In a legislative session marked by chaotic, partisan showmanship, transit has emerged as a strong bipartisan issue. A grand coalition of urban and rural politicians from both parties have put regional transit funding in Atlanta on the precipice of reality. Enter Cobb County, the obstinate killer of transit momentum.
No City Left Behind: How Atlanta's Success Raises Concerns for the Region
We’ll likely see an increase in the number of poorer suburban communities. While Cobb and North Fulton will still have enclaves of wealthier residents, they will increasingly become the destination of lower-income individuals when they are priced out of the walkable Atlanta area. While quality-of-life is an issue even for wealthier residents in auto-centric communities, it is much more of a problem for their poorer residents. Try getting to the grocery store or your job when you don’t have a car and your community doesn’t support sidewalks or alternative transportation. While sitting in traffic on the way to work is stressful, having no transportation options to safely get to that place of work is arguably more stressful.
Transit-Oriented Development Can Put A Stop to Metro Atlanta's Growing Pains
Density doesn’t have to be a bad word. Allowing more people to live in strategic and desirable areas in closer proximity to one another doesn’t necessarily mean turning all parts of the region into Manhattan. While we aren’t talking about San Francisco or New York levels of density, we are talking about raising the density levels in certain parts of the region to something a little less Mayberry and a little more DC or Seattle.
Ten Ways to Look at Metro Atlanta's Population Growth
Overall, 23% of metro Atlanta area residents live in one of the major metro Atlanta cities. Excluding the major cities from all the counties results in Gwinnett County, without Peachtree Corners, having the largest share of the area’s population at 19%. It also makes Atlanta the fourth largest jurisdiction in the area and vaults Cobb to the number two position.
Fulton County Hits 1 Millions Residents, But the Atlanta Region Continues to Sprawl
Updated county population estimates were recently released by the US Census Bureau and the big news is that the 10-county metro region’s population is projected to have grown to 4.5 million while Fulton County passed […]
The Fifth Week. Atlanta, the Braves, and the Absurd State of City Annexation and Creation
Last week was rather quiet with only one new significant bill introduced that pertains to land use, transportation, and environmental issues. However legislation was introduced in the Senate several weeks ago calling for the […]
Though More People are Choosing City Lifestyles, Using County-Level Data is a Poor Way of Proving It and Atlanta Shows Why
The US Census Bureau’s recently released county population data shows Atlanta agreeing with the national trend toward a more urban lifestyle. The USA Today recently reported that county population data compiled from 2010 […]
Fight Over Parking in Suburban DC Highlights the Growing Pains of Planning for the Future
This is somewhat of a tangential update in that it’s an update of an issue referenced in a recent discussion of how suburban Atlanta will urbanize and become less auto-dependent. Tyson’s Corner […]