you would think that people who aren’t in to that kind of thing probably wouldn’t want to live in cabbagetown, where purple houses, eclectic yard decorations and yes, graffiti, rule the day.

but apparently they do. today’s ajc contains an article about a man who actually sat in a tree and staked out the railroad fence along wylie avenue. apparently at around 2:00 am he caught some kids who were about to paint something, jumped out of his tree and assaulted them.

insane.

my favorite line in the article tho:

In front of police officers, Bowman asked the young men what they were doing out there so late at night, Jaeger said.

“You were in a tree at 2:30 in the morning,” they replied, according to Jaeger.

Bowman could not be reached for comment.

i really suggest that mr. bowman pack his bags and head to alpharetta.

the atlanta maps are interesting with lots of detail, but i think the most interesting ones are the transit ones. the map above is a zoom in on the area around my house showcasing how many transit lines are within walking distance. i am lucky to live in an area where i can walk to multiple bus routes, but what shocked even me, was how many wide swaths of the city have only one transit route within walking distance. and i am not talking about suburbia (alpharetta, duluth, etc.) i am talking about buckhead, vinings, druid hills, parts of east atlanta etc.

you can play around with the atlanta map here

i suppose this is probably another reason why so few people go the marta route. when there is only one bus route it takes an insane amount of planning to make your destination on-time and makes spur-of-the-moment trips difficult. it can be done, but it definitely is hard.

a call to you gwinettians though - you can begin to help improve this by voting yes to the transit option in your upcoming primary.

h/t to ben at the excellent blog terminal station for the find.

photo courtesy of dbking

there is a great article in access atlanta today about the couple that bought and saved the plaza theater:

“It hit us: It’d be cool to try to keep that place open,” Jonathan said. “So we called and said, ‘How much you want for that place?’ I don’t know why. We just did it.”

They met with a broker, looked at the books, stopped by a bank.

Jonathan: “Finally we said, ‘Wow. I guess we can actually do this.’”

The joking stopped. Asking price for eveything but the leased building: $100,000

“I totally remember sitting at the dining room table going, ‘You want to do it? Are you sure we can do this? Maybe we shouldn’t do this,’ ” Gayle recalled.

Jonathan’s tie breaker: “It came down to, ‘I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. Let’s just do it.’”

So like a hipster remake of an old MGM musical, the Rejs did it. Almost two years later, they remain unlikely saviors of Atlanta’s oldest continuously operating movie house. For how much longer remains an open question.

the article goes on to discuss how the bread and butter of the plaza hasn’t been indie films like the owners thought, but rather special events like slasher flicks, grease sing-alongs and art shows in combination with films.

a quick check of the plaza’s web site shows some pretty neat stuff coming up including sideshow art combined with the movie killer klowns from outer space. who could beat that?

h/t to the atlmalcontent who says in his post, “the least cinephiles can do is help them break even by supporting the Plaza, real grass compared to the AstroTurf sameness of the multiplex.”

indeed.

i inadvertently got caught in this when only three lanes were closed and it was an abject nightmare.

piedmont is probably your best bet on the east side of town and on the west side northside has been pretty much clear throughout this paving mess. if you are traveling from points outside atlanta to points beyond atlanta, take i-285.

of course, transit is always an option, especially with $4.00 gas.

some of the best commentary i have read came from rashid muhammad in his post on the topic:

Anyhow, my Downtown Unification Theory has always been that if Five Points is going to be what it should - that would be a hub of downtown activity - connecting it to Centennial Park is the key. The problem with doing this via Marietta Street is that there are several buildings there that darken the path at night (State Bar, AJC, Telecom Tower, DFACS, HUD, etc) and offer little value to the visitor during the day. Luckie Street could also serve this purpose but at LEAST two of the parking lots there would have to be replaced by buildings that contain some sort of restaurants or entertainment. Right now the street lining is too perforated and not inviting enough for any tourist to really want to explore it much further than the Super 8 Motel. If the lot across from 123 Luckie were replaced with a nice development putting more stuff to do on the street that would be a big improvement.

ben k weighs in on his new atlanta real estate blog, terminal station:

Realistically, I think Five Points plaza will be the last place in Downtown to turn around. All the positive movement is happening on the peripherals - Castleberry Hill, the Allen Plaza and 12 Centennial stuff at the north side of downtown, Integral Group’s stuff on Auburn and even Capitol Gateway. That is a lot of housing to absorb, but if it can happen, then it will start bleeding into the real core of downtown, which has always been Five Points. I don’t think GSU will build their dorms at Underground any time soon, so these areas are going to have to be the driving forces that eventually squeeze Five Points and put enough pressure on things to force changes.

i have been falling in love with the architecture and the feel of downtown atlanta for months now; really since i started taking the bus to five points every day.

i would love so much to see it become the vibrant, integral community it could be. i am curious what you guys think. i don’t think it’s as easy as ‘get rid of the panhandlers.’

my suggestions include; an underground bus terminal, the revitlization of alabama street through tax incentives and finally figure out something to do with the railway gulch

please opine…..

atlanta has one of the best soccer bars in the country - i am not making that up, because it was nominated by the us soccer federation for that honor - the brewhouse cafe on moreland in the heart of little 5.

the atmosphere there this afternoon for the match will be absolutely electric. if you like the beautiful game and can ditch work come join us. coverage starts at 2:00.

glory, glory man united!

it’s actually pretty simple - you just commit to one alternative commute a week. carpool, public transit, bike, walk, telework - anything other than driving alone. the math says that the average atlanta commuter would take one ton of pollution out of the air by doing this once a week.

so what do you say, up for the one ton challenge?

if so you can register here.

i’d tell you about my own experiences becoming a ‘clean’ commuter, but i might get accused of self-righteous preaching again ;-)

yo v.i.p. let’s kick it.

if you don’t even know how to get to kennessaw you should probably just go ahead and skip this one.

for those not planning to help vanilla ice fund his retirement, what are you up to this weekend?

the hawks open tonight against the celtics in boston. sekou smith has the match-ups, and you can see how hard it will be. the hawks have lost all the regular season games against the celtics by 10 points or more, getting blown out by 23 in the first meeting.

the celtics are arguably the best team in the nba, and one blogger is seriously hoping the hawks can just win ONE game.

the hawks are 15.5 point underdogs, which according to some is probably a good bet. i’d offer to bet my friends over at the boston metblogs but i am a realist.

either way they are in the dance and it’s nice to say i told you so…..

either way, the economist has teamed up with the performers from second city to present a riff on the art of political satire. the event will be hitting atlanta next monday, the 21st at the alliance theatre at 7:30 pm (details and a pretty funny video here) for the mere price of $15.

the event promises improv and live cartooning, which sounds absurdly interesting.

speaking of videos here is my favorite, a little riff on my chosen candidate :-)