Fresh Loaf

I guess Mayor Boyd Austin of Dallas, Ga., is still a victim of other people playing with his Facebook profile?

Privacy settings, sir! Privacy settings!

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It appears state Rep. Steve Davis has encountered Internet gridlock.

This morning, the Republican lawmaker from McDonough’s Twitter account mysteriously regurgitated nearly an entire legislative session’s updates.

This is one screenshot. I will save you the horror of viewing the rest.

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Google wants to save you the embarrassment caused by late-night e-mails to  the bastards that broke your heart. Or just e-mails you wish you wouldn’t have sent regardless. Today the company launches Mail Goggles, a Gmail feature that requires you to complete simple math problems before it sends the message. You get to choose when it’s activated, but by default it’s set for weekends.

Developing: The AJC has been ordered by the Internet Police to use this feature on its comments sections.

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In the piece I wrote last week about residents of southwest Atlanta and their concerns about displacement, a chief concern was conveyed to me and voiced in the meetings. Editorial real estate being limited, I couldn’t delve into it entirely. But I revisit it here because it is important.

Dr. Richard Bright, the minister and health educator quoted in the article with whom I spoke at length, repeated this point: Southwest Atlanta is still a place where people rely on face-to-face communication. They talk in the grocery store, on the streets, and most importantly, at church — a social interaction residents are afraid they will lose should displacement uproot them and force them to start anew in a different community.

At the Southeast Area Beltline Study Group, the issue arose again. When Matthew Dickison, a city of Atlanta urban planner working on the Beltline’s southern region, told residents in attendance that the group would post all the maps and information on the Web, a resident raised her hand and reminded him that “not all of us are computer literate.” She wanted paper copies.

(more…)

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While news reports this week show how Atlanta developers and speculators are becoming extremely interested in properties around the Beltline — even while the tax allocation district funding remains in limbo until John Woodham and the city go at it in the state Supreme Court on Sept. 25 — the same can also be said for online domain names.

Visits to atlantabeltline.org, atlantabeltline.net and atlbeltline.com, atlantabeltlinepartnership.com all were redirected to metro Atlanta real estate agents Alan Andrew and Jonathan Keller. While not illegal, CL contacted Andrew, proprietor of the first two variations, to ask why he snatched up the name. Short answer: He registered it “awhile ago” and did so because “[they're] looking at a number of different projects for the Web site.”

Enlightening! As long as this doesn’t turn into Second Life we’ll all be OK.

For the actual Web sites operated by Beltline planners, visit here, here, or here. Just one more: here.

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