sensitive businesses and their employees, and yes even residents, can be when they can't get into their offices, office parking decks or get their clients in to see them. Additionally, I hear the grousing from the condo residents in my mixed use complex when they can't readily get into or out of our complex.
On beyond the personal experiences of inconvenience with street closures I have repeatedly encountered while commuting on my GRTA Xpress bus, I worry for the city proper of Atlanta that the rising gridlock will hurt it and reverse the flow of businesses & residents that is currently underway back into the city. That is not something that I want to see happen.
I have long held that Atlanta grew so large in the first place because, first & foremost, it was & is a city of business & that we not should kill it's intown revival with a worsening of traffic gridlock.