arc of time

christian boone, who moonlights as the atlmalcontent, has a very good article up in the ajc about the panhandling situation downtown. go read it, but the gist is basically that despite the enactment of the begging ordinance the situation has gotten no better.

one of the things that has saddened me the most since i started going through five points on a regular basis when i made the switch to the #9 is just how bad the place really is. the begging is part of it, the lack of any decent retail or fun places to go is another.

every morning i walk up from pryor and wall to the peachtree entrance to the marta station and i just envision what could be. i walked up marietta street, a beautiful tree line throughfare, this evening and thought the same thing.

and then in the evening i come home and walk from the station to the bus and my face drops as i realize how downscale it has become.

i remember in 1998, when i was living in alpharetta on my first sojourn into atlanta, some friends came to visit and we took them to underground. i remember sitting out in the plaza in front of the world of coke and watching all the people – black, white, young, old. underground even had a WARNER BROTHERS STORE in those days.

i rode past it today on the #9 and the plaza was empty. empty. not a soul in it.

sad.

so anyone got any ideas on how to fix it. bk and i tossed around the usuals the other day – an underground bus terminal, aggresive enforcement of quality of life statues among others – but those don’t seem enough.

i am willing to get involved i just don’t know what to do.

oh and speaking of stereotypes on marta; the other day a woman sitting on the back row of the bus looked at me and then just spit right on the floor of the bus.

nice.