Nothing more than an airport?…

[H]

Last night I caught a rerun of Futurama (a show I now like but never watched when it was “on” the air). The episode was where they found the lost city of Atlanta. Being from the city, I found the show hilarious. The folks from Atlanta thought it was like a Paris or a London (i.e. fabulous) and the guy who was from the 90’s said, “I thought Atlanta was just an airport”.

Being very biased, I have always felt ATL was very cosmo and she-she (although I have no desire to live there because of the size).

BESIDE THE OBVOUIS SPRAWL PROBLEM, what is your opinion of ATL, chic cosmo metro or southern bumble airport?

[Tranplanner]

sheik cosmo metro

Have the Saudis bought up the city?

Even with the publicity from the 1996 Olympics, I've never really heard all that much about Atlanta, behind the airport hub thing. I know it's a large, growing, city but I've never really heard it described as chic or cosmopolitan.

[H]

Have the Saudis bought up the city?

Duh, I feel like a redneck

Is there a way to edit that poll?


...But to answer the q, there are a lot of gas guzzeling SUVs there.. so maybe..

[Richmond Jake]

That there ALT is just an airport I pass thru to go some wheres else.

[Super Amputee Cat]

My impression of Atlanta from my two visits there is that it has too many office buildings in the downtown area. Also, it seems to be one of the most "urban renewed" cities in America - where are the old sections of town? Worst of all, it is absolutely choked with SUVs.

Sorry, I have extreme prejudice against Atlanta. It seems very, very overrated. Plus I got a jaywalking ticket when I was last there.

[H]

I am not arguing with your assessment, rather answering on behalf of ATL

My impression of Atlanta from my two visits there is that it has too many office buildings in the downtown area..

Where should they be? In the suburbs? (oh, and they are there as well)

Also, it seems to be one of the most "urban renewed" cities in America - where are the old sections of town?

Ummm, they were burnt down by Yankees during the War of Northern Aggression.

Worst of all, it is absolutely choked with SUVs.

Agreed. It is bad.

Sorry, I have extreme prejudice against Atlanta. It seems very, very overrated. Plus I got a jaywalking ticket when I was last there.

That is too bad. The Southern Hospitality did not get offered to you, huh?

[AubieTurtle]

...But to answer the q, there are a lot of gas guzzeling SUVs there.. so maybe..

I had dinner last night with a woman who was a high level operative in the Kerry campaign. She talked the extremely left wing of the party talk but then started going on about how much she loves her Eddie Bauer edition Ford Explorer. It was then I realized there is no hope in the Atlanta SUV wars. If far left Democrats living downtown fetish over big SUVs, then it's all over.

[AubieTurtle]

Plus I got a jaywalking ticket when I was last there.

Were you panhandling? The latest claim by the homeless advocates here is that the police only give jaywalking tickets to street people.

[mgk920]

I had dinner last night with a woman who was a high level operative in the Kerry campaign. She talked the extremely left wing of the party talk but then started going on about how much she loves her Eddie Bauer edition Ford Explorer. It was then I realized there is no hope in the Atlanta SUV wars. If far left Democrats living downtown fetish over big SUVs, then it's all over.

OT, but one afternoon a couple of years ago I started idly flipping through an ultra-left wing 'enviro' magazine at the local Pvblic Library only to find a multi-page foldout ad in the front pitching one of the biggest sooves on the market (the Chevy/GMC Suburban). Talk about hypocrisy....

Anyways, my only very limited experience with the Atlanta area (Georgia, not that tiny US 66 dot-on-the-map in Illinois) was on my southeast USA roadtrip in late June of 2004. It was wide freeways flying along at well beyond the posted limits (they'd make a German happy) and a downtown area that from I-75/85 looked like a strung-out suburban office park on steroids. Well, except for the hour+ that I spent stuck under the ramps at the Tom Moreland interchange due to a traffic accident about a km or so in front of me.

OTOH, that weekend itself was actually spent in the La Grange, GA (about 1:15 southwest of Atlanta) area, where the 'Southern Hospitality' flowed freely.

Mike

[JNA]

When flying, I have avoided going through Atlanta.
Partially because of the horror stories -- are they myth or fact ?
and I have limited experience using Delta Airlines.

[Michele Zone]

When flying, I have avoided going through Atlanta.
Partially because of the horror stories -- are they myth or fact ?
and I have limited experience using Delta Airlines.

The Atlanta airport is pretty awful. My memories include taking their underground train from one end of the universe to the other -- and god forbid you miss your stop! -- to get to wherever in hell my luggage was. In the KC airport, I got off the plane and went down some stairs and there were my bags. I only go to the Atlanta airport to see my sister. Since she has lived in Georgia for a few millenia, she knows the airport pretty well and the train and baggage pick-up place, etc, are not some kind of mysterious treasure hunt for her. So I take her word for everything and, thankfully, don't really have to learn anything about it.

I haven't voted in this thread in part because the airport is mostly what I know about Atlanta. I am much more familiar with Augusta and Columbus than Atlanta....but haven't been to any place in Georgia in, um, about 4 1/2 years. Augusta is way more "sheik cosmo metro" than Columbus or Macon. On the other hand, Columbus is lots more "sheik cosmo metro" now than when I was growing up there. Which may not be saying much.

[mgk920]

One additional observation from the Atlanta area - while driving on I-285 I passed through a construction zone for an ATL runway extension that will cross the freeway. The 'tunnel' for it was nearly ready for its cover.

