Lucinda here, ex-pat from Los Angeles Metblogs! Who knew that after months of tinkering under the hood of our good ole’ Metblogs jalopy, I woulda popped my head out to find I *finally* had access to the posting tools for my sister blog here in Atlanta–the city to which I have recently relocated–only to find myself back in LA for the holidays at the very time the engine does its first reluctant, full turn-over. And leave it to an LA girl to whip out an overwrought car metaphor like that one there! I suspect you’ll be hearing much more from me in the coming months, but right now I’ll sign off from this late-night (even for the west coast!) post by saying, “Thanks for visiting Atlanta Metblogs, and y’all come back now!” Thanks MUST go to Joz & Jason, who have worked so hard to keep Metblogs a viable reality,that this here site will NOT be going silent (and for doing the high-wire Internet acrobatics required to grant me posting access to this blog). We hope for this to become not only a destination for many with thoughts about the city, but a place for like-minded folk to come together and lend their voices to the multitude of human narratives that have long sought to paint at least a partial picture of Atlanta and the south, its many different realities, its transformations and its sense of place.

Today’s the primary runoff, guys, a day where voters decide the players in major races but traditionally sees less than half the turnout of regular primaries and a fraction of regular elections.

Just a reminder, if you voted in the primary you must choose the same party ballot today. If you DIDN’T vote last month, you can choose either party today. That’s not binding – you aren’t declaring yourself a registered party member by voting or anything dramatic like that.

Today’s major race is the runoff between Republican candidates Karen Handel and Nathan Deal, but there are a few other statewide races (and congressional ones) still up for grabs in both parties. Take 15 minutes and inform yourself this morning – I’ve used the AJC’s voter guide, as it has candidate responses, but does anyone have any other (non-biased, please) suggestions?

And one last reminder, though you ought to already know where it is, you can find your polling place here through the Secretary of State’s office. Happy responsible citizening!

well, i voted. yet again. it seems like all i do these days is vote. a presidential election last year, then a senate run-off last year, then a mayoral election this year, then a mayoral run-off this year. it’s getting a tiny bit out of control.

at least i can assume that 2010 will not bring any run-offs as both johnny isakson and john lewis are pretty much assured at least 50 percent. that being said, can we do away with the run-off and just elect the person with the plurality after the first ballot?

it’s no secret i voted for mary norwood (although it was one of the least enthusiastic votes i have ever cast), so yes, in this instance, the lack of a run-off would have elected my candidate, and now, it appears, although a recount is imminent, that the run-off will elect her opponent, but look, i would support this either way.

it’s not that i dislike voting, it’s just that i am not sure what the point of the run-off is. it’s not like it’s the exact same electorate. some people vote in the run-off who didn’t in the previous election. a lot of people who voted in the general election never make it out to the run-off. so it isn’t about who most people support, but more about who can get people to go out and vote yet again.

i am all for people’s civic duty, but when we are voting over and over and over, and as ben mentioned for positions most people don’t even know what they do, it’s easy to see why people throw up their hands and don’t vote.

so i say kill the run-off.

i am sure i am wrong about this, so tell me why.

here it is, the obligatory get out and vote post.

as much as i hate run-off elections (probably a topic for another post or maybe i will let ben elaborate) we have them in georgia and today is municipal election run-off day.

they’re going on all over of course (ex. roswell has a run-off for mayor today) but the biggie is the city of atlanta run-off for mayor (atlantans are also voting for other offices today) between mary norwood and kasim reed.

they were <a href="“>monitoring turnout today at blog for democracy and the morning numbers looked solid. still plenty of time.

for poll location, sample ballots and more goodness head to the secretary of state web site.

go vote!!!

i have a message for georgia house majority leader jerry “disney world” keen:

if you feel like calling majority leader keen and asking him if he might just like to move to orlando, you can find his contact details here.

dear georgia republican party,

f you.

i am about the last guy you could have afforded to piss off. well maybe not exactly, but i am an rnc donor, volunteered for mccain, voted for sonny and casey a few years ago.

