Wednesday, December 29, 2010 at 10:54PM "INNOVATION" from Atlanta Regional Commission on Vimeo.
I thought this was an interesting post on the Atlanta Regional Commission's three pronged Innovation strategy of Economy, Environment and Community. There are two quick overviews of the Beltline and the Lifelong Communities initiatives that I found interesting.
Region in Watch & Learn Thursday, December 23, 2010 at 10:31PM This is the final post in a series of 25 posts this December that chronicle the 25 things we would most like to see in Roswell. None of these are actually happening... at least in the way we'd like them to. Please enjoy and have a happy holidays!
We need a community pool. The lake at Martin's Landing doesn't cut it. The wrangling between the Parks & Rec Department and the City Council needs to stop. We need a pool and we need on NOW.. I haven't done the research but I would bet we are the largest city in Georgia without a quality community pool. Honestly, I want to take my daughter to swim lessons and I don't want to go to Sandy Springs or Alpharetta to do it.
More dog parks... Lot's of doggies.. Only a few parks.
Community Gardens... not gardens in parks that you have to drive to. Gardens in neighborhoods that you can walk to.
More attention to the waterfront along Oxbo Rd.. that could truly be a great spot.. right now, it's just okay.
Merry Christmas Roswell!!!
Thursday, December 23, 2010 at 10:28PM This is the 24th post in a series of posts this December that will chronicle the 25 things we would most like to see in Roswell. None of these are actually happening... at least in the way we'd like them to. Please enjoy and have a happy holidays!
Santa.. this is the big one.. This is what I really, really, really want for Christmas this year. I know you probably can't make it happen but I'm going to ask anyway. I want a whitewater rafting and recreation center right here in Roswell. I want it to be like the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte.
Readers follow me here. If you've visited Charlotte in the past 4-5 years, you may have heard about the U.S. National Whitewater Center there. It is on the west side of town in a pretty remote/difficult to access area off the I-485 bypass. Unfortunately, the business itself is struggling due in part to high operational costs but mostly due to poor attendance. I believe that both issues could be overcome here in Roswell. Primarily, I'm certain that the attendance issue wouldn't exist due to a more metropolitan and visible location.
Now that you know what it is that I'm talking about, let's take a look at where I'm talking about. I think an attraction of this nature would fit perfectly at the southern end of the historic corridor. There are a couple other locations including one in Sandy Springs that would work.. but when you look at what location would spark the right type of development, encourage visitors to come to Roswell to spend money and increase the tax rolls the most, you need to look at this location. Pictured below is a side by side at the same size of the whitewater center in Charlotte (right, upside down) and the location I'm thinking of which is the north west corner of the S Atlanta St/Azalea Rd intersection. You can see that the overlay would almost be perfect.
So, what are the pitfalls. Currently, there is an apartment complex there. This would have to be purchased by the city or by a private developer. It's likely that some of the adjacent properties would need to be purchased as well. The topography in this area has some pretty steep terrain. A comprehensive survey would need to be done to ensure that the fall would not be too steep to support a water flow conducive to kayaking and whitewater rafting. Assuming that those challenges could be met, you are looking at funding and profitability. The whitewater center in Charlotte cost roughly $35M (not sure of the exact numbers) and has only been able to turn a profit in the past year after a debt restructuring. Again, having lived in Charlotte and visited the center on multiple occasions, I believe this to be an issue of location and accessibility. The facility is absolutely incredible and would draw experts and novices alike.
Roswell would not have the same issues. Here in Roswell, we have other attractions that could serve as catalysts to feed the development. I see the following existing and future developments as major catalysts that would contribute to the success of this project:
Now, let's tie in the rest of my wish list into this item. I didn't do this intentionally from the start but as I continued to post, it became an obvious synergy. You can see the following posts would all synergize well with this project:
Well, it's been fun coming up with 24 things that I would like to see happen here in Roswell. I hope you have enjoyed the list. Obviously, many of these are pipe dreams but there's nothing wrong with being a dreamer. You may have noticed that there are only 24 posts... well, what Christmas would be complete without some stocking stuffers. Tomorrow, I am going to post the final installment of stocking stuffers which are some small presents.
