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Sadly, I don't think you can change it. To try and get "tough" will only invite massive criticism and lawsuits from the indigents who dwell there prompting the mayor to fold like a cheap chair. As it relates to people being smarter, well, that's a two-fold problem now isn't it.
1) Be smart, low-profile, keep the phones off....basically, capitulate to the crminals
2) Stand your ground, know your rights, exercise your freedoms and basically get your head blown off for doing so.....kind of like Bagdad, hard to surgically wipe out the bad ones without upsetting everyone.....
There's no easy way. As far as underground Atlanta? That's a joke. Always has been. Put a public venue in a very bad part of town and watch the bullets flly. Reminds me of Sam Kennison's comedy skit about those living in the Desert starving....move them to where the food is...or in this case, move the students to another campus to where the safety is and watch the bait/crime go away...It would be merciful to close Underground Atlanta for the 7th and final time.....please, can we close this dump?
As far as swamping the area with police? Won't work. You'll just drive the bad guy up, or down, a station or two for the same price. Then, we will have multiple five point Marta stations....so to speak. You would just move the problem. As far as students arming themselves? Well, you have to be 21 to have a CCL in Georgia. Then of course, you have to pray the student actually practices for such an event (or, as the paper likes to put it, "tragic episode"). And God help them if they miss....whoa! while it's a bad sitution for the students it WILL increase the legal work so maybe tha's a way to get the Law Firms to move back to downtown?
It's like trying to wrestle with an amoeba...it just keeps morphing and moving...like pushing a rope uphill....good luck with that, give it your best shot. Like all things testy in society. We are going to have to live with it and the criminal knows it or otherwise it woudl be gone already. Sharks feed where they can be fed and right now, they have a smorgasborg open 7 days a week with GSU students as a daily selection. All they can eat (read: rob and maim) and there is little you are going to do about it.
Parting shot. I used to work downtown for a short while at 55 Marietta Street. I parked about 70 yards down the street at a parking deck across from the Georgia Bar Association. Without fail, I was panhandled in the morning and most evenings as I worked late. I could literally run the distance between the two in 15 seconds if need be. On multiple occassions I saw both Policemen and Bobbies witness the event....they merely looked at me, caught eye contact, and looked away. What was I going to do? Mix it up with a pan-handler? I just kept moving and endured the cursing and screaming....I did, however, give change from time to time to the vet (I hope he was) in the wheelchair with a blanket across from the AJC....if you see him, he seems legit and in true need, toss him a few coins.....the rest? well, that's just up to you....after several pertty verbal assaults, I elected to carry a snubnosed .38 in the computer bag, outside pocket, hand across the pocket (Quick unzip and bang, bang) just in case.....it was getting that bad....Yeah, get a CCL if you feel comfortable but, for the sake of yourself and the public at large, practice, practice, practice and have a fundamental understanding of EXACTLY when you can and when you can not employ it. You can't begin to fathom the issues you would/will have should you ever so much as point it at someone.....like the fire alarm, break glass ONLY in a real, real, dire emergency....that or carry pepper spray and have it handy (probably the wiser choice).
I just don't care for downtown...glad I don't work there anymore....
Perhaps we could seal the entrances and bring everything back up to street level like it was in the old days. Plaza Park used to be a pleasant and bustling urban park. There's no reason it can't be that way again.
That looks like the 1940s or 1950s. The photo makes me wish I could step back in time. I'm fascinated by what life was like in the 1960s and earlier. Sort of expect to see Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers there.
Back then people lived in the city and it was a different culture. Although I have no idea what it was like to live under segregation. But there were clear boundaries and roles and everyone knew there place. While those ideas are vilified today, having fewer choices does make life simpler. Odd sort of paradox.
But, the failure of Woodruff Park is probably the destiny of a revived Plaza Park. I don't think it can work like Centennial Park.
After reading about the history of Underground, I think I might agree with arjay and kwh that it should be shuttered (if not able to support itself), and perhaps reopened once some time passes.
Unfortunately, the area between Five Points station and Garnett Station is just so rough these days that something desperately needs to change; it's negatively impacting Woodruff Park and Fairlie Poplar. I was considering moving to the area recently, but I've decided to stick with Midtown. I'm far from squeamish when it comes to urban situations, but the evening I decided to take a stroll along in the area to check it out, I was outright harassed as I walked down the street (called KKK and a derogatory term for gay), and decided I wouldn't be comfortable with my girlfriend walking around there at night. And it's a shame: during the day, Woodruff Park and points north seem to be getting better. The number of students wandering around is crazy.
It's too bad; the potential is incredible, especially given the rise of Castleberry Hill.
On a related note, why in the world did they choose to build the jail by Garnett station? That's kind of an impediment to turning the area around, to put it lightly. (Maybe there was some good reason; I don't know.)
Here, click on this link.....click on the particular crime you wish to review....note the amount of assaults and robberies near GSU.....that ought to tell you what you need/ought to know about downtown
Here, click on this link.....click on the particular crime you wish to review....note the amount of assaults and robberies near GSU.....that ought to tell you what you need/ought to know about downtown
1.
(A) Close Underground and let it sit (protected of course) until the area around there is cleaned up.
