Weekly Links: This week, facing pressure, MARTA adds more light rail for the Beltline while cutting funding for Emory rail. Also, this month is on pace to be the hottest September on record in Atlanta. Plus, Georgia finally got its very own model solar zoning ordinance!
This week, spending $2 billion to develop the downtown Gulch isn’t sitting well with the Atlanta city council, at least for now. Plus, someone has finally made a useful 3-D map showing the steepness of streets. And Ben Carson and HUD may do the unthinkable: attempt to restrict exclusionary zoning to promote affordable housing.
Weekly Links: We all love colorful, striking maps. Unfortunately, our brains aren’t great at quickly decoding lots of colors, so scientists and cartographers would like us to stop asking for colors and just embrace duller, more informative imagery. Also, a new study shows that pollution leads to cognitive decline, particularly among older men. And coastal home prices are taking a hit due to rising sea levels.
This week, what’s the deal with the recent poll showing that only 66% of young people firmly believe the Earth is round? And, when are we getting our long promised glow-in-the-dark trees to replace city street lamps? Plus, leave it to this EPA to propose a regulation that it admits will result in 1,400 more deaths.
This week, a global livability study says Atlanta fell in the rankings due to riots. Ah…okay. Also, as part of the ongoing Amazon charade, Atlanta will apparently offer the company $1 billion in incentives to locate their HQ2 campus in the downtown gulch. And Atlanta officials are finally treating public signs like works of art that actually try to inform people of rules.
Weekly Links: America dedicates 40% of its land to raising and feeding livestock, California’s Carr Fire may have produced an actual fire tornado with winds of 150 mph, and an intriguing map shows that the land that now comprises modern day Atlanta was a nexus point for three major Native American communities.
This week, Gwinnett County’s approval of rail expansion comes in the wake of a recent report highlighting the efforts of a conservative lobbying group to kill local transit projects throughout the country. This is reminiscent of General Motors’ effort decades ago to kill trolley ridership in favor of cars. Plus, we’ve introduced a new chart to put Atlanta’s temperatures into a historical context.
This week, Atlanta holds a meeting on dockless scooters after posting a bizarre Facebook message. Also, the number of reported hate crimes continues to rise and a record number of Americans now believe that humans are influencing global warming. **Update, we now know the post was from a satirical account, but we’ve maintained the original article title for consistency.
Can We Drop the Media Narrative of Cities Being in Decline?
People Should Just Give Up on North America
A Notorious Asylum’s Haunting Encounter With a Strange Trespassing Law
Georgia’s Conservation Measures Prove Pivotal in the Water Wars
It’s Likely Earth’s Six Warmest Years on Record Are the Last Six Years
Remembering the Time Andrew Jackson Decided to Ignore the Supreme Court In the Name of Georgia’s Right to Cherokee Land
Is MARTA Really That Dangerous? Based on the Numbers, Not Really
Who Knew The Term “Waters of the United States” Could Be So Controversial?
Proposed Georgia Law May Lead to Higher Rates of Violet
The Best Maps of the Year Might Be the Most Boring