Merry Christmas Roswell!!
images: WagsomeDog @ Flickr, Doug Letterman @ Flickr, Google Maps
Thursday, December 23, 2010 at 09:45PM This is the 23rd post in a series of posts this December that will chronicle the 25 things we would most like to see in Roswell. None of these are actually happening... at least in the way we'd like them to. Please enjoy and have a happy holidays!
This is going to be a quick hit because its not my area of expertise but it is really important to me. I think it's high time that our city, region, state and nation get on the ball and embrace renewable energy. The Chinese are going to eat our lunch if we don't do something here. There is no argument that peak oil does not exist, it's just a question of when we hit it. If we don't want to be crushed by the price of our foreign oil addiction, we need to make some changes.
Solar energy is quickly become cost effective and solar hot water heating is already the most cost effective way to heat your water. Plus, there is a ton of sun in Georgia. We have a decent amount of hydro potential here with Vickery Creek and the Chattahoochee. I'm sure there are laws preventing us from using it but this is my wish list and I'm not going to let legal mumbo jumbo get in the way of a good idea. Geothermal is a no-brainer in most areas in Georgia. Finally, energy efficiency is ridiculously logical. So, why aren't we doing it. Well, that's a good question for our loyal public servants in Washington DC and the Gold Dome.
My only other request is that the city enact legislation requiring that all new construction, residential or commercial, be required to meet LEED, Energy Star, EarthCraft or equivalent standards.
OK.. tomorrow's Christmas Eve so you can look forward to my equivalent of the Red Rider BB gun and a few stocking stuffers. The only difference between my request and Ralphie's is that I know Santa isn't going to come down the Roswell chimney and drop off what I'm wishing for. Oh yeah.. and you won't shoot your eye out with what I'm wishing for either.
image: Lauren Nelson @ Flickr
EEnergy Efficiency, LEED, Renewable Energy in Ideas, Technology Thursday, December 23, 2010 at 12:45PM This is the 22nd post in a series of posts this December that will chronicle the 25 things we would most like to see in Roswell. None of these are actually happening... at least in the way we'd like them to. Please enjoy and have a happy holidays!
This one really, badly needs to happen. If you want to start dealing with congestion on our major roads such as Holcomb Bridge and Hwy 9, creating a more connected road network will work wonders and eliminate the perceived need for more lanes on those large roads. So, my suggestion is that all new subdivisions should be forbidden to have cul-de-sacs and existing subdivisions should be given incentives to add themselves to the effective network. The only acceptable reason for a cul-de-sac is due to geographic or topographic limitations. In 2009, the state of Virginia led the way by banning cul-de-sacs in new developments.
The modern day cul-de-sac is a necessity that, in it's modern form, was principally borne from the large lot single-use zoning methods of the 20th century. Essentially, the zoning created superblocks and the only way to get to the center of those superblocks was to create cul-de-sacs to access the land in the middle. So, that's exactly what developers did. They glorified the privacy that the cul-de-sac provided and completely forgot about the connectivity that it killed.
There are many studies out there that conclude that overall connectivity fosters:
The City of Roswell has a limited effective network due to the fact that so many superblocks with limited connectivity were created in the suburban subdivisions and large commercial parcels permeating throughout our city. The image below illustrates the comparison between all roads in Roswell and the effective network in Roswell.
The effective network on the right consists of olly 44% of the total roads in the city. The other 56% are essentially cul-de-sacs. They stem off of an arterial or collector road and don't allow alternative entrances/exits.
I'd like to see the cul-de-sac banned on future development and remediated where possible on existing development. You can check out this Ga Tech study from 2006 to see some examples of how Roswell can start to repair the mess.
images: City of Roswell
Thursday, December 23, 2010 at 10:52AM This is the 21st post in a series of posts this December that will chronicle the 25 things we would most like to see in Roswell. None of these are actually happening... at least in the way we'd like them to. Please enjoy and have a happy holidays!