OR
(B) Donate it to GSU and let them turn it into "Undercampus." The upper level space would be open the public and rented out, but with no retail! Only a few eating establishments (Waffle house, Coffee Shop, Sub Shop, pizza parlor, etc.) The only retail allowed would be the campus bookstore, which would take the remainder of the space. Build a football/soccer stadium over the Plaza Park/Fountains. Build dorms where the casino would have gone. Close off the lower-level of Underground to the public. Convert the food court into a campus-only dining hall. Use the lower-level shops for administrative offices (bursar's office, registrar, etc.). Perhaps a student union could be relocated there, with student organization meeting space, print-copy-fax store, sutdent-only movie theater.
I just dont know how much space is down there. Does anyone know? Perhaps its just too big to be filled by GSU.
2. MARTA donating the land on which the above-ground "structure" of the Five Points Station (ya know, the one that looks like a bunker) sits to GSU for classroom building. Renovate the station to place the bus stop waiting area underground. That way, we can separate the people waiting for the bus from the loiterers.
3. City of Atlanta donates Woodruff Park to GSU and let them police it as their campus green. GSU needs this anyway, and since the city wont clean it up, perhaps GSU will? They could rip up all that concrete and turn it into a grassy area, like it was when it first opened in the 1970s (see below). However, it would have to have a wall around the perimeter (like Centennial) marking it as GSU property.
4. Swamp the area with police. And I mean swamp! Turn it into a police state. Set up a mini-jail to arrest panhandlers on the spot with a zero-tolerance policy. Ban loitering. Target people who seem to be standing around (and with the underground bus stop, this will be easy to do).
5. The block of Peachtree in between Alabama Street and MLK has to be redveloped! It looks terrible. I am afraid GSU cant help with this. It will have to be private market forces. But hopefully, if #1-4 occur, it shouldnt be too hard to catch a developers interest. The city will have to help by putting pressure on the owners.
I am confident about the area's future, solely due to GSU's activism and determination to make the area its campus (take a gander of what they want to do with the area in their master plan: http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwmsp/2006/masterplan/index.htm ) If you think about it, Five Points is the last frontier of Downtown. Castleberry Hill and Centennial Park are closing in from the west, the emerging Edgewood corridor and a gentrifying Old Fourth Ward are closing in from the east, and Midtown is closing in from the North (through a redevelopment of SoNo).
On a related note, why in the world did they choose to build the jail by Garnett station? That's kind of an impediment to turning the area around, to put it lightly. (Maybe there was some good reason; I don't know.)
It's such a shame too, because the architectural bones of "South Downtown" are amazing.
Here, click on this link.....click on the particular crime you wish to review....note the amount of assaults and robberies near GSU.....that ought to tell you what you need/ought to know about downtown
As far as swamping the area with police? Won't work. You'll just drive the bad guy up, or down, a station or two for the same price. Then, we will have multiple five point Marta stations....so to speak. You would just move the problem. As far as students arming themselves? Well, you have to be 21 to have a CCL in Georgia. Then of course, you have to pray the student actually practices for such an event (or, as the paper likes to put it, "tragic episode"). And God help them if they miss....whoa! while it's a bad sitution for the students it WILL increase the legal work so maybe tha's a way to get the Law Firms to move back to downtown?
It's like trying to wrestle with an amoeba...it just keeps morphing and moving...like pushing a rope uphill....good luck with that, give it your best shot. Like all things testy in society. We are going to have to live with it and the criminal knows it or otherwise it woudl be gone already. Sharks feed where they can be fed and right now, they have a smorgasborg open 7 days a week with GSU students as a daily selection. All they can eat (read: rob and maim) and there is little you are going to do about it.
But what's wrong with moving the bad guys south? This is the center of our city, and now the campus of GSU, that we are talking about. Why not move it to a place without so many students? We cant just give up.
Quote:
Parting shot. I used to work downtown for a short while at 55 Marietta Street. I parked about 70 yards down the street at a parking deck across from the Georgia Bar Association. Without fail, I was panhandled in the morning and most evenings as I worked late. I could literally run the distance between the two in 15 seconds if need be. On multiple occassions I saw both Policemen and Bobbies witness the event....they merely looked at me, caught eye contact, and looked away. What was I going to do? Mix it up with a pan-handler? I just kept moving and endured the cursing and screaming....I did, however, give change from time to time to the vet (I hope he was) in the wheelchair with a blanket across from the AJC....if you see him, he seems legit and in true need, toss him a few coins.....the rest? well, that's just up to you....after several pertty verbal assaults, I elected to carry a snubnosed .38 in the computer bag, outside pocket, hand across the pocket (Quick unzip and bang, bang) just in case.....it was getting that bad....Yeah, get a CCL if you feel comfortable but, for the sake of yourself and the public at large, practice, practice, practice and have a fundamental understanding of EXACTLY when you can and when you can not employ it. You can't begin to fathom the issues you would/will have should you ever so much as point it at someone.....like the fire alarm, break glass ONLY in a real, real, dire emergency....that or carry pepper spray and have it handy (probably the wiser choice).
I just don't care for downtown...glad I don't work there anymore....
When did you work downtown? I'm curious if it has improved or declined since then.
As citizens, we need to make our voices heard that this is unacceptable. I am starting to get sour on Mayor Reed. Has there even been a press conference addressing the robberies? It's almost like the city doesnt care about this area. I dont know what is more embarassing: the area itself or the fact that the city doesnt care.
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