i believe in limited government and lower taxes. i believe charity is best left to private sector. i believe that government ought to stick to functions where there is a societal need and the market isn’t capable of providing a competing service. in short, i am your voter.

let’s go back to that last piece though. one of the places where it has been proven, over and over again, that government is needed is municipal mass transit. a strong mass transit system relies on government funding and is necessary to a good urban quality of life. and yet, despite this , the jokers in the georgia republican party that run this state decided to say fu to public transport.

so as a marta commuter, i say fu right back.

the funny thing is marta wasn’t even asking for new money. all they were asking for was to be able to use all of the money that is collected through sales tax in fulton and dekalb for operations. read that, not a state sales tax, a sales tax in two counties.

for those of you who don’t know about this, marta is forced by it’s absurd enabling law to put aside 50 percent of it’s sales tax regulation into a captial fund. no other transit system has to do this. just marta. why you ask? simple, the legislators at the time wanted to keep marta poor so it couldn’t offer free rides. that’s it. no other reason.

and despite all that, you couldn’t find a way to release this money so marta can keep operating. i ride marta every day. how many members of the martoc, including it’s inept chairwoman, jill chambers, can say the same? i ride it and more than 100,000 other people depend on it to get to work. and you are letting it starve.

why? i really don’t know. i don’t understand the legislative chicanery that led to this, but i know that there should have been a way to get it done. and you failed.

there is no telling what marta is going to have to do now. close bathrooms, eliminate weekend service, cut back bus routes? who knows. you could had prevented it, and you didn’t.

so screw you.

in my opinion you have no proven that you are completely incompetent to run this state. i will continue to vote for republicans at the national level, but next time i see a georgia office i am voting for the libertarian.

hope you got a few votes out of butts county out of this, because you lost one in fulton.

sincerely,

james hervey

this weekend i was driving home from picking the kiddo up. she lives in indiana so we approach the metro area from the north on i-75.

i had the same question i always do? when am i back in atlanta? i know the actual atlanta metropolitan statistical area is the 28 counties in that map, so technically i am back in atlanta when i cross the border into bartow county?

but am i really?

i know plenty of itp’ers who would say no. i think most people that live in canton in cherokee would say yes. but what about cartersville? as i mentioned bartow county is in the altanta msa, but is cartersville really part of atlanta?

for me at least, when i am driving i consider myself “in atlanta” when i cross into cobb county on 75 and when i cross into gwinnett on 85. this certainly puts me at odds with the msa but that is how i see it.

what about you. what is the metro area? does it go all the way to south carolina these days? has it made its way all the way up to dalton?

and what about the southside? i don’t go down there much, but i know plenty of atlantans have made their way to newnan and peacthree city.

it seems to me that the metro area is growing, but the sense of identiity that goes with the city is too. i work with plenty of people that live in cherokee or forsyth, work in alpharetta and never venture south of holcomb bridge road.

food for thought anyway.

One of my trusted friends lives north of me near Cartersville, GA. He owns a large track of farm land in the vicinity.

Just after one of the major storms that rolled through the North West Metro area last week, he went outside to grab a quick look at any damage to his property. While outside – for just a moment – he looked up at the sky and thought he saw a bird. The bird seemed to be getting larger and larger. When “it” hit the ground, it turned out to be a 2×4 piece of lumber. Then he saw something else and it was a mattress in the air and it hit the ground not too far from him. Very quickly, a ton of stuff began to fall from the sky on to his property. Needless to say, he took cover.

No joke, he is for real and this was serious. A few moments later, other more “personal belongings” fell from the air. It turned out that the remnants of other people’s destroyed homes started raining down on his property – all sucked up by a tornado. Just amazing!

I thought his story was really out there and then I saw this story online: Tornado Blows Photo 130 Miles

It’s just all so amazing to me. I’m really hoping the Spring and Summer weather season is not going to an image of this incident. If so, we all need to dig bunkers NOW.