This post isn't the same as the others in the Wish List. I just heard about the Roswell branding campaign and had to get my $0.02 in. So, the city is officially embarking on a branding campaign to roll up what the city has to offer into a marketing campaign. According to Joan Durbin at the Roswell Neighbor, the city council has agreed on the tagline "This is living...this is Rowell."
I think it's just okay. I certainly like it better than the tagline that was created for the city of Atlanta by the now defunct Brand Atlanta campaign. "Every day is an opening day" just didn't seem to do it for me. The newer slogan "City lights, southern nights" is a bit better but still not worldchanging.
There are many folks out there who wonder whether a branding campaign is really necessary. Personally, I kind of waver. At the end of the day, a brand isn't going to make your community better. What the people within your community do is what makes your community better. However, if your brand is strong enough to get folks to rally around, then it might just work. So, the question is, can you embrace "This is living...this is Roswell" and rally around it? Will you talk about it to your friends, family and coworkers? I'm not so sure and my rationale is below.
Compare our new slogan to some other city brands that you may have heard:
So, when I look at the two most successful slogans above, I think they share three main characteristics. They are simple, a normal person can say them in normal conversation and they are fun. All of the others are trying to be something and create an idea but if the idea isn't easily passed along in conversation, then I don't think it works.
So, are you ever going to say "This is living...this is Roswell" in normal conversation? If you do, you're going to get some really strange looks.
Here are a few ideas that I cooked up:
So, at the end of the day, I'm not sold on the new slogan. It needs to be fun, conversational and simple. Add your slogans to the comments if you have any ideas.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010 at 09:34PM This is the 20th post in a series of posts this December that will chronicle the 25 things we would most like to see in Roswell. None of these are actually happening... at least in the way we'd like them to. Please enjoy and have a happy holidays!
We can just put this one on the 'keep on dreaming' list. But, I'm going to post it anyway. I want MARTA trains in North Fulton. Others do too according to the North Fulton Comprehensive Transportation Plan. At the public charettes, 22% of the comments were about mass transit. Now, everyone knows that the eventual plan is to eventually run rail up to Windward Parkway. However, I don't think the best route is to run it straight up 400. That would make the same mistake that MARTA has been making for the past 30 years. That is to focus on getting people to switch from their cars to the train after they have already started driving. Mode shift doesn't work.
Here is my route:
I like this route best not because it is the most logical but because it hits the target market for transit in North Fulton. The people most likely to utilize transit are those with no cars, people below the poverty line, disabled persons, youth and the elderly. The North Fulton Comprehensive Transportation Analysis confirms that the highest concentration of population meeting that criteria lives west of 400 along the hwy 9 corridor. I also think that this route gives developers the best shot at getting cheaper land that can successfully developed into Suburban Center TOD.
It's unfortunate that Atlanta doesn't have very many good examples of TOD to use as guides. The Decatur Square and Inman Park areas are about the best models we have. Other areas of the country that have expanded rail service to suburban areas with great success are Arlington County, VA, Addison Circle in Dallas and Evanston, IL. The necessities for making this successful are the proper type of zoning, the recognition that the right kind of density is needed both to foster growth in the new economy as well as developers that are willing to take a risk. North Fulton would need to commit itself to Transit Oriented Development. Here's a quote from Kaid Benfields blog at NRDC on the success of Arlington County VA:
With amazing foresight and gifted planning, Arlington has transformed itself in about three decades from a declining inner-ring suburb into a thriving, bustling and immensely livable community. This was done by coordinating the county’s (under Virginia law, Arlington is a county, not a city) redevelopment and growth with the region’s Metro subway system.As Roger Lewis put it
"Arlington planners and politicians were bold, optimistic and foresighted. They insisted that the [Metro line] run underground through Arlington, following Wilson Boulevard and Fairfax Drive, rather than running along the Interstate 66 right of way, which would have been the path of least resistance and at the lowest cost. And they wanted five closely spaced stations [along the route].
