Fresh Loaf

Ben at Terminal Station tries out a new banner image that actually makes Atlanta look cool. Good posts on how Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington should examine the leadership skills of Los Angeles’ chief, who recently stepped down to become a consultant, and whether small grocery stores can survive.

Jim Walls at Atlanta Unfiltered reminds 19 state lawmakers that they need to stop playing coy and file their personal financial disclosure reports — which were due on July 1. See if your elected official is on the list.

Decatur Metro’s now bursting with headline-y goodness.

Doug Richards from Live Apartment Fire returns to the airwaves. Mrs. Live Apartment Fire notes the different ways this will change her life.

Watch this space for GriftDrift’s take on ConstableGate.

Jim Galloway has returned from his well-deserved two-week vacation. Politicians immediately wig out.

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Terminal Station

The Infrastructurist has a great post examining some of the country’s most beautiful train stations that were demolished to make way for bland developments or parking lots.

Atlanta receives shout outs for Terminal Station and Union Station. Both buildings were razed long ago to make way for the Richard B. Russell Federal Building and a parking lot, respectively.

About Terminal Station:

Atlanta was once the largest rail crossroads in the south. Travelers could get virtually everywhere quickly and conveniently by rail. Built in 1905, Terminal was the grand portal to the city. It had two Italianate towers and a huge train shed behind. When the station was razed in 1970, it was replaced by a government office building. These days Atlanta’s intercity rail depot is a small former commuter rail station located far north of downtown, adjacent to a 16-lane highway.

For another beautiful photo of Terminal Station, visit the cleverly named Terminal Station, an Atlanta blog focused on urban issues and development.

UPDATE: A reader whose family member works in the railroad industry sends word:

The statue you see in front of the station (on the little grass island) was placed in front of the Norfolk Southern Railway office building on Peachtree St. just a few weeks ago. It’s of Samuel Spencer, the first president of the Southern Railway. The interesting part is that it was sculpted by the same artist who did the Lincoln Memorial, Daniel Chester French.

(H/T to Dominick Brady, Photo courtesy GSU via Infrastructurist)

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Jason at Peach Pundit hammers House Bill 614, legislation that he says would violate your privacy.

Maria Saporta says the state needs to stop plotting takeovers of MARTA and Jackson-Hartsfield International Airport.

Ben at Terminal Station has a rundown of Saporta’s report on an Urban Land Institute mayoral candidate forum.

Doug at Live Apartment Fire spotlights veteran reporter Don McClellan. The still-at-it newsman reported on — and ran in — this weekend’s ING Marathon.

Speaking of the ING Marathon, Dave at inDecatur has video and photos from the race.

Good news for Georgia’s reputation and any hope of having a biotech industry here. Jim Galloway reports that a House committee chairman says the controversial stem-cell bill won’t move out of the lower chamber.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Urvaksh Karkaria reports on a top-secret meeting of tomorrow’s media overlords at Kennesaw State University professor Leonard Witt’s home. There are photos!

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to post this. Christa, the mysterious scribe behind Pecanne Log, found a 1967 issue of GQ that’s all about Atlanta. She has photos and pullquotes.

And just because, a helping of Griftdrift’s My Morning Wooten from Friday.

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Juliana at Blog For Democracy points out that U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Springfield, need not kvetch that the stimulus plan includes $30 million to save some mice. After his theatrics, which included waving around what looks like a cat toy, it turns out the stimulus, in fact, does not earmark money for the rodents.

Decaturite wonders how blogs can be robust tools to connect communities as newspapers continue to dwindle in size and shape.

Sara agrees that “video lottery terminals” are not what a casino make. Griftdrift brings the thunder on the issue and wins 10 points for best blog post title of the day. Two points for great art, too.

Atlanta Business Chronicle columnist and blogger Maria Saporta says not to believe the Georgia Department of Transportation and Amtrak’s assertion that much-needed commuter rail running into a still-unbuilt downtown train terminal doesn’t have to run along tracks for the Beltline near Piedmont Park.

Ben at Terminal Station has a bunch of good posts. Most recent: He’s not too upbeat about the fact that Atlanta City Councilmember Mary Norwood leads in a poll for the next mayor.

A giant bowl of strawberries in your bathroom. Style, indeed!

Jim Galloway posts a moving account of Freddie Norman, a Cobb County police whose patrol car was struck by a drunk driver 21 years ago. Norman, who was left nearly comatose from the accident, died this weekend.

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Back by popular demand!