Mike

[Cardinal]

BEcause of the jobs I have worked, I have managed to stay in the downtowns of many of America's cities. Some, like Chicago or San Francisco, are a pure pleasure; always active and inviting. There is another group of cities that has character, but you would not want to spend time there without ordnance. There is a final group of cities thatare either older cities that have died and should be laid to rest, like Saint Louis, or are new cities that have never come to life. Atlanta is one of these.

[drucee]

Atlanta's a weird place, somewhere definitely deserving of its classification in the "New South" with places like Dallas and Houston. I often like to think of it as a warm-climate Boston built for the automobile, serving as somewhat of a regional center for an extremely large region (the Southeast, taking in everything from the Gulf Coast to the Tennessee River), as Chicago does for the Midwest or Boston does for New England. Atlanta isn't fooling anyone with its subway system--this is a city where they answer to Sweet Lady Fossil Fuel. Indeed, it has its share of neighborhoods and types of people roughly analogous to those in Chicago (Little Five Points = Wicker Park, home of hipsters, Virginia-Highlands = Lincoln Park-Lakeview, home of Chads and Trixies, and Buckhead = North Shore, heavily Jewish, close-in, wealthy), but what distinguishes Atlanta, like what distinguishes Chicago, is its place as the center of culture in its region. On a national scale, it's an out-of-control sprawltropolis with pockets of culture, but on a regional level, it's the Hub (Boston comparison intended), where money, education, and diversity are found. Just read the Memphis newspaper; when editorials aren't saying "Why are we losing all our talent to St. Louis?" they're saying "Why are we losing our talent to Atlanta?". Sure, large parts of the Atlantaplex are red-state Protestant, Nascar-watching, Wal-Mart-shopping, pickup-driving suburbs, but the same can be said for Chicago (just visit Glen Ellyn or Villa Park, though the redness is to a lesser extent) or most "regional center" cities. Atlanta is still the most culturally diverse city in its region, as any trip down Buford Highway, home to large Vietnamese, Mexican, Chinese, and Indian populations, will demonstrate. You won't find banh mi in Memphis, nor will you find tacos de lengua in Montgomery (although this might be changing). Is Atlanta big? Yes. Is Atlanta sprawling something awful? Yes. And is it more than just an airport? Yes, especially when compared to its surrounding region, although somewhat less so on the national scale.

[Trinity Moses]

BESIDE THE OBVOUIS SPRAWL PROBLEM, what is your opinion of ATL, chic cosmo metro or southern bumble airport?

I've been through the airport, and spent some time in town too.

Alanta is sort of an overgrown version of Louisville. Old parts of town remind me a bit of Louisville and are fairly pleasant (like the Piedmont Park area and Virginia Highlands, and that stretch of Peachtree up towards Buckhead), and I like the older suburbs, like Toco Hills, Druid Hills, and Decatur (Decatur could almost be a Chicago-style railroad suburb).

The other suburbs are pretty dismal urban sprawl (like that area out on Buford Highway).


The wierd thing bout Atlanta is that its in the middle of nowhere. Its surrounded by forest and scrubland, it seems.

[Bear Up North]

Been through town, via the giant airport. Katie has spent some time there. Here's my only view, and it's a story of some residents of the burbs of Atlanta:

These relatives of some friends of mine have a swimming pool in their back yard. Because the area is growing into previous farmland areas, many new subdivisions are still adjacent to operating farms. A big ole' cow wandered into these folks back yard and jumped (or fell) into the pool.

When we were told the story we were laughing so hard we forgot to ask if they big ole' cow got out okay.

Bear Lallane

[boilerplater]

Worked with a guy who got his master's in planning there and worked there a few years afterwards. He'd wax eloquent about how it had "so much potential". He seemed to be looking at it with the eyes of a young, idealistic daydreaming planner. He'd see the places for infill, densification, transit routes, etc., where the rest of us saw a sprawling mess. He thought it was culturally interesting.

Two of my high school friends moved down there from NJ to do jobs which you could do almost anywhere. One runs a pizza place and the other is a comic book illustrator. From what I've heard, they like it. The people who grew up in sprawl tend to be comfortable there. Its the odd malcontents like us who find issues with it!

[The One]

Last night I caught a rerun of Futurama (a show I now like but never watched when it was “on” the air). The episode was where they found the lost city of Atlanta. Being from the city, I found the show hilarious. The folks from Atlanta thought it was like a Paris or a London (i.e. fabulous) and the guy who was from the 90’s said, “I thought Atlanta was just an airport”.

Being very biased, I have always felt ATL was very cosmo and she-she (although I have no desire to live there because of the size).

BESIDE THE OBVOUIS SPRAWL PROBLEM, what is your opinion of ATL, chic cosmo metro or southern bumble airport?

Funny stuff, did you see Sunday's Simpson's? The family was incarcerated on alcatraz and while escaping (swimming to shore) Homer refuses to swim to San Francisco saying "Ah, what d'you think, I'm made out of money?, I'm swimming to Oakland...) Then they pan to Oakland with factories and bad air.....very funny stuff....Every once in a while popular shows use planning esque stuff.....

Atlanta in 1993 was an up and comming place with great potential. It has since become less than great and squandered a lot of potential The airport is just a microcosm of the City.

[SkeLeton]

The only thing I've heard of Atlanta, besides the '96 Olympics... is to avoid at all costs that Airport due to it's terrible traffic....