Other cities that have the exact same trains as MARTA are San Francisco and DC. They have become very successful with DC being one of the most walkable and transit friendly regions in the nation. There are two reasons that DC has been able to accomplish this while Atlanta has not. First, the region was willing to embrace the transit system allowing it to expand into what were then rural and suburban areas. Second, the development around the station focused on real neighborhoods and diverse districts that created places where people actually wanted to go rather than parking lots that cater to the comfort of cars.
If North Fulton can follow the leadership of the successful regions highlighted above, we can get a transit system that works instead of one that is laughable.
images: Hyku @ Flickr, Google Maps, Rroberts41 @ Flickr
Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at 10:47PM This is the 19th post in a series of posts this December that will chronicle the 25 things we would most like to see in Roswell. None of these are actually happening... at least in the way we'd like them to. Please enjoy and have a happy holidays!
As I was going through some of the needs assessment for the North Fulton Comprehensive Transportation plan that was adopted earlier this year by the cities of North Fulton, I noticed a recurring theme. It was one that came up at the January 2010 charette that I attended as well. That was the theme that our residents want a viable transportation alternative to get around North Fulton. right now, we don't have much. Just a few MARTA routes that generally lead to the Dunwoody Springs train station. This doesn't help me much if I want to go from Roswell to Johns Creek or from Milton to Alpharetta.
The theme was that of circulator buses. Other transportation needs were for BRT and heavy rail up the 400 corridor but those are obvious and don't get us more mobility in our region. They simply take us to a central node on a spoke and no wheel system. That's okay if there is only one job center but North Fulton is itself a job center. The image below is from the needs assessment report that was put together by the Atlanta Regional Commission. It shows the distribution of job locations for residents of North Fulton. The obvious job centers are downtown, buckhead and perimeter. However, there is a meaningful distribution of jobs in North Fulton as well.
What does this mean? it means that the residents of North Fulton need to get around North Fulton. The days are gone when Roswell was solely a bedroom community where its residents would vacate during the day and head downtown. So, in order to effectively manage additional growth, the circulator buses are starting to become a necessity.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at 10:23PM This is the 18th post in a series of posts this December that will chronicle the 25 things we would most like to see in Roswell. None of these are actually happening... at least in the way we'd like them to. Please enjoy and have a happy holidays!
It's not as prestigious as the Beltline but it sure would be nice to have. The Roswell Loop idea has been around since at least 2006 and was championed by the city leadership. Unfortunately, the idea was approved at precisely the wrong time... a la the Boutique Hotel. The economy has put this one on hold.
If you are unfamiliar with the concept, you can obviously take a look at the map and you can check out this article from C.I.C.L.E. that was originally published in the AJC. I loved the quote, "The fundamental decision you have to make is whether your money is going to accommodate the four rush hours a day or the other twenty hours."
This project would help give identity to Roswell and it would help foster a much safer environment for cycling and encourage people who aren't bold enough to get out on the open road to get out on two wheels and go for a ride.
Bicycling in Ideas, Mobility, Parks & Outdoors, Planning Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at 10:07PM This is the 18th post in a series of posts this December that will chronicle the 25 things we would most like to see in Roswell. None of these are actually happening... at least in the way we'd like them to. Please enjoy and have a happy holidays!
We really need to get on the ball here. This greenway should be contiguous from Forsyth to SandySave & Close Springs. The Forsyth section is well under way and we have completed the greenway just about down to Holcomb Bridge Rd. As you can see from the map above, there is a conceptual piece of the greenway that is planned all the way down to the southwestern edge of Roswell where it would connect into Cobb county.
What are we waiting on here? This one is a no brianer.. plus, I could then commute by bike all the way from the mill to Windward Parkway... well, that might be a bit much.
image: City of Alpharetta