• Pecanne Log’s Christa, who’s been on fire the last few weeks, documents the mysterious senior citizen daredevils who putter around the city on what seem to be Segways — with seats! What are these baffling people movers and where can I purchase one?

• The deadline for the Urban Land Institute’s Urban Design competition was last week. Ben at Terminal Station was part of a Georgia Tech team that submitted a redevelopment vision for Denver. I had the opportunity to review his group’s proposal — a multi-phase smart-growth model — and it’s awesome. He’s posted photos and info about his team’s submission.

• Grift continues his hilarious live-blogging series of Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Lawmakers, the daily rundown of state Legislature news. So far we’ve seen talk of taxes, Sunday booze, Minoo! and transportation. Pretty soon, they’ll get to the boll weevil. Fingers crossed, folks.

• ATLMalcontent points us to a video about Elwin Wilson, a South Carolina man who in 1961 attacked a young Civil Rights activist — and future U.S. Representative — named John Lewis. Wilson, beset with remorse over the incident, recently visited Lewis’ office in Washington, D.C. to apologize. According to the Associated Press, Lewis “offered forgiveness without hesitation.”

• Leon’s Full Service, a new Decatur pub from the same owners who brought you the Brick Store, pours its first brew today at 5 p.m. Decatur Metro has the details, including a blow-by-blow account of the eBay auction for that first beer that’s raised more than $2,500 for employees of Trackside and 5th Earl.

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D.L. Bennett of the AJC has an article that addresses what many of us have assumed — the intown building boom is hitting the skids. The rush to build homes to welcome the influx of new residents was broadsided by the foreclosure and credit and resulted in shuttered-up houses and dwindling property values.

Says Ben at Terminal Station:

The combination of factors hitting these areas is brutal.  First, all the subprime mortgages that got people into these homes in the first place reset and foreclosures follow.  Housing prices plummet, and you might think there would be a wave of people who could get into some infill homes for a great price.  However, tighter credit standards are going to prevent people from getting loans, and the cratering economy will further depress things.  So these homes will just sit empty for who knows how long.

The city has received $12 million to buy foreclosures, but it will barely make a dent in the problem. I don’t really know what sort of policy solutions are available. There needs to be an infusion of capital somewhere to buy these houses and get them occupied. I know some folks who are buying up cheap houses (~$30k), renovating them, and renting them to people with Section 8 vouchers. The problem is that this is not a recipe for revitalization. Instead, it can become a recipe for concentrated poverty and can prevent new residents from wanting to move in. I’m not enthusiastic about an infusion of capital of this sort, but it is probably the only sort of private capital available.

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I’m late getting to it, but local blogger B King — who, if you haven’t read it yet, writes one of the smartest urban-development blogs in the metro region — posts Majestic Diner owner Tasso Costarides’ response to King’s online petition that called for a time-out to the legendary restaurant’s recent renovation.

In it, the restaurant owner says King’s blog posts about the renovation are “misguided” and responds to each grievance — in depth, too.

Costarides’ letter is too long and detailed to cut and paste — were I to do so it’d seem like I’d be knocking either one. I suggest you go check to King’s post and check it out yourself.

King responds with class — he says he respects the staff, will miss the joint, and admits he thinks his notes were “whiny, petulant and immature.” I’d say it’s more like some honest engagement with a legendary landmark, and that this kind of open discussion — while it can be difficult to watch — is all too rare these days. Bravo to both men.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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“I have always accepted responsibility for my actions, and this issue is no different.”

Except that he still doesn’t. Instead of admitting he made a mistake, re: driving drunk, Benji believes the mistake is not speaking out sooner about it. It’s really quite sad.

— FlackAttack of Tondee’s Tavern writing about state Rep. Ben Harbin, R-Augusta, and his recent me-so-sorry letter to constituents regarding his year-old DUI arrest.

Will we see demand for smaller, more energy efficient spaces come back? Certainly green building trends will increase – they are already on the rise, and saving energy is the primary financial driver for this (as opposed to the warm and fuzzies you get for ‘living green’). I think gas prices are already driving demand to in-town neighborhoods, although the credit crunch has stalled a lot of that movement.

— Ben at Terminal Station, an excellent Atlanta blog covering real estate and land-use issues in metro Atlanta, writing about high gas and energy prices and how the crunch may affect the intown resurgence in a tight credit market.

the trip has been incredible so far. the picture above was taken outside the fairmont lake louise. it had to be one of the most stunning settings i have seen in some time.

— James at The Arc of Time is on vacation with his family in Canada, finding Internet access where he can, and crouching in front of a lake that’s full, clean and surrounded by majestic mountains. Click the link for a photo.

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